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Wednesday - June 6, 2007

Austin Regional, Day 4

Texas lost to UC Irvine 6-9. And, that was that. We were all hoping for a nice long (and, please don't forget: hot!) day at Dell Diamond. Alas, that did not happen. UC Irvine moves forward. They're headed to the Wichita State Super Regional to fight for the privilege of moving on to Omaha. If they keep playing the way they played last weekend, they could win the whole thing. It's a lot easier for me to say that than for them to do that, though. If they start getting giddy about their victory here, if they start thinking too much about the prospect of winning it all... Well, last weekend may be it. We'll know in a few days. I do wish them well and hope they go far.

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner. I was tired on Monday after I finished my write-up on the game. Since then, I've had a tough time deciding just what to write.

One thing I'd like to point out is that the team never gave up. They kept battling away. And, I admire them for their effort. I hope to see a lot of the players back on the turf at Disch-Falk next year.

I've read some of the stuff other folks have written. And, people stop me in the halls at work and ask what happened. There are plenty of things that happened. Things that didn't go "our" way. Things that went wrong. Among them:

• UC Irvine played nearly perfect baseball. They had fantastic pitching. Their center fielder made a couple of plays that I have not seen anyone else (except for Nick Peoples...and Kyle Russell a time or two) make this year.
• The Horns had a problem with pitching depth. Early in the season, they thought Riley Boening would be back. But that didn't happen. And, Kenn Kasparek was never an option. I saw them sitting behind home plate running a radar gun and charting games (or whatever it was they were doing) all season long. But, they never made it onto the field.
• Preston Clark hurt his knee the Tuesday before the Regional and wasn't in the lineup. That hurt. Brett Lewis did a great job in his stead. But, it was not the same. It changed the dynamic.
• Nick Peoples broke his collarbone in the second defensive play of the early game on Sunday so he missed the final two games of the year. That changed the dynamic even more. Jordan Danks tried to make a play on a ball that, had Nick been in his normal position, would've been caught or, at worst, fallen for a single. Instead, it went for a triple. Kyle Lusson and Josh Prince both did admirably in lf. But, there were a couple of plays that surely would've gone differently had Jordan Danks been in his normal position. By the way, I wish Nick a speedy and thorough recovery. I still don't know how he held onto that ball. Wow.
• That first game on Sunday went 3 extra innings. In 100-degree heat. That was tough. On all of us.
• Texas hit .299 over the course of the tournament and .269 in the games against UCI. They were hitting .317 going into the Regional. The top of the order (Jordan, Kyle, Chance, and Bradley) hit .353 in the games leading up to the tournament. UCI limited them to .300 in the tourney (.214 in the Saturday night game).

But, you know what it all really boils down to? It all boils down to Skip Johnson. Not one time all season did we see him on the baseball field dressed in anything other than a sort of pull-over wind-breaker thing. If you never looked at a roster but went to every Texas game, you would have no clue what his roster number was. 'Cause his jersey was always covered up. Always. I commented on it several times during the year. And, wondered what he would do when the heat of late May and early June hit us. But, he continued to wear the wind-breaker thing. Always. And, he had it on before the game started on Monday. For a while. I was doing my usual thing: watching the game, keeping score, trying to stay out of the sun, rooting the team onward, etc. And, time was called. And, folks gathered at the mound to talk things over. And, I noticed an unfamiliar jersey number. I saw a 47. My brow furrowed slightly. And, then it hit me. Skip Johnson was out on the mound and he was dressed like everyone else. He was not wearing that wind-breaker thing he had worn all season long. Rain or shine. That was all we ever saw him in all season long. And, here it was: do or die time. And, Skip Johnson had changed the routine. What was he thinking? Sigh. I blame it all on him. All of it.

Posted by Joanna at 6:59 PM