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Friday - February 9, 2007

Game 5: Texas at Long Beach State

You'll be happy (or sad...who knows?) to hear that I managed to listen to most of the game this evening. The Horns went 1-2-3 in the 1st. James Russell started for the Horns and allowed a couple of baserunners (via walks) but got out of trouble when Nick Peoples made one of his pattented diving catches to save the day and end the inning. Kyle Russell started the scoring off nicely by hitting a 2-run home run to dead center (with two outs) in the top of the 2nd. The Dirtbags started their half of the 2nd by hitting a triple to the cf/rf gap. Keith Moreland had commented a little earlier that the alleys were really deep and the outfielders would need to step up and cut balls off or runners would be able to run forever as they ran balls down. The triple proved his point. The runner from 3b did score on a ground out to bring the score within one run.

In the 3rd, Jordan Danks reached on a 2-out walk and then stole 2b. Sadly, he was stranded there. James got into trouble again in the bottom of the 3rd. He walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a single to put runners at 1b and 2b with no outs. A ground out advanced the runners to 2b and 3b (with one out). The runner from 3b scored on a wild pitch to tie the game (runner from 2b moved to 3b). Long Beach scored and took the lead when the next batter grounded out to ss. The next batter tried to bunt his way aboard. James jumped on the ball and threw him out, though, to end the inning. Horns behind 2-3.

Bradley Suttle led off the 4th with a long home run over the rf fence to tie things up again at 3. Chance Wheeless walked, moved to 2b on a sac bunt, and then to 3b on an error by the LBSU ss (Travis Tucker reached 1b on the error). But, alas, Chance was stranded at 3b. In the bottom of the 4th, James got into a bit of trouble again and was replaced by Joseph Krebs with the bases loaded and two outs. Joseph got the Horns out of the inning by striking out the batter he came in to face. Whew.

Top of the 5th. Nick Peoples was hit by a pitch and then was caught stealing shortly thereafter. He attempted a steal of 2b and actually slid in safely but his hand came off the bag and he was tagged by the ss for the first out of the inning. Jordan Danks reached on a single on the next pitch. Too bad about that caught stealing thing, eh? Alas, Jordan was stranded at 1b. The Dirtbags started their half of the inning with a double off the cf fence. The runner moved to 3b on a ground out and then scored on a double to lf to take LBSU back up by one run. And, that was it for scoring in the 5th.

Chance Wheeless started things off in the 6th by hitting a single up the middle. He moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Pat McCrory. Kyle Russell hit a triple down the lf line to drive Chance in and tie the game up. The official scorer ended up scoring it a single with a 2-base error on the play since the left fielder left his feet to try and field the ball. Kyle scored on a sac fly by Travis Tucker to take the Horns up 5-4 and Michael Demperio grounded out to end the top-half of the inning. In the bottom, the first two batters flew out to cf. The third batter hit a ground ball down the lf line. Jordan Danks fielded and threw a bullet to Travis Tucker covering 2b to tag the batter/runner (trying to stretch a single into a double) out to end the inning! Woo hoo!

The Horns went down in order in the 7th. The Dirtbags returned the favor by doing the same. Alas, the Horns turned around and went down in order again in the 8th. Thankfully, the Dirtbags did likewise in the bottom of the 8th. So, 12 outs in a row. Horns still in the lead 5-4.

In the top of the 9th, Kyle Russell started things off by hitting his 2nd home run of the night! The next three batters went down in order. I have to say I was awfully glad the Horns broke that 3-up/3-down streak they had going on. In the bottom of the 9th, Joseph Krebs got the first batter out on a ground out to 1b. The second batter reached on an infield single behind 2b. After a conference on the mound, Joseph hit the next batter with a 2-2 pitch to put runners at 1b and 2b with 1 out. Adrian Alaniz then went to the mound for the Horns. Adrian hit the first batter he faced with the first pitch he threw to load the bases! Oh. My. Goodness. The next batter popped up to Travis Tucker behind 2b. Whew. A pinch hitter for LBSU singled to rf to tie the game up. Runners at the corners with 2 outs. Which prompted the second pitching change of the inning. Austin Wood went in for Adrian. He gave up a single to end the game.

Sigh...Texas loses 6-7.

The line:

																			R	H	E
Texas			0	2	0			1	0	2			0	0	1		-		6	8	1
LBSU			0	1	2			0	1	0			0	0	3		-		7	9	2

Posted by Joanna at 11:54 PM