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Friday - March 20, 2009

Game 18: Texas at Kansas

I listened to the game as I set up a new computer at work and was able to listen to the whole game. Keith Moreland and Bill Little on the radio.

The starting line-ups:

Texas	Kansas
1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Brandon Belt, 1b 3 Tant Shepherd, lf 4 Cameron Rupp, c 5 Preston Clark, dh 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 David Hernandez, ss 8 Brandon Loy, 3b 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Chance Ruffin, p	1 David Narodowski, ss 2 Brian Heere, rf 3 Robby Price, 2b 4 Buck Afenir, c 5 Tony Thompson, 3b 6 Jimmy Waters, dh 7 Preston Land, 1b 8 Nick Faunce, lf 9 Jason Brunansky, cf - Shaeffer Hall, p

Texas mixed up the line-up a bit. The starting pitcher for Kansas was a lefty...which put Kevin Keyes and Preston Clark back in the line-up. In one of the pre-game interviews on the radio a few games ago, Coach Garrido said Keyes and Moldenhauer would be platooning in rf and that Clark and Torres would do likewise at dh.

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Texas: Tucker reached on an infield single to lead things off but was stranded at 1b.
• 1st inning, Kansas: Heere reached on a 1-out single and he, too, was stranded at 1b.
• 2nd inning, Texas: Down in order. Drat.
• 2nd inning, Kansas: Ditto. (Minus the "Drat" comment. Heh.)
• 3rd inning, Texas: 3-up/3-down again. The game was flying by.
• 3rd inning, Kansas: Faunce led off with a single up the middle and then moved to 3b on a single by Brunansky to rf. Narodowski reached on a fielder's choice. He bunted in front of the plate. Ruffin fielded and threw home. The runner from 3b went back to 3b and beat the throw from the catcher. Bases loaded with no outs. Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound. I "spoke" too soon about the speed of the game, eh? Ruffin issued a 5-pitch walk (ball, ball, ball, called strike, ball) to Heere to push a run across. Price hit a ground ball to Belt at 1b. Belt thought about going home and decided he couldn't make the play so tried to get the runner at 2b. He threw to 2b off-target and into lf, allowing Brunansky and Narodowski to score. Heere moved to 3b. Price at 1b. Afenir singled up the middle, scoring Heere and moving Price to 2b. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Thompson struck out. Rupp tried to turn a double play and get the runner at 2b but threw the ball into cf. 2nd error of the inning. The runners moved up to 2b and 3b. Waters struck out. Ruffin struck Land out to strike out the side. Too bad all that other stuff happened before the 3 Ks. Texas down 0-4.
• 4th inning, Texas: Sadly, Belt led off with a strikeout. Shepherd also struck out. Geesh. 5 stirkeouts in a row. And, Rupp struck out just to make things even. Or something. Sigh. Texas down 0-4.
• 4th inning, Kansas: Brunansky reached on a 1-out single. After Narodowski struck out, Heere singled to rf, moving Brunansky to 3b. Bill Little commented at this point that Ruffin was struggling to keep the ball down in the strike zone. He said Ruffin was throwing high and when he would get it down, it was not going across low enough. Price flew out to rf. It sounded like a particularly nice catch by Keyes in rf. Texas down 0-4.
• 5th inning, Texas: Clark led things off with a double off the wall in the left-center. Keyes homered over the wall in cf. Yes! Hernandez and Loy flew out to lf. Rowe struck out. Texas down 2-4.
• 5th inning, Kansas: Afenir started things off with a single up the middle. Thompson flew out to cf. Ruffin hit Waters, putting runners at 1b and 2b. Land singled to cf, scoring Afenir and moving Waters to 2b. Faunce flew out to lf. Shepherd made a nice running catch to keep the runners from advancing. Brunansky flew out to rf. Texas down 2-5.
• 6th inning, Texas: Tucker singled into lf. Belt singled into lf, moving Tucker to 3b. Runners at the corners...nobody out! Shepherd hit a sac fly to deep rf, scoring Tucker. Which prompted a visit from the coaching staff to the mound. Rupp fell behind, worked the count full, and then struck out swinging. Clark grounded out to 3b. Texas down 3-5.
• 6th inning, Kansas: 3-up/3-down! Texas down 3-5.
• 7th inning, Texas: Keyes reached on a 4-pitch walk. Hernandez moved Keyes to 2b with a sac bunt to the pitcher. Loy grounded out to 3b. Rowe worked the count full, fouled off a couple of pitches, and then doubled down the 3b line, scoring Keyes. Tucker grounded out to ss. Texas down 4-5.
• 7th inning, Kansas: 3-up/3-down again! Texas down 4-5.
• 8th inning, Texas: Kansas sent Travis Blankenship (another lefty) to the mound. Belt struck out swinging (on 3 pitches). After getting his one out, Blankenship was replaced by Brett Bochy (rhp) on the mound. Shepherd also struck out swinging. Rupp grounded out to the ss. So sad. Texas down 4-5.
• 8th inning, Kansas: Land flew out to rf after almost hitting a homer to lf (long enough but foul). Whew. Faunce struck out swinging. But, the pitch (low and in the dirt) got away from Rupp...allowing Faunce to reach 1b. But (#2), he was promptly picked off (1-3-4). Brunansky drew a walk (full count). Texas sent Austin Wood to the mound, replacing Ruffin. Narodowski singled to lf, moving Brunansky to 2b. Heere grounded out to the pitcher. Texas down 4-5.
• 9th inning, Texas: Kansas sent Paul Smyth (rhp) to the mound. Clark flew out to lf. Keyes was hit by a 2-2 pitch. Morgan Mickan went to 1b to pinch-run for Keyes. Michael Torres (pinch-hitting for Hernandez) flew out to cf. Russell Moldenhauer, pinch-hitting for Loy, flew out to cf just shy of the wall. Texas loses 4-5. Too bad.

Once again, a bad inning does the Horns in. They really need to get the bats going. Chance Ruffin, as usual, just got stronger as the game went on. But, that 3rd inning proved too much to overcome. Ruffin took the loss. Shaeffer (who pitched a very nice game) got the win. Smyth got his 4th save of the year.

And, here's the line (from GameTracker):

The radio broadcast will be delayed tomorrow...in favor of the women's basketball game. I'm not going to bother with the Yahoo! Sports thing so may not have much of a report. Texas will send Brandon Workman to the mound. The Jayhawks will counter with T.J. Walz.

Posted by Joanna at 5:38 PM