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Saturday - May 12, 2007

Game 53: Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Texas

To nobody's surprise, Texas handled the Golden Lions of Arkansas-Pine Bluff handily this afternoon. Texas won 10-4. It was very warm at Disch-Falk. My seats are always in the shade. And, I like it that way. With the current construction, though, there's a break in the roof. And, there's a period of time during afternoon games when the sun peaks through and burns! I was very uncomfortable when the sun was bearing down on me and I had to move out of my regular seat for about 15 minutes or so. I don't know how those folks sitting down the lf line could stand it. But, there are always people at baseball games that seem to thrive on sitting in the heat of the summer sun. I don't begin to understand those folks! Likewise, it must have been pretty miserable down on the turf. The heat was certainly making chopped ground balls bounce high off the warmed-over turf.

So. Just who is Arkansas-Pine Bluff? Well, they pretty much hang out 'round about the bottom 20-25 of all Division I schools...in the conference that also hangs out around the bottom of the conference rankings: the SWAC. So, why play them? Texas needed to play somebody. Anybody. To get the taste of that Missouri series out of their mouths. They had to find someone that wasn't playing this weekend. They also had to find someone who was under the (NCAA mandated) 56-game regular season maximum number of games. And, they wanted to play a Div. I team, if at all possible. Arkansas-Pine Bluff fit the bill. I was glad to see them come to town.

By the way. The best news of the day just may be the fact that Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell both started in their normal positions and both seemed just fine.

The scary news of the day: in the 5th, a foul tip went off Preston Clark's face mask and stopped him cold for a few minutes. He seemed to indicate that the pain was in his left jaw area. The trainer checked him over and after a couple of minutes, he took a test throw from Austin Wood and ended up staying in the game. I imagine he'll be in a bit of pain for a few days. Ouch.

The pitching was by committee today. The three regular starters were slated to pitch 2 innings each. They did that. James Russell, Adrian Alaniz, and Austin Wood combined to throw 6 innings of shut-out ball, giving up 5 hits (1 double and 4 singles) and 2 walks, while striking out 6. Josh Prince went in for the 7th and wasn't quite as effective. To put it mildly. He also pitched into a bit of bad luck. At the same time Josh entered the game, Texas replaced all the starters in the field except Nick Peoples in cf and Travis Tucker at 2b. Josh went in, walked 1, struck out 1, and walked another. With runners at 1b and 2b, Davis hit a bouncer toward the 1b/2b gap. Jeff Boes (at 1b), Travis Tucker, and Josh all went for the ball. Josh fielded it and then saw that Jeff had not covered 1b. He broke hard for the bag, dove for it, and almost caught the batter. But, he was a bit too late (bases loaded). Barker then hit a high bouncer over the mound. Michael Demperio (at ss) fielded the ball but had no play (1 run across, bases still loaded). The next batter grounded out to 2b (another run across, runners at 2b and 3b). McCullum then hit a 1-1 pitch up the middle (2 runs across). The 8th batter of the inning then walked on 4 pitches. Ouch. So, Joseph Krebs went in. He struck out the 9th batter of the inning. He then pitched a 1-2-3 8th. Randy Boone followed that with a 1-2-3 9th.

In the post game interview, Coach Garrido said that since they'd designated the pitching situation ahead of time, the win could go to any pitcher who put up a zero. The Horns had 5 pitchers eligible: Russell, Alaniz, Wood, Krebs, and Boone. So, they drew cards. Randy Boone drew the Ace of Clubs to get the win. Don't you love it?

On the offensive side of things, Texas jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st. Jordan Danks led things off with a ground-rule double to lf. Kyle Russell walked behind him. Chance Wheeless reached on a bunt single. Both fielders at the corners charged as Chance squared to bunt. The bunt went down the 3b line and was fielded nicely by the third baseman. Alas, the second baseman sorta forgot that he needed to cover 1b but the third baseman threw the ball toward 1b anyway. Oops. Jordan scored. Kyle moved to 3b and Chance moved to 2b. Bradley Suttle hit a sac fly to cf, scoring Kyle. Preston Clark struck out and Russell Moldenhauer followed that with a single off the diving second baseman's glove to score Chance. Chais Fuller then popped out to 1b (foul) to end the inning. Texas up by 3. They went down in order in the 2nd.

Texas put 5 more on the board in the 3rd as they sent 10 to the plate. Kyle Russell started things off with a double through the right side. Chance Wheeless drew an 8-pitch walk. Bradley Suttle was hit by the first pitch he saw to load the bases. Preston Clark then drew a 10-pitch (!) walk to send Kyle home. Russell Moldenhauer hit a sac fly (foul?...I couldn't quite tell) down the lf line to score Chance. Chais Fuller reached on an error by the third baseman (his 2nd error of the game). The ball skipped under his glove and went into lf. Bradley scored on the play while Preston held up at 2b. Nick Peoples then singled through the left side. The Golden Lions took that opportunity to change their pitcher. They also changed their third baseman at that point. Travis Tucker singled the first pitch he saw up the middle to score Preston. Jordan Danks (9th batter of the inning) struck out looking (full-count). Kyle Russell then flew out to cf to end the inning. Speaking of flying out to cf, the UAPB center fielder (Jeremy Davis) made several nice plays today. Props to him.

The Horns went down in order in the 4th. Russell Moldenhauer led off the 5th with a solo shot over the rf fence. Purty. Nick Peoples singled but was stranded at 1b. They put their final run of the game across in the 6th. Bradley Suttle reached on a 2-out 6-pitch walk. He moved to 2b when Preston Clark was hit by a pitch and then scored on a single by Russell Moldenhauer. Nick Peoples reached on a walk in the 7th but was, again, stranded at 1b. Jeff Boes was hit by a pitch in the 8th but he was also stranded at 1b.

Going down the line, the offense went like so:

The Horns are due to have a hard practice tomorrow and then back to normal on Tuesday to get ready for the A&M series.

Posted by Joanna at 8:34 PM