« Team speed | Main | Game 31: Rice at Texas »

Sunday - March 25, 2007

Game 30: Kansas State at Texas

So...

That kinda sucked, eh? Texas lost to Kansas State today, 9-11.

Joseph Krebs got the start and did okay for the first few innings. He did give up 4 hits through the first 4 innings but three double plays helped keep him out of trouble. With a 3-1 lead going into the 5th, he gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and then a bunt single to load the bases. The 4th batter, who'd hit a double in his at-bat in the 3rd, hit a grand slam to change the momentum of the game. Keith Shinaberry then went in. He induced a couple of ground outs and then gave up his own home run that bounced off the top of the wall in lf. So, the Horns went from a 3-1 lead to a 3-6 deficit in a matter of just a few minutes. Yikes. Happily, they answered in the bottom of the inning by scoring 6 runs of their own to go back into the lead. But, that would prove to be all they could manage offesively. They did load the bases in the 6th on 3 walks. But, all of those walks came with 2 outs and pinch-hitter Clay Van Hook watched a full-count strike to end the inning.

By the way, for the second day in a row, we were saddled with an umpire who seemed to have a pretty random and shifting strike zone. Neither dugout was happy with his calls behind the plate. Sigh...

Keith Shinaberry was followed by Pat McCrory who threw the 6th and did not give up any runs. Randy Boone threw the 7th and went into the 8th. He gave up 5 runs and took the loss. He came into the game after a very quick set of warm-up tosses and promptly gave up 2 singles. Both runners went on to score. In the 8th, the Wildcats started off with a walk, a sac bunt, and back-to-back singles. Austin Wood then went to the mound. He struck out the first batter he saw and then gave up 2 singles before Travis Tucker made a spectacular leaping catch to snag a line drive and end the bleeding (KSU scored 3 in the inning). The defense committed a couple of errors in the inning to make things more difficult on themselves. Overall, the team committed 4 errors in the field. Not pretty. They also gave up 17 hits (including 1 double and the 2 home runs). They walked 3 and Austin Wood struck out two. On the offensive side of things, they were a bit sloppy but clearly did enough to win the game. They scored 9 on 11 hits (including 1 double, 1 triple, and 1 home run) with 6 walks and 3 hit batters. They struck out 4 times. But, with all the problems in the field, it turned out that 9 runs weren't enough.

The coaches tinkered with the lineup again today. They had Preston Clark in the dh slot and Brett Lewis in as catcher. Otherwise, things were pretty much like they always are. In the 5th, when they were working on scoring those 6 runs, they sent Russell Moldenhauer in to hit for Brett Lewis. But, they wanted to keep Preston in the game so they gave up the DH position. And, that meant things got complicated as they struggled to manage the pitching and batting situation for the rest of the game. I'm guessing they won't go with this lineup again any time soon. The #8 spot ended up having 7 different people in it: Brett Lewis (c), Russell Moldenhauer (ph, 5th), Michael Demperio (pr, 5th), Pat McCrory (p, 6th), Clay Van Hook (ph, 6th), Randy Boone (p, 7th), Austin Wood (p, 8th), and Clint Stubbs (ph, 9th). Brett, Russell, Clay, and Clint were the only ones that actually made plate appearances.

Ah well. These things happen. They're just so ugly, though. And, nearly impossible to explain. The Horns simply did not look like themselves today. Hopefully, it's out of their system.

Posted by Joanna at 9:33 PM