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Saturday - March 7, 2009

Game 12: Texas at Stanford

I listened to the game on the radio. Keith Moreland and Bill Little were on the air. The bad news, at the start of the game, was that neither Cameron Rupp nor Travis Tucker were listed in the starting line-up. Keith reported, sometime around the 3rd inning or so, that Tucker is "day to day" but I never heard him say anything about Rupp's status. The Horns went with Preston Clark at c, Jordan Etier at 2b, and Russell Moldenhauer at dh. Brandon Workman took the mound for the Horns.

Line-ups:

1 Brandon Loy, 3b 2 Connor Rowe, cf 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh 5 Tant Shepherd, lf 6 Preston Clark, c 7 Kevin Keyes, rf 8 David Hernandez, ss 9 Jordan Etier, 2b - Brandon Workman, p

1 Colin Walsh, 2b 2 Zach Jones, 3b 3 Joey August, cf 4 Kellen Kiilsgaard, rf 5 Jonathan Kaskow, 1b 6 Ben Clowe, c 7 Jake Schlander, ss 8 Mike Garza, dh 9 Wande Olabisi, lf - Jordan Pries, p

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Pries on the mound for the Cardinal.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Rowe stepped in and we lost audio. When the audio came back, Belt was at the plate. GameTracker reported that Rowe grounded out to 3b.
• Belt grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• 1st inning, Stanford
• Workman on the mound for the Horns.
• Walsh struck out (looking, I think).
• Jones grounded out to ss.
• August flew out to lf.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Moldenhauer popped out to 3b (foul).
• Shepherd doubled to right-center.
• Clark struck out swinging.
• Keyes popped out to 2b in shallow cf.
• 2nd inning, Stanford
• Kiilsgaard struck out swinging. I think he saw 7 pitches (including 2 foul balls). Workman threw 5 pitches in the first inning. Then 7 to one guy? Tsk tsk.
• Kaskow reached on an infield single that went off Workman's glove. Well...from Keith's description, it sounded like an infield single. GameTracker reported it was a single up the middle. You choose.
• Clowe singled to lf, moving Kaskow to 2b.
• Schlander reached on a 1-5 fielder's choice. Kaskow out, Clowe moved to 2b.
• Garza (called "Garcia" by both Keith and Bill, entertainingly enough) struck out swinging. Clark couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Hernandez grounded out to the ss.
• Etier also grounded out to the ss.
• Loy grounded out, for a bit of variety, to 2b.
• 3rd inning, Stanford
• Olabisi hit a hard grounder to 2b. Etier made a very nice play to just beat Olabisi with his throw to Belt for the out.
• Walsh doubled to left center.
• Jones struck out swinging.
• August grounded out to 1b. On the play, Belt bobbled the ball a bit but threw it to Workman, covering 1b, in time for the out.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Rowe fell behind 1-2, worked the count full, and then struck out. Shucks.
• Belt grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Moldenhauer reached on a full-count walk.
• Shepherd hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice.
• 4th inning, Stanford
• Kiilsgaard grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Kaskow was hit by a pitch (1-0 count).
• Clowe flew out to rf.
• Schlander hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice to end the inning.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Clark flew out to lf. Olabisi had to make a long run and just made the play.
• Keyes struck out (swinging, I think).
• Hernandez singled to lf. The hitting streak lives on.
• Etier grounded into a 4-unassisted fielder's choice.
• 5th inning, Stanford
• Garza grounded out to ss. The throw from Hernandez was high and Belt made a nice play to get the ball and come down on the bag...saving the error.
• Olabisi doubled down the lf line.
• Walsh flew out to cf. Rowe made a very nice run and diving catch to rob Walsh of a hit. Olabisi alertly tagged and moved to 3b on the play.
• Olabisi scored on a wild pitch. The first pitch to Jones was in the dirt and Clark could not round it up. First earned run of the year allowed by Workman.
• Jones singled through the left side and moved to 2b on another wild pitch.
• August was hit by a pitch, putting runners at 1b and 2b.
• Kiilsgaard flew out to rf. Keyes got a good jump on the ball and made a nice catch.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Rowe drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Belt struck out swinging. Jinxed by Keith? Two pitches earlier, Keith commented that Belt had not struck out this season.
• Moldenhauer flew out to lf.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 6th inning, Stanford
• Kaskow homered over the rf fence.
• Clowe flew out to cf.
• At this point, Keith commented that Taylor Jungmann and Keith Shinaberry were warming up in the bullpen.
• Schlander struck out swinging. 5th strikeout of the game for Workman.
• Garza (Keith finally figured out that his name is not "Garcia") reached on an error by ss. Bill Little said it looked like Hernandez expected the ball to bounce up and it didn't.
• Whitlow (pinch-running for Garza) stole 2b on the first pitch to Olabisi. Texas threw a pitch-out on the play but Clark couldn't hold onto it.
• Olabisi drew a 5-pitch walk.
• In response, Texas sent Keith Shinaberry to the mound (replacing Workman).
• Walsh singled into cf. With two outs, the runners were off with the swing of the bat. Whitlow scored (unearned) and Olabisi made it to 3b.
• Jones singled off the pitcher, scoring Olabisi (unearned) and moving Walsh to 2b.
• August grounded out to 2b.
• Texas down 0-4.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Stanford sent Toby Gerhart into lf (replacing Olabisi).
• Shepherd grounded out to ss.
• Clark flew out to lf.
• Keyes flew out to lf at the wall.
• 7 pitches by my count. Sigh...
• Texas down 0-4.
• 7th inning, Stanford
• Kiilsgaard struck out looking (sounded like he looked at all three pitches).
• Kaskow flew out to rf.
• Clowe grounded out to 3b.
• Texas down 0-4.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Hernandez grounded out to 1b (3-1, pitcher covering).
• Etier singled to rf.
• Stanford sent Drew Storen to the mound, replacing Pries.
• With Michael Torres (pinch-hitting for Loy) at the plate, Etier moved to 2b on a wild pitch.
• Torres singled to lf, moving Etier to 3b.
• Tim Maitland (pinch-hitting for Rowe) singled the first pitch he saw through the right side, scoring Etier and moving Torres to 2b. First hit of the year for Maitland!
• The pitching coach made a visit to the mound after Storen threw 2 balls to Belt.
• Belt flew out to lf (2-1 pitch).
• Moldenhauer flew out to cf.
• Texas down 1-4.
• 8th inning, Stanford
• Texas kept Torres and Maitland in the game at 3b and cf, respectively.
• Schlander grounded out to ss.
• Whitlow hit the first pitch he saw over the lf fence.
• Gerhart reached on an error by 3b. Torres fielded the ball nicely but then threw high to 1b, pulling Belt off the bag.
• Walsh lined out to rf. Nice play by Keyes.
• Jones homered over the lf wall (2 unearned runs).
• August was hit by the 3rd pitch but the home plate ump ruled that he made no effort to avoid the ball so made him stay at the plate. The crowd was not happy with that call. August worked the count full and then grounded out to 2b. Very nice play by Etier to make the stop and throw for the out. Keith thought the ball was going to get through and was happily impressed.
• Texas down 1-7.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Shepherd flew out to cf.
• Bill Little commented at this point that Texas had failed to get the lead-off man aboard for all 9 innings.
• Also, at this point, the Horns lost 73-83 in basketball. I'd been watching the game on TV while listening to the baseball game. I think they were actually up by 14 at one point. So sad.
• Clark also flew out to cf.
• Keyes struck out swinging.
• Texas loses 1-7. Bah.

So, what went wrong? I think, for the most part, the Stanford starter (a freshman) did a really good job of keeping the Texas hitters off-balance. Keith didn't really say much about Pries having really good or tricky stuff. But, the Texas hitters did not get many hits so he was clearly doing something right. I have no idea how much the absences of Tucker and Rupp had on the rest of the team. And, it was really too bad that they couldn't hold Stanford scoreless in the bottom of the 8th after scoring in the top of the inning.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Post-game comments from the coach: Augie talked about the starting pitchers both doing a great job. He said baseball's a game of opportunity and if you take care of the ball and take advantage of the chances given, you will win. He said Stanford took advantage and then control of the game...particularly in the 2nd half. He said the team has done a good job this year in picking up after each other and tomorrow will go a long way to showing how much confidence they really have in each other.

Ah well, here's hoping things go better tomorrow. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 6:04 PM