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Sunday - March 5, 2006

Game 17: Texas at Las Vegas

I listened to the game on the radio and kept score. Again, things did not go well. The line:

																			R	H	E
Texas			3	2	2			0	0	2			2	0	0		-		8	13	2
Las Vegas			1	3	0			0	0	3			0	0	2		-		9	11	1

Things went back and forth a bit. But, when it came down to it, Texas could not shut the door. Keith Moreland commented on a couple of rules violations committed by UNLV. I wonder if anything will be done about them? He commented several times that the pitcher's mound is much higher than the rules allow. He said it looks to be about 24 inches high. The rules specify that it should be 15 inches high. He also wondered, in the top of the 8th, why UNLV had not turned the lights on because it was getting dark and you're not allowed to turn them on during an inning. But, in the bottom of the 8th, during play, the lights came on. He also commented on two separate occasions that UNLV pitchers had clearly balked and neither instance was called by the umps. Things that make you go hmmmm...

Anyway...on to the game.

Adrian Alaniz got the start and threw for 6 innings. He struggled quite a bit in the first two innings. He went 2-0 to the first three batters he saw and allowed an earned run. His defense backed him up well, though. But, that was just the first inning. In the second, he gave up a double to the first batter (Gailen). But, Gailen did have to fight for it. He was then bunted over to 3b. The third batter was hit by a pitch. The batter made no move to avoid the pitch, and in fact, seemed to turn into the pitch. The umpire did not rule in Coach Garrido's favor as he argued that fact, however. With runners at the corners and one out, UNLV tried a squeeze play. The runner from 3b did not get a good jump, though, and was thrown out by Adrian. Runners at 1st and 2nd with two outs. Adrian walked the bases full. The UNLV lead-off man came up and hit a pop fly to shallow rf. The runners were off at the crack of the bat without looking since there were two outs. Brett Lewis had a bead on the ball but Kyle Russell called him off. The ball hit the heal of Kyle's glove, and rolled toward rf. All three runners scored on the error. Batter safe at 1b on the error. Adrian then hit the next guy. But, he struck out the #3 batter to end the inning. The only batter to reach for UNLV in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th was hit by a pitch. So, Adrian seemed to settle down nicely. Alas, in the 6th, with two outs, he gave up 5 singles in a row. Austin Wood came on in relief to start the 7th. He gave up a single but that was it for the 7th and 8th. However, with a 1-run lead in the 9th, he could not shut the door. He coaxed a ground out from the first batter he faced, walked the next two, and gave up a game-tying rbi singled to the 4th batter he saw. Joey Pirigi came on with runners at 1st and 2nd and walked the bases loaded. He then gave up a single to end the game. Austin Wood ended up taking the loss. It was not pretty.

On the offensive side of things, Nick Peoples is still leading the way for the team. He went 4-for-5 with 4 singles, a walk, 1 run batted in, and 2 runs scored. Jordon Danks did great as well. He went 4-for-5 with a double and a triple, 2 runs batted in, and 2 runs scored. Late in the game, alas, the offense just couldn't get it done. Chance Wheeless and Nick Peoples both hit singles. They were both caught stealing, however. Odd. Very very odd.

Hopefully, things will be better today.

Posted by Joanna at 3:00 PM