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Saturday - April 21, 2007

Game 44: Texas at Nebraska

Texas jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the 1st. Jordan Danks flew out to cf. Chance Wheeless singled to rf. And, Kyle Russell hit his 22nd home run of the year. Yes! Bradley Suttle singled and moved to 2b on a ground out by Russell Moldenhauer. Bradley was stranded at 2b when Nick Peoples grounded out. Sadly, the Huskers also started off on a bit of a tear. Adrian Alaniz started for the Horns and gave up back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases. He got Opitz to ground into a 6-4-3 double play which scored one. The next batter struck out to end the inning.

The Horns went down in order in the top of the 2nd. After two fly outs to lf, Nimmo hit a single up the middle. On the play, Travis Tucker and Michael Demperio narrowly avoided colliding behind 2b as they both tried to get to the ball. Luckily, no harm done. The next batter popped out to ss.

The 3rd went like the 2nd for the Horns: 3-up/3-down. Sigh... And, double sigh on the fact that the Huskers scored 3 in the bottom of the inning. The lead-off hitters all got aboard again. Belfonte and Wehrle singled. Brown doubled both home. He moved to 3b on a sac bunt and then scored on a wild pitch.

Bradley started off the 4th by flying out to cf. Russell Moldenhauer and Nick Peoples walked to put runners at 1b and 2b. Preston Clark then hit a bloop single down the rf line. On the play, the Nebraska right fielder dove for the ball and almost made a great catch. He didn't catch the ball, though, and the bases were loaded with one out. Travis Tucker hit a slow grounder to ss to score Russell. With runners at 2b and 3b, Michael Demperio hit a single off the mound and into cf. Both runners scored and he made it to 2b on the throw in. Alas, he was stranded there when Jordan Danks struck out. Texas up 5-4. Yes! Happily, the Huskers went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

Chance Wheeless popped out to ss to start off the 5th. Kyle Russell followed that with a single to cf. Bradley Suttle flew out to very shallow cf. While Russell Moldenhauer was at the plate, the Nebraska starter (Dorn) made a lot of throws to 1b in an attempt to pick Kyle off. Happily, one of those throws hit Kyle's helmet and careened out of play. Kyle ran to 2b on the error. Russell then hit a double that was just fair down the lf line. Kyle scored and Nebraska sent Foust to the mound. Nick Peoples hit a single to cf (rbi). Preston Clark then grounded out to 2b. Texas up 7-4 with the #2 batter due up for the Huskers. And, Wehrle struck out looking. That was only the 2nd time the Horns managed to retire him to that point in the series. Brown also struck out looking. Opitz hit a high fly ball to cf. The wind blew it more toward left and, on another scary play, with Jordan and Nick both going for the ball, Jordan caught it. But, they ran into each other...nobody hurt again. Geesh. 3-up/3-down. For the second inning in a row.

Travis Tucker and Michael Demperio grounded out to start things off in the 6th. Jordan Danks got aboard via an infield single hit toward ss. He stole 2b but was stranded there when Chance Wheeless struck out. In the bottom of the inning, Corriston reached on an error. Michael Demperio made a nice play to stop a ball headed toward cf but then threw very high to 1b. Corriston ended up at 2b on the error. Tezak popped out to 2b and Gerch flew out to cf. Corriston moved to 3b on a passed ball to Nimmo but Nimmo struck out looking to end the inning.

Edlefsen went to the mound for the Huskers and walked Kyle Russell on 5 pitches. [Aside. During Bradley's at-bat, he squared to bunt at one point and the commentators started going on about the 3rd leading hitter in the Big 12 and clean-up hitter for the Horns bunting. They admitted as how Augie bunts when he thinks it's a good idea and were trying to say that everyone in the starting line-up for the Horns had bunted at least once. But, the way Greg Lucas said it cracked me up: "No one in the Texas line-up has not sacrificed at least once." Yowsa. Keith Moreland couldn't have said it better! Ahem.] Bradley flew out to rf. Russell Moldenhauer grounded out to 2b (hit and run). Kyle safe at 2b. Kyle took off on the first pitch to Nick Peoples but was caught stealing on a nice throw from the catcher to the third baseman. The third baseman "snow-coned" the ball a bit but managed to hold on to it to make the tag. Wow. Abeita struck out looking to start off the inning. Mike Anderson was not happy with the pitch calls and came out of the dugout to make his feelings known. To no avail, of course. Apparently, Nick Sullivan had gone into rf for Belfonte and was now hitting in the #1 spot. He grounded out to 1b. Wehrle struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the 8th, Nick Peoples was back at the plate and singled up the middle to start things off. Preston Clark struck out swinging. Travis Tucker reached on a fielder's choice (6-4, Nick out at 2b). After the home plate ump called the first two pitches to Jordan Danks as balls, Andy Sawyers (assistant Nebraska coach) argued the calls and was thrown out of the game. This was the same official that threw Augie out of yesterday's game. Jordan grounded into another fielder's choice (6-4) to end the top half of the inning. Brown struck out to start the bottom half of the inning. Opitz walked on 4 pitches. Skip Johnson had gone to the mound after the 3rd ball so I expected Adrian to be pulled after he finished the walk. But, he stayed in the game and struck out Corriston on 3 pitches. Wow. He walked Tezak, though, and the Horns sent Randy Boone to the mound. Gerch grounded into a fielder's choice (6-4) to end the inning. Texas still up 7-4.

Chance Wheeless started the 9th off with a 4-pitch walk. Kyle Russell hit a single to lf. Bradley Suttle flew out to lf. The Huskers chose to make a pitching change and sent Herr to the mound. With Josh Prince (pinch-hitting for Russell Moldenhauer) at the plate, Herr threw a wild pitch to move the runners to 2b and 3b. Josh walked two pitches later, though, to load the bases. And, Nebraska changed pitchers again; Bird went to the mound. Nick Peoples flew out to cf (rbi, sac fly, Chance scored). The first pitch to Preston Clark was a passed ball. The runners advanced to 2b and 3b. Preston struck out swinging, though, so they were stranded there. Texas up 8-4 going into the bottom of the 9th. Nimmo struck out to start things off for the Huskers. Abeita grounded out to 3b. The throw from Bradley was a bit high and off-line so Chance had to tag Abeita to complete the out. Sullivan struck out swinging to end the game. Yes!

Adrian gets the win and Randy gets his 10th save of the year. Kyle hit his 22nd homer. All in all, a lovely game as far as I'm concerned.

Posted by Joanna at 6:46 PM