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Saturday - February 28, 2009
Game 7: Penn State at Texas
The Horns won the opener of today's double-header against Penn State 6-2. There was a stiff (and very very cold) wind blowing in from the north for the duration. Brrrr...
This was the first game of the year that the Horns did not score first (okay, it was only the 7th game game of the year but the fact jumped out at me for some reason). The Nittany Lions scored a single run in the 2nd. Texas responded with 1 in the 3rd, 4 in the 4th, and a final run in the 5th. The Nittany Lions mounted a bit of a rally in the 7th (and final) inning but came up short.
Taylor Jungmann got the start for the Horns and threw a whale of a game to earn his 2nd win of the year. He went 6 innings, faced 24 batters, and gave up 1 earned run on 5 hits (all singles) with 5 striketouts, 2 walks, and one wild pitch. He threw 93 pitches by my count. Stayton Thomas went in at the top of the 7th and, in stark contrast, did not have a good day. He gave up a single, then hit a batter, and then walked another. Which prompted the Horns to send Austin Wood to the mound. The Horns had a 5-run lead but since the bases were loaded with no outs, he actually entered the game in a save situation. Wood threw 5 pitches and got his save. The pitch sequence: called strike, 6-4-3 double play (1 run scored, charged to Thomas), called strike, ball, ground out to the pitcher. Game over. Save accomplished.
The scoring for Texas went down like so:
- 3rd inning
- David Hernandez (ss, batting in the #8 spot) grounded out to 3b.
- Connor Rowe (cf, #9) walked on 4 pitches and then, sadly, was caught stealing on the next pitch.
- Travis Tucker (2b, #1) reached on an error by the shortstop.
- Brandon Loy (3b, #2) singled to cf, moving Tucker to 3b.
- With Brandon Belt (1b, #3) at the plate, Tucker scored and Loy moved to 2b on a wild pitch.
- Belt drew a 5-pitch walk. On the final pitch, Loy moved to 3b on a passed ball.
- Michael Torres (dh, #4) tried to get a bunt down but was thrown out (1-3) at 1b. I'm not sure what the thinking was behind the decision to try a bunt with two out. Shrug.
- 4th inning
- Tant Shepherd (lf, #5) was hit by a pitch (the 7th pitch of his at-bat).
- Kevin Keyes (rf, #6) advanced Shepherd to 2b with sac bunt (1-3).
- The first pitch to Cameron Rupp (c, #7) went over his head and to the backstop. Shepherd moved to 3b on the wild pitch.
- Rupp reached on a 5-pitch walk.
- Hernandez walked on 4 pitches to load the bases.
- Rowe bunted safely (squeeze bunt) down the 1b line, scoring Shepherd. Bases still loaded.
- With Tucker at the plate, the PSU starter (Kelley) threw his 3rd wild pitch of the game, allowing Rupp to score and moving the other two runners to 2b and 3b.
- Tucker then hit a bloop single over the second baseman's head, scoring Hernandez and Rowe.
- PSU changed pitchers, sending Lutz to the mound.
- Loy flew out to cf.
- Belt grounded out to 2b.
- 5th inning
- Torres grounded out to 2b.
- Shepherd tripled to the cf/rf gap. The right fielder almost made a great play but couldn't quite get to the ball.
- With Keyes at the plate, Shepherd scored on yet another PSU wild pitch.
- Keyes then grounded out to the pitcher and Rupp flew out to cf.
The PSU pitchers struggled a bit in the first game of the double header; the Texas batters and base runners took full advantage. Quite a contrast to the second game of the day. Report coming soon...
Posted by Joanna at 10:47 PM