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Friday - April 10, 2009

Game 31: Texas at Nebraska

I monitored (on my computer monitor...heh) part of the 2nd game (through the free link on Nebraska's site) at work before heading home.

These were the starting line-ups:

Texas	Nebraska
1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Michael Torres, 3b 3 Tant Shepherd, lf 4 Kevin Keyes, rf 5 Cameron Rupp, dh 6 Preston Clark, c 7 Brandon Loy, ss 8 Brandon Belt, 1b 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Brandon Workman, p	1 Kyle Bubak, dh 2 Cody Asche, 3b 3 Adam Bailey, rf 4 Tyler Farst, 1b 5 Jeff Tezak, 2b 6 Nick Sullivan, lf 7 DJ Belfonte, cf 8 Ben Kline, ss 9 Cory Burleson, c - Jordan Roualdes, p

Texas jumped on top 2-0 in the 1st. Tucker walked and moved to 2b when Torres singled. With Shepherd at the plate, the runners moved up a base on a passed ball. Then, Shepherd doubled into left-center to score Tucker and Torres. Sadly, the next 3 Texas batters went down in order: Keyes grounded out to ss, Rupp struck out swinging, and Clark grounded out to ss.

The Huskers got a batter on (1-out single to cf, I think) but he was stranded at 1b in the bottom of the 1st.

Top of the 2nd: Loy was hit by a pitch. Belt reached on a bunt single, moving Loy to 2b. Rowe popped out to the catcher behind the plate on a bunt attempt. Tucker walked (5 pitches) to load the bases. Torres singled through the left side, scoring two and moving Tucker to 2b. The runners advanced on a double steal. Shepherd grounded out to 2b, scoring Tucker and moving Torres to 3b. Keyes struck out swinging. Texas up 5-0.

And, at that point, I headed home, and listened to the game on the radio for a bit. In the bottom of the 2nd, Workman did walk a couple of batters (the first with no outs and the 2nd with 2 outs) but they were stranded at 1b and 2b.

I got home in time to watch most of the 3rd. Here's how the rest of the game played out...

• 3rd inning, Texas
• Roualdes still on the mound for Nebraska.
• Rupp homered over the rf fence.
• Clark singled (!) to lf; his first hit in a couple of weeks. Yes!
• Nebraska sent Joe Broekemeier to p for Roualdes.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Belt singled to rf and moved to 3b on an error by rf. Clark scored on the play.
• Rowe singled up the middle, scoring Belt.
• Tucker flew out to rf
• With Torres at the plate, Rowe moved to 2b on a wild pitch.
• Torres grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 8-0.
• 3rd inning, Nebraska
• Workman still on the mound for Texas.
• Bubak drew a full-count walk.
• Asche flew out to shallow cf...toward lf. Shepherd and Loy both made a move to catch the ball but Rowe called them off and made the play.
• Bailey struck out swinging. On the play, Bubak took off and was thrown out (2-6) for a double play. Nice. Keith Moreland had been saying in the previous inning, with Nebraska in a similar position, that he thought it was a bad idea for Nebraska to send the runner. At the time, the Huskers did not send the runner. 'Guess they decided to try it in the 3rd. But, as predicted by Keith, to no avail. I wasn't listening to the radio at this point so don't know what Keith said about it the second time around.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Shepherd doubled to the lf/cf gap to start things off.
• Keyes doubled down the lf line, scoring Shepherd.
• Rupp grounded out to 2b, moving Keyes to 3b.
• Clark hit a sac fly to the rf/cf gap (caught by cf), scoring Keyes.
• Rupp grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 10-0.
• 4th inning, Nebraska
• Farst worked the count full and then reached on an infield singled to ss. I thought it was going to be ruled an error by ss but nope...a hit. Loy made a nice play to stop the ball and then his throw was way offline toward the outfield. Belt had to move about 8 feet off the bag to catch the ball.
• Tezak singled through the right side, moving Farst to 2b.
• Sullivan struck out swinging.
• Belfonte singled through the right side, scoring Farst and moving Tezak to 2b.
• Kline singled into lf, loading the bases.
• Nebraska called an offensive time out. Skip Johnson decided to go ahead and make a visit to the mound.
• Burleson hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Tezak.
• Kale Kiser, pinch-hitting for Bubak, re-loaded the bases on an error by 3b. The ball hand-cuffed Torres a bit. He stopped the ball but was unable to get a handle on it. The ball did not get far enough away from him that anyone took an extra base, though. The batter should've been thrown out; thus the error.
• With that, Texas sent Keith Shinaberry to the mound, replacing Workman. Workman seemed to be struggling quite a bit today with his pitches divided pretty evening between balls and strikes.
• Asche doubled down the lf line and into the corner to score all three runners. Ouch.
• Nebraska announced Khiry Cooper as a pinch-hitter for Bailey. Which prompted Texas to send Kendal Carrillo to the mound, replacing Shinaberry.
• Cooper struck out swinging. Clark couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Texas up 10-5.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Nebraska sent Nate Kerkhoff to the mound for Broekemeir. They kept Cooper in at cf and moved Belfonte to rf.
• Belt struck out swinging.
• Rowe lined out to 3b.
• Tucker drew a full-count walk.
• Torres hit into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
• 5th inning, Nebraska
• Farst grounded out to 1b (p covered 1b).
• Tezak reached on an infield single to ss. Loy made a great play (diving to his left behind 2b) to stop the ball but couldn't get the ball to 1b in time.
• Texas sent Andrew McKirahan to the mound, replacing Carrillo.
• Sullivan walked on 4 pitches. Ouch.
• Belfonte drew a full-count walk to load the bases. Double ouch.
• Which prompted another visit to the mound by Skip Johnson. And, another pitching change: Austin Dicharry to the mound for McKirahan.
• Kline reached on a fielder's choice (6-4), scoring Tezak. On the play, Tucker made a bad relay throw (in the dirt) to 1b (E4). Sullivan scored on the error and Kline moved to 2b.
• Burleson grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 10-7.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Shepherd grounded out to ss.
• Keyes was hit by a pitch (just under his left knee).
• Rupp was called out on strikes. Keyes stole 2b on the called strike.
• Clark singled past ss into cf, scoring Keyes (who was off with the pitch).
• With Loy at the plate, the Huskers picked Clark off (1-3-6). What? Clark stealing? The count was 1-2 to Loy at the time.
• Texas up 11-7.
• 6th inning, Nebraska
• Kiser struck out looking.
• Asche struck out swinging.
• Cooper fell behind 0-2, worked the count full, fouled off a pitch, and then struck out swinging.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Loy singled over 3b into lf.
• Belt hit a 1-3 sac bunt to move Loy to 2b.
• Which prompted a visit to the mound...and then a pitching change: Michael Mariot went in for Kerkhoff.
• Rowe struck out swinging.
• Tucker flew out to rf.
• 7th inning, Nebraska
• Farst struck out (full count).
• Tezak hit a perfect bunt down the 3b line. Wow. It looked like it was going to go foul and then it rolled back to the edge of the grass and died about two-thirds of the way down the line. Wow.
• Sullivan struck out looking.
• Belfonte was hit (on his right knee) by a pitch, moving Tezak to 2b.
• Kline was hit by a pitch on his left (front elbow). Coach Garrido argued (and I agree with him) that Kline stuck his elbow out a bit to get hit. He started to pull his arm back, thought better of it, and stuck it back out over the plate. I was amused at the announcers on the video feed arguing that he tried to avoid the pitch. No way. Anyway, bases loaded.
• Burleson lined out (almost) to 2b. On the play, Tucker knocked the ball down, gathered it up, and threw the batter out at 1b.
• Whew.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Torres lined out to lf.
• Shepherd grounded out to 3b. Close play.
• Keyes walked (full count).
• Tim Maitland was sent in to pinch-run for Keyes.
• Rupp struck out looking.
• 8th inning, Nebraska
• Texas sent Austin Wood to the mound, replacing Dicharry. Maitland stayed in the game in lf. Kyle Lusson went into rf (taking Shepherd's spot in the order).
• Kiser reached on a high bouncer over the pitcher.
• Asche lined a single past 3b into lf, moving Kiser to 2b.
• Cooper reached on a 6-4 fielder's choice, moving Kiser to 3b.
• Farst struck out looking. Purty.
• Tezak grounded out to 2b.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Clark popped out to 2b in shallow rf.
• Loy walked (full count).
• Belt singled up the middle, moving Loy to 3b.
• Rowe struck out swinging.
• Tucker grounded out on a chopper to the pitcher.
• 9th inning, Nebraska
• Jake Mort (pinch-hitting for Sullivan) singled through the left side.
• With Boomer Collins (pinch-hitting for Belfonte) at the plate, Mort advanced to 2b on a passed ball.
• Collins lined out to cf. Nice play by Rowe!
• Kline flew out to cf.
• Burleson grounded out to the pitcher.
• Texas wins 11-7.

Entertaining fact: Carillo (like his teammate Shinaberry in the earlier game) came away with a win after pitching 0.2 innings and throwing 9 pitches. Yowsa!

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

One more tomorrow for the sweep. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 10:39 PM