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Wednesday - March 19, 2008

Game 19: Texas State at Texas

[Note: Sorry I didn't post this last night. I wrote it up and then forgot to post it. Sad, eh? Oh well.]

It rained a lot today. And, we doubted the teams would play. But, the rain started to clear out about 4 o'clock or so and by 5:30, the sun was trying to break through. I don't think it ever did break through. But, it cleared up. It was very windy...which helped dry things off a bit. The rain and wind also cooled things off quite a bit. We went out at lunchtime and I actually had to use the A/C in my car for a bit. It was that warm. It was down to 59 deg. F by the start of the game. It did start a bit late...about 6:20 or so. And, the wind whipped in from left. A very stiff and mean wind. I wasn't really expecting it to be quite that cold when I left home this morning. I'd thrown a sweatshirt and windbreaker in the car on my way out the door. I had a hoodie at the office. So, I layered up. And, luckily, my fleece cap was in the car as well. It was still cold at Disch-Falk. But, not unbearably so. At some point...during the 4th inning or so...the rain came back. It rained, sometimes pretty hard, until about the start of the 9th. The temperature also dropped down to 53 when the rain was falling and wind was blowing hardest. And, then it eased up enough for us to make our way to our cars and head home.

The line:

RHE
Texas State 000 203 100 - 692
Texas 301 230 00x - 9112

Casey Whitmer started for Texas and went 2.1 innings. He kept the Bobcats scoreless while giving up 2 hits, throwing 2 strikeouts, and giving up 2 walks. He also hit a couple of batters. The bases were loaded with 1 out in the 3rd when Keith Shinaberry took over. Keith got the Bobcats catcher to ground into a very pretty 6-4-3 double play. Surprisingly, he stayed in the game and pitched the 4th. He gave up a lead-off single and then got the next two batters to fly out to lf and cf. He then gave up a single, putting runners at the corners. The next batter doubled down the lf line, pushing 2 across. The next batter grounded out to 1b. Hunter Hill then took the mound for the 5th to get a win in his first collegiate start. He fell behind the first batter he faced but then got him to groundout to 2b. He walked the next two batters. The 4th batter hit what looked like a double to left. Preston Clark (starting in lf again today) was playing a fairly shallow lf due to the stiff wind. He got on his horse and ran after the ball. I didn't think there was much chance he'd catch up to it. But, somehow he did. He made a spectacular stretch at the last second and grabbed the ball. Amazing. The baserunners quickly scurried back to 1b and 2b. The next batter hit a hard ground ball right at Hunter on the mound. It hit one of his feet (or an ankle) very hard and ricocheted right at Brandon Belt behind 1b. Brandon scooped the ball up and beat the batter to the bag for the last out of the inning. Exciting. Pat McCrory pitched the 6th and 7th. In the 6th, he gave up a 1-out single and made a bad pick-off throw to 1b to let the runner advance to 3b. He struck the next batter out but then gave up a full-count walk. With runners at the corners, he gave up a towering homerun over the rf fence to Bobcats dh Jonathan Farrow (his 4th of the year). He ended the inning with a strikeout. In the 7th, he gave up a couple of singles before getting a couple of groundouts and a fly out. One run did score. Brandon Belt went in for the 8th and 9th (necessitating a couple of defensive shifts and substitutions) and got his first save of the year. He hit a batter and walked one in the 8th but sandwiched those bugaboos with a groundout, a strikeout, and a fly out. In the 9th, he got a pop out to ss (scary basket catch by David Hernandez!), a groundout to 3b (fantastic barehand scoop and throw by Travis Tucker!), and a fly out to lf to end the game.

On the offensive side of things, the Horns jumped out to a nice 3-run lead when Brandon Belt (he of his first save of the year later in the game!) hit a 1-out 3-run homerun waaaaaaay over the rf fence. Those 3 runs ended up being the difference in the game. Go, Brandon! Going down the line-up, the offense went like so: (1) Jordan Danks in cf went 2-for-4 with a double, 2 walks, a stolen base, a run batted in, and 2 runs scored; (2) Travis Tucker at 3b went 0-for-2 with a strikeout, a walk, scored 3 runs, and was hit by a pitch twice; (3) Preston Clark in lf went 2-for-3 with a double, 2 walks, a run batted in, and 2 runs scored; (4) Brandon Belt at 1b and p went 3-for-4 with a homerun, 5 runs batted in, a walk, and 1 run scored; (5a) Russell Moldenhauer at dh went 2 for-4 with a double, a strikeout, and 1 run batted in; (5b) Tant Shepherd, pinch-hitting in the dh spot, went 0-for-0 with a 4-pitch walk; (5c) Kyle Lusson who went in at rf when Brandon moved to p in the 8th, did not make any plate appearances; (6a) Kyle Russell in rf, sadly, went 0-for-4 with a couple of strikeouts; (6b) Kevin Keyes, pinch-hitting for Kyle (who seemed to hurt or tweak his shoulder) grounded into a fielder's choice in his only at-bat; (7) Cameron Rupp at c went 1-for-4 to keep his hitting streak alive at 13 games, with a strikeout and he got hit by a pitch; (8) David Hernandez at ss went 0-for-4 with a walk, a strikeout, and he did reach on an error once; and (9) Michael Torres at 2b went 1-for-4 with a walk, a strikeout, and a run scored. Whew! Texas won 9-6.

Posted by Joanna at 10:22 PM