« More photos | Main | Mom's photos »
Saturday - February 3, 2007
Game 2: San Diego at Texas
Sorry I wasn't able to post earlier. I went to dinner with my folks after the game and then on to a birthday party this evening.
The Horns came on in a big way today, defeating San Diego 13-8. The weather wasn't really all that bad. Especially when the sun was out. It was pretty cold in the shade but not as bad as I was expecting. I had a good time. There were more people in attendance than I thought there'd be. According to the official box, there were 1,762 fans in the stands. I'm guessing the crowd tomorrow will be somewhat smaller, what with it being Superbowl Sunday and all.
The line:
| R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||
| San Diego | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | 8 | 13 | 3 | ||||||||
| Texas | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | x | - | 13 | 13 | 1 | ||||||||
Kyle Walker got the nod and struggled a bit. He went 3+ innings and gave up 3 earned runs on 3 hits (2 singles, 1 home run) with 3 strikeouts and 6 walks, while facing 18 batters. The game was tied at 3 when he left. Adrian Alaniz came on in relief, went 4+ innings, and gave up 3 earned runs on 5 hits (2 singles, 2 doubles, 1 home run) with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. He also faced 18 batters and got credit for the win. Keith Shinaberry pitched the 8th. He gave up 2 earned runs on 3 hits (2 singles, 1 home run) with 1 strikeout. Austin Wood pitched the 9th. He gave up a bunt single down the 3b line. The next batter popped out to 1b in foul territory, just shy of the 1b dugout. The third batter singled to rf, putting runners at 1b and 2b. The fourth batter hit a long fly ball to the lf/cf gap. Nick Peoples made a spectacular run to catch the ball on the warning track in the deepest part of the field. And, then the game ended on a great play. Recall, there were runners at 1b and 2b with 2 outs. The runner at 1b had just come into the game (he reached on a pinch-hit single) and was, maybe, on his heals just a bit. Austin's first pitch was a strike. On the next pitch, Preston Clark rifled a throw to Chance Wheeless at 1b and picked the runner at 1b off! To end the game! That was cool.
On the offensive side of things, each of the starters had at least one hit and everyone except Nick Peoples scored at least once. Nick, though, hit a 2-rbi single in the 2nd and a 3-rbi double in the 7th. Heh. He went 2-for-4 with those two hits and a sac bunt. Jordan Danks went 1-for-4 with a 2-rbi single and a run scored. Preston Clark went 3-for-5 wit 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, and 1 rbi. Bradley Suttle went 2-for-5 with a 2-rbi home run in the 4th and a 1-rbi single in the 6th. Pat McCrory went 1-for-5 with a single and a run scored. Travis Tucker did the same (as Pat). Kyle Russell went 1-for-2 with a walk, a triple to the deepest part of the park in the lf/cf gap, and 2 runs scored. In the top of the 7th, Kyle ran hard after a fly ball to rf and ran into the wall. Initially, the hit was ruled a double. After Coach Hill argued the call, the umpires had a conference and ruled the hit a home run. It looked to me like it bounced off the wrought iron fence at the edge of the berm over the rf fence and back into play...thus a home run. A lot of folks in the crowd didn't agree with the reversal but I thought it was a good ruling. At any rate, I think Kyle might have hurt himself a bit because when his turn to bat came up in the bottom of the 7th, he was replaced by Russell Moldenhauer who went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Chance Wheeless went 1-for-4 with a single, 1 rbi, and 2 runs scored. The rbi came off a beautiful suicide squeeze play in the 4th. With Kyle at 3b and 1 out, on a 1-1 count, Kyle broke hard for home. Chance squared and bunted the ball about 8 feet from the plate...toward 1b but not right down the line. Kyle scored easily and the pitcher made a bad throw to 1b. Suicide squeeze successful. Chance safe at 1b. And, finally, Michael Demperio went 1-for-2 with a bunt single (immediately following Chance's bunt in the 4th), 2 walks, and 2 runs scored. All-in-all, a great day at the plate for the Horns. They batted through the order in the 4th and sent 8 men to the plate in the 2nd and 7th.
Defensively, the Horns committed one error. Nick bobbled a single to cf that allowed the batter to reach 2b. He was stranded there, however, so it did not end up hurting the team. Pat and Bradley bobbled a couple of grounders but kept their wits about them and got the outs on both plays. On the play that caused Pat trouble, there was a runner at 1b who broke hard for 2b (steal attempt or hit-and-run...not sure which). Pat broke for the bag to cover the runner and the ball was hit slightly behind him. He tore around, knocked the ball down, and made a nice throw to 1b to get the batter out. Tough play. Chance and Pat converted a very pretty 3-6-3 double play in the 4th. Nick did seem to misjudge a couple of balls early in the game. On one occasion, it looked like the ball got caught in the wind and went over his head as he was running hard toward the lf/cf gap. But, later in the game he made a nice play to catch a ball hit deeper and toward the same part of the field.
I'm looking forward to more and better tomorrow. Hook 'em!
Posted by Joanna at 11:12 PM