Bengals can’t overcome five-run third, fall to Utah State
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POCATELLO — Idaho State starter Kasey Aguinaga battled her way through a difficult first but could not do the same in the third, surrendering a game-deciding pinch-hit grand slam to Utah State’s Kaylee Erickson.
Aguinaga allowed the first four Aggie batters to reach base, and was quickly facing a bases-loaded, no-out situation with a run already in. But the lefty coaxed a double-play grounder — allowing a second run to score — and ended the threat with minimal damage by getting a weak ground-out from the sixth Aggie hitter of the opening half-inning.
ISU Head coach Andrew Rich said he expected the game to be a high-scoring affair coming in, so he did not see the two-run first as a backbreaker. And he was proven right when his Bengals answered right back with a three-spot of their own bottom half.
Aguinaga (L, 8-3) was unable pull the same disappearing act when she found herself in a similar jam in the third, however, as Erickson cut through the swirling Pocatello winds for a grand slam to right-center adding to the one run Utah State had already scored in the frame, giving the Aggies a 7-3 lead.
Reliever Riley Wickum held the line there for the final 4-1/3 innings, and the Bengal bats set up several scoring chances. But they could get just two of the runs back, and fell, 7-5, at ISU’s Miller Ranch Stadium, Wednesday.
“I told our team, ‘They were one swing better than us today, that’s it,'” Rich said after the game.
Aguinaga had trouble finding the zone in the first inning, walking a pair of Utah State hitters. Mixed into the mess was a pitch the resulted in a foul ball but was ruled an illegal pitch by the field umpire, and the count was changed from 1-1 to 2-0. It was the first of what would be two such calls against Aguinaga — the second being much more costly.
Finding the zone and holding Utah State to two was a “big deal,” according to Rich.
“It gave us a chance, and obviously we came right back,” the coach said. … “It was definitely going to be one of those games, so her being able to limit the damage in that spot was huge.”
The Bengals wasted no time before answering.
RBI hits form Ava Brown and Kennedy Dudley, and a sacrifice fly form Olivia Robinson followed a walk from Gracie Smith and single from Alyssa Yee to start the frame. Like Aguinaga though, Utah State starter Emmalyn Brinka (W, 5-2) settled, striking out a pair to end the threat.
Both pitchers posted matching zeroes in the second, and it seemed Aguinaga was on her way to another scoreless inning in the third when she got Giselle Gonzalez on a groundout to start the third. But the 3-2 pitch was ruled illegal, resulting in a walk and a baserunner.
Rich said that the ruling from the field ump was that Aguinaga was losing contact with the pitching rubber before releasing her pitch. The mistake, he added, is a result of switching from dirt pitching circles to the turf circle at Miller Ranch Stadium.
“It’s something that she’s had to deal with all season, so she’s got to find a way to make an adjustment … so it doesn’t keep happening throughout the game,” Rich said.
Aguinaga was one pitch from escaping the jam yet again, with two down and ahead 0-2 on the pinch-hitting Erickson. But the 0-2 pitch was left up, and Erickson sent it over the wall near the scoreboard in right-center.
Wickum came on in relief and quickly ended the inning. She finished the game with three strikeouts and four hits allowed.
“Riley was fantastic,” Rich said. “She was pounding the zone. … For her to be in the zone the way she was, and kind of owning their hitters in those last few innings, it gave us a chance.”
The Bengal bats, held hitless through the third and fourth innings, began to make noise in the fifth, when Brown doubled and Robinson walked to start things. They got nothing from the rally, though.
They tested Brinka and Utah State again in the sixth, getting back-to-back pinch-hit doubles from Jenna Kearns and Ashlee LaRue to start things.
ISU scored two runs in the inning, but the chance for more was extinguished by a double play.
The Bengals stranded the bases loaded in the second, then left two on to end the fifth. All told, they left nine runners on base. That, according to Rich, is an issue that must be remedied.
“Our offense is always very capable of putting up big numbers,” the coach said. “We’re struggling a little bit right now — we’ve got some things we need to clean up in the next week, before we start conference play.”
He said, the quality of the at-bats “went down a little bit” with runners on and in scoring position. He is looking for his team to “replicate what is working, from one hitter to the next hitter,” then, he said, the offense will get back to scoring runs in bunches
ISU has one more week of non-conference games, first a three-game set with Saint Mary’s this weekend, then a one-gamer with Nevada next Tuesday. After that, they go to Sacramento State to kick off Big Sky play.
Over the next week, Rich said he wants to see his team get back to “our brand” of “good, clean softball”:
“I want to see us scoring in more innings. I want to see us being more productive when the situation dictates it.”
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