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Thursday - April 13, 2006

Game 37: Texas at Baylor

I missed the first few innings and wasn't very interested in the game until the 8th inning. I then started paying attention. Steve Smith was thrown out of the game at the end of said 8th when he went out to argue the called strike that ended the inning. The crowd then proceeded to boo very loudly after every pitch the home plate ump (Randy Bruns) called for Kyle Russell who led off the 9th for the Horns and drew a 5-pitch walk. Baylor then changed pitchers and the crowd calmed down ever-so-slightly. Kyle went on to score, giving the Horns a 2-run lead.

Alas, Baylor came back to tie things up in the bottom of the 9th. Honestly, the 2006 version of the Texas baseball team is going to be the death of me. In the bottom of the 9th, with the game tied, Baylor had the go-ahead run at 3b with 1 out but failed to score that vital run. Again, in the bottom of the 10th, the Bears were in the same situation and, once more, the Horns worked their way out of trouble. I tell you...heart failure pending. Any game now.

The 11th proved rather uneventful as Texas went down in order. Baylor almost did the same. They did walk one but then he was picked off. So...an exciting end to the inning but, overall, not much point of playing the 11th. If you ask me.

In the 12th, Carson Kainer (3rd batter) was hit by a pitch. But that was it. The others went down with barely more than a whimper. Wouldn't it have been nice if they'd just gone ahead and won it in the 9th? Yep. It woulda.

In the bottom, Baylor got runners at 2b and 3b with one out on a throwing error. Then the Horns intentionally walked the bases full. Austin Wood struck out the next batter. Despite the deafening chant from the crowd. And, the next. I'm telling you. Heart failure. Imminent. You think I'm kidding, don't you?

Okay. So, the team is playing 7 games in 8 days. And, now they're into their extra 1/2 game. Was this really necessary?

Top of the 13th. Bradley Suttle singled to lead things off and was bunted over to 2b. He then moved to 3b on a passed ball. But, he couldn't score when Preston Clark hit a bloop single. He had to wait to see if the ss would catch the ball. He didn't but it didn't get far enough away from him to allow Bradley to score. No mind. Hunter Harris pinch hit for Chais Fuller and singled to drive Bradley in and move Preston to 3b. The Horns ended up stranding runners at 2b and 3b.

In the bottom of the 13th, Austin Wood continued on the mound for the Horns. The first batter flew out to cf. The second batter struck out (career high 7 strikeouts for Austin Wood). The final batter flew out to shallow rf.

Oh. My. Goodness. Texas wins 7-6. Wow.

Coach Garrido's comments (paraphrased):

This was the most difficult game we've played all year. We didn't play smart and didn't play well but our will-power and strength-of-character carried us through. We flipped the game around and took it away from them in the 2nd half. [...] Wood pitched a magnificent game in short relief. You can fix things as you go along but can never build that kind of will-power. [...] Hunter Harris has come through for us time and time again in that situation.

When I first sat down at the computer in the top of the 9th to write about the game, I thought the post would be very very short. I was gonna write about the team coming back to win after getting an insurance run in the 9th. And, how the Baylor faithful would no doubt blame the loss on that called 3rd strike in the bottom of the 8th. (Will they still do that?) I was gonna talk about being rather confused at the decision by the Horns to not start Kyle McCulloch or Adrian Alaniz. But, who has the energy for that sort of thing after 4 (I wrote "5" last night...that's how tired I was...I couldn't subtract 9 from 13 correctly) extra innings of heart-stopping play? Not me. Nope. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:44 PM