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Monday - May 15, 2006

Game 53: Dallas Baptist at Texas

Game 2 of the double-header against Dallas Baptist was rather interesting...and a bit of a contrast to Game 1. The first game seemed to drag after the first few innings. It just kept going on and on. Most of the crowd left after the first game. No doubt many of them didn't plan ahead for a double-header. And, with Mother's Day looming, I'm sure many people had to get on their way. Adrian Alaniz took the mound to start the game and got credit for the win. Like Kyle in the first game, he was replaced after 4 innings so must've been declared the pitcher of record at the start of the game. He gave up one (earned) run on 4 hits (2 singles, a double, and a solo home run) with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Kyle Walker then pitched an exciting 5th: he walked the first batter on 4 pitches, allowed the second to reach on a fielder's choice, struck out the next, gave up a single to the next, and then walked the bases loaded! He then struck out the next batter to get out of the inning without giving up a run. Whew. Joey Parigi came on for the 6th. He had a very nice 6-pitch 3-up/3-down 6th. In the 7th, the first two batters grounded out, the third walked, and the last hit into a fielder's choice. He started the 8th off by giving up three singles to load the bases. So, in came Joseph Krebs. He got the two batters he faced to ground out to ss...the first grounded into a 643 double play (a run scored on the play). You gotta love it when a pitcher faces two batters and gets credit for a complete inning. Heh. The second batter he faced, by the way, fouled off at least 5 pitches before grounding out on a really nice play by Chais Fuller at ss. So, it's not like he didn't throw as many pitches as you normally would to three batters! Austin Wood came on for the 9th and, like the last time he came in with a big lead, gave up a few runs. In fact, he gave up 3 earned runs on 4 hits with a walk and a strikeout. He had runners at the corners when he threw that strikeout to end the game. Whew. Oh, and Brett Lewis (giving Preston Clark a bit of rest) was in the lineup as catcher while Hunter Harris stayed in at dh. The line:

																			R	H	E
Dallas Baptist			0	1	0			0	0	0			0	1	3		-		5	12	2
Texas			1	0	0			0	0	4			5	0	x		-		10	12	0

The scoring: In the 1st, Nick Peoples walked and moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Chance Wheeless. Drew Stubbs grounded out to ss. Carson Kainer doubled to rf (just barely fare) to drive in Nick. In the 3rd, Nick hit a triple but was stranded at 3b as Chance and Drew struck out looking and Carson lined out to cf. On that triple, Nick hit a ball toward the lf/cf gap. The center fielder misjudged the ball and it bounced over his head and ended up at the wall. So, the turf helped Nick out a bit. Things got a bit interesting in the 4th. Hunter Harris walked on 4 pitches. Bradley Suttle reached on a bunt single. The runners advanced on a sac bunt by Kyle Russell. Right after that, the second baseman walked in to discuss strategy with the pitcher. Shortly after that (and during Brett's at-bat), the pitcher whirled and threw to 2b in an attempt to pick Bradley off. Alas, his throw was off target and skittered into cf. Both runners advanced (Hunter scored). Brett walked. Runners at the corners. Bradley scored on a sac bunt (squeeze) by Chais. The pitcher fielded the ball and made a swipe at Chais as he ran down the line. The 1b ump could not make the call so deferred to the home plate ump...who called Chais out. I'm pretty sure the tag was not made. Coach Garrido argued the call and asked the men in blue to confer. They chatted for a bit and ruled Chais out. Whatever. So, Brett was at 2b with 2 outs. Nick singled through the left side (rbi). He stole 2b on the first pitch to Chance. Chance walked on 4 pitches. DBU sent Rodney Brantley in to pitch. Drew singled to rf. Nick scored on the play and Chance ran hard for 3b. The throw from rf was to 3b. It was a bit off-line and the third baseman missed it. Chance scored and Drew advanced to 2b on the error. The error was charged on the throw by rf but I think it should've been charged to 3b. It was a long throw and wasn't that far off. The third baseman really should've given up on trying to get the out and should've stopped the ball to keep the runner from scoring. The error's almost always charged on the throw, though, so that's that. Carson singled through the left side. Drew was thrown out at the plate (72). Hunter continued to enjoy Senior Day by leading off the Horns' half of the 5th with a single. He moved to 3b on a single by Bradley but was stranded there. In the 6th, Chaise was hit by a pitch. Nick walked. Chance moved the runners forward on a sac bunt (53). Drew was intentionally walked to load the bases. DBU changed the pitcher (Taylor replaced Gilmore who'd come on at the beginning of the inning). Carson singled through the left side (2 rbi). Drew made a mental error at this point. On the play, he apparently expected the left fielder to throw to the plate so was about 10-15 feet past 2b as the throw came in. The third baseman cut off the throw, though, and easily threw Drew out (to 2b) as he dove back for the bag. Sloppy play. Not good. Anyway, Hunter (aka Mr. Senior Day) hit a home run to lf (2 rbi). Woo hoo!!!! Go, Hunter!!! Heh heh. It was a thing of beauty. Bradley grounded out to ss.

Bryan Herrera (aka The Rest of the Senior Class) pinch hit for Drew in the 8th. He grounded out to 2b but got a standing ovation from the crowd. He nicely tipped his helmet to us as he went back into the dugout. He stayed in the game in cf for the top of the 9th and made a very nice running catch to make the 2nd out of the inning. Go, Bryan!! Another standing ovation. The crowd loved it. Congrats to the two seniors. Hunter ended up 4-for-6 on the day with a home run (his first in a Longhorn jersey), 3 runs scored, 3 batted in, and two walks. Woo hoo! Go, Senior Horns!

One last note: here it is...22 hours since the last post. Sorry about the delay in getting the game report out. Mother's Day intervened. It was a nice day. I hope the rest of you also had good days. Longhorn moms got a very nice gift from Baylor. They swept the Cornhuskers this weekend. That means the Horns are the regular season champs and will be the #1 seed for the Big 12 tournament. (I will do my very best not to be a pessimist about what the Horns will do when they don't have to win. Instead, I hope they'll be thinking about the fact that we want a National seed for the regionals and that 40th win will go a long way toward achieving that goal. And they'll do just fine this weekend at Mizzou. Yep, that's what I'm gonna concentrate on. I trust the rest of you will do likewise.) Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 1:40 AM