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Monday - March 16, 2009

Game 16: Missouri at Texas

Texas beat Missouri 4-3 yesterday afternoon to take the series. It was not a pretty win. But, it was an exciting win. Texas came back from a 1-3 deficit in the 9th to score the winning run after the Missouri shortstop committed a throwing error. Tough break for him. By that point, though, the Texas win was probably already in the bag. The momentum had shifted. So, how'd they get to that point? Read on.

The starting line-ups:

Missouri	Texas
1 Greg Folgia, lf 2 Conner Mach, dh 3 Ryan Lollis, cf 4 Aaron Senne, rf 5 Trevor Coleman, c 6 Steve Gray, 1b 7 Andrew Thigpen, 2b 8 Kyle Mach, 3b 9 Michael Liberto, ss - Nick Tepesch, p	1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Michael Torres, dh 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, rf 5 Cameron Rupp, c 6 Tant Shepherd, lf 7 Kyle Lusson, cf 8 David Hernandez, ss 9 Brandon Loy, 3b - Cole Green, p

I had a little internal debate with myself: play-by-play for the whole game or not? Hmmm. Okay...the whole game. But, let's mix it up a bit, shall we? Okay. Let's do that. And so...

• 1st inning, Missouri
• Cole Green got the start for the Horns and made two nice plays to start things off. He induced groundouts to himself from Folgia and C. Mach.
• Then, he gave up the first 1st-inning hit of the year for Texas pitching. That's right, through the first 15 games of the season, the Horns held the opposition hitless in the first inning. We all knew that couldn't last, right? Right. Green gave up a single (up the middle) to Lollis.
• Then? Then, he walked Senne (full count), moving Lollis to 2b.
• Coleman grounded out to 2b. But, not your run-of-the-mill groundout. Nope. Senne was running and the ball was going right at him. He held up just enough to let the ball by. It was also just enough that it could've messed with Tucker's ability to field the ball. But, Tucker scooped the ball up as it passed in front of the Missouri baserunner and made a great throw to Belt to beat the batter and make the 3rd out. Nice.
• Texas is still holding the opposition scoreless in the first inning. Cool.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Nick Tepesch on the mound for Missouri. He went into the game with an ERA over 6. But, he did not throw like a guy with an inflated ERA. In fact, for much of the game, he looked a lot like Kyle Gibson looked in the opener on Saturday. It was, for the most part, a frustrating day at the plate for the Horns.
• Tucker worked the count full to lead things off and then grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Torres lined out to lf. Folgia made a very nice running catch to rob Torres of a single...if not a double.
• Belt doubled off the lf wall. Pretty.
• Moldenhauer then flew out on a fairly routine fly ball to lf. Lots of work for Folgia in that opening inning.
• 2nd inning, Missouri
• Gray reached on a 5-pitch walk.
• Thigpen popped out to 3b on a bunt attempt. Ouch. It was not pretty.
• K. Mach flew out to cf. Kyle Lusson made a spectacular run and over-the-shoulder catch that may well have been the defensive play of the game. That was pretty.
• Liberto grounded out to 3b.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Rupp singled up the middle to start things off nicely.
• Shepherd moved him to 2b on a sac bunt down the 1b line. The pitcher, first baseman, and second baseman all converged on the ball. The first baseman fielded and then had to charge Shepherd to tag him out. He just barely made the play.
• Lusson singled to shallow rf, moving Rupp to 3b.
• Which prompted a visit to the mound by the Missouri coaching staff.
• Hernandez hit a beautiful bunt down the 1b line. Again, the first baseman and pitcher converged on the ball. Nobody covered 1b. And, the ball was too far off the line this time to catch the batter. Beautiful. Hernandez safe at 1b. Lusson moved to 2b. And, more importantly, Rupp scored.
• With runners at 1b and 2b, Loy hit a ground ball to 3b (first pitch). Right at 3b. The third baseman fielded (very nearly on top of the bag), stepped on 3b to get the lead runner, and then fired to 1b to complete the double play. Ugh.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Missouri
• Folgia watched a couple of called strikes, then a ball, then fouled off a couple, then saw another ball, then struck out looking.
• C. Mach singled through the left side.
• Lollis flew out to lf.
• Senne doubled off the wall in cf. Kyle Lusson made a great effort and very nearly caught the ball as he made a leaping effort but missed it by inches. Mach scored.
• Coleman grounded out to 2b.
• Game tied 1-1.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Tucker grounded out to ss.
• Torres reached on a 5-pitch walk and was then caught stealing with Belt at the plate. So sad.
• Belt also drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Moldenhauer struck out swinging.
• Game tied 1-1.
• 4th inning, Missouri
• Gray struck out swinging.
• Thigpen grounded out to 3b.
• K. Mach reached on an infield single to 2b. On the play, Tucker was going for the ball and appeared to catch his foot in the turf. He stumbled and fell. In the process, he knocked the ball toward Hernandez who grabbed it and almost threw Mach out at 1b. Almost.
• Liberto grounded out to 3b.
• Game still tied 1-1.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Rupp struck out swinging.
• Shepherd singled up the middle. Purty.
• Lusson reached on an error by 2b. On the play, Lusson hit a picture-perfect 6-4-3 double play ball to the shortstop. Liberto fielded and tossed the ball to Thigpen covering 2b. Thigpen dropped the throw, though, and scrambled to pick it up. Shepherd was at the bag by then and was called safe. Thigpen felt he had the ball on the bag but did not get the call. I don't think he had full possession until he was off the bag.
• Hernandez drew a full-count walk to load the bases.
• Which prompted another visit to the mound from the Missouri bench.
• With the bases loaded and one out, Loy hit into his second double play of the day. Tough luck. He hit a ground ball right to the second baseman covering 2b. Thigpen fielded, stepped on 2b, and threw to 1b to end the threat.
• Game still tied 1-1.
• 5th inning, Missouri
• Folgia flew out to cf.
• C. Mach was hit by a pitch.
• Lollis struck out swinging (after watching two called strikes cross the plate.
• With two out, Senne doubled to the cf/rf gap. Mach scored and Senne moved to 3b on the throw home.
• Coleman then singled to cf, scoring Senne.
• Which prompted Skip Johnson to visit the mound.
• Gray grounded out to ss (full count).
• Texas down 1-3.
• 5th inning, Texas
• A disheartening 3-up/3-down affair: Tucker grounded out to 2b; Torres grounded out to ss; and Belt grounded out to 2b. Sigh.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 6th inning, Missouri
• Texas surprised me a bit by sending Taylor Jungmann to the mound to start the 6th. Green left after throwing 5, facing 24 batters, and giving up 3 earned runs on 6 hits (including 2 doubles) while striking out 3, walking 2, and hitting one batter. All on 77 pitches by my count.
• The 6th proved to be the fist 1-2-3 inning for the Texas defense.
• Thigpen flew out to lf. K. Mack flew out to rf. And, Liberto flew out to rf.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Moldenhauer struck out swinging.
• Rupp popped out to 2b.
• Shepherd singled into shallow rf.
• Lusson grounded out to the pitcher.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 7th inning, Missouri
• Another 1-2-3 inning: Folgia lined out to cf; C. Mach grounded out to the pitcher on an excuse-me swing; and Lollis flew out to lf.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Sigh: 3-up/3-down. Hernandez grounded out to ss. Loy grounded out to 3b. Tucker grounded out to 3b.
• Texas still down 1-3.
• 8th inning, Missouri
• Jungmann gave up a 4-pitch walk to Senne and then struck out the side. That sounds easier than it was. Coleman saw 8 pitches (fouling off 6 of them) before striking out looking. Gray also saw 8 pitches (fouling off 5 of them) before striking out swinging. Thigpen gave us all a break by fouling off one and then swinging at the next two. 25 pitches in all. Geesh.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Torres singled up the middle to lead things off.
• Belt struck out swinging. Let me just say: not pretty. I don't know what Tepesch was doing. It wasn't as good as what Gibson did on Saturday. But, sometimes, he just made our guys look bad.
• Moldenhauer grounded out to 2b. Thigpen almost went to 2b, hoping for the double play but thought better of it and went for the sure out. (Torres to 2b on the play, in case you couldn't figure that out.)
• Rupp grounded out to the pitcher.
• Sigh. Texas down 1-3.
• 9th inning, Missouri
• K. Mach grounded out to ss.
• Liberto struck out swinging.
• Folgia drew a 5-pitch walk.
• C. Mach grounded out to 3b.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Wherein, all hell broke loose.
• Shepherd was hit by the second pitch he saw. Missouri argued that he swung at the pitch so it should be Strike Two. The home plate ump did not agree. Shepherd trotted 90 feet down the line.
• Texas sent Tim Maitland (left-handed batter) to pinch-hit for Kyle Lusson and Connor Rowe to pinch-run for Shepherd. Before sending him to the plate, Coach Garrido called an offensive time-out and had a chat with Maitland.
• The first pitch to Maitland was a ball. A passed ball. Rowe broke late and just beat the throw from the catcher to 2b. Whew.
• Missouri changed pitchers. By my count, Tepesch had thrown 105 pitches when he was removed. And, he'd done a very good job. Missouri decided to go with their lefty closer Scooter Hicks. Texas countered with Kevin Keyes.
• Yes, Texas pinch-hit for the pinch-hitter after one pitch.
• Keyes looked at a called strike, a ball, and another called strike before fouling off a pitch. Then, he hit a deeeeeeep fly ball to the track in front of the 405 sign in the lf/cf gap. The center fielder made a diving attempt to catch the ball but could not make it. Rowe scored. Texas down 2-3.
• Texas sent Preston Clark to pinch-hit for Hernandez. And, after a couple of pitches to Clark, Texas sent Jordan Etier in to pinch-run for Keyes.
• Clark worked the count full and then drew a walk, putting runners at 1b and 2b. Texas sent Morgan Mickan in to pinch-run for Clark.
• With 2 on, one across, and no outs, Loy (0-fer on the day) went to the plate. He hit a beautiful sac bunt down the 3b line, putting runners at 2b and 3b. Beautiful.
• Missouri sent Brad Buehler to the mound.
• With Tucker at the plate, Missouri almost picked Etier off at 3b. Close play. Whew.
• Tucker then hit a bloop single over the second baseman's head, scoring Etier and moving Mickan to 3b.
• GAME TIED!!!
• Runners at the corners. 1 out.
• Torres watched a ball and a called strike before he fouled off a pitch. Then, he lined one at the shortstop (Liberto). Mickan and Torres dove back to their respective bases. Liberto tried to double up Torres. But, his throw was low and off-line (on the outfield side of the bag). Mickan took off and scored. The first baseman got to the ball fairly quickly but then hesitated before throwing home. When he finally did throw, the ball was way off target and Mickan had already scored.
• Texas wins. 4-3. Wow.

Missouri was (I guess) very upset at the end of the game and did not come out of the dugout for the "good game" handshake. The first base coach appeared to argue runner's interference on the last play of the game...that Tucker interfered with the first baseman's chance to catch the ball thrown from Liberto. I watched the replays on three of the local news stations last night and don't think there was any way it could be called. Tucker went straight for the bag. The throw was low and off-target. I can understand the Tigers being frustrated. The atmosphere at Disch-Falk was amazing. I was, frankly, surprised at the size of the crowd...the stadium was very full. The weather was much better than on Saturday. And, I guess we always have more "fair weather" fans whenever the team's ranked high, eh? Anyway, the crowd really got into things at the end of the game. There was a lot of noise. And, a lot of punch/counter-punch going on between the coaching staffs. It's tough to lose a game on an error. And, I guess Missouri thought there were two calls that went against them (the hit batter and then the "no call" on the interference; and maybe even four if you count Rowe's close call at 2b and Etier's at 3b) but that's baseball. I wish someone in the media would ask for an explanation. But, they didn't even report that the handshake did not take place. I won't hold my breath that we'll get an explanation any time soon. Ah well. I've asked around and nobody seems to know anything for sure. If I do find an explanation, I'll be sure to post.

Oh. And, just a tiny FYI. Jungmann got the win for Texas while Hicks took the loss for the Tigers. Details.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Texas plays Rice in Houston tomorrow night. As usual, I won't be there. I really do hope the team builds on this momentum and wins another one tomorrow. Hook 'em, Horns!!

Posted by Joanna at 9:48 AM