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Saturday - May 31, 2008

Game 59: Texas at Sam Houston State (Houston Regional)

Texas played visitor today to Sam Houston State in the Houston Regional. Chance Ruffin started for the Horns and Ryan Tepera was on the mound for the Bearkats. I watched the CSTV stream online. CSTV used the KVET radio broadcast so I was mostly able to hear Craig Way and Keith Moreland as the game streamed. The audio, cut out a few times and when that happened, I'd switch back to the radio and listen to it...running 2 or 3 pitches ahead of the video during those periods (which was a bit disconcerting).

Texas lineup: (1) Michael Torres, dh, (2) Jordan Danks, cf, (3) Kyle Russell, rf, (4) Brandon Belt, 1b, (5) Russell Moldenhauer, lf, (6) Preston Clark, 3b, (7) David Hernandez, ss, (8) Cameron Rupp, c, and (9) Travis Tucker, 2b.

And, the game played out like so:

• 1st inning - Texas
• Ryan Tepera on the mound for Sam Houston State.
• Keith Moreland started off saying he'd watched the pitcher warm up and noticed that he didn't throw many strikes so he expected the Horns to lay off and watch a few pitches. Michael Torres swung at the first pitch and singled through the left side. Heh heh.
• Jordan Danks then homered (1-1 pitch) over the rf fence (near the line) after squaring to bunt on the previous pitch. Cool.
• Kyle Russell followed with his own homerun (3-1 pitch) over the rf fence.
• That's the kind of start to a game that would've made Gene Mear very happy.
• Brandon Belt flew out to left center.
• Russell Moldenhauer singled hrough the right side.
• Preston Clark singled through the left side, moving Russell to 2b.
• Which finally prompted a visit to the mound.
• David Hernandez hit what looked like a bloop single into cf. The center fielder charged the ball and caught it, though, and then doubled up Russell Moldenhauer at 2b.
• Texas up 3-0.
• 1st inning - SHSU
• Chance Ruffin on the mound for Texas.
• Sebek reached on a single that was really a communication error by the Texas middle infield. It was a high pop-up at 2b. Travis Tucker didn't immediately see the ball and David Hernandez was going after it. It looked like David gave up on the ball when he saw that the ball was right over the 2b spot. Travis didn't even seem to be trying to catch the ball, though. And, it fell harmlessly a few feed from Travis. Very very odd. All the way around.
• Stein grounded into a picture-perfect 4-6-3 double play.
• Verbick struck out swinging (full count).
• Texas up 3-0.
• 2nd inning - Texas
• Cameron Rupp grounded out to ss.
• Travis Tucker hit a triple off the top of the wall in lf. The left fielder almost caught the ball and ran into the wall, fell after running into the wall, and then had a tough time rounding up the ball.
• Michael Torres singled to rf, scoring Travis.
• Michael stole 2b on the first pitch to Jordan Danks. Keith commented that he was surprised after watching Pugh work out behind the plate that more teams had not been successful in stealing bases against the Bearkats.
• Jordan Danks walked, putting runners at 1b and 2b.
• Sam Houston State sent lefty Brent Powers to the mound, replacing righty Tepera.
• Kyle Russell hit a full-count homerun over the cf wall!!! Three runs scored. Kyle tied Jeff Ontiveros for the career homerun record at UT (55 homers) with that homerun.
• Brandon Belt singled up the middle (1st pitch) and then advanced to 2b on a wild pitch to Russell Moldenhauer.
• Russell ended up walking. Runners at 1b and 2b with one out.
• The runners advanced to 2b and 3b on the first pitch (wild) to Preston Clark.
• Preston singled through the right side, scoring Brandon and Russell.
• Zach Neal (righty) went to the mound for the Bearkats, replacing Powers (who did not manage to record an out).
• David Hernandez lined out to lf.
• Cameron Rupp reached on an error by 3b (booted the ball), moving Preston to 2b.
• Travis Tucker singled to cf, scoring Preston and moving Cameron to 3b.
• Michael tripled to the lf/cf gap, clearing the bases.
• Jordan Danks walked, putting runners at the corners.
• Kyle Russell was called out on strikes.
• Texas up 12-0.
• 2nd inning - SHSU
• Hammock reached on an error by 3b. Preston Clark fielded the ball deep at 3b on the line and threw a bit off-line to 1b. The ruling on the play could've gone either way (hit or error) but went on the books as an error.
• Trevino singled to lf, moving Hammock to 2b.
• Zaleski struck out swinging. Cameron tried to pick off the runner at 1b on the play but the throw went past Brandon into rf (E2). The runners advanced to 2b and 3b.
• Pugh went down swinging.
• Riley also struck out swinging. Cameron dropped the ball so had to tag Riley out to complete the out.
• Two errors but Chance ended up striking out the side.
• Texas up 12-0.
• 3rd inning - Texas
• The first two innings took 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete. Wow.
• Brandon Belt grounded out to 1b.
• Russell Moldenhauer singled through the right side.
• Preston Clark popped out to 2b in shallow rf. On the play, the second baseman dropped the ball but the umpire ruled that he held onto it long enough to record the out.
• David Hernandez grounded into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
• Texas up 12-0.
• 3rd inning - SHSU
• Weber singled to cf.
• Sebek struck out swinging.
• Stein singled through the right side, moving Weber to 2b.
• Verbick flew out to lf.
• Hammock doubled down the lf line, scoring Weber and moving Stein to 3b.
• Trevino flew out to cf.
• Texas up 12-1.
• 4th inning - Texas
• Cameron Rupp grounded out to ss.
• Travis Tucker doubled to the lf/cf gap.
• Michael Torres grounded out to 2b, moving Travis to 3b.
• Jordan Danks also grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 12-1.
• 4th inning - SHSU
• Zaleski grounded out to 3b.
• Pugh grounded out to 1b (3-1, pitcher covering 1b).
• Riley struck out swinging.
• First 1-2-3 inning for either team. Craig and Keith noted that there were some Texas pitchers starting to warm up in the bullpen and it made me wonder why Chance stayed in the game after the top of the 2nd. The Horns are gonna need pitching tomorrow and Monday evening. Shrug.
• Texas up 12-1.
• 5th inning - Texas
• Kyle Russell popped out to ss in shallow lf.
• Brandon Belt flew out to lf.
• Russell Moldenhauer singled through the right side. The ball just got under the second baseman's glove.
• Preston Clark flew out to lf.
• Texas up 12-1.
• 5th inning - SHSU
• Chance Ruffin stayed in the game. I guess once they kept him in the game past the 2nd, they decided to let him get the win.
• Weber singled through the left side.
• Sebek fought off a few pitches but went down on a called strikeout.
• Stein popped out to 2b in shallow cf.
• Verbick struck out looking. 8th strikeout of the game for Chance.
• Texas up 12-1.
• 6th inning - Texas
• David Hernandez grounded out to 2b.
• Cameron Rupp grounded out to ss. Nice play by the shortstop!
• Travis Tucker singled through the left side. 4th hit in as many plate appearances for Travis!
• Michael Torres doubled to the rf/cf gap, scoring Travis.
• Jordan Danks struck out swinging.
• When Travis was batting, I noticed "Quintanilla" scroll across the TV screen (I had the girls CWS softball game on, no volume) so paused and checked to see what Omar was up to when the inning ended. The Rockies lost to the Cubs but one of the highlights was apparently a 2-run homerun by Omar. Heh. Good for him.
• Anyway, Texas up 13-1.
• 6th inning - SHSU
• Chance still pitching. Hmmmm...
• Heh. GameTracker declared the game over (10-run rule). The home team doesn't get a shot at coming back in the 6th when GameTracker's in charge? Tsk tsk. GameTracker came back to life after a couple of minutes.
• Hammock struck out swinging (8 pitches).
• Trevino hit a ground-rule double to lf down the line.
• Trevino apparently hurt himself as he was running the bases and was pulled for a pinch runner (Mire).
• Zaleski popped out to ss in shallow lf.
• Wyatt (pinch-hitting for Pugh) went down swinging.
• Texas up 13-1.
• 7th inning - Texas
• Mire and Wyatt stayed in the game. Matt Shelton went to the mound for the Bearkats.
• Kyle Russell grounded out to 2b.
• Brandon Belt went down swinging.
• Russell Moldenhauer also went down swinging.
• First 1-2-3 inning for Sam Houston State.
• Texas up 13-1.
• 7th inning - SHSU
• Kyle Walker went to the mound for the Horns. Chance threw 10 strikeouts with no walks in his 6 innings of work and, by my count, threw 93 pitches.
• Riley walked (full count).
• Weber walked (5 pitches), putting runners at 1b and 2b.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound. C'mon, Kyle!
• Sebek walked (full count, 7 pitches).
• When I was talking about taking Chance out earlier, I have to admit, I did not envision Kyle Walker coming in. Poor guy. He struggles so in game situations. Sigh.
• Keith Shinaberry to the mound (bases loaded, no outs) for the Horns.
• Stein hit a sac fly to rf, scoring Riley. Runners at 1b and 2b with 1 out.
• Verbick hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Purty.
• Texas up 13-2.
• 8th inning - Texas
• Sam Albright went to the mound for the Bearkats, replacing Shelton.
• Preston Clark walked (5 pitches).
• David Hernandez reached on a 6-4 fielder's choice. Poor guy. 0-for-5 on the day. He's been hitting the ball well today...just right at fielders. All day long.
• Cameron Rupp hit into a 4-3 double play. The 2nd baseman fielded the ball right at 2b, stepped on the bag for the 1st out, and then threw to 1b to complete the double play. Nice job.
• Texas up 13-2.
• 8th inning - SHSU
• Stayton Thomas went in on the mound for the Horns.
• Hammock lined out to 2b.
• Mire struck out swinging.
• Nottebart (pinch-hitting for Zaleski) struck out looking.
• Texas up 13-2.
• 9th inning - Texas
• Nottebart stayed in the game at 1b and Zac Baker went to the mound.
• Travis Tucker grounded out to ss.
• Michael Torres walked.
• Jordan Danks flew out to lf just shy of the wall.
• Kyle Russell reached on an error by 2b (who failed to field a ball that went off his glove). Michael moved to 3b on the play.
• Brandon Belt walked to load the bases.
• Russell Moldenhauer grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 13-2.
• 9th inning - SHSU
• Wyatt was hit by a pitch (1-2 count).
• Riley singled past the shortstop into lf, moving Wyatt to 2b.
• Weber flew out to rf.
• Sebek flew out to cf.
• Stein singled through the right side, scoring Wyatt and moving Riley to 2b.
• Verbick flew out to cf to end the game.

Texas wins 13-3. Amazingly, the game lasted about 3 hours and 5 minutes. After those first 2 innings, I was sure it would go at least 4. Whew.

After the Horns jumped out in front and then made that mistake on the pop-up in the bottom of the inning, I have to say I was a bit nervous. But, the offense got the job done in a big way in those first 2 innings.

The line from GameTracker:

The offensive highlights:

• Michael Torres went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple, 2 runs scored, 3 driven in, and a walk.
• Jordan Danks went 1-for-4 with a homerun, 2 runs scored, 2 driven in, 2 walks, and a strikeout.
• Kyle Russell went 2-for-6 with back-to-back homers in the 1st and second, 4 runs driven in, and a strikeout.
• Brandon Belt went 1-for-5 with a run scored, a walk, and a strikeout.
• Russell Moldenhauer went 3-for-5 with a run scored, a walk, and a strikeout.
• Preston Clark went 2-for-4 with a run scored, 2 batted in, and a walk.
• David Hernandez played offensive goat today, going 0-for-5. Ouch.
• Cameron Rupp also went 0-for-5 but did score a run after reaching on an error.
• Travis Tucker went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple, 3 runs scored, and 1 batted in.

So, now we wait to see who the Horns will be playing tomorrow afternoon. Coach Garrido said in the post-game press conference that Austin Wood will very likely start in the first game tomorrow. He added that, to his mind, they might be able to use Chance again on Monday. Chance assured everyone that he'll be ready to pitch tomorrow. He said he did it in the high school play-offs last year and he's more than willing to repeat now. He's a bull-dog. No doubt about it.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 6:11 PM