« Game 28: Kansas State at Texas | Main | Team speed »

Saturday - March 24, 2007

Game 29: Kansas State at Texas

Texas did it again today. They beat Kansas State 14-3. They got another great outing from their starter. Adrian Alaniz threw the first 7 innings and didn't allow any runs. He gave up 3 singles (2 of them in the first inning!), walked 1, and struck out 6. He made us a little nervous in that first inning...giving up those two singles. But, then he settled in and threw a fantastic game. I generally keep track of the pitch count as the game goes on and noticed that his count went steadily down as he went along. He threw 16 pitches the 1st inning, 14 the 2nd, 12 the 3rd, and 10 the 4th. He threw 10 again in the 5th and then 9 in the 6th! Wow. Entertainingly, he threw 13 pitches in the 7th. As he struck out the side! Double wow. Heh heh. So, much like yesterday when James Russell only allowed two over the minimum through the first 8, Adrian only allowed 2 above the minimum during his stint. Alex Posey went in for the final two innings. He gave up a single to the first batter he faced but then got the next to ground into a double play. The final batter of the inning lined out to cf. So, through 8, the Longhorns did, in fact, only face only 2 over the minimum. And, again, like yesterday, they gave up 3 runs in the 9th. Tsk tsk. The first batter of the inning walked on 4 pitches. The next singled to rf. Runners at 1b and 2b. The 3rd reached on a fielder's choice (6-4). Runners at the corners. The runner at 1b stole 2b but, again, like yesterday, the defense completely ignored his attempt. The next batter then singled to cf, plating both base runners. He then advanced to 3b on an error by the pitcher who made a bad pick-off throw to 1b that rolled all the way to the tarp near the fence down the rf line. He then scored on a sac fly to cf. The final out came on a fly out to rf.

Defensively, the Horns played a nice tight game...until the 9th. And, even then, it wasn't a terrible inning. The walk and error made all the difference. But there were a couple of plays that stood out. In the 4th, Josh Prince made a very nice stop and throw to 1b to get the first out of the inning. Two batters later, Travis Tucker at 2b made another great stop and throw to 1b to get the last out. Two great plays in one inning. Yes! They also turned a couple of timely double plays (4-6-3 and then 6-4-3) in the 5th and 8th. Several players that don't play often got to see some action. Dad said the radio guys were completely flumoxed by the changes in the 9th. But, I think I got them all.

However. The Longhorns did something I've never seen them do before. Ever. They batted out of order in the first inning! And, got away with it. Kansas State did not notice while the wrong batters batted so, by rule, they had no recourse. The results of the at-bats stood. I'm very curious to know when the Longhorns noticed the error. Was it while things were going on and they sat in the dugout (and stood out on the bases) hoping and praying that the nobody in the Wildcats' dugout would notice? Or was it not until later, when they went up to bat again? 'Cause that's when Kansas State noticed. Here's what happened:

• Travis Tucker singled to rf to start off the game for Texas.
• Chance Wheeless went to the plate. I was confused. He was listed as the 3rd batter in the pre-game announcement. But, I realized as I updated my score sheet, that happens sometimes. The line-up they get in the booth gets changed by the time the game actually starts. Chance singled to cf. Travis moved to 3b.
• Jordan Danks batted 3rd. He'd been listed 2nd. He singled to lf (rbi). Chance moved to 2b.
• Bradley Suttle singled to lf (rbi). Jordan moved to 2b.
• We were delighted. The Horns started the game off with 4 hits!
• Preston Clark popped out to 2b. On the play, the KSU second baseman was running backward hard as the right fielder ran forward. At the last moment, the right fielder ducked down and the second baseman caught the ball. But then he fell backward over the hunched-down right fielder and flipped over. He held onto the ball, though, and kept the runners from advancing. The trainer went out to check out his throwing arm and after a few warm-up tosses, he stayed in the game.
• Kyle Russell struck out swinging.
• Josh Prince flew out to cf to end the inning.

So, that's was the first inning. In the second:

• Russell Moldenhauer worked the count full and then drew a walk.
• Nick Peoples popped out to ss right at the lf foul line.
• Travis tripled to the lf/cf gap (rbi). It was an amazing hit that I don't think was ever more than a couple of inches off the ground as it rolled along the carpet all the way to the wall.
• Then the confusion started. Jordan Danks went to the plate. What? I thought he and Chance had switched? Huh?
• That's when the KSU folks started asking what was going on. And, as I mentioned earlier, since they didn't protest in the first inning and Jordan was now batting in his correct spot, they had no recourse. There was much discussion and exchanging of line-ups but, what was done was done. And, the game went on.
• Jordan walked.
• Chance struck out.
• During Bradley's at-bat, Jordan stole 2b. Bradley ended up walking on the next pitch.
• Preston singled to lf (rbi). Runners at 1b and 2b.
• Kyle lined out (very hard hit ball!) to 3b.

And, the rest of the game (Texas side only):

• 3rd inning
• Josh Prince doubled to rf.
• Russell Moldenhauer struck out.
• Nick People's doubled down the lf line (rbi).
• KSU changed pitchers.
• Travis Tucker walked. The 4th ball was a wild pitch that went all the way to the wall so Nick moved to 3b.
• During Jordan Danks' at-bat, Travis stole 2b. Jordan walked on the next pitch. 'Sound familiar? Heh.
• Chance Wheeless singled to cf (2 rbi). Runners at 1b and 2b.
• Bradley Suttle grounded into a double play. The second baseman fielded the ball right at 2b, stepped on the bag, and somehow managed to slow his momentum down enough to turn and throw to 1b to complete the double play.
• 4th inning
• Preston Clark flew out to lf.
• Kyle Russell played true to his form, increased his lead as the all time leader in home runs by a sophomore, and hit a home run to lf. By the way, we all pretty much thought the ball was hit too high to make it out of the park. Luckily, it also had a bit of power and a wee bit of a south wind behind it to land it in the new bullpen out in lf. Cool.
• Josh Prince, also playing true to form, hit his 2nd double of the day.
• Russell Moldenhauer walked.
• Nick Peoples struck out (looking).
• Travis Tucker singled to lf (rbi).
• Jordan Danks grounded out to 1b.
• 5th inning
• Chance Wheeless grounded out to 2b.
• Bradley Suttle tripled to the rf/cf gap.
• Preston Clark hit a ground-rule double to the just left of the green monster (rbi).
• Kyle Russell was hit by a pitch.
• Josh Prince struck out.
• Russell Moldenhauer grounded out to 2b.
• 6th inning
• In which the Horns fail to score for the first time in the game.
• Nick Peoples grounded out to ss. Nice play by the KSU ss.
• Travis Tucker doubled to rf. His 4th hit of the game!
• Jordan Danks walked.
• KSU changed pitchers.
• Chance Wheeless walked to load the bases.
• Bradley Suttle grounded into a 1-2-3 double play.
• 7th inning
• In which...[shock!]...[horror!]...the Horns fail to score again!
• In the top of the inning, by the way, Clay Van Hook went out to 2b for Travis Tucker.
• Brett Lewis (who'd gone in at c for Preston in the top of the 6th) struck out.
• Kyle Russell walked.
• Drew Prince hit into a 1-6-3 double play.
• 8th inning
• In the top of the inning, Kyle Lusson went in at lf (taking over Nick People's spot in the line-up). Jordan Danks moved to cf.
• Todd Gilfillan (pinch-hitting for Russell Moldenhauer) struck out.
• Kyle Lusson grounded out to 3b.
• Clay Van Hook walked on 4 pitches.
• Michael Demperio (pinch-hitting for Jordan) was hit by the first pitch to him.
• Chance Wheeless (with a 1-1 count) was lifted for pinch-hitter Jeff Boes. What? For a moment, it looked like Chance had been called out for some reason. We all harkened back to that "batting out of order" incident and then we shrugged. Jeff tripled to rf (2 rbi).
• Clint Stubbs (pinch-hitting for Bradley Suttle) doubled to cf (rbi).
• Brett Lewis flew out to cf.
• 9th inning
• Texas did not bat, but just make the record (such as it is) complete, I'm listing the defensive changes that took place in the top of the inning.
• Michael Demperio went in at 2b and Clay Van Hook moved to 3b.
• Clint Stubbs (I started to type "Drew" there) went into rf and Kyle Russell moved to cf.
• Jeff Boes went in at 1b.

Whew.

By the way, the home plate umpire (Doug Williams) seemed to have a rather erratic strike zone. For much of the early part of the game, he would not call any strikes in the lower part of the strike zone. Then, he seemed to call quite a few. And, then in the last inning or two, he went back to his "no low strikes are actual strikes" mode of operation. 'Twas very frustrating.

And, now the Horns are 5-0 in conference play and have a 9-game winning streak. Hook 'em!

PS: One more thing I almost forgot to mention. In fact, I did forget when I first posted so am adding the note now. Construction seemed to be in full swing as we were waiting for the game to start. And, it continued as the game went on. This is the first time I can remember them working through a game. But, maybe it's just the first time I actually noticed the noises. 'Seems unlikely but maybe. Or, maybe the noises were just reaching us more clearly today for some reason. At any rate, they don't seem to be just sitting around. 'Looks like everything really will be done by the time Fall rolls around.

Posted by Joanna at 10:54 PM