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Sunday - May 25, 2008

Game 57: Texas at Kansas State (Big 12 Tournament)

Texas lost the coin flip so played visitor in today's Championship game. The Horns struggled a bit in the 5th but otherwise played very good baseball and won the Championship Game of the Big 12 Tournament 15-7. The line (as reported on GameTracker):

And, play went like so:

• 1st inning - Texas
• A.J. Morris on the mound for KSU.
• Michael Torres (dh) reached on a throwing error by 3b. The third baseman threw wide (on the outfield side of 1b), pulling the first baseman off the bag.
• Jordan Danks (cf), after failing to get the bunt down, singled through the right side, moving Michael to 3b. Michael was running with the pitch and made 3b easily.
• Kyle Russell (rf) hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Michael scored (no rbi) on the play.
• Brandon Belt (1b) grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Texas up 1-0.
• 1st inning - KSU
• Riley Boening on the mound for Texas.
• Bunker (dh) walked (full count).
• Scott (2b) went down swinging.
• Tenbrink (3b) singled to lf (first pitch), moving Bunker to 2b.
• With Bloxom at the plate, the runners advanced to 2b and 3b on a wild pitch.
• Bloxom (1b) went on to walk (full count) to load the bases.
• Biery (ss) flew out to rf. Kyle did a good job of being in position to throw as he caught the ball and kept the runner from 3b from scoring on the play.
• King (rf) struck out swinging.
• Texas up 1-0. Whew.
• 2nd inning - Texas
• Russell Moldenhauer (lf) grounded out to 2b (full count).
• Preston Clark (3b) fought off several pitches and was eventually called out on strikes.
• David Hernandez popped out to 2b in shallow cf (first pitch).
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning - KSU
• Wiley (lf) reached on an infield single to 2b. Travis made a nice play to stop the ball from getting into the outfield but then had no chance to throw the batter out.
• Vaughn (c) singled past Preston into lf. Preston was moving in, expecting a bunt, and had no chance to stop the ball. Yikes! Runners at 1b and 2b, no out.
• Yelovich (cf) bunted the ball to 3b and reached on an infield single. Nice bunt. Neither Riley nor Preston had any chance at all of fielding the ball. Wow.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound but left Riley in the game.
• Bunker hit into a 4-unassisted-3 double play. Travis fielded the ball, stepped on 2b, and threw to 1b. Wiley scored and Vaughn moved to 3b.
• Scott went down swinging.
• Game tied 1-1.
• 3rd inning - Texas
• Cameron Rupp (c) doubled into the rf corner.
• Travis Tucker (2b) moved Cameron to 3b on a sac bunt (1-3).
• Michael Torres hit a double off the bottom of the fence in lf, scoring Cameron.
• Jordan Danks tripled off the wall in cf, scoring Michael. Wow.
• Kyle Russell singled through the right side, scoring Jordan.
• The Wildcats changed pitchers. Hoge went to the mound for Morris.
• Brandon Belt singled into rf, moving Kyle to 3b.
• After an offensive time out (Coach Garrido chatting with Russell Moldenhauer), Russell fell behind 0-2 (both called strikes), worked the count full, and singled through the left side, scoring Kyle and moving Brandon to 3b. Brandon was running with the pitch which prompted the shortstop to move toward the bag. Russell's single went right through the area just vacated by the shortstop. Nice play. Had Brandon not been running, he probably would've been thrown out as the the first out of a double play...and there's no way, had the ball gotten past the shortstop somehow, that he could've made it to 3b.
• Kansas State changed pitchers again, sending Trevor Hurley to the mound.
• Preston Clark walked to load the bases.
• David Hernandez hit into a 6-unassisted-3 double play. The shortstop fielded the ball just as it was bouncing over 2b, stepped on the bag, and threw to 1b to complete the double play.
• Texas up 5-1.
• 3rd inning - KSU
• Tenbrink grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Bloxom singled up the middle.
• Biery lined out to rf.
• King popped out to ss just outside the infield dirt.
• Texas up 5-1.
• 4th inning - Texas
• Cameron Rupp was hit by a pitch (1-0 count). It looked like the ball just grazed Cameron's thigh.
• Brad Hutt went to the mound for Kansas State.
• Travis Tucker fought off several pitches but ended up striking out (foul tip).
• Michael Torres singled up the middle, moving Cameron to 2b.
• Jordan Danks singled through the right side, scoring Cameron and moving Michael to 3b. On the throw home, Jordan moved up to 2b.
• Kyle Russell fought off a couple of pitches but struck out swinging.
• Brandon Belt doubled to the lf/cf gap, scoring Michael and Jordan.
• Russell Moldenhauer singled through the left side, scoring Brandon. He moved to 2b on the throw.
• Preston Clark walked on 4 pitches.
• David Hernandez grounded out to the pitcher. On the play, the pitcher was just trying to protect himself and lost his glove on the play. The ball and glove fell at his feet. He recovered in plenty of time to get David out at 1b.
• Texas up 9-1.
• 4th inning - KSU
• Wiley struck out swinging.
• Vaughn flew out to cf.
• Yelovich grounded out to 3b. Great stop by Preston Clark!
• Texas up 9-1.
• 5th inning - Texas
• The Wildcats sent Thomas Rooke to the mound.
• Cameron Rupp grounded out to ss.
• Travis Tucker walked (full count).
• Michael Torres hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
• Texas up 9-1.
• 5th inning - KSU
• Cole Green went to the mound for the Horns.
• Bunker singled past a diving Preston Clark into lf.
• Scott flew out to rf.
• Tenbrink walked on 4 pitches.
• Bloxom was called out on strikes (full count).
• Biery walked to load the bases.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound and left Cole in the game.
• King hit a 3-run double off the wall in cf.
• Wiley hit a triple to cf, scoring King. Jordan made a great play to leap at the last second and keep the homerun ball in the park. He had the ball in the webbing of his glove and as he fell back into the field, his wrist snapped forward, flinging the ball back into the field of play. Wow.
• Texas sent Austin Wood to the mound.
• Vaughn singled past David Hernandez to score Wiley.
• Yelovich tried to bunt his way aboard but grounded out instead (3-1).
• Texas up 9-6.
• 6th inning - Texas
• Jordan Danks grounded out (on an "excuse me" swing) to 3b.
• Kyle Russell doubled to the lf/cf gap.
• Brandon Belt walked.
• Russell Moldenhauer doubled off the bottom of the wall in the lf/cf corner of the park, scoring Kyle and Brandon.
• Preston Clark struck out looking.
• David Hernandez singled through the left side, scoring Russell.
• KSU sent Vogel to the mound for Rooke.
• Cameron Rupp reached on an infield single. The shortstop dove and made a nice stop on the ball but that was it.
• Travis Tucker popped out to 1b.
• Texas up 12-6.
• 6th inning - KSU
• Bunker grounded out to 2b.
• Scott flew out to rf near the line.
• Tenbrink flew out to cf just shy of the wall.
• Texas up 12-6.
• 7th inning - Texas
• Michael Torres grounded out to 2b (first pitch).
• Jordan Danks grounded out to 1b (unassisted, first pitch).
• After an offensive timeout (designed mostly to kill a bit of time, I guess, since the first two batters went down on 2 pitches), Kyle Russell grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 12-6.
• 7th inning - KSU
• Bloxom grounded out to 3b.
• Biery grounded out to ss.
• King went down swinging.
• Texas up 12-6.
• 8th inning - Texas
• Brandon Belt grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Russell Moldenhauer hit a double off the top of the lf wall.
• Preston Clark walked.
• David Hernandez struck out looking.
• Cameron Rupp singled through the left side, scoring Russell and moving Preston to 2b.
• Travis Tucker singled to lf, scoring Preston and moving David to 2b.
• The Wildcats sent Tyler Ruch to the mound for Vogel.
• Michael Torres singled up the middle, scoring Cameron and moving Travis to 3b.
• Jordan Danks flew out to rf.
• Texas up 15-6.
• 8th inning - KSU
• Wiley flew out to cf.
• Vaughn flew out to rf.
• Yelovich struck out swinging.
• Texas up 15-6.
• 9th inning - Texas
• Jurica went into the field at 2b for hte Wildcats.
• Kyle Russell struck out looking.
• Brandon Belt flew out to rf.
• Russell Moldenhauer grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 15-6.
• 9th inning - KSU
• Chance Ruffin went to the mound for Austin Wood.
• Bunker singled to lf.
• Jurica reached on a 5-4 fielder's choice. Preston Clark appeared to hurt himself a bit as he fielded the ball. But he stayed in the game.
• Tenbrink doubled down the lf line, moving Jurica to 3b.
• Bloxom hit a sac fly to lf down the line, scoring Jurica. Tenbrink stayed at 2b.
• Biery struck out looking.

Texas wins the game 15-7 to earn the Big 12 Tournament Championship crown. Austin Wood got the win.

Interestingly, on the offensive side of things, the middle infielders were the only batters in the lineup who failed to score a run. They both did drive one in, though. Going down the lineup, here's how things played out:

• Michael Torres went 3-for-6, scored 3 runs and drove in 2 runs with a double.
• Jordan Danks went 3-for-6, scored 2 runs, and drove in 2 with a triple.
• Kyle Russell went 2-for-6, scored 2 runs, and drove in 1 with a double and 2 strikeouts.
• Brandon Belt went 2-for-5, scored 2, and drove in 2 with a double and a walk.
• Russell Moldenhauer went 4-for-6, scored 2 , and drove in 4 with 2 doubles.
• Preston Clark went 0-for-2 and scored 1 with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts.
• David Hernandez went 1-for-5 and drove 1 in with a strikeout.
• Cameron Rupp went 3-for-4, scored 3, drove 1 in, and was hit by a pitch.
• Travis Tucker went 1-for-3 and drove in 1 with a sac bunt, a walk, and a strikeout.

The team did about as much as they could as they finished off the regular season and played out the Big 12 Tournament to make their case to the NCAA that they should be rewarded with a Regional host bid. I guess we'll know very shortly if their efforts were successful. Or it it was all a bit too little, too late.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 4:57 PM