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Show StatesmanSports Page 10 Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 Slam: Ags get win over Wildcats SectionF -continued from page 9 Answers To Today’s Crossword Puzzle! itsaboutlove.org ing Aggie offense as of late. Friday night marked the third time in a week the Aggies had put nine or more runs on the board, suggesting its midseason offensive improvement is here to stay. Singer said the team’s confidence was a lot higher than the first time they played WSU and the club has improved in all facets of the game since its first series with the Wildcats. Saturday One day after defeating Weber State for the first time this fall season, the Aggies surrendered a 7-2 lead in the bottom half of the seventh and final inning and fell to the Wildcats, 8-7. It was a frustrating loss for an Aggie team that felt the Wildcats were the beneficiaries of two very controversial calls in the final stanza. After surrendering walks to WSU’s first two batters, Aggie starting pitcher Cody Ferguson retired the next two Wildcat batters, leaving the Aggies one out away from the win. Catcher Jaimel Javier’s pickoff attempt to first base on the next at-bat appeared to be successful, and the Aggie fielders ran off the field in celebration of what they believed to be the final out. The Aggie euphoria was quelled moments later, however, when the infield umpire called the runner safe. Moments later another controversial call happened when Ferguson was called for a balk, which scored the tying run for the Wildcats. The Wildcats followed with a walk-off single that capped off the six-run rally and left the Aggie players more than a little irritated. “It appeared from my angle and everybody else’s angle he was out by at least two feet,” Singer said when asked about the runner who was called safe on the pickoff attempt. “I hate throwing that out there and saying that was the difference in the game, but it really was. I don’t usually like to pin that on the umpires like that but really, we played a perfect defensive game, offensively we executed the best we’ve executed all fall and it was really in the hands of the umpires.” Singer and Doyle both had two RBIs, leading yet another strong offensive performance by the Aggies. Singer, after connecting on Utah State’s first grand slam of the fall season the night before, went 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk and a run scored and drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the first inning. In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, USU was close again but was unable to even up the weekend series with the Wildcats as Weber State walked away with the final win. “I’ll put that out there that we are a better team than Weber,” Singer said. “There was just a couple things here and there that went their way. We just have to finish.” – majerusforpresident@yahoo.com MEN’S RUGBY Ags buck Broncos By TYLER HUSKINSON staff writer The USU men’s rugby defeated the Boise State Broncos Saturday, 33-21. The Broncos struck first on offense and put USU back on its heels by taking the opening kick methodically down the field for a score and two-point conversion. “I think we were gun shy,” said USU senior Josh Hanks. The Ags responded with a try and conversion of their own. The Broncos, however, were relentless and broke the tie with a scrum on a long goal line stand that led to a try and conversion. At the half, the teams were knotted up at 14. In the second half, the Aggies jumped out to a large lead, and it was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The Broncos pounded through a scrum and struck again, but it was too little too late as the Ags held off the comeback. Outside center Jacob “Gunny” Gunter led USU in all scores with two tries. Fullback Kade Roberson and flanker Jeremy Hanks also added tries of their own. Roberson sustained a concussion during the game and team president Teddy Smith said Roberson played his last game on Saturday. Saturday’s play of the game went to fly half Nate Anderson. Anderson picked up a loose ball, broke through the Broncos forward pack and six other tackles on his way to pay dirt. USU also added a penalty kick to account for its 33 points. “Our backline stepped it up,” Hanks said. Smith said the defensive players of the game were inside center Porter Macey, outside center Gunter and Brandon Griggs at wing. Smith said the team chemistry is good and the team sticks together. At the beginning of the season it’s a team goal to learn every players name, and nicknames are usually a result of this goal. “It helps so we’re not just calling for the ball during practice,” Smith said. This week in practice the team is working on getting the forwards and backs on the same page. “We can always count on our backs to perform well,” said Smith. USU will take the long ride to Ephraim next Saturday and will play the Snow College Badgers at 1 p.m. – ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu A different point of view D enial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These are the five stages of coping with a tragedy. I’d say that the denial stage began right about the time that New Mexico State was up 10-0 on Utah State during Saturday’s game. No way could New Mexico State, the very team USU demolished 47-2 a year ago, be hanging in a battle with this year’s Utah State team. After USU went up 17-10 on NMSU I think the denial took a step back for a bit, but when the red Aggies tied it back up at 17-17 that’s about the time anger set in. The offense was moving the ball, just not putting points on the board. To top that off, New Mexico State was winning the special teams battle by a landslide. Speaking of special teams, when New Mexico State took USU’s seventh consecutive punt back to the Aggies’ 29-yard line late in the fourth quarter, that is when the bargaining stage of coping began. Maybe NMSU could do something stupid and turn the ball over, or maybe they could botch the field goal and USU could win the game in overtime. If only USU hadn’t killed nearly every one of its big plays with penalties. USU couldn’t possibly lose to New Mexico State, could they? New Mexico State won, 20-17 ... Hello depression. Eligibility for a bowl game was a long shot for this season before it even started, but now it appears to be an idea that is dead and gone. Barring a miracle turnaround for the final seven games of this season, Aggie fans will get to bask in that sinking feeling of waiting another year to see a team reach bowl eligibility, a feat that few generations of USU football fans have witnessed. This is where acceptance, the final stage of coping, comes into play. For a team like USU that is working its way back to respectability after so many years of being down, there are going to be games that the Aggies should win that they’ll let slip away. Along with that, at some point there are going to be games that the Aggies have no business being in that they might come out and pull an upset victory. Basically, the 2009 Aggies don’t deserve to be written off yet when they’ve played four out of five games on the road and only suffered one real upsetting loss. A win against Nevada on Saturday or a road win against Fresno State puts USU right back into position to play itself into a bowl game. All the Aggies would have to do is the same thing New Mexico State did to them. While the offense is still top 20 in the nation, the defense remains a work in progress, but there is finally progress to be shown after the Ags held New Mexico State to only 230 yards of offense. Also, 17 of New Mexico States’ 20 points came via turnovers or special teams miscues by Utah State and little of the blame can be placed on the shoulders of the defense. One thing USU head coach Gary Andersen was very adamant about while he spoke at Monday’s Big Blue Club luncheon was that his approach to rebuilding the program will not change. There will be ups and there will be downs and the New Mexico State game was definitely one of the downs. For Aggie football fan’s sake, one can only hope that things do not reach a lower point than where they are now. I don’t think I’m alone in hoping that everyone in Logan can ditch the coping stages more often than two or three times a year and just enjoy some wins. $ĝĦē 'Ěĥ Erin Salmon 8ĠģĜĠĦĥĤ SOCCER &ĩġĖģĚĖğĔĖ " $ĒĝĠģĚĖ #Ħģğ •Scored gamewinning goal -ĚĜĖ /ĖħĖģ #ĖėĠģĖå in OT against Idaho Hailey Swenson TENNIS Matt Sonnenberg is a junior majoring in print journalism. Matt is an avid fan of Aggie athletics and can be found on the front row of every home football and basketball game. He can also be reached at matt.sonn@ aggiemail.usu.edu. Robert Turbin FOOTBALL •Career-high 184 rushing yards on 24 carries. A 7.7 ypc average Brad Singer BASEBALL •Was the Flight •Hit two home A Singles runs, including Champion in grand slam, to USU’s recent give USU first tournament 'MFYJCMF .JOVUF $MBTTFT season win over WSU ɩ BU 'JU :PVS 4DIFEVMF Go to www.aggietownsquare.com to place your :PV $IPPTF UIF 5JNF vote. Look for the poll. Be heard. |