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Sunday - May 7, 2006

Game 51: Kansas at Texas

The 10-run rule goes into effect on "get away" day for Big 12 conference series. Kansas fell culprit to the rule this afternoon when Texas went ahead by 10 in the 8th on a throwing error. So, Texas swept the series and won the game 11-1.

The line:

																		R	H	E
Kansas			1	0	0			0	0	0			0	0		-		1	5	4
Texas			2	1	0			7	0	0			0	1		-		11	10	1

Adrian Alaniz started, went 6.2 innings, gave up that one earned run on 5 hits, with 0 walks and 6 strikeouts to get the win. He looked like the "old" Adrian this afternoon. It was a sight for sore eyes. Kyle Walker pitched the final 1.1 innings. Kodiak Quick (gotta love that name, doncha?) took the loss as he gave up 10 runs (5 unearned) in 3.2 innings (6 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, 1 hit batter).

Defensively, the Horns looked good in the field. A few highlights:

• In the 5th, Bradley Suttle made a diving stop on a ball headed to rf. He scrambled to his knees and threw the batter out.
• In the 6th, Chais Fuller somehow managed to run back and make a leaping catch of a ball I was sure would fall in for a single. Cool.
• In the 8th, Kyle Walker made a quick recovery after throwing his pitch to be in position to field a high bouncer to his left. It was a great effort. He easily threw the batter out.

Scoring highlights:

• In the 1st, Nick Peoples walked (full count). He stole 2b with Chance Wheeless at the plate. Chance struck out. Drew Stubbs walked (3-1 count). Carson Kainer doubled to the lf corner (rbi, runners at the corners). Hunter Harris executed a great bunt (squeeze play) to score Drew and move Carson to 3b. Bradley Suttle flew out to rf.
• In the 2nd, Kyle Russell walked (full count) and moved to 2b on a sac bunt (23) by Preston Clark. Kyle stole 3b on the first pitch to Chais Fuller (who went on to strikeout). Kyle scored on a wild pitch while Nick was at the plate. I thought it was a passed ball. But, the official scorer disagreed. Ah well. Nick then reached on an error (E6). Again, I disagreed with the official scorer. The short stop fielded a high bouncer and lost his footing on the turf. It looked like he got his cleat stuck in the turf and he took a rather nasty fall. I think it probably should've been ruled an infield single. Anyway, Nick stole 2b on the first pitch to Chance. Smart play by Nick to take advantage of the fact that the short stop was probably distracted and in a bit of pain after his fall. Chance flew out to cf to end the inning.
• In the 4th, all hell broke loose as the Horns started hitting the cover off the ball. Bradley singled through the right side and advanced to 2b on a sac bunt (13) by Kyle. Preston reached on a fielder's choice (65). Bradley probably shouldn't have taken off since the ball was hit to the left side. Ah well. Chais was hit by a pitch. Runners at 1b and 2b. Nick doubled to the lf corner (2 rbi, he moved to 3b on the throw in to the plate). Chance Wheeless reached on an error by 2b (bad throw to 1b after fielding a grounder). Nick scored on the play. Drew tripled to the cf/rf gap (rbi). Carson doubled to the lf corner (again, rbi). Hunter doubled to rf (rbi). Kansas finally replaced the starter. Bradley (10th batter of the inning) doubled to the cf/rf gap (rbi). Kyle flew out to the warning track in lf (1st and last out of the inning...poor guy).
• In the 8th, Chance singled to cf. Drew singled to rf. Runners at 1b and 2b. Carson hit a high bouncer to 3b. The third baseman fielded and stepped on 3b to get Chance out. He then threw to 1b, going for the double play, and threw wide (E5). Drew, who was already at 2b on the grounder, scored easily on the error to end the game.

All in all, the Horns looked very good today. I hope they can keep it up. They won't be playing any mid-week games over the next couple of weeks and that sort of thing always makes me worry about the players getting out of their rhythms. Especially when things are just starting to gel. Thankfully, the team did manage to schedule that extra game with Dallas Baptist so they'll get some "real world" work in before they travel to Missouri for their last regular season series. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:54 PM