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Wednesday - June 25, 2008

CWS: That was fun

Fresno State beat Georgia 6-1 tonight to win the 2008 College World Series. Good for them! I rooted for them all the way and they won it. In the 6th, with 2 aboard, FSU leading 3-0, 2 out, and facing a 3-1 count, I said something along the lines of: "C'mon, Detwiler, hit another homer...you can do it!" And, about 2 seconds later, he did. Heh. He went 4-for-4 tonight with 2 homers, a single, and a double. And, he batted in all 6 of those runs scored by the west coast Bulldogs. What a fun bunch of guys. There was just no way they were gonna win it. But they did. Fun fun fun. I do love college baseball. 'Love it!

Posted by Joanna at 10:20 PM | Permalink

Thursday - June 19, 2008

CWS: Rain delay humor

From Baseball America's College blog:

North Carolina coach Mike Fox and Louisiana State coach Paul Mainieri had an impromptu press conference to address tonight’s game, which was suspended after a three-hour, five-minute weather delay. [...]

"I’d like to announce that Mike Fox has agreed to give us a mulligan, and we can start the game over tomorrow," Mainieri said at the start of the press conference. Then he turned to Fox and said, "Didn’t you agree to that?"

Fox quickly and firmly responded, "No."

Heh heh. Be sure to read the whole story.

The NC/LSU elimination game will resume tomorrow night at 6:08 with UNC leading 2-0, bases loaded, 1 out, and Garrett Gore at the plate (0-1 count). LSU will likely go with another pitcher in relief. You never know, though. Maybe the starter (who hit two and walked in a run on a 4-pitch walk...yikes!) will be all better tomorrow evening.

By the way, the games scheduled to be played tomorrow will be pushed back to Saturday and final games will be played on Sunday if needed. I think the best-of-three Championship series schedule is unchanged.

Posted by Joanna at 10:40 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 17, 2008

CWS: Two and bar-b-que

If you'd asked me to take a guess late last week on which two teams would be the first to head home, I would've been hard-pressed to predict Rice and Florida State. Wow. I would've been even less likely to predict that Georgia and Fresno State would be sitting pretty at 2-0 today. Double wow. Truth be told, I would very likely have predicted that Georgia and Fresno State would be the first two teams heading home. And, I guess I rather expected North Carolina and Miami to be the 2-0 teams.

Last Monday, I said I'd be rooting for Fresno State and I'm still doing that. Sadly, I didn't get to watch their game this evening. I was out listening to some fantastic music. But, I hope to watch them play on Friday. Again, I say: go, Bulldogs!

I just love college baseball. That is all.

Posted by Joanna at 11:34 PM | Permalink

Off-topic: GameTracker

Have you ever paid attention to GameTracker when a game is in progress? There are lots of entertaining little things going on all the time that give me a chuckle. Clearly, the programmers and graphic designers are having some fun. I remembered to "tune in" this afternoon just in time to "watch" the bottom of the 9th in today's LSU/Rice game. LSU (home team) was behind 2-5 with an out and a runner at 1b. The first batter I saw (Ochinko) was hit by a pitch. His little avatar (or whatever you want to call it) glowed bright red momentarily and advanced to 1b. Ouch. The red glow made me laugh out loud. And, I ended up getting some screen caps for you while I watched the news this evening. Here's the hit batter in pain:

And, here's the sequence as he runs down the line:

I've "watched" quite a few games on GameTracker and that's the first time I ever noticed the red-hot pain of being hit by a pitch. Heh.

The next batter singled up the middle, scoring one. The next reached on an error by ss. I have no idea what the actual error was but according to the GameTracker graphics, the ball hit the shortstop in the chest and landed on the baseline in front of him:

Note how the ball is just laying there on the ground?

The final batter (Dean) hit a bases-clearing double to lf. According to the GameTracker graphics, the ball bounced right to the left-fielder who just held onto it and didn't bother to throw home.

See how the left fielder (Luna) is hanging onto the ball?...while Hollander's avatar turns an eerie shade of yellow as he heads back to the dugout after scoring and Mitchell runs toward the plate? We all know that's not what really happened, though, right? I saw a replay on the news and the double went off the wall in lf and bounced back into the field past Luna. By the time he caught up to the ball, it looked like the 3rd run was crossing the plate.

They've modified the field graphics a bit for the CWS. The CWS logo now shows up on the scoreboard in lf for most of the game. There's a big "Rosenblatt" banner above the scoreboard. And the astro-turf "College World Series" ring around home plate has shown up as well (making it difficult to read the names of the catcher and batter).

What are some of the regular things that happen? When a strike is recorded, you see the ball cross the plate while the batter swings ineffectually...whether he really took a swing or not is immaterial. Whenever a ball is hit, the batter drops his bat on the ground before running to 1b. The same thing happens on a walk. When a game ends in the bottom of the 9th, the final "frame" usually reflects conditions on the field at the time of the last out or final score. In today's game, it ended on that bases-clearing double by Dean:

I love how they don't clear the field. When the home team is ahead and doesn't have to bat in the bottom of the 9th, GameTracker usually clears the field and the last batter's bat lays discarded near home plate.

Ah well. If only they could get the system to the point where it wouldn't freeze up for minutes at a time. I'm sure that's on the way. In the meantime, those little things do entertain.

Posted by Joanna at 11:01 PM | Permalink

Kyle Russell signs

According to the Statesman, Kyle Russell signed with the Dodgers today. Best of luck, Mr. Russell! We'll sure miss you 'round these parts.

UPDATE. I found him listed on the Ogden Raptors roster sporting jersey number 46.

UPDATE #2. I was going over that Raptors roster again and noticed the manager's name: Mike Brumley. I'm pretty sure that's the Mike Brumley that played for the Horns when I was a student at UT...the one on the 1983 National Championship team. Cool! I also noticed that Brian Ruggiano (Aggie second baseman) is listed on the roster.

Posted by Joanna at 6:09 PM | Permalink

Quick note: Coach Garrido movie

I got a note this morning (Hi, Bill!) alerting me to the fact that the documentary profile of Coach Garrido will air again tomorrow (Wednesday) on ESPN Classic at noon. I think that's west coast time...it should be on at 2 here in Austin. So, if you missed it the first time around and have access to ESPN Classic (which I do not), set your DVR!

I've also received a few notes from people asking if the movie is available for purchase. It does not seem to be at this point in time. If I see any news of a DVD release, I will be sure to post.

Posted by Joanna at 11:55 AM | Permalink

Sunday - June 15, 2008

Inning by Inning: Portrait of a Coach

Don't forget, ESPN2 will be airing Richard Linklater's documentary about Coach Garrido on Sunday evening. A few links about the movie:

• Film chronicles baseball coach Augie Garrido by David R. Henry (in the Daily Texan)
• Richard Linklater's 'Inning by Inning' follows coach Augie Garrido by John DeFore (in the Statesman)
• Zen and the Art of Winning Championships by Ashley Moreno (in the Chronicle)
• Documentary on Baseball head coach Garrido makes TV premiere on June 15 (TexasSports.com)

It airs at 9 here in Austin.

PS: Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there...especially mine!

Posted by Joanna at 12:11 AM | Permalink

Friday - June 13, 2008

A few signings

A few of our drafted players have signed:

• Kyle Walker with the Rockies (see June 13 press release)
• Kenn Kasparek with the Mariners and assigned to the Rookie affliate Pulaski Mariners in Virginia (see June 12 press release)
• Casey Whitmer with the the Nationals (see June 10 press release)

It's also being reported that the Dodgers and Kyle Russell have reached a preliminary deal (scroll down to the "Dodger Blue Notes" heading near the bottom of the page).

And, the usual note: check my 2008 MLB Draft Summary page for additional info.

Posted by Joanna at 8:07 PM | Permalink

Thursday - June 12, 2008

Alumni news: Horns playing pro ball

Make sure you check out this post on TexasSports.com (posted earlier today): Catching up with Longhorns in professional baseball. Lots and lots of good stuff.

PS: I didn't notice at the time but my last post (the one about the CWS field) was my 500th post to this blog. That makes this one #501.

Posted by Joanna at 10:38 PM | Permalink

Monday - June 9, 2008

CWS News: the field is set

I watched several of the Super Regional games this weekend. There were some good games. But, there's really no beating the final game this evening between Fresno State and Arizona State. Well, the 11-inning game between Arizona and Miami on Friday was pretty sweet. But, it was early on. What have you done for me lately? Heh.

As soon as I saw that Fresno State won the Long Beach Regional, I knew I had to root for them in the Tempe Super Regional. The Sun Devils won the first game 12-4 on Saturday. Yesterday, the Bulldogs had a big 4th inning, scoring 5, and managed to hold on to win 8-6. Which led to the deciding game this evening.

It was a very close game through 6. With the score tied 5-5 going into the top of the 7th, the kids from Fresno State pushed 6 runs across. What? Amazing. And, then they held the Sun Devils scoreless in the 7th and 8th. They tacked on another run to go up 12-5 in the top of the 9th. And, then the kids from Arizona State started their own big inning. With one out and runners at 1b and 2b, the Bulldogs sent their closer (Brandon Burke) to the mound. Burke walked the bases loaded. Then he gave up a single (and the 6th ASU run). And, then another single (along with the 7th and 8th ASU runs). Then he got the next batter to fly out to lf. Two out, runners at 1b and 2b. The 8th batter of the inning singled, driving in the 9th ASU run and putting runners at the corners. The 9th batter, representing the tying run, walked (!) to load the bases!!!

Oh. My. Goodness. This was the final game of the Super Regionals. The LSU/UC-Irvine game had ended 10 or 15 minutes earlier.

Everyone who cared about college baseball was glued to ESPN2, just waiting to see what would happen. We were all watching the Fresno State closer struggle. He'd get his first pitch over for a strike, pull ahead of the batter, and then give up a single. We watched. And couldn't believe what we were seeing.

The 10th batter of the inning went to the plate. He'd struck out to start off the inning. Now he was getting a second chance. Now he represented the winning run. If he homered, ASU would go to the CWS. And, he'd already hit 2 homeruns earlier in the game! Two of 'em. One in the 4th and another in the 5th. Wow. He lifted a pitch toward lf. And, it was caught by the Fresno State left fielder. Game over.

Amazing.

This is the first time a 4th seed from the Regional round has made their way to Omaha since the Regional/Super-Regional 64-team format was instituted. Wow. I'm gonna keep on rooting for the kids from Fresno State.

The field is now set:

• Miami
• North Carolina
• Fresno State
• Florida State
• Stanford
• Rice
• LSU
• Georgia

Miami, Florida State, Stanford, and Georgia are on the 1-4-5-8 side of the bracket. North Carolina, Fresno State, Rice, and LSU are on the 2-3-6-7 side. The winners of each 4-team bracket will face each other for a best-of-3 series in a couple of weeks.

Fresno State faces Rice at 1 PM on Saturday. Usually, I'd be rooting for Rice. But, I can't do that this year. I have to root for the underdog. Go, Bulldogs!

Posted by Joanna at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Friday - June 6, 2008

More draft news

The final rounds of the draft went fairly quickly today since they were not broadcast and a few more Texas players were drafted. Here's the full list including those of interest from yesterday:

• Kyle Russell (3rd round, Dodgers)
• Robbie Grossman (signee from Cypress, 6th round, Pirates)
• Jordan Danks (7th round, White Sox)
• Kyle Walker (11th round, Rockies)
• Kenn Kasparek (12th round, Mariners)
• Hunter Cervenka (signee from Baytown, 27th round, Red Sox)
• Casey Whitmer (30th round, Nationals)
• Brandon Loy (signee from Garland, 32nd round, Orioles)
• Sam Stafford (signee from Spring, 40th round, Red Sox)
• Riley Boening (42nd round, Twins)

Will they all sign? I have no idea. I'd be very surprised to see Kyle Russell, Jordan Danks, Kyle Walker, or Kenn Kasparek on campus next year. Very surprised. The others? No idea at all.

'Notice a name or two missing from the list? I was very surprised that Preston Clark and Austin Wood were not drafted. I was particularly surprised about Preston since he was drafted last year. But, I guess his injuries have scared some people away. At least for the moment.

Other random notes:

• Casey Whitmer and Riley Boening turned 21 in March and April (respectively) so were draft-eligible as Sophomores.
• Hunter Harris and Marcus Tacket also turned 21 before the draft and were eligible as Sophomores but went un-drafted.
• Draft-eligible juniors who were not drafted: Drew Bishop, Preston Clark, Garrett Clyde, Pat McCrory, Keith Shinaberry, Juston Street, Michael Torres, Travis Tucker, and Austin Wood.

We'll have quite a few more seniors on the squad next year than we've seen in several years. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

Don't forget to check my draft summary page for additional notes of possible interest to Texas fans.

Posted by Joanna at 7:05 PM | Permalink

Thursday - June 5, 2008

Kyle Russell drafted in 3rd round today

Sad to say, I was too busy at work today to follow the draft. And, then I went out after work so just now found time to check things out.

Kyle Russell was drafted in the 3rd round (93rd overall) of the draft today. He went in the 4th round (142nd overall) last year so he improved his stock by quite a bit...despite his slow start this year. Also drafted was Texas signee Robbie Grossman (outfielder from Cypress). He went in the 6th round.

So far, those are the only Texas-related draftees that I've been able to find. As usual, I've set up a draft summary page with info on our drafted players along with a list of Big 12 and SWC players. Check that page out for periodic updates.

The draft stopped at the end of the 6th round and will resume tomorrow at 10:30 Central time.

Posted by Joanna at 11:36 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 3, 2008

Regionals - Day 4 summary

In the final day of the Regional tournaments, most of the games went the way they were "supposed" to go. If'n you go by the seedings. The Aggies handled Houston quite easily. I watched a bit of the game and felt bad for the Cougars. I was rooting for the Aggies. But, I still felt bad for the Cougars 'cause they just could not find any pitching. At least, not while I was watching. So, the Aggies head to Rice. Again. They did the same thing last year and the Owls won in 2. The games were rather close but, still. Repeat? Ugh.

Florida State beat Tulane late. I'd forgotten that Josh Prince had transfered to Tulane. He went 2-for-5 with a double and 2 runs batted in this evening. For the season (according to GameTracker), he hit .231, had 143 at-bats, scored 22 runs, had 33 hits, with 8 batted in, 1 homerun, 19 stolen bases, 14 walks, 23 strikeouts, and 3 doubles.

Number 1 seeds Stanford and Georgia also won to advance. The final #1 seed still playing is Cal State Fullerton (CSF up 5-3 over UCLA in the 6th as I type).

The most entertaining result of the day: #4 seed Fresno State won the Long Beach Regional. They now get to travel to Tempe to play #3 National Seed Arizona State. I think I kinda have to root for the Bulldogs in the next round.

So, 7 of the 8 National seeds won their tournaments this year...with the result of the #5 National seed Regional still pending. The last time all of the National seeds won their Regionals was in 2005. Interesting. Texas, by the way, beat the #5 National seed (Mississippi) in the Super Regional round and went on to win it all. Of course, the Titans might still lose.

In the bottom-half of the National bracket, #2 seed UC-Irvine, #2 seed Wichita State, and (as mentioned) #4 seed Fresno State played the role of spoiler in their Regional tournaments.

UPDATE: Cal State Fullerton won 5-4. So, the top 8 National seeds all won their tournaments and will now host the 8 best-of-three Super Regional tournaments.

Posted by Joanna at 12:21 AM | Permalink

Sunday - June 1, 2008

Press conference quotes from final game

Rice, very annoyingly, puts the post-game quotes in a PDF file that's embedded within a web page. They did post them, though, so I guess I should be grateful. Right? I'm re-posting them here so you don't have to mess with the PDF file.

• Head coach Augie Garrido:
• They out hit us and they out pitched us. We played better defense than they did. Two out of three won.
• On not getting out of the regional
  It's disappointing, extremely disappointing and difficult because we know what the expectations are, and we know what the criticisms are. It's still the way it is, and it needs to be fixed. It's about the fundamentals of the game. I do know how to fix it.
• On how team's sacrificing and inability to bunt impacted the game
  It didn’t play into this game as much as their hitting played into the game. They took apart our pitching with their hitting. The three-run rally they put together was really nicely done. We offered up a lot of bases. I thought that had more to do with it. The separation that got there, got there as a result of several things connected to the pitching parts of it. The walks, the hit batsmen to lead off innings, stealing of bases, the way they executed and hit the ball. They had 11 hits and they hit them hard and they hit them often. The separation was really over the pitching, in my opinion, and the hitting. They made quality pitches on quality hitters at critical times, struck guys out who are the bread and butter of our lineup. Reduced the power that we have in our lineup to one home run.
• On the Rice relief pitchers
  I thought the left hander (Matt Evers) that came in for that little run he made threw us off balance because we were over aggressive trying to win the game. We kept trying to attack his breaking ball. (Bobby Bell) really attacked the strike zone. He threw 95% strikes in the last three innings on the first pitch.
• Starting Center Fielder Jordan Danks:
• On Rice's pitching
  I tip my hat to everybody I faced today because they knew exactly what to throw me in what counts. I just couldn't make contact.
• Starting Right Fielder Kyle Russell:
• On his decision to bunt
  I saw the third baseman back and the pitcher was going to throw me nothing but changeups. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to lay down a bunt.
• On the grind of a long day and a long game
  I think we came through the Rice game with good confidence. When we got 3-3 and tied the game, we got more confidence. We raised our self esteem and knew we could have this baseball game. We tried hard, we really did. We tried very hard to try to get there. Rice is a great team. You just have to owe it to those guys because we played great baseball today, believe it or not. We might have had 10 strike outs, but we hit the ball real well today too. It is a grind but that's baseball and that's double headers for you. That's what you've got to do in those times. That's what we tried to do and we played very well today.

Posted by Joanna at 11:59 PM | Permalink

Regionals - Day 3 summary

Needless to say, I'm kinda down on the whole Regional thing this evening. Texas did win the first elimination game of the day, surviving a 9th inning rally to beat St. John's 4-3. Alas, the Horns could not mount their own late-inning rally to beat Rice later in the day, falling 4-7 in the night cap.

In the post-game press conference, Coach Garrido described the season as good for the first part as the team went 16-6, then pretty lousy as the team lost their way in the middle of the season, and then very good again at the end of the season. Rice just out-pitched and out-hit the Horns in the final game.

If you think about it, it's it absolutely stunning that there were 6 errors in the final game of the year and not one was committed by Texas. The fact that the Rice pitchers limited the Horns to 6 hits really did make all the difference in the world. If the Horns had been able to get just one or two more hits, they likely would've won the game. Baseball really is a cruel sport sometimes.

Sigh...

And, how did things go elsewhere? Let's see...

Houston beat Illinois-Chicago to earn their way into the Championship game in College Station. And, then they managed to beat the Aggies this evening. So, they will meet again tomorrow evening to determine who'll be headed to Houston to play Rice in the Super Regional. I still think it sucks that they paired those two Regionals.

Elsewhere, the Big 12 did not fare well. Oklahoma State eliminated TCU in the first game but then fell in 10 innings to Wichita State in the second game. Nebraska was eliminated in the first game of the day in Lincoln; UC-Irvine won that Regional and now heads to Baton Rouge to play LSU. Missouri was also eliminated in the first game of the day by Ole Miss who went on to lose to Miami in the late game. Oklahoma beat Vandy in the first game of the day but they lost to ASU 0-12 just a few minutes ago.

That also brings us up-to-date on the rest of our old SWC conference-mates that were still in the tourney at the start of Day 3 (Houston and TCU).

A summary of the entire field (in seeding order):

1. Miami moves on to the Supers.
2. North Carolina moves on.
3. Arizona State moves on.
4. Florida State will play Tulane (#3 seed) tomorrow night; winner moves on.
5. Cal State Fullerton: UCLA (#2 seed) is the unbeaten team and is tied with CSF 1-1 in the 2nd as I type (CSF has men aboard in the bottom and is threatening). If CSF wins, the teams play again tomorrow night.
6. Rice moves on.
7. LSU moves on.
8. Georgia will play Georgia Tech (#2 seed) tomorrow night; winner moves on.
9. North Carolina State moves on.
10. Nebraska lost; UC-Irvine (#2 seed) moves on.
11. Texas A&M will play Houston (#3 seed) tomorrow night; winner moves on.
12. Stanford will play Pepperdine (#2 seed) tomorrow night; winner moves on.
13. Oklahoma State lost; Wichita State (#2 seed) moves on.
14. Long Beach State lost; San Diego (#2 seed) and Fresno State (#4 seed) play tomorrow night; winner moves on.
15. Coastal Carolina moves on. Coastal Carolina, by the way, scored 47 runs in the three games they played this weekend.
16. Arizona (#1 seed at Michigan) moves on.

For those of you that don't generally follow the CWS, please note that there will not be a re-seeding of teams at any time. You're put into the tournament at a certain spot in the bracket and those spots do not change. If, for example, Bethune-Cookman (#64 seed in the tourney, by virtue of being the #4 seed in the #1 Regional) had somehow managed to win the Miami Regional and then the following Super Regional, they would be the #1 see at the CWS. Very odd, if you ask me. But, nobody asked me. I just report the facts. Although, I guess you could argue that if a #64 team did manage to get to that point, they just might deserve a #1 seed, eh? Heh.

And so it goes...

UPDATE. I forgot to post the All Tournament Team for the Houston Regional. So here you go:

• Catcher: Zornes (Rice)
• First base: Padron (Rice) - goes to show that fielding does not count at all in these things
• Second base: Comerota (Rice)
• Shortstop: Hague (Rice)
• Third base: Clark (Texas)
• Outfielders: Russell (Texas), Mozingo (Rice), and Sebek (Sam Houston State)
• Pitchers: Barnes (St. John's) and Ruffin (Texas)
• Designated hitter: Torres (Texas)
• Most Outstanding Player: Russell (Texas)

Posted by Joanna at 11:23 PM | Permalink

Game 61: Rice at Texas (Houston Regional)

I watched the CSTV stream again. They were using the Rice radio broadcast for the audio, though, so I listened to the radio broadcast from KVET (with Craig Way and Keith Moreland). That meant that the audio was always about 2 or 3 pitches ahead of the video. You get used to it.

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

And, the game went like so:

• 1st inning - Rice
• Riley Boening on the mound for Texas.
• Gayhart grounded out to 1b (1st pitch).
• Padron singled into rf.
• Hague struck out looking (full count).
• Luna drew a full-count walk.
• Zornes went down swinging (foul tip to catcher).
• 1st inning - Texas
• Mike Ojala (rhp) on the mound for Rice.
• Michael Torres flew out to lf at the warning track.
• Jordan Danks struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw to 1b to complete the out.
• Kyle Russell reached 1b on a ball that went off the 1st baseman's chest. Craig and Keith discussed whether it would be ruled a hit or an error and it was ruled an error.
• Brandon Belt went down swinging.
• 2nd inning - Rice
• Comerota doubled down the rf line.
• Seastrunk flew out to the rf corner. Comerota tagged and moved up to 3b.
• Mozingo hit a pop-up to shallow lf, scoring Comerota. The infield was pulled in with the runner at 3b and had a tough time getting to the ball. Preston Clark went for the ball and fell awkwardly. He hurt his left leg and was down in pain for a couple of minutes. Still in pain and favoring the left leg, he elected to stay in the game.
• Mozingo stole 2b on the 5th pitch (a ball) to Myers.
• Myers flew out to lf.
• Gayhart singled to cf, driving in Mozingo. He moved up to 2b on the throw home.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound. Preston, by the way, was still noticibly favoring his left leg.
• Padron grounded out to 3b. Preston was, again, clearly in a lot of pain as he limped into position to field and throw the ball. Craig commented that he might be done for the day. Ouch.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 2nd inning - Texas
• Preston Clark, who was due up as the first batter of the inning, was removed from the game. Pat McCrory pinch-hit for him.
• Pat grounded out to 3b.
• David Hernandez flew out to cf.
• Cameron Rupp singled into lf.
• Travis Tucker hit into a 5-4 fielder's choice.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 3rd inning - Rice
• Hague went down swinging. Cameron could not hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Luna drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Luna stole 2b on the 4th pitch to Zornes.
• Zornes singled into rf, moving Luna to 3b.
• Brandon Workman went to the mound for the Horns.
• Comerota hit a bunt down the 1b line (safety squeeze) and was tagged out by Brandon Belt. Luna scored and Zornes moved to 2b.
• Seastrunk flew out to rf.
• Texas down 0-3.
• 3rd inning - Texas
• Kyle Lusson (making his first plate appearance in the Regional) drew a full-count walk.
• Wayne Graham made a visit to the mound after the 2nd pitch to Michael Torres (1-1 count).
• Michael went on to pop a bunt up down the 1b line. The pitcher dove for the ball but could not catch it. Runners safe on the single at 1b and 2b.
• Jordan Danks couldn't get a bunt down and ended up striking out (swinging).
• Kyle Russell hit his 57th career homerun to tie the game at 3!!!
• Brandon Belt grounded out to 2b.
• Pat McCrory struck out looking.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 4th inning - Rice
• Mozingo grounded out to 2b.
• Myers was hit (on the shoulder?) by the first pitch.
• Gayhart flew out to shallow rf.
• Padron lined out to ss.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 4th inning - Texas
• David Hernandez went down swinging. Keith argued that David checked his swing but that's how it was ruled by the home plate ump.
• Cameron Rupp struck out swinging (he swung at all three pitches without making contact).
• Travis Tucker reached on an error by the shortstop. Craig and Keith thought it should've been ruled a hit...that Travis was going to beat out the throw, even if it had been on target.
• Kyle Lusson grounded out to 2b. On the play, the second baseman dropped the ball after fielding it but recovered in time to throw to 1b for the out. Shucks.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 5th inning - Rice
• Hague singled to 3b. Pat McCrory kept the ball headed down the line from getting into the corner.
• Luna hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Purty.
• Zornes singled through the left side. So glad they turned that double play!
• Comerota flew out to rf.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 5th inning - Texas
• Matt Evers (lhp) went to the mound for Rice to start the bottom half of the inning.
• Michael Torres singled up the middle.
• Jordan Danks drew a full-count walk.
• The Rice dugout complained very loudly about the call (4th ball). The home plate ump tossed Rice assistant coach Patrick Hallmark.
• Kyle Russell fought off a couple of pitches and then struck out swinging.
• Brandon Belt also struck out swinging.
• Tant Shepherd went in to pinch-hit for Pat McCrory. The second pitch to Tant went to the backstop, allowing the runners to advance to 2b and 3b on the wild pitch. Wayne Graham made a visit to the mound at that point.
• Tant walked on 4 pitches to load the bases.
• David Hernandez grounded out to 2b. Sigh.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 6th inning - Rice
• Seastrunk worked the count full and then flew out to cf.
• Mozingo also worked the count full but he then walked.
• And, then all hell broke loose. Sorta.
• On the 3rd pitch to Myers, Mozingo stole 2b.
• So with a 2-1 count, Wayne Graham pulled his right-handed batter in favor of switch-hitting Buenger. Texas countered by sending Keith Shinaberry to the mound. So, runner at 2b. Pinch-hitter at the plate with a 2-1 count.
• Mozingo stole 3b on the first pitch to the pinch hitter! What?
• So, the Horns went ahead and walked Buenger to put on the double play.
• Rice sent Dodson to pinch run for Buenger.
• Gayhart then singled through the right side, scoring Mozingo and moving Dodson to 3b.
• With runners at the corners and one out, Texas sent Cole Green to the mound.
• After throwing a couple of pitches to Padron, Cole made a fake throw to 3b, turned back to 1b, and had the runner from 1b (Gayhart) picked off. He threw to 1b. Brandon threw to 2b and the runner from 3b took off. Travis threw home and the runner from 3b (Dodson) was gunned down for the 2nd out of the inning. Runner at 2b with 2 out.
• Padron went on to fly out to lf.
• Texas down 3-4.
• 6th inning - Texas
• Cameron Rupp flew out down the rf line.
• Travis Tucker worked the count full and then drew a walk.
• Kyle Lusson hit a ball down the 1b line that got past the first baseman (E3). Travis Tucker never hesitated rounding 2b and slid head-first into 3b. The right fielder tried to throw Travis out at 3b but threw high (E9). Travis recognized the bad throw, jumped up, and made it home to tie the game at 4. Kyle moved to 2b on the 2nd error. Wow.
• Michael Torres walked.
• Jordan Danks flew out to cf. Kyle Lusson tagged and made it to 3b, barely beating the throw. He made Keith very nervous.
• Kyle Russell tried a squeeze bunt but hit the ball a bit hard and was thrown out at 1b.
• Game tied 4-4.
• 7th inning - Rice
• Hague was hit by the first pitch. Ugh.
• Luna advanced Hague to 2b on a sac bunt (1-3).
• Zornes drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Comerota singled up the middle, scoring Hague and moving Zornes to 2b.
• Seastrunk singled to cf, scoring Zornes to 3b and Comerota to 2b.
• Texas sent Stayton Thomas to the mound.
• Mozingo singled through the left side to load the bases.
• Rice sent Simmons in to pinch-hit for Dodson.
• Which prompted Texas to send Brandon Belt to the mound.
• Austin Wood went in at 1b (taking Michael Torres' spot in the order). Huh? Yep...that's what they did.
• Rice then sent Hale in to pinch-hit for Simmons. Which makes for a very very messy scoresheet in the 9th batter position.
• Hale grounded out to 3b.
• Gayhart saw 3 pitches. He swung at all of 'em and missed all of 'em to go down swinging.
• Texas down 4-7.
• 7th inning - Texas
• Brandon Belt grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Tant Shepherd reached on an infield single to 3b.
• David Hernandez reached on a fielder's choice. On the play, the third baseman made a bad throw to 2b (E5). Runners at 1b and 2b.
• Cameron Rupp grounded out to 1b (unassisted), moving Tant to 3b and David to 2b.
• Travis Tucker grounded out to 2b. Damn.
• Texas down 4-7.
• 8th inning - Rice
• Padron grounded out to 3b. Remember, we've got Tant Shepherd playing at 3b and Austin Wood at 1b. Tant made a nice backhanded catch and then Austin made a nice stretch to catch the ball. Good on them!
• Hague lined out to lf. Kyle Lusson made another great diving catch. Wow.
• Luna grounded out to 3b.
• First 1-2-3 inning of the game for either team.
• Texas down 4-7.
• 8th inning - Texas
• Kyle Lusson drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Kevin Keyes went in to pinch hit for Austin Wood. Kevin struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Jordan Danks also struck out swinging. Dang.
• Kyle Russell flew out to cf.
• Texas down 4-7.
• 9th inning - Rice
• Chance Ruffin went to the mound for the Horns (and into the #1 spot in the batting order, taking Kevin Keyes' spot) and Brandon Belt moved back to 1b.
• Zornes flew out to shallow cf.
• Comerota grounded out to ss (off the mound).
• Seastrunk grounded out to 1b.
• Another 1-2-3 inning.
• Texas down 4-7.
• 9th inning - Texas
• Brandon Belt flew out to cf.
• Tant Shepherd doubled to the rf/cf gap.
• David Hernandez reached on an error by 3b, putting runners at 1b and 2b.
• Cameron Rupp grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game (1st pitch).

And, thus ends the season as the Horns fall 4-7.

They almost pulled it off. It was looking good there when the Horns tied things up in the 3rd and then again in the 6th. But, that mess of a 7th. Ugh. The injuries to Russell Moldenhauer and Preston Clark sure did suck and, I'm sure, did not help. I have to give big props to Kyle Lusson and Tant Shepherd for stepping up and doing well when pressed into service. Kyle made a couple of great catches in lf. And, Tant Shepherd had the only two hits of the game for the Horns in the final 24 plate appearances of the game. Amazing. Bobby Bell really shut the Horns down once he went into the game. Had it not been for all the Rice errors, the Horns barely would've had any threats at all in the final four innings of the game.

Bah. Baseball sure does suck sometimes, eh?

I can't do the post-game press conference justice. Two notes, though: Russell Moldenhauer popped his patella out of it's socket which he's done before. He will have a long hard recovery. Preston Clark will very likely require surgery to fix his knee. Both were serious injuries. I'm sure quotes from the press conference will be posted to the official Houston Regional site and the official Texas site soon. Check them if you want to know what Coach Garrido and Kyle Russell had to say about the game and the season.

The line from GameTracker:

Posted by Joanna at 10:34 PM | Permalink

Game 60: Texas at St. John's (Houston Regional)

Texas played visitor again today in the game against St. John's. Like yesterday, I watched the CSTV stream. Once again, they carried Craig and Keith's KVET broadcast for the audio.

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

• 1st inning - Texas
• Matt Tosoni (lhp) on the mound for the Red Storm.
• Michael Torres grounded out to 1b.
• Jordan Danks flew out to rf.
• Kyle Russell popped straight up at the plate to the catcher.
• 1st inning - St. John's
• Austin Wood on the mound for the Horns.
• Grantham grounded out to 1b.
• Benedetti popped out to 1b (foul, first pitch).
• Kemp flew out to rf.
• 2nd inning - Texas
• Preston Clark flew out to lf. The left fielder (Del Rosario) charged hard and made a good diving catch.
• Brandon Belt grounded out to 1b (p covering). Nice play by St. John's.
• David Hernandez singled up the middle.
• Cameron Rupp flew out to the warning track in left field. Craig got awfully excited, thinking it was going out, but the wind held it up.
• 2nd inning - St. John's
• Anninos lined out to ss.
• Hopkins grounded out to 3b.
• Karmas grounded out to 2b.
• 3rd inning - Texas
• Russell Moldenhauer struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw to 1b to complete the out.
• Travis Tucker flew out to rf. Nice play by the right fielder who had to make a pretty long run to catch the ball.
• Michael Torres tripled to cf. On the play, the center fielder apparently lost the high hit ball and it went over his head. Michael was running hard and easily made it to 3b!!
• Jordan Danks walked (full count) to put runners at the corners.
• Kyle Russell, alas, struck out.
• 3rd inning - St. John's
• Del Rosario flew out to rf.
• La Stella walked. There goes the perfect game.
• Matias advanced La Stella to 2b on a sac bunt (1-3).
• Grantham doubled to the lf/cf gap, scoring La Stella. And, there goes the no-hitter along with the shut-out.
• Benedetti tried to bunt his way aboard but Austin made a nice play to field the ball hit down the 3b line and throw the batter out at 1b.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 4th inning - Texas
• Preston Clark flew out to cf (first pitch).
• Brandon Belt flew out to cf.
• David Hernandez lined out (first pitch) down the lf line. Del Rosario made another very nice play to rob David of an extra-base hit. Damn.
• Tosoni only threw 5 pitches. Sigh...
• Texas down 0-1.
• 4th inning - St. John's
• Kemp singled up the middle.
• Anninos singled to cf.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Hopkins could not get a bunt down and after fouling off a couple of pitches, he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play!
• Karmas lined out to 1b. Whew.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 5th inning - Texas
• Cameron Rupp grounded out to ss (first pitch).
• Russell Moldenhauer worked the count full and then grounded out to 1b.
• Travis Tucker singled up the middle.
• Michael Torres hit into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 5th inning - St. John's
• Del Rosario struck out (foul tip into catcher's glove).
• La Stella was hit by the 10th pitch of his at-bat. Argghhh. He was almost hit by the 7th or 8th pitch as well.
• Matias struck out swinging. Excellent.
• Grantham hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 6th inning - Texas
• Jordan Danks singled to cf to lead things off!
• With an 0-1 count to Kyle Russell, the Red Storm picked off Jordan Danks, going on the pitcher's first movement (1-3-6).
• Kyle Russell was hit by the next pitch.
• Preston Clark singled to lf.
• Brandon Belt doubled off the wall in the rf corner! Kyle scored and Preston moved to 3b.
• St. John's made a visit to the mound.
• David Hernandez singled through the left side, scoring Preston and moving Brandon to 3b.
• Coach Garrido took an offensive timeout to talk things over with Cameron Rupp.
• As Cameron went to the plate, St. John's decided to change pitchers, sending Jared Yecker to the mound (righty replacing lefty).
• Cameron went down swinging. Runners at the corners, 2 out.
• Russell Moldenhauer flew out to cf.
• Texas up 2-1. Hook 'em!
• 6th inning - St. John's
• Benedetti lined out to rf down the line. Kyle Russell made a spectacular run and dive to catch the ball!!
• Kemp grounded out to 2b.
• Anninos grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 2-1.
• 7th inning - Texas
• Travis Tucker struck out swinging.
• Michael Torres grounded out to 1b (pitcher covering the bag).
• Jordan Danks doubled into the lf/cf gap.
• Kyle Russell hit his 56th career homerun off the scoreboard in rf (to take over the top spot in the Texas record book)! It was a thing of beauty. Even on the blurry CSTV feed.
• Preston Clark popped out to 3b.
• Texas up 4-1.
• 7th inning - St. John's
• Hopkins struck out swinging.
• Karmas singled to rf.
• Ferrara was sent in to pinch run for Karmas.
• Del Rosario hit into a 4-6-3 double play!!
• Texas up 4-1.
• 8th inning - Texas
• Morris went in at 1b for St. John's (replacing Ferrara who'd run for Karmas).
• Brandon Belt was called out on strikes (full count).
• David Hernandez flew out to rf.
• Cameron Rupp reached on an infield single to 3b. It looked like he pulled a muscle a bit as he ran down the line. He stayed in the game, though, and Keith started worrying about the catching situation for the evening game.
• Russell Moldenhauer flew out to cf. Russell fell as he swung at the pitch and then had to be helped off the field. There was a problem with his left leg or knee.
• Texas up 4-1.
• 8th inning - St. John's
• Kyle Lusson went into lf for Russell Moldenhauer and Cameron Rupp stayed in the game behind the plate.
• La Stella singled off the mound into cf.
• Matias grounded into a picture-perfect 6-4-3 double play. Third double play of the day for the Horns.
• Grantham lined out to lf. Kyle Lusson made a great run and then dove to catch the ball. Another beautiful play. Add the fact that he'd just entered the game and it's even more impressive. Wow.
• 103 pitches for Austin Wood by my count.
• Texas up 4-1.
• 9th inning - Texas
• Travis Tucker popped out to ss in shallow lf behind 3b.
• Michael Torres grounded out to 2b.
• St. John's replaced the pitcher, sending Monell (lefty) to the mound.
• Jordan Danks tried to check his swing but the umpire ruled that he went around...strikeout.
• Texas up 4-1.
• 9th inning - St. John's
• Benedetti grounded out to 2b.
• Kemp grounded out to 3b. A great job by Preston to knock the ball down, jump up, and throw to 1b.
• Anninos singled through the left side.
• Hopkins also singled (first pitch) through the left side.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Morris was hit by a pitch (0-1 count).
• Del Rosario doubled down the rf line, scoring 2. Ohmygoodness. Tying run at 3b, go-ahead run at 2b, 2 out.
• Chance Ruffin went to the mound for the Horns.
• La Stella was intentionally walked to load the bases.
• Alcardi went in to pinch-run for La Stella.
• The fist two pitches to Matias were balls. He yanked the next one foul. And, he grounded the fourth pitch into a 6-4 fielder's choice.

Oh. My. I cannot believe it. What an ending. Texas wins 4-3. Wow. Heart break (likewise heart attack) narrowly avoided.

The line from GameTracker:

I'm not gonna post anything else now as I've got another full game coming up in an hour.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 5:00 PM | Permalink

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