Aggie Baseball got back on a winning track this week. They played the University of the Southwest on Tuesday. They had a big first inning with 9 runs. Brandon Clizbe hit a 3-run home run and Aiden Taclas homered. There was no run rule for this game. In the third, US got 2 runs on plays at the plate and there was a 2-run sac fly, as Cole Rogers crashed into the fence with the ball. At 10-4 Aggies, Matthew Yarc was chased from the game as pitcher. Rogers made a great play to finally end the inning.
The Aggies added 2 runs more in the fourth. In the sixth, Clizbe threw out a runner after a dropped third strike. He learned that lesson last week in a game. In the bottom of the sixth, Jonatan Clough hit a 2-run homer to make it, 14-4. In the seventh, Cooper Reese came in to pitch and got two outs, but after an error, he loaded the bases and walked in 2 runs and wasn’t able to finish the inning, 14-6.
In the bottom of the inning, Rogers drove in 2 more. In the eighth, Boston Vest was hit on the helmet with a fastball. He was okay. 19-7 Aggies was the final. Only 2 of those US runs were earned. Attendance was listed at 487.
On Friday, the Aggies started a series against Prairie View A&M. The Aggies went up 4-0 off of some good hitting and some fielding comedy. In the top of the fourth, up 6-1, OMG! Catcher’s Interference was called. Dane Woodcook disagreed with the call, but a double play erased the runners anyway. “Ball don’t lie,” said broadcaster Adam Young on the call.
In the fifth, Easton Rulli was hit for a second time batting. This time, he was hit in the back. Him and the PV catcher were both ejected for exchanging words. In the top of the sixth, the Panthers loaded the bases and scored 3. The Aggies got it right back in the next inning, 10-4. PV homered in the seventh to make it, 10-5. The Panther batters were playing games with the pitch clock and Connor Wylde, who likes to work fast, was getting irritated.
The final was 12-6 Aggies. The Aggies oddly had no homers in the game. Chris Daniels hit 2 doubles for 5 RBI’s. Listed attendance was 644, but Adam said the next day that it was 944. I’ll go with Adam’s number, since he said the stadium was full.
I decided to pass on the Saturday game, since I’d already been to a disappointing Aggie Women’s Basketball game. Listening to the radio was also less effort. Rulli and the PV catcher, Ryland Duson, were suspended for this game and not allowed into the stadium because of their ejection yesterday.
In the bottom of the second, Daniels put a moonshot into the scoreboard to tie it at, 1-1. Daniels later took a third strike on a pitch clock violation. Don’t play Chicken with the pitch clock, guys. The Panthers took the lead again in the fifth, 2-1. Aggie pitcher Hazen Wright struck out the final batter in the inning with the large crowd of 910 fully into it. Clough was thrown out at the plate in the bottom.
In the sixth, the Aggies threw out a runner at home and another runner at second. In the bottom of the sixth, an RBI by Bryce Campbell tied it. PV pitcher Kenneth Haynes came out after 6 innings after only giving up 2 runs. (The Aggies still haven’t sent out a starting pitcher yet, just staff days.)
In the bottom of the seventh, Vest drew a bases loaded walk to get the Aggies the lead. A hit batter produced another run. A pair of errors on a possible double play ball scored 2 more. A wild pitch scored another run. That was 5 runs on 0 hits. The Aggies won, 7-2. PV had a chance in this one. They stranded 10.
That brings us to Sunday’s finale. It was sunny and warm and beautiful out. The parking lot of Johnson Stadium was full, so there was obviously going to be a good crowd again today. Coming up on the gate, the crowd was dominated by kids in Little League uniforms. We had the Yard Goats and the Rockies (using the current psychedelic City Connect uniform) and others. (Minor League teams’ uniforms are apparently available for use like Major League ones.)
Before the game, there was a parade of the Little Leaguers on the field. An Aggie player warmed up a kid, who threw out the first pitch. The kid looked good, he just didn’t have the strength to make it to the plate. Give it a couple of years. The Anthem was performed by a young woman with the last name, “Solorzano.” I asked Fan Michael if that was Steve Solorzano’s sister or cousin. He didn’t see it, but he didn’t think so. (He always dips out for the Anthem.)
There was weirdness again in this game like the last two, but things added up, I guess. Between the kids’ cheering, listening to the game on the radio, and chatting with Michael, I’m not sure how I was keeping score at all.
Bradyn Barnes started for the Aggies. It was another Staff Day, though. Weirdness started almost immediately. Basillio Williams singled for the Panthers. He stole second on a strikeout on the next batter. Err . . . except Williams was called out. Adam Young on the radio call would identify this as Batter’s Interference. That was fairly mild confusion compared to the pandemonium of the souvenir toss to the crowd. The kids went crazy. Marketing Director Nicole Sack and a very pretty girl with long brunette hair tossed out the little balls. This was a definite upgrade over last weekend.
Boston Vest began the bottom of the first with a single. He made a risky move up to second on a flyball to center. Solorzano then smashed a ball to third that ate up the third baseman, Dylan Diaz. It was ruled a hit and a double at that. Vest came into score to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. The inning ended with a strikeout of Jonatan Clough, but the third strike was a pitch clock violation. Adam couldn’t believe how this had become an issue this weekend.
Barnes gave up a walk and single in the top of the second, but that was between three strikeouts. The bottom was a mess for the Panthers. Two walks and a hit batter, along with two stolen bases and a wild pitch, loaded the bases for the Aggies. Diaz double bobbled a ground ball at third, which brought in a run. Making it worse, that was probably a double play ball.
Solo came up and hit a bloop single to right field to drive in 2. He then stole second, as the Aggies were running wild on Ryland Duson, back from suspension, behind the plate. Bryce Campbell drove in a run on a sac fly. A passed ball and another wild pitch nearly brought Solo home, but Duson fed pitcher, Oliver Brown, covering the plate for the out. (The guys need to remember that the space between the plate and backstop has been reduced by field changes.) When the dust settled, it was now 5-0 Aggies.
The Panthers came back in the third with a run. It was hard earned with a walk, a wild pitch, a tag up, and a ground out to get the run home. 5-1 Aggies. The bottom of the third ball was again difficult for the Panthers. Chris Daniels singled and was driven in off a high chopper by Cole Rogers. The bouncing ball hit the third baseman’s mitt for another error. After another hit batter, Tommy Meluskey singled in Rogers. Duson got a little revenge throwing out Tommy when he tried to steal second. Aggies up, 7-1.
A kid behind me attempted to get a “Let’s go Aggies! Let’s go!” chant going by himself. Failing that, he added an, “I don’t know.” Jack Turner entered as the Aggie pitcher in the fourth. He struck out the first two Panther batters. Turner issued a walk before getting a groundout to end the inning. Michael later pointed out a scout in the stands. He said the scout was only tracking pitches when Turner came in.
Reginald Samuel II came in as the new Panther third baseman in the bottom of the fourth. He immediately took a tough error and nearly another one the next batter. (They changed the scoring. Of course, I inked the error on the scorecard.) Yet another hit batter loaded the bases. Daniels doubled two of them in. His shot looked like a home run off the bat. The centerfielder thought it did, too. He pulled up short as it landed in front of him at the wall.
Another hit batter loaded the bases. Samuel would throw out a runner at the plate on a grounder for a little redemption and for the first out of the inning. However, Brandon Clizbe cleared the bases with a double. After a walk, Vest drove in Clizbe with a single, but was thrown out at second trying to turn it into a double. A reliever came in to get the last out. 13-1 Aggies.
Adam went after the home plate ump in the inning for not showing the count, which caused some confusion on the scoreboard, which nobody could see anyway since the sunlight was on it. (We need a new scoreboard at Baseball.) The ump was having busy day with the batters playing games with the pitch clock. Cut him a little slack.
Some members of the Volleyball team were here. I didn’t recognize a couple of them. They were tall and nice-looking, so I assumed they were on the team. Definitively on the team, Maggie Lightheart and Bella Castro walked by a couple of times. They looked glam. Michael mentioned meeting a short, White basketball player last night with Volleyball. I think it was Emma Christiano from what he said. I thought I saw her last weekend in serious incognito mode. I had told Michael about yesterday’s disastrous Women’s Basketball game. Good thing she wasn’t here today; I would have probably wanted to talk to her about it.
I decided to hit the bathroom in the top of the fifth. Under the stands, I met Trey Reese. He was slowly roasting wearing his "lucky" vest that the Aggies had won three straight games in and was enjoying the shade. We compared notes on work this week: I was missing food taken by my co-workers. His company was slowing growth, though not yet endangering his job. Obviously, we have widely different responsibilities at work. I completely missed the half inning, but was listening on the radio and managed to remember it going back to my seat. I was also distracted by a hot chick wearing shorts, a tank top, and cowboy boots.
Turner gave up a couple of singles in the top of the fifth, but worked out of it. The Panthers actually worked a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth against the Aggies. Turner did likewise in the top of the sixth. It was a brief rest for the Aggie bats. They came back in the bottom of the sixth with five straight singles. There were also 2 more errors. On one of them, a single got past the centerfielder to allow another base. The Aggies got 3 more runs before a reliever came in to finally finish the inning with a double play ball. 16-1 Aggies.
Michael asked if this game was under a run rule. He wanted to get lunch. I think the Aggies wanted an early lunch, too (myself, as well). A lot of the crowd had cleared out by this point. Maybe they had gotten hungry. Turner allowed a single to start the seventh. He struck out the next two batters, though he had to talk Coach Angier into letting him stay in. Jaden Davis was brought in for some work. He gave up a single, but a flyout ended the game. Aggies win, 16-1.
Tariq Freeny (who Adam said will be coming back to play later) and Rogers on the Aggies went over to shake hands with someone on the Prairie View team (he was wearing a jacket). This led to both teams lining up to shake hands, which was a good thing. The game finished in a tidy 2 hours and 40 minutes. Adam said the attendance was 956. The official scoring was 1,227. I don’t know why Adam and the official stats are so off.
Gameballs. Basilio Williams went 3 for 4 leading off for the Panthers. For the Aggies, Boston Vest was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI's, Steve Solorzano was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's, and Brandon Clizbe was 2 for 3 with 4 RBI's. (Strangely, again, no home runs.) Jack Turner picked up the win with 3 2/3 innings of scoreless pitching and 6 strikeouts. For myself, I think I correctly guessed the number of unearned runs in the game (6). Given the number the errors and runs in the game, I’m congratulating myself (also unearned).
I took off for Burger King. Granted, I had been cheated out of a Jimmie John’s sandwich during the week that I had really been looking forward to, but I had a great coupon that was about to expire. The burger was okay and the fries were excellent. The opponents next week will be tough, according to Adam, and the weather might not be as good. Hopefully, I’ll at least get out for another Sunday morning game.
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