We have Monday morning holiday baseball on tap today. As a bonus, it was a bright, sunny day, but there was a cold wind blowing. I ran back for my jacket before leaving. I’m still in shock over the cold in that Saturday game. I took it off halfway through the game as it warmed up.
I finally got my usual corn-in-a-cup for breakfast. They were out of butter when I ordered. The nice lady there delivered it inside the stadium to me when it was ready. There were also souvenirs today. I didn’t realize there was a giveaway today. They were handing out an Aggie blanket, a cup, a first aid pouch, and some lip balm. This was quite the haul. I was bit embarrassed to take them; it all seemed too good for a giveaway. (The little rollup blanket is very nice.) Also, the program was finally corrected to add the St. Thomas players that were missing.
Inside, there was a great crowd of 556 for a Monday morning. Among the crowd were a couple of guys that might have been Football or Basketball players, who brought in a large dog that was wearing a t-shirt. The dog was more cute than intimidating. I was again sitting with Michael, Ken, and Trey, the former player. I suggested that he should offer to Adam Young on the radio to be his color commentator for a couple of innings. Trey was very insightful about the game and had plenty of stories.
Trey mentioned one about Pat Murphy, current Brewers manager and former Chihuahuas manager (he didn’t know that). This happened when Murphy was a college coach and the Aggies were playing against him. The Aggies’ manager had sent a player to the on deck circle and told him to swing from his right-hand side. The player went to the plate and swung from his normal left-hand side. Murphy didn’t have a pitcher prepared for that and the player got a hit from the mismatch. I told him Murphy would probably appreciate that fake out later (much later), since he was well-known for playing pranks on players in the minor leagues before telling them they were getting called up to The Show.
Freshman Matthew Yarc started for the Aggies. In his college debut inning, he gave up a single and had two strikeouts. I should mention, the cool wind was blowing in to this point and was knocking down flyballs.
Brandon Forrester came to play today. He had a hustle double to start the game. His helmet dramatically flew off as he rounded first. Mitch Namie followed that up with a single. Mitch was also full of hustle. He made a delayed steal of second when he noticed nobody was covering the bag. On the throw to second, Forrester then stole home. Kade Benavidez then drove Mitch in to make it 2-0 Aggies.
St. Thomas catcher, Max Moris, who caught all four games this series, got nailed on foul tip. He got up and started wandering towards stands seemingly rethinking his entire life. For a moment, I thought he was about to come into the stands and become a spectator. He stayed in to a round of applause from the crowd. (By the way, there are not only three “Max’s” on the team, a St. Thomas fan pointed out there are two “Easton’s” on the team. Two families named their kids after the main BBCorr bat manufacturer and they ended up playing baseball?) Distributing the pain, Steve Solarzano got plunked on the helmet in his at bat. Thankfully, it was something offspeed.
The PA announced it was 65-degrees here in Las Cruces. In St. Paul, it was -6 degrees. That brought out a cheer from the St. Thomas fans. He also announced that Sheehan O’Connor was the C-USA Player of the Week with his three-homer performance over the last three games. Yarc gave up a leadoff hit in the top of the second. Tommie runner, Brigs Richartz, may have cut his lip diving for first on a pickoff throw. The trainer had to clean him up and the turf. Yarc finished the rest of the inning without another baserunner.
The bottom of the second, the top of the third, and the bottom of the third were all 1-2-3 innings, which was an amazing aberration compared the other games in this series. On the groundout to short to end the top of the third, Yarc made a no-look walk off the mound, like an action hero strolling away from an explosion behind him. The Bangles’ Manic Monday appropriately played between innings once, which prompted a discussion about Prince, who wrote the song, and Susanna Hoffs, who sang it.
Matthew Maulik started off the top of the fourth with a hit. The Aggies had put an extreme shift on him, but he just went the other way. Trey mentioned that the coaches had highlighted Maulik. Cooper Reese had gotten a big hand from Coach Angier for getting him out yesterday. After a strikeout and another single, Yarc got a double play ball, but Ben Vujovich dove for first and just beat the tag and Maulik scored. Ben was then thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning. 2-1 Aggies.
Bea Martinez from ABC 7 and another cameraman were at the ballpark filming the action from up by the Press Box. Unfortunately, Bea didn’t come down and say, “Hello.” I found out the cute team photographer girl was named, Destiny. She came by and chatted with Michael and Trey. She’s apparently a baseball fan and she’s as sweet as she looks.
The bottom of the fourth was one of those innings that make me want to stop keeping a scorecard. (I’m still not sure it’s right even after checking the official scoring.) I can’t remember why I was distracted during the inning. It must have been a good conversation, though. Solarzano walked to start the inning. Vujovich slid to make a catch on a low liner by Camden Kaufman. Ben lost the ball on the slide. Solo thought it was a catch and got doubled off trying to go back. It wasn’t his fault; the play wasn’t clear until it was too late for him.
Sheehan singled next. Austin Corbett popped up to second after, but the ball was lost in the overhead sun and dropped. Camden scored. Austin and Sheehan then executed a double steal and Joey Craig brought Sheehan in with a groundout. The dust settled and the Aggies were up, 4-1. (This wouldn’t have been so bad for me, if I hadn’t gotten out-of-order on the scoring. Good thing I was using a pencil.)
Oh, my goodness. We had two more 1-2-3 innings. Yarc was helped out with a couple of defensive gems. In the fifth, Solo dove for a ball and missed it. Sheehan picked it up behind him and Yarc beat the runner in a footrace to the bag to receive the throw. In the sixth, Camden at short was playing left of the second in a shift and made a great dive play for the groundout. The shift worked twice in the inning. (The shift also failed about half the time this weekend and when it did, it usually resulted in a run scoring.)
In the fifth, there was a trucker hat toss that the crowd went wild for. It was the “Sko State” hat with the letters upside down. I’m told this is cool, but I’m going to have to have this explained to me. Michael and Trey didn’t know, but Michael really wanted one anyway and was bothering Destiny for one, though she doesn’t have anything to do with giveaways.
In the seventh, Yarc was relieved by Cody Carson after six innings of outstanding pitching. Carson had a 1-2-3 inning thanks to Sheehan making a good dive on a ground ball and Solo making a jump catch and getting his foot on the bag on the throw. The Aggies only managed a walk in their half of the inning.
All of the great pitching in this game explosively decompressed in the top of the eighth when the Tommies batted around and scored five runs. There was no big blow; it was five hits that kept finding holes in the defense. I don’t want to go over the gory details other than to mention that the inning could have been circumvented in three different spots. A liner by Moris just went off Forrester’s mitt at third. Tommy Meluskey, who had just come into the game in left (and Michael spotted him first), nearly caught a low liner by Vujovich. Finally, Coach Angier had a talk with Carson in the middle of the inning with a reliever ready, but left Carson in. 6-4 Tommies.
Kade walked to start the inning. Gianni Horvat pinch ran for him and advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball. Solo cashed him in to make it 6-5 Tommies. His grounder hit the pitcher and there was no play possible on the ball. Unfortunately, the Aggies left the bases loaded.
It was real unfortunate. Pinch hitter Joe Voss hit a leadoff home run to center to begin the ninth. Jonatan Clough, who had pinch hit in the previous inning, collided with the wall and was laid out flat from the impact trying to bring it back. I should mention that the wind had picked up and was now blowing out. 7-5 Tommies. That would be the final score as the Aggies hit into a double play to end the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Gameballs. For St. Thomas, Matthew Maulik went 3 for 4 with an RBI. (So much for the shift and highlighting him.) Joe Vos had an insurance homer in his only plate appearance. The Tommie relief corps of Tucker Huhn, Zak Endres, and Carl Cano gave up 1 unearned run over 4 innings of work. For the Aggies, Brandon Forrester went 2 for 4 and stole home. Matthew Yarc’s college debut went 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts, and no walks. We’re looking forward to seeing more of him.
That was a bit disappointing, but I have to say, these were three pretty entertaining games. We shook hands with several of the friendly St. Thomas fans as everyone left and wished each other good luck in the rest of the season. The wind was gusting just as I left the stadium. Aggie Softball was playing Montana next door. I decided I was done for the day, which was a good decision as the Aggies were up 11-0 in the third, which would be final score in the five-inning run rule.
I picked up a late lunch for myself and dad from Raising Canes and got myself a Sonic Blast. (Unfortunately, this was the one time dad wanted dessert and I didn’t ask. Sorry.) I’d like to say I enjoyed my evening off, but I didn’t wear sunblock to this game and my head hurt and the back of neck and ears were warm. I don’t know what I was thinking before I left for the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment