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Saturday - March 31, 2007

Game 33: Oklahoma at Texas

Wow. Two very good games in a row. And, happily, the right team came out on top both times! Texas beat the Sooners today 3-1. The game was scoreless through the first 6.2 innings. And, people will make much of the fact that Texas left lots of runners on base. And, they did. In fact, they left 9 (5 of them in scoring position) through the first 6 innings. All but 2 of those runners reached with 2 outs, though. The Sooners, on the other hand, only sent 2 over the minimum to the plate through the first 7 innings! People were grumbling about the batters left on but it was clear that the Horns were going to score at some point. The law of averages was definitely on their side. The Sooners couldn't get anyone on. Adrian Alaniz pitched his second complete game of the season. Way cool. He had rather more than a few great defensive plays to help him along. He gave up one run on 3 hits (a single in the 3rd, one in the 6th, and a triple in the 8th) with 5 strikeouts and no walks. About that triple. It was a high fly ball to rf that Kyle lost in the sun. It looked like a fairly routine out. Except for that blinding sun. Were it not for that, I don't think OU would have scored any runs. They only sent 30 batters to the plate in 9 innings. Texas sent 10 more than that. In 8 innings. See what I mean about the law of averages?

So. Here's how things played out...

• 1st inning, OU
• Davis flew out to rf (foul).
• Reza struck out looking.
• Dunigan reached on catcher's interference. That's the second time I've seen a Texas catcher called for that this season. I think it was Brett Lewis behind the plate last time, though.
• Baker popped out to ss.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Travis Tucker struck out looking.
• Chance reached on a single. On the play, the ball went off the first baseman's glove and ricocheted toward 2b. The second baseman fielded as the first baseman went back to cover the bag. Chance beat him to the bag. Safe at first.
• Jordan Danks struck out swinging.
• Bradley Suttle flew out to cf.
• 2nd inning, OU
• Shepherd flew out to rf. Kyle Russell made a great play to run down a flare that we all expected to drop in for a single. Instead, he ran the ball down, dove at the last second, and made the catch. Wow.
• Gosse grounded out to 2b. This was the 2nd spectacular defensive play in a row. The ball was hit hard...closer to 1b than 2b. It got past Chance at 1b but Travis managed to field the ball behind him and get it to Adrian covering 1b. Wow.
• Williams struck out looking.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Kyle Russell struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Preston Clark struck out swinging.
• Josh Prince singled up the middle. On 2 outs.
• Chais Fuller (dh, good to see him playing again!) walked. 2 on, 2 outs.
• Nick Peoples flew out to rf.
• 3rd inning, OU
• Freeman grounded out to 1b.
• Hughes reached on an infield single to ss. Josh Prince made a nice play to keep the ball from getting into lf but it was too late to get the batter out at home.
• Davis flew out to rf.
• Preston Clark picked Hughes off at 1b (2-3) on the first pitch to Reza.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Travis Tucker flew out to lf.
• Chance Wheeless flew out to cf.
• Jordan Danks was hit by a pitch. With 2 outs.
• Bradley Suttle walked. 2 on, 2 outs.
• Kyle Russell grounded out to 2b.
• 4th inning, OU
• Reza flew out to lf.
• Dunigan grounded out to 2b. Another great play by Travis to gather up the ball and throw it to 1b just before the batter reached the bag.
• Baker grounded out to 2b. This might well have been the defensive play of the game. Although, really, there were several. Much like in the 2nd inning, the ball was a hard grounder hit toward Chance at 1b. Chance dove for the ball and it glanced off his glove and changed direction. Travis was running to back Chance up and had to dive back toward 2b to stop the ball from getting into rf. He just snagged the ball with his bare right hand and managed somehow to twist around and throw the ball (while basically lying on his back) to Adrian covering 1b to get the out. Amazing.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Preston Clark flew out to rf.
• Josh Prince flew out to r.
• Chais Fuller reached on a throwing error by 3b. With 2 outs.
• Nick Peoples doubled to rf. Chais advanced to 3b. 2 on, 2 outs.
• Travis Tucker grounded out to 1b.
• 5th inning, OU
• Shepherd flew out to rf. On the play, Kyle got turned around, then found the ball, then slipped, and somehow dove in time to catch the ball! Wow.
• It looked like Kyle might've hurt himself a bit on the play. He got up rather stiffly and looked like he might be in a bit of pain. But, on the next play...
• Gosse lined out to rf. And, Kyle looked just fine.
• Williams grounded out to 3b.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Chance grounded out to 1b.
• Jordan Danks singled to cf. With only 1 out!
• Bradley Suttle struck out.
• Kyle Russell walked. 2 on, 2 out.
• Preston Clark grounded into a 6-4 fielder's choice.
• 6th inning, OU
• Freeman singled to lf.
• Hughes struck out.
• Davis lined to cf.
• Reza flew out to cf. Nick made a very long run to get to the ball and make the 3rd out. Nice play.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Josh Prince struck out.
• Chais Fuller grounded out to 2b.
• Nick Peoples lined out to cf.
• This was the only 3-up/3-down inning for OU.
• 7th inning, OU
• Dunigan grounded out to 2b.
• Baker flew out to cf.
• Shepherd struck out looking.
• This was the 4th (of 5) 3-up/3-down innings for Texas.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Travis Tucker grounded out to 2b.
• Chance Wheeless grounded out to 1b.
• Jordan Danks singled up the middle. With 2 outs. Jordan was the only player for either team to hit twice in the game.
• At this point, OU sent a pitcher to the bullpen to start warming up. I was surprised they didn't have someone out there earlier since Taylor had thrown 95 pitches (by my count) through the first 6 innings.
• Jordan stole 2b on the 2nd pitch to Bradley Suttle.
• Bradley singled through to lf. Jordan scored and Bradley advanced to 2b on the throw home from lf.
• After a long conference on the mound, Taylor was left in the game. I was a bit surprised by the decision. But, they'd sent Conaway out to the bullpen so late, that they didn't really have much choice.
• OU intentionally walked Kyle Russell. Tsk tsk tsk. 2 on, 2 out.
• Preston Clark doubled to lf. Bradley and Kyle (the guy they intentionally walked) scored. Preston made it to 3b on the throw to the plate.
• Josh Prince grounded out to 3b.
• 8th inning, OU
• Gosse reached on that high fly ball Kyle lost in the sun. He made it to 3b on the play.
• Williams popped out to 2b in foul territory. This was another great play by Travis. He made a long run, dove for the ball, caught it, and jumped up to throw the ball home. Gosse was forced to stay at 3b.
• Freeman grounded out to ss (rbi).
• Hughes struck out.
• 8th inning, Texas
• OU finally replaced their starter. Richards went in on the mound. My guess was that they decided not to burn their closer since they'd fallen behind.
• Russell Moldenhauer (pinch-hitting for Chais Fuller) walked (full count, 7 pitches).
• Michael Demperio went in to run for Russell.
• Nick Peoples moved Michael to 2b on a sac bunt to the pitcher.
• Travis Tucker flew out to cf. Hughes (OU cf) made a very nice run to snag the ball.
• Chance Wheeless walked. 2 on, 2 out.
• Jordan Danks walked (full count). 3 on, 2 out.
• OU sent Conaway in to pitch.
• Bradley Suttle flew out to cf.
• 9th inning, OU
• Davis grounded out to the pitcher. Adrian knocked the ball down, didn't panic (unlike a few folks in the stands), retrieved the ball, and tossed it to Chance for the out.
• Reza hit another come-backer to the pitcher. This time, Adrian had a much easier time getting the out.
• Dunigan flew out to lf. Jordan Danks made a nice run to get the ball. It looked so easy and effortless. 3-up/3-down.

And, that's the way it was. I sure hope they Horns just win in a big way tomorrow. All this "yikes...what's gonna happen now?" stuff just doesn't need to be happening, does it? Heh.

Posted by Joanna at 7:07 PM