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Sunday - April 5, 2009

Game 28: Texas at Oklahoma State

Rubber match. I watched the game on Fox Sports today. I hope you did the same! They said the game time temperature was 43 °F (wind chill about 33 °F) with 25-38 MPH winds out of the northwest as the game got underway. Yikes! I did listen to the pre-game show on the radio and Coach Garrido said you just have to play through it. He said the winning team will talk about the game after it's all over and the losing team will talk about the weather. Heh.

The starting line-ups:

Texas	Oklahoma State
1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Brandon Loy, ss 3 Tant Shepherd, lf 4 Cameron Rupp, c 5 Preston Clark, 1b 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 David Hernandez, dh 8 Michael Torres, 3b 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Cole Green, p	1 Michael Dabbs, rf 2 Tyrone Hambly, ss 3 Neil Medchill, lf 4 Dean Green, 1b 5 Kevin David, dh 6 Tom Belza, 2b 7 Eric Walker, c 8 Randy McCurry, 3b 9 Rafael Thomas, cf - Tyler Lyons, p

The OSU starter is a lefty which moved David Hernandez back into today's line-up. Lyons' numbers: 6 starts, 4-2 record, 3.60 ERA, opponents are hitting .250 against him.

I contemplated not doing the full write-up today and then decided there wasn't much point in not doing it. So, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Tyler Lyons (lhp) on the mound for OSU.
• Tucker singled to lf. Medchill in lf dove for the ball (being blown back toward the infield) but could not hold onto it.
• Loy popped a bunt attempt up to the pitcher.
• Shepherd hit a ground ball to 3b (should've been a pretty easy double-play). The third baseman threw wide of 2b and into rf. Tucker made it to 3b on the error. Runners at the corners. 1 out.
• Rupp singled through the right side, scoring Tucker (unearned) and moving Shepherd to 2b.
• Clark grounded out to the pitcher. Runners at 2b and 3b, 2 out.
• Keyes grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 1st inning, OSU
• Dabbs hit a rocket over the rf fence (2-0 count). Game tied.
• Hambly walked (full count).
• Which prompted a visit to the mound by Skip Johnson.
• Medchill homered (his 10th of the year) over the rf fence. Sigh.
• Green popped out to 1b in foul territory.
• David singled through the left side.
• Belza grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Hernandez popped out to 2b.
• Torres grounded out to ss.
• Rowe flew out to rf.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 2nd inning, OSU
• Walker flew out to cf.
• McCurry singled down the 3b line.
• Thomas hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Nice.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Tucker struck out swinging. Ouch.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Shepherd walked (3-1 count).
• Rupp struck out swinging.
• Texas down 1-3.
• 3rd inning, OSU
• Dabbs grounded out to 3b (high chopper). The throw was a little off and Clark had to do the swing tag thing to complete the out.
• Hambly singled into rf.
• With Medchill at the plate (0-2 count), Texas went with a pitch-out and very nearly threw the ball away. Nice job by Rupp to catch the ball and keep Hambly at 1b.
• Medchill ended up drawing a full-count walk.
• And, Texas decided to change pitchers: Andrew McKirahan (lhp) to the mound or Cole Green.
• Green (left-handed batter) popped out...infield fly rule. The ball was headed into lf and then blew back inside the infield grass area where it fell in front of Loy (ss, who initially moved back and then was charging hard back toward the mound to try and catch the ball). The out gets credited to the ss.
• David struck out looking. Yes!
• Texas down 1-3.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Clark flew out to rf.
• Keyes singled (high bouncing chopper) up the middle.
• Hernandez reached on a 5-4 fielder's choice. OSU had a chance to turn a double play but the first baseman did not hold onto the ball. No error because you cannot assume the double play. It would've been close even if he'd held onto the ball.
• Torres hit a "bloop" single over ss, moving Hernandez to 3b.
• Which prompted a visit to the mound by Frank Anderson. Coach Garrido took advantage to talk to his batters at the same time.
• Rowe singled through the left side, scoring Hernandez and moving Torres to 2b.
• The first pitch to Tucker bounced and got away from the catcher. The runners advanced to 2b and 3b on the wild pitch.
• Torres broke for home, which caused the pitcher to balk, scoring Torres and moving Rowe to 3b. The pitcher didn't appear to go to his "set" position to pitch before the balk was called. The umpires discussed the matter after Frank Anderson vehemently argued the call and then upheld the balk ruling. During a subsequent break, one of the officials said the pitcher took an improper step off the rubber.
• Tucker singled to lf, scoring Rowe.
• With Loy at the plate, Tucker made a move to steal 2b. The pitcher again balked...no doubt about it this time. The pitcher did not take his foot off the rubber or step toward 1b before throwing the ball to 1b for the pick-off throw. Tucker safe at 2b.
• Loy singled through the left side, scoring Tucker! I thought there would be a play at home but the throw bounced a couple of times and was late.
• Shepherd singled to cf (ball went just under the second baseman's glove), moving Loy to 3b.
• Rupp fouled off a bunch of pitches and eventually grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 5-3.
• 4th inning, OSU
• Belza grounded out to 2b.
• Walker reached on a high single that fell between lf, cf, and ss. Thanks, wind.
• Walker moved to 2b on a wild pitch with McCurry at the plate.
• McCurry struck out swinging.
• Thomas worked the count full and then struck out swinging.
• Texas up 5-3.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Aside: the TV guys reported that Brett Anderson (Frank Anderson's son) made the Oakland A's roster this season. I remembered that he was drafted out of high school but couldn't remember if it was in 2006 or 2007 so checked and found he was drafted in the 2nd round of the MLB draft in 2006.
• Clark flew out to rf.
• Keyes grounded out to ss.
• Hernandez grounded out to 3b. Nice play by McCurry at 3b.
• Texas up 5-3.
• 5th inning, OSU
• Dabbs hit another homer over the rf fence. 'Glad there was nobody on base.
• After the 1st pitch (a ball) to Hambly, Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• Hambly grounded out to 3b.
• Texas sent Austin Wood to the mound (replacing McKirahan).
• The TV guys announced at this point that due to travel plans, no inning would start after 4 o'clock. It was about 2:50 when they made the annoucement.
• Medchill grounded out to 1b (3-1, p covering 1b).
• Green grounded out to the pitcher.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Torres struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Rowe flew out to lf.
• Tucker singled through the left side...just past the ss.
• Loy also singled through the left side, moving Tucker to 2b.
• Shepherd grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 6th inning, OSU
• David flew out to cf.
• Belza flew out to rf.
• Walker flew out to cf. Rowe and Keyes almost ran into each other as they both went for the ball. Yikes.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Lyons had thrown 121 pitches through the 6th.
• Rupp drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Clark hit a sac bunt (1-3) down the 1b line, moving Rupp to 2b.
• Keyes singled through the left side, moving Rupp to 3b.
• Frank Anderson made a visit to the mound.
• Hernandez reached on a fielder's choice. Lyons fielded and tried to throw the runner out at home. The ball got past the catcher, though (E1), and the run scored. Keyes ended up at 3b and Hernandez at 2b.
• Torres grounded out to 1b. On the play, the infield was pulled in to cover a bunt attempt. Torres did not bunt the ball but he did chop it and the first baseman fielded as though it were a bunt, and threw Torres out at 1b (second baseman covering). Runners still at 2b and 3b.
• OSU sent Brad Propst (rhp) to the mound for Lyons.
• Russell Moldenhauer (pinch-hitting for Rowe) singled to lf, scoring Keyes and Hernandez.
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
• Tucker grounded out to the pitcher (bunt attempt).
• Texas up 8-4.
• 7th inning, OSU
• Texas kept Kyle Lusson in the game in cf.
• McCurry lined out to ss.
• Thomas singled past Austin Wood's head into cf.
• Dabbs singled through the right side, moving Thomas to 3b.
• Hambly struck out swinging.
• With Medchill at the plate, the home plate ump called a balk on Woods. Thomas scored and Dabbs moved to 2b.
• Medchill flew out to cf.
• Texas up 8-5.
• 8th inning, Texas
• It was 3:39 as the 8th inning got underway.
• McCurry went to the mound for the Cowboys, replacing Propst. Belza moved to ss, Hambly moved to 3b, and Duren went in at 2b (taking David's spot in the line-up). No more dh for OSU.
• Loy grounded out to 2b.
• Shepherd flew out to lf.
• Rupp grounded out (high chopper) to the pitcher.
• Texas up 8-5.
• 8th inning, OSU
• Texas sent Tim Maitland in at cf (taking Keyes' spot in the line-up) and moved Lusson to rf.
• Green struck out looking.
• Duren also struck out looking.
• Belza struck out swinging.
• Purty.
• Texas up 8-5. Time on the clock? 3:51. They will play the 9th.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Clark popped out to 2b in very shallow rf.
• Maitland struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Hernandez singled over the shortstop into shallow lf.
• Torres hit into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
• Texas up 8-5.
• 9th inning, OSU
• Mark Ginther (pinch-hitting for Walker) struck out swinging!
• McCurry struck out swinging! (After working the count full.)
• Thomas struck out swinging!!!
• Final 6 outs for Texas: all strikeouts!
• Texas wins 8-5.

Excellent. The Horns managed to string together several hits today and ended up tying their season-high with 13 hits. The Horns also had 13 hits in their Feb. 24th game against UT-Arlington (W 4-3), their March 1st game against Penn State (W 9-0), and their March 6th game against Stanford (W 6-2). Again I say: excellent. Andrew McKirahan got his first win of the season and Austin Wood got his 5th save.

UPDATE (9:30 pm): Interestingly, the Texas page lists the winner as Austin Wood with no save. The OSU page still lists Andrew McKirahan as the winner with Wood getting a save. Weird, eh?

Here's the line (from OSU's LiveStats):

The Horns host TCU on Tuesday at 6 o'clock before making another road trip to Nebraska on Easter weekend. Note that the Horns will be playing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in that series.

Posted by Joanna at 4:20 PM