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Tuesday - March 4, 2008

Game 9: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Texas

I listened to the game from my office today. I want to take Friday afternoon off and catch the Stanford game so have decided not to take in either of the TAMU-CC Islanders games. Alas, no way I can recap the whole game inning-by-inning since I am working.

Today's line-up presents a couple of changes: (1) Travis Tucker at 3b, (2) Michael Torres at 2b, (3) Jordan Danks in cf, (4) Cameron Rupp at c, (5) Brandon Belt at 1b, (6) Kyle Russell in rf, (7) Tant Shepherd at dh, (8) Connor Rowe in lf, and (9) David Hernandez at ss. Riley Boening gets the nod to start. And, good for Connor Rowe...getting rewarded for that game-winning single on Sunday. And, no mention (that I heard, at any rate) on whether or not Preston Clark is just getting an extra bit of rest or if his sore arm has gotten worse.

Pre-game comments from Coach Garrido (as best I can para-phrase): Adversity is good for the team. He hopes the eye-opener of how many things can go wrong when you let the environment kick you around helps the team. He said the team let fear get to them and he thought they did a remarkable thing in their turnaround in the game against Houston. He said there are a lot more positives than negatives...Riley Boening's comeback is one of those positives. It's about how the team responds to adversity. He thinks the game against Houston speaks well to the team's character.

Riley Boening started off nicely with a 3-up/3-down inning. The Horns followed by stranding Travis Tucker at 2b in the bottom of the 1st.

Texas scored a couple on the bottom of the 2nd: rbi double by Tant Shepherd (driving Kyle Russell in) and rbi single by Travis Tucker (driving Tant in). The Horns did strand a couple.

The Islanders took the lead in the 4th...after 3 very quiet innings. The second batter of the inning reached on an error by Travis Tucker at 3b (I did not hear the specifics of the error). The next batter doubled down the rf line to put runners at 2b and 3b. That was followed by a single to drive one in and put runners at the corners. The next batter hit a 2-run double to put the Horns behind by one run. Riley got out of the inning by striking out the next batter and fielding a "come-backer" to throw the final batter out at 1b.

I was out of my office and missed most of the bottom of the 5th. I heard the final two Texas batters...out of 9, it turns out. I got back just in time to hear Tant Shepherd hit a 2-run single to drive in the last 2 of 4 runs scored by Texas...in response to the 3 scored by the Islanders in the top of the inning. Good job. According to the Live Stats page, the bottom of the inning went like so:

Texas sent Casey Whitmer in to pitch for Riley at the top of the 5th. The Islanders got a couple aboard (via a single and a walk) but they were stranded at 1b and 2b. In the bottom of the inning, the Horns scored another couple...both unearned. Travis Tucker reached on a 1-out walk. He stole 2b and then tagged and moved to 3b on a fly out to rf by Michael Torres. Jordan Danks then hit a fly ball to cf. The center fielder lost it in the sun and, on the error, Travis scored and Jordan ended up at 2b. Cameron Rupp singled to rf, scoring Jordan. Brandon Belt flew out to lf to end the inning. Texas up 8-3.

I missed the top of the 6th (turned out to be a 1-2-3 inning) and the first three batters of the bottom of the inning. However, according to Keith (conveniently re-capping as I got back to my office): Kyle Russell doubled to start things off and was followed by consecutive walks by Tant Shepherd and Connor Rowe. The Islanders changed pitchers at that point and the new pitcher struck David Hernandez out. The Live Stats page, by the way, seemed to be dead dead dead at this point. No idea what happened there. At any rate, Travis Tucker walked in a run putting the Horns up 9-3. Michael Torres then walked in another run. Jordan Danks went down swinging. Keith said that was the first strikeout by the pitcher but I think it was the 2nd...unless I misheard regarding how David Hernandez went down (and, again...no Live Stats to confirm one way or the other). Cameron Rupp doubled to lf, clearing the bases and putting Texas up by 10. Brandon Belt doubled to left center, scoring Cameron. Kyle Russell flew out (I did not hear to which field) to end the inning.

Hunter Harris went to the mound for the Horns in the 7th and threw a 1-2-3 inning. I tuned into the bottom of the inning to hear that Tant Shepherd was at 2b and Kevin Keyes was at the plate (batting for Connor Rowe, I guess). He was hit by a 3-0 pitch to put runners at 1b and 2b with no out. A wild pitch to Pat McCrory (pinch-hitting for David Hernandez) sent the runners to 2b and 3b. A second wild pitch moved the batters up again, scoring Tant this time and moving Kevin to 3b. Pat was also hit by a 3-0 pitch to put runners at the corners. The Islanders went to their 5th (I think) pitcher of the day at this point. Keith then re-capped so I found out that Tant reached on a double to the lf corner. Travis Tucker reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. The 3rd baseman tried to get the runner out at 2b but had a tough play and did not make it. Michael Torres grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Kevin scored on the play and Pat ended up at 3b. Jordan Danks made the final out but I did not hear how. Texas ahead 16-3 going into the 8th.

I pretty much missed the rest of the game. Texas gave up 4 more runs (1 unearned) in the 8th but did go on to win 16-7. 'Wish I had time to post more but I'm running late for dinner...

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 6:38 PM