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Friday - March 21, 2008

Game 21: Texas at Texas Tech

I ended up working late this evening. I was in my office but unable to do any sort of "keeping notes" sort of thing. Kevin Keyes started in lf and Preston Clark in rf today. Bill Little did say that Kyle Russell has a pulled muscle in his neck, explaining his absence in the series.

Texas (with Kenn Kasparek on the mound) was mostly in control through the top of the 5th. In the bottom, ahead 3-0, the Horns gave up 3 runs (2 of them on a 2-run homerun by Rindels). The Horns managed to put another run across in the top of the 6th to retake the lead. That's about the time I finished the project I was working on and, sadly, that's when the game took an ugly turn. The Horns sent Chance Ruffin (coming off his 4-game suspension) to the mound in the bottom of the inning. Horrifyingly, Chance threw 10 balls in a row! So, Texas sent Stayton Thomas to the mound. Stayton (going in with 2-balls to the batter) threw a couple of strikes but ended up completing the walk to load the bases. And, then he walked the next batter on 4 pitches to let the tying run cross the plate. Bases still loaded with no outs. Then he hit the next batter to put the go-ahead run across! So, in went Keith Shinaberry. Keith gave up a bunt single to put the Horns down by 2. But, the next batter, also trying to bunt, ground into a 2-unassisted fielder's choice (runner from 3b out at the plate). With the bases loaded and 1 out, Cole Green entered the game for the Horns and, thankfully, got the only batter he faced in the 6th to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. Wow. Four pitchers in one inning. Astounding.

In the top of the 7th, Jordan Danks led off with a 4-pitch walk and I started to hope that, maybe, the Horns might play a little bit of "turnabout is fair play" but, no. Brandon Belt flew out. The Raiders changed their pitcher, and Preston Clark grounded into a double play. The Raiders started off the bottom of the 7th with back-to-back doubles to push another run across. Seefeld (who hit the 2nd double) advanced to 3b when he tagged on a fly out to cf and was then thrown out (p to c) when the next batter hit a ground ball in front of the mound. Whew. The final batter flew out to lf.

In the 8th, Cameron Rupp reached on a 1-out walk and moved to 2b on a passed ball. Kevin Keyes singled, moving Cameron to 3b. Russell Moldenhauer (pinch-hitting for David Hernandez) hit a sac fly to cf, scoring Cameron. Michael Torres grounded into a fielder's choice to end the Texas half of the inning. Pat McCrory went in at ss for the Horns in the bottom of the inning. Rindels got his 3rd hit of the game but was stranded at 2b as Jordan Danks made a diving catch to end the 8th inning.

Travis Tucker grounded out to 2b to start the 9th. Jordan Danks singled up the middle (extending his hitting streak to 14 games). This is when I checked the line-up to confirm that if they next three Horns managed to get aboard somehow, Cameron Rupp would get a chance to extend his hitting streak. Brandon Belt, though, struck out. Preston Clark did likewise. Texas loses 5-7. Damn.

Posted by Joanna at 9:25 PM