“I hope tomorrow’s game is better.” You know how bad the blowout was when even the fans of the winning team were dissatisfied. I’ll go ahead and say upfront that Aggie Baseball was crushed today by WKU. It wasn’t a bad day at the ballpark, though. We’ll go ahead and breakdown this penultimate Aggie home game.
We’ll do a quick review of how we got to this point. Aggie Softball’s season ended this week. They were a mid-seed going into the C-USA Tournament, but were eliminated on the first day after two losses. No word on if Coach Rodolph is planning on retiring. Aggie Baseball was coming into this weekend on a four-game losing streak. They’d dropped mid-week games to Arizona and Texas Tech, as well as two losses to conference foe, Kennesaw State. (One game was canceled.)
Coming into this weekend, Western Kentucky has the second-best ERA in the country and has been in the Top 25 in the nation. The top player in C-USA is Hilltopper centerfielder, Ryan Wideman. Friday night, I was listening to the radio coverage. WKU put out their best pitcher, Jack Bennett. In the first, Steve Solorzano touched him up with a two-run homer. WKU tied it in the second.
In the bottom of that inning, Solo struck out with the bases loaded. Unfortunately, that was the Aggies’ chance, as it would be 7-2 WKU after the third, on their way to an 11-3 win. There were scouts in attendance for the game for WKU players. One of them was frustrated videoing game, as Wideman kept getting walked. So, this loss could have actually been worse if they’d pitched to him more.
Saturday, my gameday got off on the wrong foot. After spending most of the afternoon with my dad watching a movie, I needed a quick meal before the game and went to 5 Guys for burger. Frankly, it was unsatisfying. I should stick to just getting hot dogs there or going someplace else. (I’ve been eating hot dogs all week though.)
Getting to the University, I ran right into a huge graduation ceremony at the Pan-Am Center. Luckily, I was able to skirt around it. In the baseball parking lot, there was large tailgate set up with a couple of tents. There needs to be more of that. In the bathroom, I met a WKU fan. He mentioned Wideman was a Top 50 college prospect and very fast. He also thought our hitting was good, but our pitching was bad. There’s been a bunch of injuries and the ones that aren’t injured have an ERA of 5 or more (and most, way more). Later, Trey Reese came in with his family and confirmed all that.
It was a glorious day for a ballgame. It was 81-degrees with blue skies and a cool breeze. There was a good crowd at 514. WKU did bring in quite a few fans with them. We were sitting next to one mom that was cheering a lot for her team. There was another fan and his wife behind us that were very friendly. (The dad was responsible for the quote at the beginning.) Aggie Volleyball was represented by Nellie Reese and Ashley Herman, Bella Garcia, and (our sweetheart) Maggie Lightheart all looking glamorous.
These scorecards added up right on the first try. Amazing when it doesn’t matter and I don’t care, it works out. There were a couple of plays I was distracted on that I think I scored correctly, but I don’t care enough to look them up. I also highly question the official scorer on a couple of plays, but they didn’t matter to the outcome.
Connor Wylde started for the Aggies and also began on a wrong foot by giving up a home run to Joe Siervo, the first WKU batter. It got worse with a walk, a balk (more on this later), and another walk and a hit batter to load the bases with no outs. Wylde came back with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to end to the frame. 1-0 WKU.
There were a group of little boys’ head poking up between the stands and field. They’d found a great view there in the gap, but probably not super comfortable. Mitch Namie came up in the bottom of the first and drove one out to the wall. It was a sure double, but bobbled in the outfield by Wideman and Namie took third. The official scorer had it as a triple. (I feel like WKU was getting some protection there.) Solo drove Namie in on a groundout to tie it at 1.
WKU is a pretty big time program. They were a rare visiting team that brought their own radio announcer. I usually only see that at Softball when somebody like Nebraska comes here. Meanwhile, our PA has increased the bounty on foul balls brought back to the booth. For three balls, you get “swag.”
Wylde started off the second with another hit batter, but a flashy double play started by shortstop Brandon Forrester ended the threat. WKU starter, Drew Whalen had a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning.
And “boom” goes the dynamite. The top of the third started with three walks and then a two-run double Ethan Lizama. Wylde got two strikeouts in a row and almost got out of it. Austin Haller then laid down a perfect bunt single to drive in another run. This setup Kyle Hvidsten coming up and blasting a three-run homer. A caught stealing thankfully ended the inning, but not before WKU took a 7-1 lead.
Fan Michael has said before that the PA should play more Mexican music to intimidate the visiting players. I looked into the WKU dugout and a couple of guys were Salsa dancing the music. So much for that. A great play at third by Hilltopper Carlos Vasquez on a liner got the first out in the bottom of the third. Forrester singled next, but was thrown out stealing.
Fan Michael knows everyone at the ballpark. This paid off for him today. After talking to a couple of fans from the Diamond Club, he left and came back with a plate of brisket, a chicken drumstick, and a couple of rolls. Oh, it smelled good, too. That was hard sit next to.
Aggie Camden Kaufman in center almost made a great running catch in the top of the fourth on a Wideman hit. He caught the ball, but lost it hitting the wall. This went for a triple. Kyle Hayes followed that with a shot that hit the top of the outfield wall and then bounced back on to the field. It was another triple and it scored a run. Lizama came up and bunted one back to Wylde, but he fumbled the ball and couldn’t pick it up. Wylde got it back together one last time and got a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning. It was a character-building day for him. 8-1 WKU.
One of the scouts walked by. I couldn’t identify what team he was with, but he was wearing this giant ring on his hand. The gems on it sparkled blindingly in the light. I’m sure it was a World Series ring. Solo had a walk in the bottom of the fourth, but the Aggies couldn’t do anything with it.
Jake Carvajal came in to pitch for the Aggies in the fifth. He loaded the bases on three straight singles. Wideman hit a powerful liner to right. Austin Corbett jumped up and grabbed it and limited the damage to one run driven in. 9-1 WKU.
The Reese family was having an interesting conversation behind me with the WKU couple. There was a slightly disturbing, but cool revelation that Robin Reese’s dad is a sniper. He apparently uses that skill to keep interlopers off his property. However, most of the talk was about baseball and also fraternity hazing. (I contributed to that conversation.) Trey and the WKU dad commiserated about going to games at Texas A&M this season. It’s a rough crowd for visitors.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies finally mounted some offense. Kaufman led off with a home run. Two Aggies got on afterward with two outs, but couldn’t be driven in. 9-2 WKU. Carvajal had a 1-2-3 top of the sixth. He was helped out by Corbett making a great catch at the wall. Dawson Hall relieved Whalen in the bottom of the sixth. The Aggies got two on again, but didn’t score.
The top of the seventh started with Forrester making a great slide, catch, and throw to get the first out. There were two walks and then a flyball second out. And then the Apocalypse. Wideman singled in a run and Hayes hit a three-run homer. Lizama singled and then was balked over to second.
Okay, counting yesterday, this was the third balk called on a third different pitcher. In the MLB, there was this one ump nicknamed, “Balkin’ Bob,” for his propensity for calling balks. Obviously, we’ve got another one on the crew this weekend.
Where was I? Coach Angier gave Carvajal a talk telling him that it was his inning. After two more singles, a wild pitch, and another run, the coach changed his mind and Colton Sneddon was brought in. Sneddon promptly gave up a three-run homer to Hall. Hvidsten was up next and absolutely vaporized a ball. I completely lost it after it left his bat. It might have hit a lightstand beyond the outfield wall. The estimated distance given was 444’. The fielders didn’t even turn around to watch it. Boston Vest at third slapped his mitt on his thigh. I thought he might go full Tanner from the Bad News Bears and slam his mitt down.
Vest then had an error at third. The coach left him in. Two more singles drove in another run. A strikeout finally finished the inning. 19-3 WKU. That was 10 runs all scored with two outs.
Between innings, the ump was given some water. He washed his face and neck absolutely exhausted and sweltering. He’d traded words with Coach Angier earlier over the strikezone, but I felt bad for him here. The Aggies got a couple on in the bottom of the seventh and Solorzano drove in a run, but that was all. WKU wins 19-3 in a run rule.
Today’s edition of Gameballs is hurtful. The Aggies get one. Brandon Forrester at least had good day going 3 for 4, along with a couple of great plays in the field. (Austin Corbett also made a couple of good plays in right field.)
For the Hilltoppers, Drew Whalen got the win going 5 innings and giving up only 2 runs. Four position players get gameballs for hitting. Ryan Wideman was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s. Kyle Hayes and Austin Haller both had 4 RBI’s and a 3-run homer each. The number 9 hitter in the lineup, catcher Kyle Hvidsten, was 3 for 4 with 4 RBI’s and 2 home runs. Damn. Western Kentucky is a good team. However, even a bad team will take advantage of eight walks and two hit batters.
Properly chastised for my fandom, I retreated directly back home. This was not the way I wanted Aggie Baseball to go out at home for the season. Their pitching corps has been decimated. They just need one win to secure a tournament berth, but I don’t know if they can do against the competition they’re facing. (Next week at LA Tech, may be worse. They’re almost undefeatable at home.) As bad as these last two games have been, it’s really hard to beat the same team three times in a row in a series. We’ll hope for the best tomorrow.
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