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Sunday - June 1, 2008

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