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Wednesday - March 21, 2007

Game 27: Texas State at Texas

Texas beat Texas State 5-3 last night. Once again, the Horns came from behind to get the win. Nick Peoples and Preston Clark got the night off so Kyle Lusson played in lf (Jordan Danks moved to cf for the night) and Brett Lewis was behind the plate.

Kyle Walker got the start and did not have a good night. He walked the first two batters he faced. The next batter doubled to the lf/cf gap, plating both base runners. The 4th batter popped out to 1b on a failed bunt attempt and the next batter singled to rf. The base runner from 2b tried to score on the play but was gunned down at home on another perfect throw by Kyle Russell. Pretty, pretty, pretty. Austin Wood went to the mound at that point. The next batter, on a full count, hit a very hard come-backer right at Austin for the final out of the inning. The sound of that ball hitting the webbing of Austin's glove might well have been heard by folks in the tower! Yikes! Austin went 5.2 innings. He gave up 1 earned run on 3 hits with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. He threw three 1-2-3 innings (the 3rd, 4th, and 6th). In the 5th, the first batter singled up the middle. The next flew out to rf. Kyle Russell had to make a lonnng run to get to the ball and made a really nice catch. The next batter popped out to shallow cf on another really nice play by Travis Tucker who ran back to catch the ball. Only, the home plate umpire called catcher's interference on the play so both runners were safe. I did not see what happened and nobody around me saw it, either, so shrug. My guess is that Brett Lewis must've reached for the ball and the bat clipped his glove before hitting the ball. So, Tucker's spectacular catch was nullified. Too bad. The next batter flew out to rf and the last batter of the inning grounded out to 1b. The 7th started off with a single to shallow cf. The next batter struck out swinging and the 3rd singled to put runners at the corners. So, Randy Boone took the mound. The 3rd base umpire emphatically called a balk on Randy as he was about to make his 2nd pitch. Run scores. The batter then hit a single to lf. Runners at the corners again. After a couple of pitches, the runner from 1b broke for 2b as Randy made a fake throw to 3b. Randy whirled around and threw to Travis at 2b to catch the runner stealing. Nice play. He then struck out the batter at the plate. Whew. Out of trouble. The Bobcats went down in order in the 8th and 9th; in the 9th, they all went down on strikeouts! So, two excellent outings on the mound by Austin Wood and Randy Boone. Kyle Walker struggled to find the strike zone. Keith Moreland insisted in the post-game show that Kyle has the stuff...that he just needs to find his groove and hopes he gets another chance on the mound.

The Horns scored their first run in the 2nd. Russell Moldenhauer hit a solo homer over the lf fence to start the inning. It was purty. And, I believe, his first home run in a Longhorn uniform. In the 3rd, Travis Tucker started things off with a single up the middle. He stole 2b with Chance Wheeless at the plate. Chance then singled to cf, scoring Travis. On the play, he tried to get to 2b on the throw from cf to home. However, the first baseman cut off the throw and Chance was thrown out at 2b. Jordan Danks then walked (he walked 3 times on the day!) and stole 2b with Bradley Suttle at the plate. Bradley struck out and Kyle Russell singled to score Jordan. Texas State then replaced their starter (B.J. Boening...Riley's older brother). Kyle promptly stole 2b (the third stolen base of the inning!) but was stranded there as Russell Moldenhauer grounded out to ss. The Horns scored 2 more in the 4th. Josh Prince led off the inning and reached when he was hit on his right elbow by a full-count pitch. Josh stayed in and ran the bases but was replaced as the Horns went into the field for the top of the 5th. His arm was wrapped and appeared to have ice on it at the end of the game. I hope he's gonna be okay. At any rate, he moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Brett Lewis and then moved to 3b on an infield single by Kyle Lusson. With a 1-1 count, Kyle broke for 2b. The pitch was very high and sailed past the catcher. Josh scored from 3b and Kyle made it all the way to 3b. Travis Tucker then reached on a suicide squeeze. Kyle scored and Travis was safe as the pticher hit him in the back as he tried to get the ball to the fielder covering 1b. Travis made it to 2b on the error. Chance Wheeless and Jordan Danks flew out to end the inning. Texas got a runner (Travis Tucker) to 2b in the 7th but he was stranded there and that was the only scoring threat for the Horns for the rest of the game.

Other than Kyle Walker's struggles, I think the Horns did very well last night as they got their 7th win in a row. Here's hoping they make it 10 this weekend!

Posted by Joanna at 7:50 AM