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Sunday - March 1, 2009

Game 9: Penn State at Texas

NO HITTER!!! That is the story of the game. Brandon Workman threw a no-hitter today. Wow. Wow. Wow. He faced the minimum 27 batters. But he did not pitch a perfect game. He walked 2 and one reached on an error. Those extra batters were all caught stealing and/or were gunned down in part of a double play. I say "and/or" because one runner was caught stealing in a strike 'im out/throw 'im out double play. It was a really special game. Not only did Workman shut down the Penn State batters, but our own batters really put together a nice day at the plate. The Horns combined for 13 hits, including 5 doubles and 2 triples. Pretty sweet. Texas won 9-0, by the way.

Normally, after a long weekend of baseball, I wouldn't bother recounting each at-bat in a shut-out. But, since it was a no-hitter and was almost a perfect game, I feel compelled to document the whole thing. So, read on.

Texas line-up: Travis Tucker (2b), Brandon Loy (3b), Brandon Belt (1b), Preston Clark (dh), Tant Shepherd (lf), Kevin Keyes (rf), Cameron Rupp (c), David Hernandez (ss), and Connor Rowe (cf).

Penn State line-up: Blake Lynd (cf, Lynd was the only player for the Nittanly Lions from Texas and he had a very large cheering section on hand), Louie Picconi (2b), Mike Deese (dh), Cory Wine (1b), Michael Glantz (ss), Jordan Steranka (3b), Rick Marlin (rf), Sean Deegan (lf), and Bobby Jacobs (c).

The game went like so...

• 1st inning, PSU
• Brandon Workman on the mound for the Horns.
• Lynd struck out looking on 3 pitches.
• Picconi flew out to rf.
• Deese struck out looking.
• 3 batters, 14 pitches.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Calvin Grumley on the mound for the Nittany Lions.
• Tucker hit a high fly ball into lf that fell fair in front of the left fielder. The wind helped push the ball away from the outfielder. The wind wasn't nearly as strong as it was yesterday but it still managed to wreak a wee bit of havoc. Tucker made it to 2b for a double.
• Loy moved Tucker to 3b on a sac bunt down the 1b line. The first baseman fielded and tagged Loy out.
• Belt hit a sac fly to rf, scoring Tucker. It was a very close play at home. Marlin made a very nice throw from rf and nearly gunned Tucker down. Whew.
• Clark flew out to rf. Another nice play by Marlin.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, PSU
• Wine flew out to lf.
• Glantz struck out swinging.
• Steranka grounded out to 1b.
• 3 batters, 9 pitches. Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Shepherd doubled down the lf line. The ball just cleared the 3b bag in fair territory.
• Keyes moved Shepherd to 3b on a sac bunt (1-4).
• Rupp struck out swinging. After swinging at (and missing) the first pitch, Coach Garrido called an offensive timeout. He called Rupp over and had a fairly long chat with Rupp and Hernandez. Rupp did foul off a couple of pitches and watched two balls before striking out.
• Hernandez grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 3rd inning, PSU
• Marlin reached on a 5-pitch walk.
• Deegan struck out looking. Skip Johnson, after Workman fell behind 2-1 to Deegan, took a quick trip out to the mound. Good visit, eh?
• Jacobs struck out looking. On the play, Marlin took off in an attempt to steal 2b but was gunned down by Rupp. Double play. Very nice.
• 3 batters, 15 pitches. Texas up 1-0. I think it was at this point, when I was marking the 9th out after seeing 9 batters that I thought to myself that we had a no-hitter in the works. And, then the thought would not leave my head. But, I resolutely refused to say anything about it out loud.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Rowe struck out looking.
• Tucker popped out to ss. The shortstop had to make a long run and caught the ball at the foul line in shallow lf. Nice play.
• Loy flew out to lf.
• The only 3-up/3-down inning of the day for PSU. Texas up 1-0.
• 4th inning, PSU
• Lynd reached on an error by Hernandez at ss. He fielded and then threw high to Belt at 1b. Belt leapt, caught the ball, and came down on Lynd. We all rather thought he got the tag down (he definitely tagged Lynd on his back as he came down and the 1b ump could not see that at all) but he was ruled safe. The ump ruled that Lynd stepped on the bag before Belt came down. Close play.
• Lynd tried to steal 2b on the first pitch to Picconi but was thrown out by Rupp. Yes!
• Picconi struck out swinging.
• Deese grounded out to 2b.
• 3 batters, 12 pitches. Texas up 1-0.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Belt flew out to lf.
• Clark reached on a full-count walk.
• Shepherd doubled down the lf line. Clark was off (hit and run?) with the pitch and scored easily.
• Shepherd stole 3b on the 3rd pitch to Keyes. He beat the throw from the catcher by a mile!
• Keyes, sadly, lined out to 3b. Luckly, though, since he lined out to the third baseman who was standing 15 feet or so off the bag, there was no chance of a double play.
• Rupp singled to rf, scoring Shepherd. Fourth hit of the game...first one that did not go for extra bases.
• Hernandez flew out to cf. Nice play in cf.
• Texas up 3-0.
• 5th inning, PSU
• Wine grounded out to the pitcher.
• Glantz grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Steranka lined out to lf. Shepherd initially misjudged the ball and took a couple of steps in. He quickly started running back and just barely caught the ball. Whew.
• 3 batters, 5 pitches. Texas up 3-0.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Rowe tripled off the lf wall.
• Tucker tripled to cf, scoring Rowe. The center fielder dove in an attempt to catch the ball but missed it and it rolled past him into deep cf. I think it should've been judged a singled and a 2-base error. If he'd let the ball bounce, Tucker would've had to stay at 1b. But, apparently, the official scorer did not agree with me.
• Loy lined out to ss.
• Belt singled to cf, scoring Tucker.
• Clark doubled off the base of the lf wall, moving Belt to 3b.
• PSU sent Ryan Ignas to the mound, replacing Grumley.
• Shepherd singled through the left side, scoring Belt, and moving Clark to 3b.
• Keyes ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
• Texas up 6-0.
• 6th inning, PSU
• Marlin flew out to cf.
• Deegan struck out looking.
• Jacobs flew out to cf.
• 3 batters, 9 pitches. Texas up 6-0.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Rupp grounded out to ss.
• Hernandez grounded out to the pitcher.
• Rowe reached on a full-count walk.
• Tucker grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 6-0.
• 7th inning, PSU
• Lynd walked on 5 pitches.
• Picconi worked the count full and then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
• Deese flew out to lf.
• 3 batters, 13 pitches. Texas up 6-0.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Loy singled to cf.
• Belt grounded out to ss. Loy was off with the pitch and made it safely to 2b, keeping the Horns out of a double-play.
• Clark grounded out to ss.
• Shepherd grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 6-0.
• 8th inning, PSU
• Texas sent Tim Maitland into lf for Shepherd and Kyle Lusson into rf for Keyes. This seems to be a pretty standard late-in-the-game defensive substitution for the Horns this year.
• Wine popped out to 3b in foul territory.
• Glantz grounded out to 2b.
• Steranka struck out swinging.
• 3 batters, 9 pitches. Texas up 6-0.
• 8th inning, Texas
• The Nittany Lions sent Drew Palen to the mound.
• Lusson was hit by the first pitch from Palen.
• Lusson stole 2b on the first pitch to Rupp.
• Rupp doubled to the rf corner, scoring Lusson.
• Hernandez singled to rf, scoring Rupp.
• Rowe reached on a full-count walk, moving Hernandez to 2b.
• Tucker singled off the pitcher to load the bases.
• Loy grounded into a 5-(unassisted)-3 double play. Rowe and Loy were out on the play. Tucker moved to 2b and Hernandez scored.
• Belt reached on a full-count walk.
• Clark flew out to lf.
• Texas up 9-0.
• 9th inning, PSU
• Marlin hit a ground ball hard up the middle. It carreened off of Workman's foot and headed toward ss. Hernandez, who was headed toward 2b in an attempt to field the ball on its original trajectory, quickly changed course, dodged to his right, scooped up the ball, and rifled it to 1b in time to throw Marlin out (1-6-3). Great adjustment by Hernandez. Wow.
• Deegan struck out swinging after working the count to 2-2 and fouling off a couple of pitches.
• The crowd, in unison, leapt to its feet and started cheering very very loudly.
• Pitch sequence to Jacobs: swinging strike, swinging strike, ball, swinging strike!!!!!
• The crowd roared. Rupp threw his gear aside and ran to give Workman a big bear hug. The rest of the Texas players mobbed the two. The pitchers from the bullpen (who never made a single move to warm up) ran as fast as they could to the middle of the infield and joined the swarm.
• 3 batters, 14 pitches, 90 100 pitches on the day. Texas wins 9-0!

The line:

																			R	H	E
Penn State			0	0	0			0	0	0			0	0	0		-		0	0	0
Texas			1	0	0			2	3	0			0	3	x		-		9	13	1

I was very amused when the public address announcer told us that this was Brandon Workman's first no-hitter as a Longhorn, rather than the 21st no-hitter thrown by a Texas pitcher. It was a very good day to be at Disch-Falk Field.

Hook 'em, Horns!!

Posted by Joanna at 8:42 PM