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Friday - February 27, 2009

Game 6: Penn State at Texas

The Horns did not change the start time for today's game to 5 or 6 o'clock so I was unable to attend. I did listen on the radio, though (off-and-on; mostly off through the first half as I was moving some stuff around in one of our labs).

The Horns starting line-up: Tucker (2b), Loy (3b), Belt (1b), Clark (dh), Keyes (rf), Rupp (c), Shepherd (lf), Hernandez (ss), and Rowe (cf). Chance Ruffin started on the mound.

Penn State's starting line-up: Borden (dh), Youngblood (cf), Deese (lf), Wine (1b), Glantz (ss), Steranka (3b), Marlin (rf), Heath (c), adn Nakata (2b). Lorenston started on the mound.

According to GameTracker, Texas scored 1 in the first: with one out, Loy reached on a 4-pitch walk. Belt flew out to cf; Loy tagged up and advanced to 2b. Interesting. Clark singled down the rf line, scoring Loy.

PSU tied things up in the 4th. Again, according to GarmTracker: Glantz hit a 2-out double and then scored on a single by Steranka. In the bottom of the inning, all hell broke loose and Texas scored 7. Connor Rowe hit a 1-out 2-run homer to start things off and then the second baseman for the Nittany Lions committed a couple of errors leading to a score by Travis Tucker. With 2 out and Loy at 2b, they intentionally walked Clark. After the walk, with Keyes at the plate, Loy stole 2b. Keyes then doubled down the lf line, scoring Loy and putting runners at 2b and 3b. PSU changed pitchers (Cianciolo for Lorenston). Rupp was hit by a 3-0 pitch to load the bases. Shepherd then tripled to the cf/rf gap. Texas up 8-1.

PSU scored a second run in the 6th. I missed it as well. With a runner at 2b and 2 out, Steranka singled to push the run across. Texas up 8-2.

I did hear the bottom of the 6th. Preston Clark (1b in the 1st, hbp in the 3rd, intentional bb in the 4th) led things off with a double and advanced to 3b on a ground out by Keyes. Alas, he was stranded at 3b when Rupp lined out to 2b and Shepherd flew out to rf.

In the 7th, Andrew McKirahan replaced Ruffin on the mound. Ruffin allowed the two runs (both earned) on 6 hits (2 doubles) with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts. Excellent. McKirahan threw a nice 1-2-3 seventh. In the bottom of the inning, Tucker reached on a 4-pitch walk. Loy then doubled to the lf/cf gap. The fielder tried to cut the ball off and did stop it but over-ran it a bit. Tucker scored (earned) and Loy moved on to 3b (E7). Loy was stranded at 3b when Belt grounded out to 2b. Texas up 9-2.

The Nittany Lions threatened to score in the 8th. Youngblood reached on an infield single that rolled into no-man's land (so described by Craig Way) between 1b and the pitcher's mound. He moved to 2b on an ground out to 1b. Wine then singled to shallow cf, putting runners at the corners. Glantz then flew out to rf and Debernardis (ph) grounded out to 3b. In the bottom of the inning, Clark led things off with his 3rd hit of the gime...a single to cf. Kyle Lusson (pinch-hitting for Keyes) flew out to lf. Clark alertly tagged and moved up to 2b. Rupp flew out to cf. Tim Maitland (pinch-hitting for Tant Shepherd) grounded out to 2b.

In the top of the 9th, the Horns sent Sam Stafford to the mound for his first action as a Longhorn. (McKirahan left after throwing 2 scoreless innings; he gave up 2 hits and struck out one.) Marlin flied out to cf. Heath grounded out to 2b. Nakata singled to cf. Borden walked (after falling behind 1-2). C'mon, Sam! The next pitch hit Youngblood to load the bases. Ouch. I repeat: c'mon, Sam! After a quick visit to the mound by Skip Johnson, Stafford threw one more pitch. Deese drove it to rf...where Kyle Lusson caught it to end the game. Texas win 9-2.

The line (according to GameTracker):

																			R	H	E
Penn State			0	0	0			1	0	1			0	0	0		-		2	9	4
Texas			1	0	0			7	0	0			1	0	x		-		9	12	0

Note about tomorrow (from the post-game interview with Coach Garrido): tomorrow's double-header is scheduled to be a 7-inning game followed by a 9-inning game. However, if the first game goes into extra innings, the 2nd game will be scheduled for 7 innings.

Posted by Joanna at 5:48 PM