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Tuesday - March 31, 2009

Game 25: Oral Roberts at Texas

Oh. My. Goodness. Should I feel bad for the folks that left the game after Texas scored 4 in the 7th? Or should I envy them the extra years of life they get for not being in the stands for the 9th? Hmmmm...tough call.

The first thing I noticed as they were announcing starting line-ups: no Brandon Belt. Preston Clark was announced as the first baseman. What? 'Turns out, Brandon was hit in the eye by a foul ball during batting practice. A foul ball that he hit. A foul ball that bounced (off the plate, I guess) and hit him in the eye. It was a bunted foul ball. He was practicing bunting. Ouch. Coach Garrido reported in the post-game interview that all things were looking good. That the swelling had gone down and that Belt's vision seemed fine. He said they'd have Belt's eye examined again tomorrow morning but that he expected things to be okay. Whew.

And, so...the starting line-ups:

Oral Roberts	Texas
1 Tyler Garewal, cf 2 Juan Martinez, ss 3 Seth Furmanek, c 4 Michael Notaro, 1b 5 PJ Sequeira, rf 6 Johnny Roberts, dh 7 Robert Barbosa, lf 8 Colby Price, 2b 9 Danny Duffy, 3b - Mark Serrano, p	1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Brandon Loy, ss 3 Michael Torres, 3b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh 5 Cameron Rupp, c 6 Tant Shepherd, lf 7 Preston Clark, 1b 8 Kevin Keyes, rf 9 Kyle Lusson, cf - Taylor Jungmann, p

The starter for the Golden Eagles (did I mention that the Horns played the Golden Eagles from Oral Roberts, yet?...I don't think so) had a good day. Texas pitched by committee today. And, the committee also pitched well. For the most part. The Horns struggled to get hits for much of the day. All except for Travis Tucker. He did just fine. So...here's how it all played out:

• 1st inning, ORU
• Texas started with Taylor Jungmann on the mound.
• Garewal, Martinez, and Furmanek all struck out swinging. Wow.
• 1st inning, Texas
• ORU went with Mark Serrano on the mound. He was (and still is) 4-0 on the season. ORU had 8 wins going into today's game. Which means Serrano was responsible for 1/2 of their wins.
• Tucker hit the first pitch of the day from Serrano into cf. Yes!
• Loy struck out.
• Torres did his best to wear Serrano out. He saw 12 pitches. Sadly, he popped the 12th up to 2b.
• Moldenhauer hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice.
• 2nd inning, ORU
• Notaro walked (full count).
• Sequiera singled to cf, moving Notaro to 2b.
• Skip Johnson made a quick trip to the mound.
• With Roberts at the plate, Notaro moved to 3b and Sequiera to 2b on a passed ball. Sigh.
• Roberts went on to walk, loading the bases. No outs.
• Barbosa struck out looking (3 pitches).
• Price flew out to shallow lf. Too short for anyone to tag and move up, happily.
• Duffy stuck out looking. Threat over. Amazing.
• 2 innings, 9 batters, 5 strikeouts for Mr. Jungmann.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Rupp struck out swinging.
• Shepherd reached on an error by 3b. The third baseman fielded and then threw high to 1b.
• Clark flew out to cf.
• Keyes flew out to rf (foul). Nice play by the right fielder.
• 3rd inning, ORU
• Texas sent Andrew McKirahan to the mound.
• Garewal struck out looking.
• Martinez grounded out to ss. On the play, Loy dropped the ball but recovered just in time to nick Martinez at 1b. Close.
• Furmanek walked on four pitches.
• Notaro struck out.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Lusson struck out looking.
• Tucker hit another one into cf. Second plate appearance, second single to cf. Nice.
• Loy walked on 5 pitches, moving Tucker to 2b.
• Torres lined out to rf.
• Moldenhauer struck out swinging.
• 4th inning, ORU
• Sequiera struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Roberts grounded out to 2b.
• Barbosa singled to rf. Hmmmm. A 2-out single. 'Sounds scarily familiar.
• Price fouled off a couple of pitches, watched a ball, fouled off 3 more, and then singled to lf, moving Barbosa to 2b.
• Duffy grounded out to 1b (unassisted). Whew.
• 2 innings, 9 batters, 3 strikeouts for Mr. McKirahan.
• 4th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down, sadly: Rupp lined out to rf, Shepherd popped out to rf, and Clark struck out looking (ball, ball, ball, called strike, called strike, foul, called strike).
• 5th inning, ORU
• Texas sent Stayton Thomas (!) to the mound.
• Garewal struck out looking.
• Martinez singled up the middle and then advanced to 2b on a wild pitch. I thought it was another passed ball.
• Furmanek grounded out to 3b.
• The first pitch to Notaro was wild, moving Martinez to 3b.
• Which prompted a pitching change. Shucks. I was so happy to see Stayton in a game. Ah well. He only went .2 but did add to the team strikeout total (now at 9 through 4.2 innings).
• Texas sent Keith Shinaberry to the mound.
• Notaro grounded out to ss.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Sadly, another 3-up/3-down inning: Keyes grounded out to ss, Lusson struck out swinging, and Tucker flew out to lf. 5 pitches. Ouch.
• 6th inning, ORU
• Texas sent Kendall Carillo to the mound. Who? Yep. His first outing as a Longhorn. Cool.
• Sequiera tried to bunt the first pitch thrown by Carillo down the 3b line. Carillo made a great play to field and throw Sequiera out. We like Carillo!
• Roberts struck out swinging.
• Barbosa reached on an infield single to ss. Loy made a great play to field the ball. He whirled and threw in mid-air. Alas, the throw was late and off-line so Barbosa was safe.
• With Price at the plate, Barbosa moved to 2b on a wild pitch.
• Price struck out swinging. Rupp could not hold onto the ball so had to throw to 1b to complete the out.
• 6th inning, Texas
• ORU mysteriously sent Spencer Roberts to the mound, replacing Serrano.
• Loy grounded out to 2b.
• Torres grounded out to ss.
• Moldenhauer doubled off the base of the wall in front of the scoreboard. Nice hit.
• Rupp grounded out to ss. Nice play by the ss to cut the ball off behind 2b and rob Rupp of a hit.
• 7th inning, ORU
• Duffy struck out looking (3 pitches).
• Garewal singled up the middle and then stole 2b with Martinez at the plate.
• Martinez grounded out to 2b, moving Garewal to 3b.
• Furmanek grounded out to 3b.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Shepherd hit a bloop single over the second baseman into rf.
• Clark went to the plate. Coach Garrido took a quick offensive time out to talk things over with Clark.
• Clark hit a nice sac bunt down the 1b line, moving Shepherd to 2b.
• Texas sent Tim Maitland to pinch-run for Shepherd.
• Keyes walked on 4 pitches.
• Lusson walked on 5 pitches to load the bases. Texas sent Rowe in to pinch-run for Keyes.
• Tucker singled through the left side (3rd hit of the day for him), scoring Maitland. Bases still loaded. One out.
• ORU sent T.J. Kelly to the mound.
• Loy was hit high on the back (shoulder/neck area) by a 2-2 pitch to drive in the second run of the game (scored by Rowe). Bases still loaded. One out.
• Torres hit a sac fly to cf, scoring Lusson.
• Mickan drew an 8-pitch walk to re-load the bases.
• All runners advanced (Torres scored) on a wild pitch (the second pitch) with Rupp at the plate.
• Rupp struck out looking.
• Texas up 4-0. Carillo in line for a win in his first appearance at Texas.
• 8th inning, ORU
• Texas sent Austin Wood to the mound. The Horns moved Lusson to rf, and kept Maitland and Rowe in the game...in lf and cf, respectively.
• Notaro grounded out to the catcher. On the play, Notaro hit a little nubber that rolled about 10 feet off the plate. Rupp fielded and threw him out.
• Sequiera popped out to 1b. Clark made a nice play to catch the ball at the Texas dugout fence.
• Roberts grounded out to 3b.
• 2nd 3-up/3-down inning of the day for the Horns.
• 8th inning, Texas
• ORU sent Jameson Dunn to the mound.
• Another 3-up/3-down inning: Maitland struck out swinging, Clark lined out to the pitcher, and Rowe struck out looking. Grrrr.
• 9th inning, ORU
• Barbosa walked on 5 pitches.
• Price singled over the first baseman into rf, moving Barbosa to 2b.
• Duffy singled off Wood's glove. Bases loaded. No outs. What???
• Garewal hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Barbosa.
• Martinez doubled to lf, scoring Price and moving Duffy to 3b. Ouch.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound. Austin Dicharry was warming up in the bullpen, by the way.
• Frumanek hit a sac fly to the warning track right of the green monster. That was close. Duffy scored. Martinez still at 2b, 2 out.
• Notaro singled to lf, scoring Martinez. And, tying the game. There goes Carillo's shot at a win.
• Sequiera flew out to lf.
• Game tied 4-4.
• 9th inning, Texas
• You will not believe how the game ended.
• Lusson grounded out to 3b.
• Tucker flew out to lf.
• Loy walked (called strike, ball, ball, ball, called strike, ball). Loy tossed his bat and took off for 1b on the 2nd called strike and I thought he was dead. But, the next pitch was very high. Whew.
• Torres fouled off a pitch. On the second pitch, Loy stole 2b.
• ORU decided to intentionally walk Torres. The 3rd pitch was a ball. As expected. The 4th pitch was thrown wide of the catcher! Loy moved to 3b on the wild pitch! ORU couldn't get their signals straight. Go ahead and finnish the intentional walk? Or, pitch? With 2b open, the force play isn't as much in play. But, due up? Mickan. He had no official plate appearances on the year. Okay, they decided to walk Torres and get to Mickan. They finished the intentional walk.
• Runners at the corners. 2 out.
• Texas sent David Hernandez to pinch-hit for Mickan.
• As the pitcher readied to pitch to Hernandez, Torres faked a steal of 2b. The pitcher whirled to throw to 1b. But, the first baseman wasn't holding Torres at 1b and wasn't there to take the throw. So, the pitcher did not throw to 1b. BALK!! Both runners advance. Loy scores the winning run. On a BALK!! Oh. My. Goodness.
• Texas wins 5-4.

Wow. That's about all I have to say at this point. Wow.

Austin Wood got the win (his 4th of the year) and Dunn took the loss. Wow.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Next up? Texas travels to Oklahoma State this weekend. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 10:42 PM