May the Fourth be with you. It’s a Star Wars celebration at the
ballpark. (Star Wars wasn’t actually
released in the theaters on May 4. Star
Wars is also currently a dead franchise.
Thanks, Disney.) They changed the
start time on tonight’s start time from 2:00 to 4:00, which screwed up my
evening. Given last night’s performance
by Aggie Baseball, I nearly decided
not to go, but it was an opportunity to wear my Aggie Star Wars shirt. (What a mistake that would have been, if I
hadn’t gone.)
Last weekend, the Aggies swept out Jax State, the last place team in the C-USA. The final game was 22-8.
Earlier this week, they’d beaten the UNM Lobos, 10-8. Even better, they’d come from behind, 8-2,
and won it on a Keith Jones’ walk off
home run. (The game was on month
end. I couldn’t take that day off.) Friday, things came right back down to earth. The Aggies lost to LA Tech, 18-4, in a run
rule. Logan Galina did hit a home run in the game. He’s definitely got this stroke back.
I was not feeling well last week and going to Softball on
weekend caused me to relapse on Monday. I
kept going to work, but I slept all during the day for two days before going
there. At least my back was feeling
better from being laid up. On Saturday,
I shouldn’t have exhausted myself doing it, but I walked over to the mall to
get a foot-long chili cheese dog at Legend
Burger. It was a bit of a labor, but
delicious. With that, I was ready for
the game.
I went through an improvised car wash on the way past the
soccer field, as a few sprinklers were on and spraying the road. A groundskeeper on a cart drove by me as I
pulled into the parking lot. I went for
a tea at the concessions, as it was hot and cloudless with only a slight
breeze. I’d need it. At the merch trailer, I noticed they were
selling Keith Jones t-shirts, which didn’t entirely surprise me. (They were also selling Jaileen Mancha shirts from the Softball
team, which did.)
A local organization was handing out sunscreen, which I
took and used during the game, and inflatable bats for the kids, which they
used on each other. I found Fan Michael
under an umbrella, so know it was hot.
Once again, the canopy over the stadium is gone. There’s no shade, especially not at 4:00 in
the afternoon. On field, the cute team
photographer girl and the hot marketing intern girl were working with the people
throwing out the first pitches. Both had
their hair down and looked gorgeous. The
intern girl hung out outside of the press box for most of the game and looked
majestic there.
Some Star Wars music played over the PA before the
game. There was a trivia contest later
in the game. That was it for the
promotion. No Aggie/Star Wars giveaways
today. I was disappointed that the
photographer didn’t even take my picture for social media, since I was the only
one there in a Star Wars shirt.
LA Tech were in road greys that were a splitting image of
the Texas Rangers’ uniforms. I felt like I should have worn my Ranger hat
to fit in. (I got a compliment on it at
the mall earlier.) Their lineup was read
off to the tune of the Imperial March. Michael told me they were first in the
conference and looked very impressive Friday night.
I have to mention the first pitches. The first fellow pitched from the mound and
threw and actual strike. An El Paso TV
weather girl and alumni, Monica Cortez,
threw out a second pitch. It wasn’t
quite as accurate, but she enjoyed herself immensely. The crowd for the game was a bit light,
though the Diamond Club section was packed with boosters.
As you can see, we all got our money’s worth from this
game. I was actually somewhat worried I
was going to run out of space on the back.
College baseball is using the pitch clock, but they are not banning
shifts, limiting throws to first, and, obviously, aren’t using the “Ghost
runner” rule in extra innings. (They
might want to revisit that.) Even more
shocking, these scorecards added right up.
(I did miss during the game when the first Bulldog reliever came in and
I had to look that up.)
Dalton
Davis took the first pitch of the game from Aggie pitcher, Conor Wylde, over the left field fence
to give LAT a 1-0 lead. Michael groaned
that the Bulldogs were slugging like
last night. Titus Dumitru answered in the bottom of the first with a line drive
homer center. I could hear someone in
the LAT dugout say, “That just barely got out.”
1-1.
It should be noted that the strikezone was called very
tight this evening. Pitchers were at a
disadvantage. Keith Jones made a good running catch in the top of the scoreless
second. In the bottom, Edwin Martinez-Pagani walked and Austin Corbett doubled him in. Austin was then thrown out at the plate, when
he tried to score on a deflected Romeo
Ballesteros’ infield single. 2-1
Aggies.
Wylde started the third, but after three straight hits,
including a two-run homer off the scoreboard, he was lifted for Trey Meza. 3-2 Bulldogs.
Next inning, Meza gave up a leadoff homer off the scoreboard. There was another solo home run to right that
I wish we had Statcast for, because it screamed out. Finally, a pair of doubles plated another run
to make it 6-2 Bulldogs. The Aggies
loaded the bases in the bottom, but a popup and a fielder’s choice ended the
inning without changing the score.
Meza worked 1-2-3 fifth with Romeo making a nice play on
an infield grounder. The Aggies also
went down in order in the bottom. Titus
hit a monster foul ball in his at bat. Meza
had a rough sixth. A leadoff walk was
brought in by a two-run homer. A double,
an error, and a groundout brought in another run, and LAT was up 9-2. Michael
Ballard made a nice sliding play at second to begin the bottom of the
sixth. The Aggies got some traffic on
the bases, but didn’t score.
The son of one of my co-workers, Rito, is on the Aggie Vision staff. He was working the handheld camera by the
Aggie dugout. I could see him kneeling
in between innings. He really looked
gassed working out in the heat. Meza
worked a quick top of the seventh for his final inning. LAT brought in a reliever to start the bottom
of the seventh. Logan Galina came up big with a two-run homer to make it 9-4
LAT. He might have passed AD Mario Moccia on the All-time Aggie
home run list with that one. Michael was
surprised to learn that Mario used to be a really good baseball player.
Matt
Romero pitched the eighth and gave up a home run to Jorge Corona that went over the batter’s
eye. 10-4 Bulldogs. From here, it starts to get wacky. Three walks with one out loaded the bases for
the Aggies. KJ hit a hard liner to the
wall that nearly went over, but ended up being a single. This caused some confusion on the basepads. EMP scored from third. Corbett held up there, but then Romeo joined
him at third. This started a comical
rundown that took forever and I had no chance of scoring. Corbett made the out and Romeo stayed at
third.
A member of the stadium staff came by and asked me for the
score. He might not have had good enough
vision to see the scoreboard. I told him
it was 10-5 LA Tech and he said, “Good, we’re making a comeback.” I’d remember those words.
The Bulldogs brought in a new pitcher, who hit his first
batter to load the bases. He then hit
Logan to force in a run. Catcher Nick Gore came up next. He hit a foul popup that was dropped by the
catcher. That felt like that should have
been an error, but it wasn’t scored that way.
(I looked it up. There’s a
specific situational rule where that isn’t an error if judged that way by the
scorer. I don’t think that situation
applied here.) The next pitch, Gore
grand slammed it and tied the score at 10!
That was encouraging.
Saul Soto came in for the
ninth—probably the Aggies’ best closer.
What was discouraging was that he gave up four runs, including a
three-run homer. 14-10 Bulldogs. KJ made a great diving play after the scoring
to help end the inning.
Shadows were crawling across the home plate area. I wasn’t sure what the time was. The game had been clipping along until the
eighth. Gnats were flying around and
annoying people. The Bulldogs had to be
feeling pretty good going into the bottom of the ninth, but the Aggies were
like gnats today. The Aggies began the
frame with a walk, a single, and a hit batter to load the bases with no outs,
which brought on a new pitcher. A sac
fly and a three-run homer by Titus and we’re tied at 14 and going to extras and
flipping over the scorecards. The stadium
worker came by again and I told him, “Hey man, you were right!”
You could tell how often games go to extras at Presley Askew Field, as the tenth
inning lights on the scoreboard were way brighter than the rest of the
board. LAT loaded the bases in the top
of the tenth with two outs, but didn’t score.
In the eleventh, Corona hit a solo home run to make it 15-14 LAT. That was his third home run of the game. In that inning, EMP caught a liner at second,
it popped out of his mitt, and then he re-caught it.
Grant
Hubka struck out the side in the bottom of the 11-th, but
unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Logan hit a home run to tie the score
again. 15 all. That was clutch. Hayden
Walker came on in the 12-th and worked two 1-2-3 innings.
We go to the bottom of the 13-th. I took a quick trip to the bathroom between
frames, sensing the Aggies might finish it here and wanting to avoid the rush
after the game. KJ (who else?) led off
with a double against a new pitcher. To
add insult, Corona took a hard foul ball that leveled him during the at
bat. (The ump took one the previous
inning.) Credit Corona and Gore for
catching all 13 innings today. Titus
moved KJ over to third and Logan was intentionally walked. Finally, the biggest play of the game was a pitch
that spun well away from Corona’s reach and all the way to backstop.
KJ trotted home and was immediately mobbed behind home
plate. Aggies win 16-15! A barrel
of Gatorade was dumped on the impromptu mosh pit. The crowd likewise went crazy. What game!
How does a four-and-a-half hour game not get boring? Well, this one somehow accomplished that.
Your MVP of the game today is me! I credit going to Rally Hat-mode in the
bottom of the ninth for the victory. I
folded the back of my black and white Aggie hat in and put it on top of my head
like a NASCAR rear deflector. Before you
scoff, I did run into someone else wearing their hat like that on the way
out. Do not doubt the Rally Hat!
We’ll hand out some Gameballs for the players and their
less important efforts in the game than mine in determining the outcome. For the Bulldogs, their starter, Luke Nichols, should have gotten the
win after a great long effort, but the bullpen lost it for him. Ethan
Bates went 4 for 8 with 6 RBI’s off of 3 home runs. Catcher Jorge
Corona went 3 for 8 with 4 RBI’s off of another 3 home runs. The top half of the LAT’s order did massive
damage today. Also of note was Will Safford. He was warming up in the on deck circle
swinging a sledgehammer.
For the Aggies, hand it to Hayden Walker. He pitched 2
scoreless innings. The other 9 pitchers
in the game were all scored on. Titus Dumitru went 3 for 7 with 4 RBI’s
from 2 home runs. Nick Gore was 1 for 6, but that one was a grand slam that tied the
game in the eighth. Logan Galina was 2 for 6 with 4 RBI’s, but that tying run in the
11-th, was huge. Lastly, Keith Jones was 2 for 6 with 2 RBI’s,
but that double to start the 13-th was the key to the victory. For a game like this, it’s not so much what
you hit, but when you hit it.
A few LA Tech fans walked out below me, as I was furiously
scribbling on my notepad. “They’re still
in last place, right?” “Doesn’t
matter. We’re still in first. The championship still goes through us at
home in Ruston.” Okay. A trifle bitter there.
I walked past Saul Soto on the way to the gate. I attempted to congratulate him on the
win. He wasn’t having any of it and only
had a thousand-yard stare. Okay, you had
a rough outing, but you win and lose as team.
Celebrate!
My stomach was upset when I got home. I know Michael was saying he couldn’t take
the pressure in the game. Maybe I had a
delayed reaction. I listened to the end
the Chihuahuas game and heard a
5-4-3 triple play. Unfortunately, it was
turned by the Space Cowboys, which
explained the muted reaction from the El Paso crowd.
At least I was home in time for the Canelo/Munguia fight. I was
way too wiped out to think about scoring the fight for a blog post to maintain
by press credentials. (I don’t have a
hard card. I’m just kidding.) Munguia surprisingly won the first three
rounds convincingly, but Canelo came back in the fourth and knocked Munguia
down with a shot to the jaw. Munguia
wasn’t knocked again, but didn’t recover for the rest of the fight and Canelo
took over for a unanimous decision.
Anyway, what a day for Aggie Baseball!
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