Baseball Journal May 20-22, 2019

Short entry to clear these posts before Memorial Day weekend.

5-20-19

It was 40 degrees and wet and damp in Albuquerque.  “That’s hittin’ weather,” said the Chihuahuas and the Isotopes as they scored a combined 31 runs.  The pups won 21-10 and hit five home runs.  I said I wasn’t planning on doing anymore random baseball coverage, but I’ll make an exception when I hear or see something interesting happen on field.     

5-21-19

As great as the Chihuahuas’ offense was yesterday, they were actually completely upstaged by another PCL team that night, the Reno Aces.  They scored 25 runs.  Yasmany Tomas hit four home runs to go into the record books for that achievement. Matt Szczur hit for the cycle. 

The Padres’ radio broadcast was talking about these two teams playing each other tonight, while their parent clubs are playing each other too (the Padres and the Diamondbacks).  The Chihuahuas did lose to the Aces in El Paso, 10-7.  Tomas homered again and the pups had three.  They are averaging over two homers a game and are on pace to shatter the professional home run record.  Tangential trivia, two of three Aces’ outfielders were former Chihuahuas.

5-22-19

Two quick day games were on this afternoon.  The Aces beat the Chihuahuas at home 9-1.  Aces had four home runs, including one by Yasmany Tomas and one by baseball legend Cody Decker, who was pinch hitting.  The pups’ only run was off a home run.  Co-worker Chuck went to the game.  He’d been looking forward to it, but came back disillusioned.  He did like the hot dog meal he got there.  Dear Aggies Sports, take notes.  Good concessions can smooth over bad losses by your teams.

Meanwhile, and irritatingly at the same time, the Rangers were playing the Mariners.  When they said Joey Gallo and Willie Calhoun weren’t playing today, I went back to the Chihuahuas.  But, when that game quickly turned into a beat down, I tuned back to the much tighter Major League game.  The Rangers won 2-1.  Hunter Pence scored both runs, one by a solo homer and by being driven in by Nomar Mazara for an unearned run.  The Rangers made good use of an opener and the bullpen did well.  It was a quick two-and-a-half hour game.  I’m not anticipating a good season here, so I’ll note these victories when I can.

At work later, MLB.TV had a second free game for the day on.  (I didn’t bother with their afternoon game, since I was already listening to two games on the radio.  Also, I can’t get MLB.TV to work at home worth a crap.)  I watched a bit of the Yankees beating the Orioles.  Then I heard a bit of Flying Squirrels baseball.  Judging from what I’ve been hearing the last couple of years, the Giants farm system is crap.  And, yes, I am bragging about watching and listening to all this baseball.

Aggie Baseball Regular Season Recap

This season recap went way long, as I commented on games I wasn’t even at or watched or listened to.  That might be questionable.  I’m not any sort of baseball analyst, but I’ll make some general observations.  The team was 38-15 overall and 19-8 in conference.  I wish there was a run differential stat available on their website, because I’m sure it will show fairly easily how the Aggies won most of their games: by pounding their opponents into submission.

That said, I wish they could have had Caleb Henderson for the season, because they could have been much better.  There were many times they put a lot of runners on, but had trouble bringing them in.  Starting pitching was good.  I just wish they’d had even just a marginal starter on the team for those mid-week games.  Relief pitching had their moments, but were mostly leaning on the Aggie offense to carry the team to victory or, unfortunately, giving up the lead.  Aggie fielding was atrocious at times with too many errors.  These guys were a team.  In all aspects, they tended to succeed or fail as a unit.

My favorite games this season were Opening Day and the game against the Lobos here in Las Cruces.  They were festive fun atmospheres with lots of happy fans.  Overall, I’d pick the Xavier win, the win over the Lobos in Albuquerque, and the April 30 win over Arizona as the team’s best wins.  Their best series was definitely against Seattle U.  The low points were, for me, that run rule loss at home to UTRGV and that final game loss to CBU.

Regular Season Recap

2-15-19 vs Texas Southern Tigers: I was there for Opening Day!  It was the first of the cross-scheduling issues with Softball.  The Aggies won in a blow out.  Nick Gonzales and Joey Ortiz set the tone as they both went 5 for 5.

2-16-19 vs Texas Southern Tigers: I was at Softball because of cross-scheduling.  The baseball team scored 24 and 38 runs respectively to win their DH.

2-17-19 vs Texas Southern Tigers: Again I was at Softball.  The game was interrupted by a Braden Williams’ home run coming on to the field.  TS agreed to a run rule before this game, which was a good idea as the Aggies routed them again.

2-22-19 vs Yale Bulldogs: Huge winds were blowing for this game.  Then it started raining and then the temperature dropped below zero.  I was glad I wasn’t there.  The Aggies still crushed it. 

2-23-19 vs Yale Bulldogs: First mention of Emerson in the blog.  The Aggies won Game 1 in a blowout.  Nick and Joey were still lighting it up.  Unfortunately, it was so cold, I got sick and ended up going home between games.  I listened to the Aggies lose a low-scoring game over the radio in Game 2.

2-24-19 vs Yale Bulldogs: Aggies got an unearned blowout win after committing four errors.  Chance Hroch was steady pitching though.

2-26-19 at Texas Tech: The Red Raiders did the impossible and shutout the Aggies.

3-1-19 vs Delaware Blue Hens: Wow!  What a uniform!  For a team with a weird name, they’ve got some fashion sense.  The Aggies took out their frustration over that shutout loss on the Blue Hens with a clubbing. 

3-2-19 vs Delaware Blue Hens: Ron and I missed Game 1 to be at Women’s Basketball.  It was a blowout.  We got there for Game 2.  The Blue Hens had another great uniform on.  The Aggies won this one in another blowout.  Chris Jefferson pitched well here as the starter.  What happened to this guy during the rest of the season?  He basically disappeared.

3-3-19 vs Delaware Blue Hens: After seeing yet another great uniform, I wanted some Blue Hens merch.  Really, you guys looked good.  The Aggies came on late to win this one going away.

3-8-19 vs La Salle Explorers: Another game that was best watched over the Internet because of poor weather.  There was even a short rain delay before the end.  This was a good back-and-forth game, but the Explorers prevailed by a run. 

3-9-19 vs La Salle Explorers: The Aggies won Game 1.  I praised the bullpen in my post.  They won again in Game 2.  Tristen Carranza hit two homers in the game.  Logan Bottrell was 7 for 7 at one point in the double header. 

3-10-19 vs La Salle Explorers: I formally met Associate AD Herb Taylor.  He thought I worked for the team.  Under a threat of rain, the Aggies blew this one out late in the game.  Joey had two home runs and Jason Bush hit a big three-run homer.

3-13-19 at ASU Sundevils: The Aggies ran out three of their starting pitchers for this game in limited outings, but lost.

3-15 to 17-19 at Nebraska Cornhuskers: (No coverage) This series was canceled for snow.  The Aggies were probably hoping to get at least win one and boost their RPI.  Without this series, the program may not have played enough games to even be considered for an at-large NCAA bid.

3-17-19 at Xavier Musketeers: This was a pickup makeup game as both teams happened to be in the same area in Arizona at the same time.  This was a great win against a flamethrower future Major League pitcher.   

3-19-19 at Arizona Wildcats: The Aggies lost a slugfest in Tucson.

3-22-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: This game went back-and-forth a couple of times.  Ultimately, the Aggie bullpen couldn’t stop CSUB from scoring and the Aggies took the loss.

3-23-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: After that hard loss last night, the Aggies came back with a 23-1 win.  Let that sink in.

3-24-19 vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners: Chance had a rare bad outing.  The bullpen had issues, but Aggie bats hammered out a home run barrage to win this four-plus hour game.

3-26-19 vs UNM Lobos: Wow, I was there on a weeknight for a packed house rivalry match.  It was awesome.  The Aggies started the game with a Tristan Peterson grand slam.  The Aggies crushed the Lobos.  I got to listen to some co-ed girls talk about their sex lives.

3-29 to 31-19 at Chicago St Cougars: (No coverage) The Aggies took two of three.  That third game was a run rule shutout.  It may have been Chance’s best start of the season, only giving up one hit.

4-5-19 vs GCU Lopes: Errors did the Aggies in tonight as the Lopes took the first game of this big series.

4-6-19 vs GCU Lopes: I missed seeing more of Basia Query playing softball next door for this game.  At least the Aggies won this one to make me feel a little better.

4-7-19 vs GCU Lopes: This was a one-run game until the bottom of the eighth, when Logan Ehnes broke it open with a grand slam homer.  Chance nearly worked a complete game.  (Apparently this game was more important than the last home game, where the Aggies could have won sole possession of a regular season championship.)  Ron recovered Ehnes’ ball and returned it to him.  Logan then kissed his girlfriend Emerson.  I was heartb . . . nah, not really.  It’s cool.

4-9-19 at Texas Tech: The Aggies showed some fight here, but against the #11 team in the nation, Red Raider pitching and hitting mostly dominated.

4-12-19 vs Northern Colorado Bears: Bear Jack Pauley hit the first ball I’ve seen go over the batter’s eye.  The Aggies came back four times in the game to win a close one.

4-13-19 vs Northern Colorado Bears: Carranza put one over the batter’s eye to start the game.  Pauley’s shot yesterday must have inspired him.  Justin Dehn won a shutout here.

4-14-19 vs Northern Colorado Bears: We had a Brooke Salas sighting at the ballpark today.  The Aggies started off the game with a nine-run first inning, which included a grand slam.  Unfortunately, that was not the end of this very long error-prone game as the Bears came back.  At one point, there were 21 total runs scored, 15 were unearned.  The Aggies won on a run rule in this four-hour game.

4-16-19 at UNM Lobos: This five-hour epic took ten innings to decide.  The Aggies got out to a big lead, but gave it all back.  Coach Green got ejected arguing a call.  Ehnes had two clutch hits in the game. 

4-18-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: The Aggies won in a run rule rout in this one.

4-19-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: Five errors did the Aggies in in this close game for a loss.  I was listening to this game with Ron after we’d watched Softball in the evening. 

4-20-19 at Utah Valley Wolverines: I listened to the end of this game at while at a Softball game because it ran so long.  The Aggies kept getting the lead in this game, but couldn’t put the Wolverines away until the very end and by only a run.

4-23-19 vs Sul Ross State Lobos: Grrr . . . This game never happened, literally, as far as the record books are concerned.  Let’s just move on.

4-26-19 at Sac St Hornets: This was another big series for top spot in the conference.  I found out they have food trucks at the Sacramento stadium and I’m still jealous.  Brock Whittlesey maybe pitched his best game here, but the Hornets won.  Aggie relief pitching and an enormous number of Aggie runners left on base were the problem here.   

4-27-19 at Sac St Hornets:  No problem with the offense here as the Aggies pounded out an easy win.

4-28-19 at Sac St Hornets: The Aggies won a low-scoring super-tight game. 

4-30-19 at Arizona Wildcats: The Aggies won an epic four-and-a-half hour slugfest 15-13.  I have to put the score here, because was so excited I apparently forgot to do so in my original post.  This was probably the team’s biggest win of the year.  TC had the big blow with a three-run homer.  Whitt probably saved the day with a critical late relief appearance.    

5-3-19 vs vs UTRGV Vaqueros: It was another big series.  There were several good teams in the WAC fighting for first.  The Aggies went down by five early, but came back to win huge. 

5-4-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros: How do you score 11 runs in a game and still get run ruled in your own park?  It was not a banner day for Aggie pitching. 

5-5-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros: Ron and I were at a Chihuahuas game during this one.  Chance came out and pitched a seven-inning shutout.  The Aggie offense scored 10 runs in this bounce back, run rule win.

5-10-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: The Aggies killed it today with 21 runs in a runaway win.

5-11-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: Another double-digit win for the Aggies.

5-12-19 at Seattle U Redhawks: Yet another double-digit win for the Aggies.  The SU announcers and myself were very impressed with the team in this series.

5-13-19 at Washington Huskies: Back to earth with this loss to the Huskies.  The Aggies did put up a heck of a fight though and made it close at the end.  A little better pitching and they would have had a chance.

5-16-19 vs CBU Lancers: I met Chico, the Chihuahuas’ mascot, at the game.  Who would have figured on that happening at an Aggie game?  The Aggies lost a close one.

5-17-19 vs CBU Lancers: I met Striking the Wonder Dog at the game.  My life is now complete.  The Aggies won this one in a run rule blowout.  This win would secure the #1 seed at the tournament and a regular season co-championship.

5-18-19 vs CBU Lancers: Blurgh . . . And there went my lunch.  I don’t even want to discuss this loss.

NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Baseball 5-18-19

It was weird seeing the baseball field this early in the morning.  Also, it felt like Sunday, but it was actually Saturday.  Ron and I were still confused from the scheduling this week.  The first thing Ron did when he picked me up was to rave about yesterday’s pizza.  It was that good.  Thanks, Zeffiro Pizzeria Napoletana in the Las Cruces Downtown Mall.  Unfortunately, we got some bad vibes right after Ron pulled in to park by abandoned dorm rooms as he’s done most of the season.  A policeman showed up and asked him to move out of the service parking area, which isn’t used at all.  At least that’s all there was to the issue.

This was the last time we got to use our Aggie Country Passes at the gate.  I had figured (12-15-18) that I’d only need to go to three Aggie events this semester to make that $140 pass pay off.  Since that time, I’ve been to at least 35.  Ron only got to see a handful of events last semester, but his paid off as well.  I went to about 55 games on that pass, so I’m going to be looking for another one of those passes next school year.  I picked up one of the senior buttons at the courtesy table inside.  I think it’s Caleb “Don’t call me Earle” Henderson, who’s been injured most of the season. 

So far, it was 1-1 between the conference’s best pitching team, CBU, versus one of the nation’s best hitting teams, NM State.  It was a true rubber match.  However, GCU had lost later at night yesterday, so the Aggies do have the number one seed at the WAC Tournament next week regardless of today’s outcome.  If the Aggies won today, they’d be outright winners of the regular season.  Otherwise, they’d be sharing the title with CBU and GCU.

I was missing Emerson already.  Seeing her was truly a reason to come out to the ballpark.  She was a flurry of activity before the game (and after).  Another great crowd came out for this game.  That was expected with Senior Day.  The big guy fan was here.  Him and another fan talked about Tom for a minute.  He apparently travels to some away games and sleeps in his truck. 

   

I hoped today’s Lancer starter, Andrew Bash, didn’t remember getting hit in the head yesterday while batting.  He would be batting for himself today.  I kind of impressed with him.  One of the CBU catchers was in the dugout, sitting on a bucket, grooving to Justin Timberlake’s Take Back the Night over the PA.  So, some of the players were loose.  Coach Adcock was late delivering the lineup card to the plate.  He took senior Ryan Mota with him as a nice gesture. 

Over the radio, Coach Green, in the pregame, said he was looped out on pain medication for his foot.  This might explain some of his decisions in this game.  Senior Bruno Teramoto started as DH.  I think a pinch hitting role might have been a better idea.  Then there’s what happened later, but we’ll get to that.  The moms of the seniors threw out the first pitches to their sons to start the game.  

On the first batter of the game, Joey Ortiz made an uncharacteristic error at short.  This seemed like the first indicator that the Aggie guys were playing tight.  Undefeated Chance Hroch just pitched right around that, no problem.  In the bottom, the Aggie dugout was good and loud.  Logan Bottrell started the inning with a four-pitch walk, but the start of a rally was killed with a double play. 

Bash helped himself out leading off in the second by homering to left field.  1-0 CBU.  Chance is a pure groundball pitcher, so that was unexpected.  Nick Gonzales probably should have gotten an error on the next batter.  But, Eric Mingus made a great quick turn on a grounder on the following batter and got the runner at second.  Nick also made a quick turn to get the runner at first and finish the double play.  The Aggies answered in the bottom off a single by Tristen Carranza and a run-scoring single by Braden Williams.  1-1.  Bruno did not use his old walkup music with his own name in the song.  I was disappointed. 

I had too much water before the game and had to retreat to the bathroom between innings.  I missed the I Scream contest.  Ron told me I didn’t miss anything, but I feel like I made a mistake.  Some pretty girls of varying ages were sitting in front of us.  One was a player girlfriend.  Another was maybe a player’s younger sister with tremendous hair.  Then a woman and her two kids came in.  She reminded me of an attractive co-worker.  She was wearing a pair of loose short shorts and was seated in a . . . how to say this . . . man-spreading pose, which for a woman looks like she’s inviting everyone to come on in.  She left after a few innings.  I nudged Ron, “Thank God she left.  Now I can watch the game again.”  Yeah, he’d noticed her too.  That was too much of a blatant distraction.

Chance worked around a walk for a scoreless third.  Botts walked again to start the bottom of the third.  After two fly outs, Carranza was hit hard enough that he seemed to get angry.  I feel like there was something going on there sub textually.  Tristan Peterson drove in Botts with a single to make it 2-1 Aggies.  The Aggies got another double play to end the top of the fourth.  The bottom of the Aggie order went down with two strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth.   

For the second inning in a row, Chance walked the leadoff batter in the fifth.  Peterson made a good play to get the lead runner on a grounder.  After a single with two on, Botts made a great diving, rolling catch in center to end the inning.  This guy is not playing like he has a back that could give out at anytime.  The wind and sun were causing fielding problems.  The CBU shortstop and centerfielder made good plays on difficult flyballs to end the fifth.

Coach Adcock had argued lightly on a close play earlier in the game.  To start the sixth, he came out to argue another close play at first.  The ump tossed him immediately to the cheers of the crowd.  He had it coming after accusing Justin Dehn of cheating in the last game.  Chance had no problem this inning.  I think Emerson was back in the Dino Dash suit for the pocket contest between frames.  She looked uncomfortable.  I’m not sure why they needed the suit for that contest. 

If it was her in there, she got out of that suit quick, as Peterson cranked a home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth.  Emerson tossed out home run t-shirts for the last time this season.  Peterson’s homer went to left center.  Two fielders converged on the ball, but couldn’t find it as it eventually flew over the fence.  The wind must have caught that one and sent it over.  3-1 Aggies.  Bash was taken out as the pitcher, but remained in the batting order as the DH. 

Chance was only at 78 pitches to start the seventh.  Mingus had an error, but Braden threw out the runner trying to steal second, so the inning only went three batters.  I saw Analise de la Roca from the Softball team enter the stands.  I’d seen her here over the last couple of days, but didn’t see any of the rest of the team today.  Hmm . . . I wonder if she’s going out with someone on the baseball team.  It was a bit nippy with a cool breeze kicking up.  Some girls were wearing jackets.  I was glad I was wearing three layers, including my Aggie Baseball jersey.  I saw a girl wearing a CBU jersey. 

The Aggies had a single in the bottom, but didn’t score.  I noticed a lady moved in below us that I think was Nick’s mom.  Adam Young, on the radio, reported that Verizon, the university’s Internet provider was down because of repairs to the tower at the football stadium.  He was unable to get out-of-town scores.  Below us, the player’s girlfriend was somewhat panicking until the problem was fixed. 

Chance Hroch was taken out of the game next inning.  He had been cruising along and was well under 100 pitches.  Adam speculated that he was taken out early to pitch in the WAC Tournament next week.  Senior Andrew Edwards came in to pitch the eighth.  He’d had an eventful but scoreless inning on Thursday.  I can see what the coach was thinking here to let the senior pitch on Senior Day, but he didn’t seem to be looking at the scoreboard or at his bullpen’s, much less Edwards’, stats when he made this decision.  If the Aggies had had a bigger lead I might be okay with this, but . . . 

What happened next was almost predictable.  I don’t even want to remember this inning.  If only the concession stand sold hemlock.  (They’d probably screw it up anyway.)  13 Lancers came to the plate as they scored 7 runs.  Four Aggie pitchers had come in to finish it.  The CBU fans roared during the massacre.  A group of Little Leaguers did work up a cheer for the Aggies.      

Edwards hit his first batter, but wasn’t helped by his defense, as Mingus committed a second error.  After giving up the lead without getting an out, Wyatt Kelly came in and also didn’t get an out after facing two batters.  Keaton Graf, the more-or-less closer, came in.  He didn’t do much better until he got the first out of the inning on the eighth batter.  That strikeout was questionable, if not pitiable, as the zone was called all over the place.  He was taken out after a final hit that should have been scored as another error on Joey.  Aldo Fernandez had to come in and get the final out, and even then Braden got hurt on one of his warm up pitches.  8-3 Lancers.

Braden sac’d in a run in the bottom of the eighth, but was all of the comeback.  Aldo came back in for the ninth.  At this point, I was actually more worried about the Lancers piling on more runs than the Aggies coming back.  Peterson made a good jump catch for the first out.  The Aggies honored Bash’s hitting and intentionally walked him with a runner on.  The bases were then loaded when Aldo balked in a run.  Alex Reyes had to come in.  Thankfully, the Aggies turned their third DP to end the inning.  The Aggies went down quietly in the bottom.  Lancers win 9-4.         

                     

Strangely, everything added up easily on my scorecards for this three-game series.  I am getting better at this?  Unlikely.  It was probably being able to listen to the radio call for all the games.  Let’s take stock here.  The Aggies won part of a three-way share of the conference regular season, instead of winning it outright.  They broke their unbeaten Sunday streak, Chance’s winning streak, winning games Chance started, and winning every series this season.  This ranks right up there with the last two years’ final game losses (5-19-18 and 5-20-17).

Let’s hand out some gameballs.  Andrew Bash for the Lancers had a good day pitching, but probably a better day hitting, going 2 for 4 with a home run.  For the Aggies, Tristan Peterson continued his torrid hitting going 2 for 2 with a home run and 2 RBI’s.  Braden Williams didn’t have a hit, but drove in the Aggies’ other two runs.  What can you say about Chance Hroch, other than he should have gotten the win here?  He went 7 innings and only gave up 3 hits and 1 run.  If only the coach had wanted to win this game as much as Chance did.  Coach Green said afterward, “We didn’t get it done today.”  I hope he was including himself there.     

In general, Aggie hitting run into good pitching today and didn’t do well, but weren’t shutout.  They made some good plays in the field, but also should have been charged with five errors, not three.  As good as Chance was, the relief pitching was uniformly bad.  I can only hope that losing this game motivates them to win the tournament, like last years’ bad loss did, but this team seems to have some real exploitable flaws.  Going for the win here would have silenced some doubts rather than magnifying them. 

Senior Ceremony

The stands cleared right after the game, though there were friends, family, and a few hardcores (myself, Ron, and a few others) remained.  CBU’s seniors were announced.  Their team celebrated on field twice after the game.  Thankfully, they left right after.  If there was some bad blood during this series, it’s definitely going to carry over to next season. 

The seniors and their families were brought out one at a time with their accomplishments announced.  They were given giant silver baseball card plaques.  Bruno Teramoto’s family wasn’t there (being in Brazil).  Emerson rushed over to walk him out until Eric Mingus’ family joined him.  He’s lived with a couple of player host families here.  Tristen Carranza’s resume with the Aggies was impressive.  If only I’d had time to write it out.

Coach Green was almost too choked up to talk as he discussed each of the 11 seniors.  It looked like half the team was leaving, especially since Joey Ortiz is eligible to be drafted.  The coach spoke about Mingus not playing at all as a junior and told the bench players that he should be an inspiration to them for working hard.  Bruno was praised for being a great teammate with a great attitude and for his hard work.  A scout had told the coach to recruit Bruno because he was going to be a great Brazilian politician someday.  Caleb Henderson, while he wasn’t able to play much this year because of injury (though he might figure into the tournament), was called the “team captain.”

Brock Whittlesey’s unbelievable relief efforts in last years’ WAC tournament championship (5-26-18 and 5-27-18) were brought up.  Justin Dehn got a shutout win over Alabama last year and beat the Lobos three times in his career.  The coach teased Andrew Edwards.  His playing status was a bit up in the air, so he didn’t get a card right now.  The coach said he just wanted to come back next year and get another ceremony.  Then the coach completely lost it on Tristen Carranza and could barely speak.

The college Chancellor was there for the ceremony.  The coach had the guys put on black gowns and hats and announced each of them as they shook the Chancellor’s hand.  The coach seemed incredulous that some of them had actually graduated.  The players then tossed their hats in the air.  Coach Green invited everyone out to the RV’s for dinner.  That was nice of him, and I must admit, he did a good job of making me feel better after that terrible loss.  As me and Ron walked out, we passed by a girl with a small dog wearing a vest that said, “Emotional Support Animal.”  I might have laughed other days, but today I wouldn’t minded having one myself. 

Ron and I felt better about things after filling meals over at Jack-in-the-Box.  I had an Ultimate Cheeseburger.  When we pulled up, I pointed at the sign out front advertising a triple-decker burger meal deal.  “I think they saw you coming,” I said.  Well, this was it for in-person Aggie sports until the fall.  It was kind of bummer way to finish, but there’s still the tournament to listen to and we’ve got another year of memories.

NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Baseball 5-17-19

I didn’t think things could get better after meeting Chico yesterday, but here I was on Friday petting the Aggie celebrity tee-retrieving dog, Striking the Wonder Dog.  It was his birthday, so they were celebrating it at the park.  What a great idea!  They were handing out dog treats and buttons up front for the occasion.  Ron, who was with me, got the treats for his dogs and I got the button.    

It was sunny and warm today, but breezy.  It was blowing out, so the fans were okay, but pitchers were going to be in some discomfort.  Shockingly for a Friday afternoon game, a great crowd showed up.  I was afraid CBU fans were going to outnumber Aggies fans, but there more people here than last night.  There was a whole section filled with kids wearing t-shirts with “Bell (hearts) NM State.”  That guy that comes around various Aggie games wearing black leather, no matter the temperature, was in a gray suit today.  It was a full suit with a vest even.  He was also wearing jackboots like he was going riding later.  There was another guy who was wearing a tattered airline captain’s shirt.  It felt like these guys came out of central casting.  

There was a three-way tie for first after yesterday’s games, so it was all still on the line today.  Not to say it was all serious.  Coach Green and the CBU Coach Gary Adcock were chatting on field during the Aggies’ infield practice.  Some of the Lancers players were ogling intern Emerson working in the Aggie dugout.  I’ve done the same, so no blame there.  On the other hand, a couple of other pretty girls were with her, along with Striking, so they might have looking at them too. 

One of the cute girls was a reporter.  She set up a camera to record Striking delivering the first pitch, which he did, like a boss, a dog boss.  She set up in the stands later and took some shots.  The reporter tried doing a read in front of the camera a couple of times, but was interrupted by the crowd cheering (during a CBU home run, ironically) and Aggie player walkup music.  She held up a ball during her monologue, which Ron said was in Spanish.  That was the first pitch ball.  She took it with her when she left.       

Bang!  After Justin Dehn had hit the first CBU batter of the game, Ryan Mota came up third as a powerful gust of wind kicked up.  Mota’s swing and the wind blew the ball clear out over dead center.  2-0 CBU just like that.  Logan Bottrell didn’t even move out in centerfield as the ball went over his head.  The wind was blowing out for the Aggies too.  After Joey Ortiz doubled and Tristen Carranza was hit by a pitch, Tristan Peterson slapped one over the batter’s eye.  That was a monster shot by distance, but it didn’t look like he’d hit it that hard.  It just kept carrying in the wind.  3-2 Aggies.

Dehn started the second inning with a strikeout.  Coach Adcock came out on field and consulted with the home plate ump.  In turn, the ump called the other two umps over and they went to the mound and asked to see Dehn’s hat.  They checked the brim, presumably for a foreign substance.  Finding none, the game was resumed . . . with the crowd yelling and the Aggie dugout howling louder than I have ever heard them before.  Adam Young, with the radio call, said he’d never heard of that kind of inspection in a college game.  I’m thinking Coach Green just mentally marked Coach Adcock off his Christmas card list.

I was sitting next to some vocal CBU fans.  I think they were trying to out-cheer Tom, who was in the next section.  Dehn gave up a single to start the third.  The wind gusted again when Mota came up to the bat, but he was walked this time.  John Glenn doubled in a run to tie the score.  In the break, a little bitty kid and his mom came out for the window toss contest.  The kid didn’t like all the attention and started crying and holding on to his mom.  Poor little guy. 

In the bottom of the third, people were still coming in.  It was free admission for faculty and staff today.  A group of about ten came in and sat down around me and Ron.  Ron got up and left to chase fouls.  I wanted to leave too as I was wedged in, but I had to wait.  Since I was keeping a scorecard, I was too busy to get up.  The Aggies had a good inning.  They loaded the bases twice before making an out.  There was an error as a bad throw spoiled a force out.  The bases were loaded again with two outs.  By the time the dust cleared, the Aggies had scored 9 runs and were leading 12-3.

Dehn got a hand in ending the fourth inning, as he redirected a grounder.  Joey stayed with it and tossed it to Nick Gonzales at second, who turned it to Peterson at first.  It was the old 1-6-4-3 double play.  Some Softball players came in this inning.  Nice of them to keep supporting the baseball guys.  The Aggies didn’t score in the bottom, but Eric Mingus did hit the outfield wall on a double.

Dehn worked a quick fifth.  The Aggies had another big inning in the bottom.  They scored four, three off of another three-run homer by TP, who wiped up the bases.  16-3 Aggies.  The school kids had to leave, but I think they’d seen plenty.  Dehn worked into trouble in the sixth.  He’d loaded the bases and gave up a run before giving way to Chris Barraza.  CB walked his first batter to force in a run.  Mingus ended the inning with a great double play.  He caught a grounder, tagged a passing runner, and managed to throw out the runner at first.  16-6 Aggies.

It was a dog day at the park.  I think pretty much every gameday is at this point.  Two adorable wiener dogs came in in the bottom of the sixth that caught my eye.  After a walk and two hit batters in the bottom of the sixth, who came up next?  There’s Peterson again, banging in two more runs with a single.  Barraza closed it out in the seventh for a run ruled 18-6 Aggie victory!

This was a great bounce back game for the Aggies after yesterday’s tough loss.  Tristan Peterson had a monster day.  He went 4 for 5 with 8 RBI’s (!) and two three-run home runs.  Tristen Carranza also had a good day with 4 RBI’s.  I think your stat of the day is 7.  That’s the number of pitchers that the Lancers went through in six innings.  The game only went about two hours and forty-five minutes, but it felt a bit longer. 

It was still bright and sunny when Ron and I left.  I made a suggestion to go to Zeffiro’s Pizza Napoletana downtown.  We’d been to the Zeffiro’s New York on University several times, but the other one has a different pizza menu, since it’s a more upscale restaurant.  I’d already picked out the Prosciutto pie online.  We found out that there was some kind of beer festival going on downtown, but were able to get around it to get to the restaurant.     

In short, the pizza was awesome.  The crust and toppings were perfect.  The service was great too.  The price was actually good too.  One large pizza, a salad (for Ron), and a lemonade cost less than two small burgers, one small order of fries, and two milkshakes at Five Guys.  Ron thanked me for suggesting the meal afterward.  While Ron and I were having ice cream at Wienerschnitzel afterward, we both had the similar sensation of being confused as to what day it was.  It was a bit odd being out on a sunny Friday early evening having just watched a ballgame.    

NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Baseball 5-16-19

It was Chihuahuas Day at Presley Askew Stadium today, if you couldn’t tell from the picture.  Yes, I finally met the man . . . err . . . dog himself, Chico.  Hey, when they say it’s Chihuahuas Day at the stadium and you’re the only one there in a Chihuahuas shirt and hat, you get posted on the team Instagram.  When I told one of my co-workers, he looked up the picture, liked it, and forwarded it to his girlfriend.  I got my 15 seconds of Internet fame.

I was taking this Thursday and Friday off from work for the final Aggie Baseball home series of the year.  Ron wasn’t able to really get time off from his job, but was still going to be going with me.  For this evening game, we had an early dinner beforehand at Sonic.  It’s not my usual choice, because I’m not a fan of eating in cars.  However, they were recommended to me and that commercial for the Kings Hawaiian Bun Burger looked good.  In reality, it was awkward to eat in Ron’s car, the burger looked nothing like its pictures, but boy, was it good.  Thumbs up!

Ron did wear his new Chihuahuas camo floppy hat to the game.  I asked why he didn’t his division winner shirt that he got a couple of years ago.  He sheepishly admitted that he couldn’t fit into it anymore.  I feel like I’ve been a bad influence wanting to go out to fast food places before and after games.  I’ve had some trouble getting into my own pants lately.  The evening was warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze blowing.  There were two news vehicles in the parking lot.  This was a battle to win first place, or a share thereof, in conference.  The Aggies just needed to win one of these three final games to clinch the #1 seed in the tournament, since Cal Baptist University isn’t eligible for it. 

But never mind all that, I had another celebrity encounter before the game.  Coach Brian Green waved at me from the dugout while I was waiting outside the bathroom for Ron.  What a friendly guy.  Unfortunately for him, he’s had to go back to rolling around on that scooter for his bad foot.  Coach needs to take it easy for a while in the offseason to let that heal.  Also saw Nick Gonzales in the dugout.  I should have shouted to him that I voted for him 25 times on the Golden Spikes Award website, as directed by the team Twitter account.  It doesn’t make any sense to me why they let you vote 25 times a day, but okay.

Meanwhile on field, Chico was working it.  He chatted with the guys in the dugout.  He practiced his first pitch.  I think he actually wanted to play catch with Brock Whittlesey, who was warming up in the outfield.  Chico waved to the stands and was joined by the “Chicas,” the Chihuahuas’ cheerleaders.  They handed out posters to some kids.  Chico went over to the opposing dugout and turned around and waved his tail at them.  He made a snow angel on field.  He came into the stands and I got my picture taken with him.  Finally, Chico threw out the first pitch with two camera crews filming him. 

After all that, Chico kicked back in a seat in the grandstand afterward and interacted with some kids.  A good crowd showed up for the game.  CBU brought quite a few vocal fans.  Some of the Softball team came in for the game.  There were two groups of players, but they weren’t sitting together, though they did wave to each other. 

On field, Whitt, starting for the Aggies, ran into trouble right off the bat in the first.  The first five batters reached and three runs scored.  3-0 CBU.  Our first indicator of what would be an ongoing storyline for the game happened on Billy Rockefeller’s at bat.  With a full count and a close pitch, he ran to first.  A second later, the ump called him out for a looking strikeout.  In the bottom, Logan Rinehart, the CBU pitcher, had a warmup pitch deflect off the catcher and hit the ump.  I don’t think that improved the ump’s disposition.  Rinehart walked two batters, but got two strikeouts and the Aggies didn’t score.

To start the second, Chico and the Chicas threw some Chihuahuas’ stuff into the stands.  With that, they left for the night.  They did a great job.  Whitt came back with a 1-2-3 inning in the second.  With two out in the bottom, Eric Mingus was hit by a pitch.  Braden Williams walked next to advance him, and Logan Bottrell singled Mingus in to make it 3-1. 

CBU was for some reason allowed to set up their radar gun on the main walkway.  This caused issues during the whole series and was a general annoyance.  An older attendant for the stadium handed a foul ball to a kid sitting in front of us.  To this point, I’d seen him get a Chihuahuas’ poster and towel and a pair of Aggie sunglasses.  He was making out like a bandit.

The ump’s strikezone was getting inconsistent to the point that fans were complaining.  This started in earnest on the first batter of the third getting struckout and the CBU fans yelling.  Aggie fans would get their opportunities too.  The wind picked up and started blowing hard out.  This caused an adventure on a foul ball caught by Mingus in the third.  Neither team scored in the inning.  Rinehart did get a rare 1 unassisted out in the bottom.

“Is anyone wearing Chihuahuas gear?” announced PA Alexia for the Pocket Contest.  When no one got up immediately, I thought I’d finally participate in a giveaway, but the giveaway kid got up and showed his towel.  He actually ended up giving the bag away to another kid.  Good show.  The fourth inning was also scoreless.  Adam Young, on the radio call, diplomatically said the ump had an “interesting strikezone.”  Fans of both teams were getting angrier as the game was close.

CBU slugger, Ryan Mota, hammered a two-run homer in the fifth.  The team celebrated like a bunch of softball players, no offense to the girls.  5-1 CBU.  Whitt struggled through the rest of the inning, but ended it with a pair of strikeouts.  The Aggies went down without scoring in the bottom.  Nick hit a big popup that a troop of Little Leaguers started to run after.  The wind blew it back in for an out, and the kids returned to their seats. 

The kid down in front got another backpack in a giveaway.  He handed this one off to someone else, too.  It really pays to be a kid sitting in the front row.  A couple of guys moved in in the row below me.  One of them had a good-looking corn-in-a-cup from the concessions.  Grrr . . . that just pisses me off.  Why couldn’t I have gotten a good corn-in-a-cup this season?  Meanwhile, Ron had wandered off to “chase balls.”  I think what he actually did was sneak off to watch the series finale of The Big Bang Theory.  He denied it.

In the sixth, I finally gave up on my radio.  The static had gotten too bad to listen to.  I thought it was because I had another bad pair of ear pods, but I found out when I got home that I’d actually somehow knocked it one digit off station.  Dumb.  Whitt finally came out this inning after a four-pitch leadoff walk.  Wyatt Kelly finished off the inning. 

The older attendant came back to the kid and exchanged balls with him.  Did he get an autographed ball, too?  There was one crowd giveaway he didn’t get.  The fans were already cheering even before the announcement was made just from seeing the boxes.  They all wanted one of the two Lou Henson commemorative bobbleheads up for grabs.  I was intrigued here, but resisted.  I already have the Cody Decker bobblehead.  Do I really even need another bobblehead?   

In the bottom of the sixth, Logan Ehnes doubled and Tristan Peterson walked.  Kevin Jimenez worked an 0-2 count into a walk to load the bases.  Rinehart was chased and replaced with a new pitcher.  Braden Williams then singled in two runs to make it 5-3.  The best play of the inning though was the Little Leaguers bopping to Mingus’ walkup song at the railing like the guys in the dugout. 

For the top of the seventh, Andrew Edwards came in.  He loaded the bases around a strikeout.  Pitching Coach Anthony Clagget came out and said something “inspirational” to him.  Edwards came back shooting peas and ended the inning with a pair of strikeouts.  He was pumped coming off the mound and his girlfriend was screaming behind me.  It was good to see him do well after a questionable season of relief work.

The Aggies loaded the bases in the bottom, but weren’t able to score.  The Lancers had to bring in another reliever to finish the inning.  Harrison Spahn made a good play on a popup.  Three players converged on the ball, as Spahn fell backward catching it.  The crowd on both sides was getting downright surly with the ump’s strikezone.  He might need protection leaving the stadium.  I noticed the Aggie dugout had a ritual of touching the rim of the dugout with their hats when there were 2 outs and 2 strikes in the inning.  I’m doubtful it was working for much luck.

Aldo Fernadez came in for the eighth.  I like his play-in music, Bad Bunny’s Fuego.  After a walk, he nearly walked the next batter, who was trying to sacrifice the runner over.  He got through the inning.  His last looking strikeout was a beauty.  In the bottom, the ump had his mask off and gave the crowd a meaningful look after too many catcalls.  That didn’t stop the hecking though.  The Aggies got two on, but didn’t score again in the bottom.

In the ninth, Nick snagged a liner and started a double play to end the top of the inning.  PA Alexia asked the crowd to cheer to rally the team.  The CBU players with the radar gun cheered and stomped along with the crowd.  Were they being sarcastic?  It didn’t matter, the Aggies did not score and 5-3 Lancers was the final.

Ryan Mota and Andrew Bash had great games for CBU offensively.  (If Andrew’s nickname was “Crush” Bash, he’d have the best baseball name.)  For the Aggies, I’ll hand it to Andrew Edwards for his inning of relief.  Your stat of the game is Aggies 14 left on base, Lancers 12 left on base.  So, the Aggies’ bats could have been better, but the score could have also been worse.  Well, Ron got his just desserts for sneaking off to watch TV during the game.  His car got dinged by two foul balls.  I admit that if I hadn’t met Chico here, I might have regretted taking this day off, but that made it all worth it in retrospect.