« Game 5: Texas at Long Beach State | Main | Game 7: Texas at Long Beach State »

Saturday - February 10, 2007

Game 6: Texas at Long Beach State

I took these notes live as I listened to today's game on the radio...

Texas started things off nicely today against Long Beach State starter Manny McElroy (JR, rhp). Nick Peoples was hit by a pitch to reach. He promptly stole 2b. Jordan Danks doubled to send Nick home for the first run of the game. Preston Clark popped out to 1b in foul territory. Bradley Suttle grounded out to 1b, moving Jordan to 3b. Chance Wheeless doubled to rf to score Jordan. Pat McCrory struck out to end the Texas half of the 1st. Kyle Walker started on the mound for Texas. He started things off nicely by getting Robert Perry (who reached every time he went to the plate last night) to fly out to cf. Sadly, he turned around and walked Matt Cline (on 4 pitches) and Jason Corder (on 5 pitches). He came back against Chris Lopez to srike him out on 3 pitches. With Danny Espinosa at the plate, Preston Clark made an attempt to pick Cline off at 2b but the ball got through. Both runners advanced (E2). Kyle then hit the batter to load the bases. After a visit to the mound by Skip Johnson, Kyle got Shane Peterson to ground out to 2b to end the inning. Not the best start he could've made but Kyle got out of trouble without giving up any runs. Whew.

In the 2nd, Kyle Russell drew a full-count walk. Travis Tucker reached on a 5-4 fielder's choice. Michael Demperio singled to lf (Travis moved to 2b). Nick Peoples tripled down the lf line! Texas up 4-0, 1 out. Danks hit a long sac fly to score Nick. Preston Clark then reached on a 2-out double to lf. This prompted a pitching change. New pitcher for LBSU: Adam Wilk (lefty Freshman). Bradley Suttle doubled to cf (rbi). Woo hoo! 6 earned runs charged to the LBSU starter McElroy. Suttle advanced to 3b on a passed ball. Chance Wheeless was hit by a pitch. Wow. Runners at the corners. Pat McCrory (9th batter of the inning) walked to load the bases. Kyle back up for the 2nd time. He flew out to lf to end the inning. Oh my. That was a long break for Kyle Walker after that shaky 1st...hope it worked in his favor. In the bottom of the 2nd, Kyle started off 2-0 against Travis Howell but rallied to strike him out. Alas, he hit Jason Tweedy and gave up a single to Steve Tinoco. Top of the order with batters at 1b and 2b and 1 out. He then struck Perry out. Remember, Perry's the guy that reached everytime he was at the plate last night. Cline hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning. Texas up 6-0.

In the 3rd, Travis Tucker grounded out to ss. Michael Demperio tried to bunt his way aboard. The catcher made a bad throw to 1b and Michael made it all the way to 3b on the error! Scored a 3-base error by the official scorer. Keith thought it should be a single and a 2-base error. Nick Peoples singled to cf (rbi). LBSU argued the call...saying that Perry (in cf) caught the ball. They did not win the arguement. No surprise there. Jordan Danks singled to rf. Runners at 1b and 2b. Preston Clark flew out to rf. Nick tagged and advanced to 3b on the play. Bradley Suttle struck out (foul tip) to end the top of the 3rd. In the bottom, Corder led things off with a home run to left field. There goes the shut-out. Lopez reached on an error by ss...the ball went off the heal of Pat's glove. Espinosa grounded out to 3b on a bunt attempt down the 3b line to move Lopez to 2b. Keith was unhappy for at least the 4th time today with the official scoring (sac bunt). Keith thought he was going for a base hit all the way. Peterson walked. Masuda (pinch-hitting for Howell) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That was the 3rd hit batter of the day for Kyle. Mysteriously, Austin Wood had been warming up in the bullpen and was brought in to replace Kyle. In the 3rd inning, the supposed closer for Texas went into the game. Your guess as to why is probably better than mine. This has been a very long game...nearly 1&1/2 hours to this point. Austin gave up a full-count bases-loaded walk to Tweedy. Tinoco hit a 2-run double to cf. Texas up 7-4 with runners at 2b and 3b and one out. Perry hit a sac fly to rf. It was a close play on a very good throw by Kyle Russell. Tinoco did not advance to 3b on the throw, oddly enough. Cline (9th batter of the inning to the plate) was up when the radio signal disappeared. Arggghhhhh. He ended up flying out to rf to end the inning. Texas now ahead by just 2 runs after giving up 5. Ouch.

They were off the air for 4 or 5 minutes. Chance Wheeless led the 4th off with a single to cf. This prompted a pitching change by LBSU. Andrew Liebel (FR, rhp) went in for Wilk. Pat McCrory moved Chance to 2b on a sac bunt. Kyle Russell grounded out to p, moving Chance to 3b. Travis Tucker hit a slow grounder that Liebel was unable to handle to reach 1b safely and score Chance. Michael Demperio grounded out to ss, ending the top of the 4th. In the bottom, Corder grounded out to p. Lopez flew out to lf. And, to complete the quick 1-2-3 half-inning, Espinosa grounded out to ss. Texas up 8-5.

Back to the top of the order as the 5th started off. Nick Peoples struck out after fouling off a couple of pitches. Jordan Danks singled to cf. Keith marvelled that the LBSU catcher's name is pronounced Mah-soo-dah since it looks like Mah-sah-dah to him. How's the name spelled, you ask? Masuda. How that "u" in the middle looks like a short "a" to Keith is one of those mysteries of life, eh? Sadly, Preston Clark hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end things. Just as the bottom of the 5th started, the game time reached 2 hours. Peterson led things off nicely with a fly out to lf. Masuda grounded out to 3b. He tried to check his swing but ended up grounding out. Frustratingly (is that a word?), Austin hit Tweedy to put him aboard. That brought the total to 4 hit batters for the Horns on the day. Tinoco singled to rf. Tweedy beat the throw from Kyle in rf to reach 3b on the play. Austin Wood then balked to advance the runners (a run scored). Perry grounded out to ss to end the inning. New score: 8-6.

The Horns (Suttle, Wheeless, McCrory) went down in order in the top of the 6th. In the bottom, Cline grounded out to 3b. Corder hit his second home run of the game to draw the Dirtbags within 1 run. Lopez grounded out to 3b. Espinosa singled to lf. Peterson grounded out to 2b to end the inning.

Kyle Russell flew out (just short of the fence) to start off the 7th. Travis Tucker singled to lf. The game slowed to a crawl again after a pretty quick 6th. Michael Demperio struck out swinging. Nick Peoples (at the plate for the 5th time of the day) singled to cf, advancing Travis to 3b. Sadly, Jordan Danks hit into a fielder's choice to end the Texas half of the 7th. Keith Shinaberry went in at p for the Horns. Masuda grounded out to ss. Tweedy was hit again (3rd time of the game) to reach 1b. Keith did not say anything about Tweedy crowding the plate or anything so I have no idea what was up. Tinoco singled behind Tweedy to put runners at the corners. Perry hit a single off the mound and over ss to drive in the tying run. The ball, which looked like it could've been a double play ball, bounced high off the mound and over Pat's head and into cf. Pitching change. Randy Boone (expected starter for tomorrow's game) went in. Runners at 1b and 2b with one out as he entered the game. Cline reached on a fielder's choice to 2b. Runners at the corners, 2 outs. Corder grounded out to ss. Game tied at 8.

Preston Clark singled to lf to start off the 8th. Bradley Suttle singled to rf, moving Preston to 3b. With Chance Wheeless at the plate, Bradley moved to 2b on a ball that bounced away from the LBSU catcher. At that point, with the count 2-2 against Chance, LBSU chose to replace their pitcher. Bryan Shaw (SO, rhp) went in to pitch. LBSU faked the intentional walk to Chance and struck him out! Masuda stood up with his left hand outstretched and then dropped to a crouch at the last second to receive the strikeout pitch. Keith said that was the first time he'd ever seen a team try that play. Keith could not believe his eyes. Pat McCrory followed that up with a second strikeout. The Dirtbags then put Kyle Russell on with an intentional walk to load the bases with 2 outs. Travis Tucker hit into a fielder's choice to end the threat. What a heart-breaker. Randy Boone struck out the side to lift my spirits ever so slightly. Heh.

Alas, the Horns went down in order in the top of the 9th. Masuda singled to cf to start off the bottom of the 9th. Tweedy bunted in front of the plate. Preston tried to get the lead runner (pinch-runner Alan Woods) out at 2b but the throw was just late. Runners at 1b and 2b with no outs. Pinch-hitter Brandon Godfrey fouled off a 3rd strike on a bunt attempt to go down for the first out of the LBSU half of the inning. Perry flew out to shallow rf. Cline did the same. Whew. Game still tied at 8 and headed into extra innings. The game was about 3 hours, 40 minutes long at this point. Long game.

Preston Clark popped out to ss to start off the 10th. Bradley Suttle struck out looking after fighting off a couple of pitches. Chance Wheeless hit a ball to right (??)...lost radio feed again. Grrrrrr!! LiveStats on the TexasSports.com page reported that Chance hit a double to right center. Clay Van Hook (pinch-hitting for Pat) drew a walk. The radio signal came back after 4 or 5 minutes. Kyle Russell worked the count full, fought off a pitch, and drew a walk to load the bases. Travis Tucker, sadly, grounded out to 2b. Game time hit the 4 hour mark just as the bottom of the 10th started. Corder grounded out to 1b. McMurray struck out. On the strikeout, Keith was saying it was Capon and never did figure out who it was but realized it couldn't have been Capon a bit later when Capon really came up to bat. Espinosa doubled to cf. The Horns intentionally walked Peterson. Capon singled to cf, driving in Espinosa, who beat the throw from Peoples to score the winning run. How sad. Texas lost 8-9. Too bad Randy was saddled with the loss after he came in and pitched a good game.

The line:

RHE
Texas 241 100 000 0 - 8162
LBSU 005 011 100 1 - 9111

That 3rd inning really killed 'em. Coach Garrido said in the post-game interview that he was actually pleased with the attitude of the team and that we should stick with them because they are turning things around. He also praised Randy Boone for volunteering to go on in short relief to help the team out.

Posted by Joanna at 8:35 PM