I saw an interview with Aggie Baseball great, Nick Gonzales, for his Aggie Hall of Fame induction. When asked about his career, he was very grateful for the experience and the travel and said, “It never felt like a job.” Hopefully, he’ll stick in the league for a while longer. I just had to get this little story in somewhere.
Aggie Baseball started their 2026 season on the road against Baylor. Usually, they’re at home, but they may have scheduled this to give themselves more time for the changes to their stadium. This trip made the MLB website: “College player hits three grand slams in game.” It wasn’t the Aggies who did the hitting. Baylor Bear, Tyce Armstrong, went 3 for 4 with 12 RBI’s. It was also a 7-inning, 15-2, run ruled game. Colton Sneddon had a good start, but Cooper Reese (who we are rooting for) took the loss with 5 earned runs in 1 inning. The next two games were, at least, closer losses at 5-2 and 7-3. Connor Wylde made a good start in the finale.
The Aggies also played a single game against #21 Oklahoma at Globe Life Stadium, home of the Texas Rangers. (OK’s stadium was also being renovated.) Attendance for the game was only listed at 250, though. There was well more than that for the Sooners playing the Aggies in Softball here last week. The Sooners won, 10-6. Bryce Campbell hit his second home run of the season and the relief pitching did well. Aidan Taclas led the Aggies with a .345 BA.
The Aggies’ home opening series was against the Towson Tigers. They’ve been here before in 2016 (2-20-16) and 2018 (2-17-18). AD Fields said that they had found a temporary solution to the canopy issue. As near as I can tell the solution is that the team is scheduling most of their games for nighttime. It was a simple, but elegant solution, unless it’s 50-degrees at game time and falling fast. This caused me to skip the team’s first two games.
The stadium has been renamed SportsGamblingAddict.com Stadium. Just kidding, it’s Johnson Stadium after Mike and Judy Johnson, who have paid for a lot of improvements (though not a new canopy or scoreboard yet). Technically, it is still Presley Askew Field, though.
I listened to Friday night’s game over the radio. Colton was starting again, although so far nothing it’s been nothing but staff days for pitching. Jonatan Clough made his first appearance of the season.
Towson took an early 4-0 lead. The Aggies got runners on, but couldn’t get them in. In the bottom of the fifth, Campbell and Easton Rulli drove in 3 runs, but an out on bases ended the inning early. In the top of the sixth, the ump made a bad call on a dropped third strike, which loaded the bases for the Tigers. (The ump seemed to make an out call since first base was occupied, though there were two outs. This would be scored as a passed ball that let the batter on.) The Tigers scored 2 more runs after that.
The crowd of 763 braving the cold was getting restless on further calls by the ump. In the bottom of the seventh, Talcas tripled and scored a run and Campbell drove in a run. Down 3 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs, Rulli hit the top of fence and drove in 2, but the Aggies couldn’t get him in for an 8-7 loss.
The Saturday night game was also on the radio. Adam Young was doing basketball and a sub was in. I didn’t get his name, but he was very enthusiastic. He made a couple of mis-calls, but immediately corrected them.
Towson started off with a bases loaded walk, which forced an early Aggie pitching change. 2-0 Towson. Rulli doubled in 2 runs to tie it in bottom first. Cole Rogers drove in a run in the sixth and Boston Vest sac’d in a run to give the Aggies a 4-2 lead.
In the seventh, Towson brought in a run to make it 4-3, but in the bottom Steve Solorzano hammered one and Rogers drove 2 more. 7-3 Aggies. Broadcast issues dropped the game coverage at the beginning of the game and then late. I flipped over to Aggie Basketball, where it was a close game. I flipped back in time to hear a Tiger outfielder drop a flyball from Rulli and two more runs scored. Aggies win 9-3. Connor Wylde gave up 1 run in four innings of work and got the win. Attendance for the game was only 412. The Men’s Basketball game and the cold probably lowered the crowd.
Sunday morning was bright and sunny. I was glad I waited for nice day to go the rubber game between the Aggies and the Towson Tigers. All of the signage now does say, “Johnson Stadium.” Maybe they’re hoping the Johnson family will fund a new canopy and a new video scoreboard after this honor. The old scoreboard and empty scaffolding overhead does look rather poor with the bright, colorful new all-turf field. Like Softball, an orange safety bag has been installed at first.
The full-color picture of Joey Ortiz has finally been remounted on the batting facility. This was probably to avoid embarrassment as Ortiz was just inducted into the Aggie Hall of Fame. I’ve discussed the new Diamond Club before (10-11-25). I was surprised to hear that berm seating had been added to the facility in right field. I’m not sure how you get to it, as it’s next to the gated off Diamond Club. It’s also just a mound of dirt. Fan Michael said it was for the kids, but he doubts they’ll use it. Kids usually like running around under the stands and chasing foul balls.
Regardless of the improvements, it was all for nothing. There was no corn-in-a-cup available at the Concessions. They were out of corn. I suddenly regretted not having breakfast. Entering the stadium, I ran into the Reese family sitting in the center reserved section of the stands. They’d upgraded their season tickets. This was too bad, since I was looking forward to chatting with Trey and Robin. I was running late already. I only mentioned to Robin that a club Men’s Volleyball program had just started at the university.
It was a light-looking crowd, but officially 711. Maggie Lightheart and Bella Castro were under a blanket in the crowd representing Aggie Volleyball. I found Michael in his usual spot. I think he had a bit of a cold from being out in the cold for the last two nights. He mentioned there had been a long line at the concessions for hot chocolate Friday and Saturday. I did see fans with hot chocolate later.
Aggie Football wide receiving star, TK King, threw out the first pitch. Unlike some other athletes, he made a nice throw. He was surprisingly short compared to the Baseball players when standing at attention for the Anthem.
The official scoring changed after the game, so we’ll never know how close I was to getting the scorecards correct. After sitting down, a cold wind immediately started blowing right to left across the field. Thankfully, it wasn’t blowing straight in. I had a thermal shirt on, so I wasn’t freezing, but I wished I had a coat on over my hoodie.
The wind made flyballs and popups an adventure starting in the first inning, with Bradyn Barnes starting for the Aggies. He worked 1-2-3 first. In the bottom, the Aggies worked a pair of back-to-back walks. Bryce Campbell came up and grounded to third. The third baseman got the force at third, but threw the ball away going to first. Steve Solorzano came around and scored to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead.
The PA announced it was 37-degrees in Maryland, where Towson is, and it was snowing. In Las Cruces, it was 54-degrees with an 8-mph wind, but seemed a lot stiffer and colder. It’s a consolation that it wasn’t not snowing. However, I overheard some visitors complaining about 6:00pm start time for Saturday. It would have been much warmer to play the game during the day, which was my complaint exactly.
Barnes ran into immediate trouble with two walks to start the bottom of the second. After a sac bunt, Brady Nathison cashed them with a single, 2-1 Towson. In the bottom of the first, Chris Daniels found the jetstream blowing out to left for a home run to tie it up. There was no hot chick doing souvenir tosses to the crowd today after the homer. It was a guy, who was doing an indifferent, terrible job of it. This was a definite downgrade.
Cole Rogers hit an infield popup. The second baseman didn’t see it, as the ball swirled in the wind. The first baseman went for it and may or may not have touched it, but it dropped and he took a hard luck error. Rogers ended up on second. Catcher Dane Woodcook bunted and it turned into an infield hit.
With runners on the corners, the Aggies tried a safety squeeze, but only Woodcook advanced. Boston Vest came up and hit a popup behind the plate. Tiger Catcher, Brian Heckelman, couldn’t catch it in the wind. Vest would end up popping out on the infield. A walk loaded the bases, but a flyball ended the inning, tied at 2.
The top of the third, the Tigers had back-to-back homers to left field via the jetstream. Adam Young on the radio call would later remark that the wind didn’t have anything to do with the score. Those balls might have gone out anyway, but I’d beg to differ that the wind didn’t make a difference. This chased Barnes from the game. JT Price finished the inning with a single and two strikeouts. There was a stolen base off of Woodcook trying to frame pitch. 4-2 Towson.
Two big, beautiful, fluffy golden retrievers came in. I thought about trying to bribe their owner into letting me borrow them to sit in mine and Michael’s laps to keep us warm. Where was Michael? He disappeared earlier. Some more Volleyball girls came in, including Mia Fox. Michael came back to his seat after chatting her up first. (Actually, she’d stopped him to say, “Hi.”) Michael had gone out to retrieve Daniels’ home run, his first in college ball. He gave it to Daniel’s mom in the crowd.
Marketing Director Nicole Sack came by and said, “Hi.” I questioned the inclusion of the Dancing Cowboy in the Aggie Softball intro video (2-15-26). She was aware that he was rooting for the other team, but was limited on the clips at the beginning of the season. It would be fixed.
And there was also a ball game going on. In the bottom of the third, the Aggies got two on via singles, but they were in between a double play. Nathison in center made a diving catch on a liner to end the inning.
Jack Turner came in and worked a quick top of the fourth. He had two strikeouts and only threw one ball. In the bottom, Rogers dribbled one on the infield. A bad throw allowed him to make it to first. Rogers stole second, but the Tigers put in a new pitcher, Jake Michel, who finished out the inning without letting him score.
I hustled to the bathroom. Coming back, I encountered a stiff headwind that held me up. Turner gave up a single and walk to start the fifth, but a double play and a looking strikeout ended the inning.
Tiger pitcher Michel got two quick outs to start the bottom of the fifth, but then ran into trouble. He hit Easton Rulli. (Maybe it was because of his Hollaback Girl walkup music. Really?) A single and two more walks forced in a run. Woodcook then made a swinging bunt and legged it out, which drove in another run. Who says, “Catchers are slow?” Vest was hit to drive in a third run before the Tigers brought in Austin Perando to finish the inning. The Aggies had tied it at 5. They patiently worked a bunch of full counts in the inning.
In crowd, there was a guy with a little dog. The dog was wearing a vest with a handle on top and the guy was carrying the dog like a piece of luggage. I wish I had a picture. Turner stranded a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth with two more strikeouts. Likewise in the bottom, the Aggie stranded a double by Campbell. The wind was still blowing, but the sun was fully out and it was warmer.
In the top of the seventh, the Tigers started the inning with a pair of singles. Turner fielded a bunt back to him and threw out the lead runner at third. He got a looking strikeout for the second out and got within a strike of getting out of the inning. Keldrin Rodriguez instead doubled to right field and drove in a run. Nigel Sebastianelli kept running from first when the throw went to second. The relay beat him at home, but went past the catcher for another run.
There was then a bobbled grounder to short that brought in another run. This would have been a second error in the inning on Vest, but it was later changed to a hit. Woodcook would throw out a runner at second to end the inning. Damage done. Towson up 8-5.
In the bottom of the seventh, Heckelman dropped a second popup behind the plate. Again, no error was charged because of the conditions. Adam observed that he should be tossing his mask on foul balls. The third baseman overthrew first on an infield hit by Rogers, which advanced him to second, but he was left stranded there.
Turner was back out for the top of the eighth and out for blood. He emptied the tank with 3 looking strikeouts. Jacob Whiteman, who’d come in in the seventh, also had a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth. Asa Briggs worked the ninth for the Aggies. Brandon Clizbe, who’d pinch hit for Woodcook in the seventh (and I question that decision), made a play on a popup behind the plate to begin the inning. The batter he got out was Heckelman, who was hopefully taking mental notes on the play. Briggs only gave up a walk in the frame.
The Aggies would not go down without a fight. Rulli was hit to begin the bottom of the ninth. Daniels and Rogers both singled, which drove in a run. Unfortunately, a foul out and a groundout ended the game with two on. Towson wins 8-6.
There was no shame getting swept by Baylor and Oklahoma, but dropping a series to Towson is a terrible sign for the rest of the season. The team seems to lack an actual starting pitcher. With 13 runners left on base and 9 in scoring position, they weren’t driving in the runs necessary to cover the pitching.
Gameballs. For the Tigers, Brady Nathison went 3 for 3 with 4 RBI’s. Austin Perando pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. For the Aggies, Chris Daniels went 4 for 5 with a home run. Cole Rogers was 2 for 4, but got on base in all 5 plate appearances and drove in 2 runs. Jack Turner was the undeserved losing pitcher, as he turned in a 5-inning performance with 2 earned runs and 9 strikeouts.
The game went 3 hours and 12 minutes and I was hungry. I went back home and finally used the McAlister’s giftcard that my Aunt Judy had sent me for Christmas. She had also included a coupon for free hot soup. I’d been saving this for a time when I was cold and hungry. That was today.
I’d also talked to dad and he mentioned that the US Men’s Hockey team had won the gold medal at the Olympics this morning over Canada. I’d seen that they were playing and forgotten all about it when I got to the ballpark. U-S-A! U-S-A! I got to watch a replay of the game later that night. It was a nice consolation win. Also, even with the loss and the cold, it was nice to be out watching baseball again.
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