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Friday - March 10, 2006

Game 20: Long Beach State at Texas

Oh. My. Gosh. That was fun!!! Texas won 4-3 on a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the 9th by Hunter Harris. Wow.

The game was scoreless for the first 7 innings of the game and nuthin' much really happened. Through the 7th, LBSU stranded 6 (3 in scoring position); the Longhorns stranded 4 (2 in scoring position). Jaren Hughes pitched into the 9th for LBSU and got no decision. Likewise, Adrian Alaniz pitched into the 8th for the Horns without figuring into the decision.

In the top of the 8th, Matt Cline (2b) struck out. Robert Perry (cf) was hit by a pitch. Danny Espinosa (ss) reached on an error by Bradley Suttle at ss. On the play, Perry broke for 2b and Suttle shifted over to cover the potential throw from the Texas' catcher. Alas, Espinosa connected with the ball and it skid just past the 2b ump (possibly brushing against his leg). Suttle made a very nice play to get back to the ball. However, things turned sour when he decided to try to get the lead runner out by throwing the ball off-balance and twisting around to Brett Lewis at 2b. The ball went past Lewis into shallow rf and Perry made it to 3b; Espinosa safe at 1b. Evan Longoria (3b) quickly got behind 0-2 but battled his way to a full count and hit the 7th pitch he saw up the middle for a single (rbi). That's when Texas sent Austin Wood in to relieve Adrian. Brandon Godfrey (1b) also fell behind 0-2 but hit a 2-2 pitch into shallow lf to load the bases. Tito Cruz (c) then hit a sac fly to rf to score Espinosa. Kyle Russell made an effort to throw the runner out and it really did seem that the runner took off from 3b before Kyle caught the ball. But, on the appeal, he was ruled safe. Scott Bradley then hit a pinch-hit single to cf to score the 3rd run of the game for LBSU. Jose Hernandez hit into a 54 fielder's choice to end the LBSU half of the inning.

In the bottom of the 8th, Brett Lewis grounded out to 3b. Nick Peoples (I keep starting to write "Danny" instead of "Nick"...tsk tsk tsk) who had uncharacteristically grounded out to the pitcher and struck out twice in his first three at-bats, tripled off the top of the lf fence. That ball was awfully close to making it over the fence. But, not quite. Chance Wheeless grounded out to ss (rbi). Drew Stubbs struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the 9th, Austin Wood started off a bit badly by hitting the first batter who was sacrificed over to 2b and then moved to 3b on a ground out. But, the 4th batter of the inning grounded out to 3b to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 9th, things got very interesting. Heh. Carson Kainer did an amazing job to reach on a 7-pitch walk. Kyle McCulloch was sent in to pinch run and, with Kyle Russell due up, LBSU sent Donnie Hume (lhp) in to pitch. So, Texas sent Chais Fuller in to pinch hit. Chais was quickly down 0-2. The 3rd pitch was a ball. He fouled off the 4th and then watched the count go full. He then fouled off 3 more pitches. He finally got one to go into the field of play. Sadly, it was a pop-up to ss. So, that left Kyle at 1b with one out. Bradley Suttle (0-for-1 with a sac bunt, a strikeout, and a walk) sinlged to shallow cf. Kyle moved to 2b. Texas sent Clay Van Hook in to pinch hit. After the first pitch (a ball), Texas sent Bryan Herrera in to pinch run for Suttle. Clay walked on 5 pitches to load the bases. Still one out. LBSU sent Bryan Shaw (rhp) in. Preston Clark (hitting under .200 and 0-for-3 in his earlier plate appearances) hit a high-bouncing single over the first baseman's head. Thank you, astroturf. Kyle and Bryan scored. Clay moved to 3b. Runners at the corners. Game tied. Still one out. Who will pinch hit now? Texas sent Hunter Harris (the Sr. Hunter Harris...not the Fr. Hunter Harris) in to pinch hit. Hunter hadn't appeared in a game since early last year and came through in a big way. With the LBSU fielders pulled way in, he hit a 2-0 pitch through the left side to bring Clay Van Hook home to win the game. Wow.

The crowd made an amazing amount of noise in the 9th. And, I do think it helped rattle the LBSU pitchers a bit. The atmosphere was amazing. I had a great time. And, I'm looking forward to more tomorrow.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:24 PM