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Monday - March 17, 2008

Game 18: Texas at UT-San Antonio

Today's game against UT-San Antonio was played at the San Antonio Missions' home field (Nelson Wolff Stadium) in San Antonio. I tuned in after the game had already started and heard Keith Moreland say something about the Longhorns having experienced some sort of accident on the bus before leaving town. So, I went looking around and found a note on the Statesman's Bevo Beat blog saying the team bus was hit by a milk truck as it was leaving Disch-Falk today. There were no injuries. The team had to wait about an hour for a replacement bus and they arrived in time to take infield practice (but no batting practice) before the start of the game.

The Horns jumped out to a 3-run lead in the top of the 1st. Jordan Danks struck out to start things off. Travis Tucker reached on a bunt to 3b and was nearly picked off at 1b but was hit by the ball (throw from 1b to ss?) in the rundown and reached 2b safely. This was blandly recorded in the UT-SA GameWatcher as a stolen base. Heh. Preston Clark doubled to score Travis. Cameron Rupp struck out. Tant Shepherd walked. And, Brandon Belt doubled, scoring Preston and Tant. Russell Moldenhauer flew out to end the top of the 1st. Riley Boening started for the Horns and gave up a lead-off double. The next three batters went down in order, though.

David Hernandez led off the 2nd with a single, moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Michael Torres, and on to 3b when Jordan Danks grounded out to 1b. David was stranded at 3b when Travis Tucker grounded out to ss. In the bottom of the inning, the lead batter got aboard (single). He was erased on a fielder's choice (very nearly a double play). The Horns then got another ground ball and completed the double play this time to end the inning.

And, then, I left work, drove home, and tried to listen from the car. So, no details of the missing innings will be provided. I did hear Preston Clark making a great catch in right field at one point. He started in rf today. Russell Moldenhauer started in lf. And, Tant Shepherd played dh. I have no idea why Kyle Russell was not in the line-up. And, I never heard Keith say anything about it.

Texas scored 2 more (both unearned, I believe) in the 4th. They gave up 3 in the bottom of the 5th. Riley Boening could not get out of the 5th so still no wins on the year. Keith Shinaberry went in for Riley to get the final out of the 5th. The audio dropped out during the bottom of the 5th so I don't have any real details. The UT-SA GameWatcher thing on the Internet is really bad for trying to catch up on previous innings. It kept refreshing every 5 seconds or so and popping back to the current action...making it difficult to figure out what had happened in earlier innings. Aggravating.

Ah well. I was able to get back to a computer (so I could continue with this game report) at the top of the 7th. Jordan Danks led off with a single through the right side, prompting a pitching change for the Roadrunners (Holton replaced Ruepke). Travis Tucker moved Jordan to 2b on a sac bunt. Preston Clark tripled to lf, scoring Jordan. On the play, the left fielder appeared to have no idea where the ball was and by the time it fell and he caught up to it, Preston was standing on 3b. Cameron Rupp hit a sac fly to rf to score Preston. Tant Shepherd doubled but was stranded at 2b when Brandon Belt grounded out to 2b. Hunter Harris replaced Keith Shinaberry at some point (the start of the bottom half of the 6th, perhaps?...assuming Keith faced his customary solo batter) and was still in the game for the 7th. Hutson grounded out. Keithley doubled to rf. This seems as good a place as any to point out that there was a very stiff wind blowing around the stadium causing all kinds of trouble for the fielders on any balls hit into the air. Keith Moreland couldn't believe how far off-line high-hit balls were traveling. Keithley moved to 3b on a wild pitch with Palincsar at the plate. Palincsar struck out swinging (3rd K for Hunter). Rockett popped out to 2b to end the inning.

UT-SA sent Graham to the mound to start the 8th. Russell Moldenhauer grounded out to 1b (p covering the bag). David Hernandez reached on a 4-pitch walk. Michael Torres singled to cf, moving David to 2b. Jordan Danks flew out to cf. The center fielder overthrew the cut-off man, allowing the baserunners to move up to 2b and 3b (E8). Travis Tucker reached on a full-count walk to load the bases. Keith Moreland happily pointed out that Preston Clark, due up, needed only a homerun (and look: bases loaded!) to hit for the cycle. Heh. The Roadrunners sent Griffin to the mound to face Preston. With a 1-2 count, the pitcher plonked Preston on his helmet (rbi)...no cycle for Preston. A wild pitch moved everyone ahead, scoring another run (2nd runs scored on wild pitches for the Horns on the day, according to Keith who seemed to be working alone this evening). Cameron walked on 4 pitches to re-load the bases (apparently ending his 12-game hitting streak). Tant Shepherd singled through the shortstop (who tried to field the hard-hit liner while protecting his body) to score two more (Travis and Preston). Brandon Belt singled up the middle to score Cameron and put runners at the corners. Hmmm...maybe Cameron will get another chance to bat, after all. Heh. Probably not. Russell Moldenhauer singled to rf, scoring Tant and moving Brandon to 2b. Mysteriously, the Horns sent Kevin Keyes in to run for Russell. David Hernandez walked to re-load the bases (yet again!) prompting Keith to make the same observation I made earlier about the possibility of Cameron getting another at-bat. It also prompted the Roadrunners to send Crocker to the mound. Michael Torres grounded out to 2b to end the bleeding. Texas up 13-3.

Kyle Walker went to the mound for the Horns in the bottom of the 8th and Kevin Keyes stayed in at lf. Lockwood walked to start things off (full-count). Allen (pinch-hitting) reached on a 3-6 fielder's choice. Carpenter singled to put runners at 1b and 2b. Etheredge doubled to left-center to score one. Runners at 2b and 3b. Rummell struck out. Carpenter then scored on a wild pitch with Hutson at the plate. Etheredge moved to 3b on the play. Hutson struck out swinging, though, to end the inning. Texas up 13-5.

Which brings us to the 9th. Jordan Danks singled up the middle on the first pitch of the inning. Cameron might well get that plate appearance! Travis Tucker singled through the right side, putting runners at the corners. Preston Clark doubled to right-center, plating Jordan and Travis. And, that brings Cameron and his hitting streak to the plate. And, he got his hit: a double to lf, driving in Preston! Tant Shepherd lined out to rf for the 1st out of the inning. Brandon Belt singled (I didn't hear the specifics), putting runners at the corners. Which brought Kevin Keyes to the plate for his first plate appearance of the day. Kevin, sadly, went down swinging. David Hernandez struck out swinging as well. Texas up 16-5.

In the bottom of the inning, Kai Emsley-Pai replaced Cameron behind the plate and Juston Street went to the mound for the Horns. Keithley flew out to rf. Palincsar singled to lf. Rockett singled to rf, putting runners at 1b and 2b. Lockwood lined out to cf. Allen walked (full count). Powell (pinch-hitting) grounded out to 2b to end the game.

Wow. That was a long game. Texas won 16-5.

The post-game interview with Coach Garrido: Keith brought up the killer instinct issue and Coach Garrido said he was very glad to see the team responding. He said with all the teams possibly having pitching troubles this season, the Horns need to out-hit their opponents and he thinks they clearly can do that. He also joked that the problem with the bus may have been a blessing in disguise...that the team didn't waste time taking batting practice before they game; they got it out of the way in the game.

I'm pretty sure Keith said, at one point late in the game, that the start time for the Saturday game in Lubbock had been moved to noon instead of 1 o'clock. The TexasSports.com page does not reflect this change but you should probably check back before Saturday to verify the start time.

Posted by Joanna at 9:54 PM