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Saturday - February 28, 2009

Game 8: Penn State at Texas

Texas beat Penn State 1-0 in the final game of today's double header. The wind was still blowing strongly from the north and it seemed to just get colder and colder as the afternoon wore on. As soon as Texas scored, I started rooting for very quick 1-2-3 innings! That didn't quite happen but we came close.

Cole Green got the nod for the Horns and very nearly threw a complete game. He threw 8.1 scoreless innings. He gave up 5 hits (all singles) while throwing 7 strikeouts. He did not give up any walks and threw 103 pitches by my count. Very very nice outing. Penn State only managed to get two base runners to 2b all day long. Green struck out the side in the 8th and struck out the 1st batter he faced in the 9th. He then gave up a single to cf to the next batter. Which prompted a pitching change. Austin Wood entered the game and got his second save of the day. He threw 7 pitches and got 2 strikeouts. Not a bad day's work, eh? In the two games, he threw 12 pitches, got 5 outs, and 2 saves. Not bad at all!

The lone Texas run was scored in the 2nd inning. Tant Shepherd (lf, #5 in the line-up) singled just past a diving shortstop into cf and then stole 2b with Kevin Keyes (rf, #6) at the plate. Keyes ended up striking out. Cameron Rupp (c, #7) did likewise. With 2 out, David Hernandez (ss, #8) singled over the second baseman's head, scoring Shepherd. Hernandez stole 2b with Connor Rowe (cf, #9) at the plate but Rowe went on to strike out. T. J. Macy (senior rhp) got the very hard luck loss for Penn State. He pitched a complete game. He faced 31 batters and gave up 5 hits (all singles) while striking out 7 and walking 3. He threw 106 pitches by my count. Poor guy. It really doesn't seem fair to pitch such a nice game and come away with a loss.

The two teams face off one more time tomorrow at 12:30. The temperature is likely to be about the same as it was today but the wind will be considerably calmer. So, it shouldn't be nearly as miserable for those of us in the stands as it was today. I plan to be there. Natch.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:54 PM