« Game 32: Texas at Nebraska | Main | Game 34: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Texas »

Tuesday - April 14, 2009

Game 33: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Texas

Texas won the opener of their 2-game series against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders this evening 5-2. The weather was very nice and there was a pretty good crowd on hand.

Starting line-ups for today's game:

Islanders	Longhorns
1 Jacob Perales, rf 2 Weston Montgomery, 2b 3 Martin Parra, 3b 4 Stephen Flora, dh 5 Trey Hernandez, 1b 6 Brycen Bell, ss 7 Jeramie Marek, lf 8 Justin Greiner, c 9 Jonathan Reyes, cf - Justin Grota, p	1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Michael Torres, 3b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh 5 Tant Shepherd, lf 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 Cameron Rupp, c 8 Brandon Loy, ss 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Austin Dicharry, p

Austin Dicharry was declared the pitcher of record before the game started so was eligible for the win despite pitching only 3 innings. The Texas pitchers went like so:

• Austin Dicharry (innings 1-3): no runs, 1 hit (a single in the 2nd), 4 strikeouts, and 1 walk. He faced 12 batters and threw 49 pitches (28 strikes, 21 balls) by my count. The defense committed one error behind him. Dicharry got the win to improve to 4-1 on the season.
• Kendal Carillo (innings 3-6): 1 run (earned), 3 hits (1 double, 2 singles), 1 strikeout, and no walks. He faced 12 batters and threw 47 pitches (32 strikes, 15 balls) by my count. The run came in the 4th inning: he gave up a lead-off double (to Flora, a player from Austin who went 3-for-4 with a single, a double, and a homerun on the night...good night for him, eh?) who moved to 3b on a ground out to ss and then scored on a ground out to 3b.
• Stayton Thomas (inning 7): no runs, 1 hit (a single), no strikeouts, no walks, and 1 hit batter. He faced 4 batters and threw 9 pitches (8 strikes and that pitch that hit the batter) by my count. Stayton also did one of those things you never ever see. With batters at the corners and 1 out, he faked a throw to 3b, turned and threw to 1b to pick the runner at 1b off. The runner at 1b had a big lead and broke a bit toward 2b when Thomas made his move. He tried to get back to the bag but stumbled and was out by a foot or two. Cool.
• Chance Ruffin (inning 8): 1 run (earned), 1 hit (homerun, mentioned earlier), 2 strikeouts, and no walks. He faced 4 batters and threw 16 pitches (13 strikes, 3 balls) by my count. Flora hit a 2-out 1-1 pitch into the Islanders bullpen. It was a rocket.
• Austin Wood (inning 9): no runs, 1 hit (a single), 2 strikeouts, and no walks. He faced 4 batters and threw 21 pitches (16 strikes, 5 balls) by my count. He gave up a lead-off single to Bell. The pitch sequence: ball, called strike, swinging strike, foul ball, foul ball, ball, foul ball, foul ball, bloop single over Loy's head at ss. Wood earned his 8th save on the year.

Defensively, the team looked very strong tonight. Belt committed the lone error in the 1st when a ground ball went off his chest and bounced toward 2b. The standout defensive plays that I noted in my scorebook:

• In the 2nd, Tucker had to range far to his right to stop a grounder and throw the batter out at 1b. That could've easily been a single to cf.
• In the 3rd, Belt made a nice stab at a liner headed into rf to rob Montgomery of a hit.
• In the 6th, Rowe made a fantastic catch on a ball hit to shallow cf. He had to charge hard toward the infield to make the catch. And, he did.
• In the 8th, Keyes made a nice run to catch a ball in foul territory that was just over the wall down the rf line. He reached 2 or 3 feet over the wall to make the catch and did not bang himself up against the wall. Nicely timed.

On the offensive side of things, the team really spread things around. They managed 9 hits by 8 players. The starting line-up managed the following:

• Tucker: 1-for-5 with a double and 2 runs batted in.
• Torres: 1-for-4 with a double.
• Belt: 1-for-4 wit a single, a stolen base, and 1 run scored.
• Moldenhauer: 1-for-2 with a double and 1 run batted in.
• Shepherd: 1-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and 1 run scored.
• Keyes: 2-for-4 with 2 singles, 1 run batted in, a stolen base, and 1 run scored.
• Rupp: 1-for-3 with a homerun and 2 runs scored. He was also hit by a pitch. I was amused to note the dugout completely ignore him for about 45 seconds after he hit that homerun. Then they mobbed him with congratulations. Funny.
• Loy: 1-for-2 with a single, a sac bunt, a walk, and a stolen base.
• Rowe: 0-for-4. He did reach on a fielder's choice and an error.

Texas scored their runs like so:

• 1st inning, 1 run: Belt reached on a 2-out single and stole 2b. Moldenhauer doubled to the 405 sign in right-center to score Belt.
• 2nd inning, 2 runs: Keyes singled up the middle and stole 2b. Rupp was hit by a pitch. Loy advanced the runners with a sac bunt to the pitcher. Rowe (going for the safety squeeze) bunted down the 1b line. The pitcher fielded and threw home. Keyes and Rupp quickly scampered back to 3b and 2b. Bases loaded on the fielder's choice. Still 1 out. Tucker doubled to cf, scoring Keyes and Rupp, and moving Rowe to 3b. Alas, Torres popped out to 3b (a sky-high fly ball that fell about 5 feet in front of the plate...yowsa) and Belt, after fighting off several pitches, flew out to cf.
• 3rd inning, 1 run: Shepherd hit a 1-out double to left-center and then stole 3b. That was the 3rd stolen base of the day for the Horns...all on the first pitch. (Loy did steal one more, later in the game...that one on the 3rd pitch, though.) Keyes singled to lf, scoring Shepherd. Rupp then grounded out to 3b and Loy flew out to rf.
• 8th inning, 1 run: Rupp hit that 1-out solo shot I mentioned earlier.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

And, that about does it for this evening. Same teams tomorrow night. Same time, same place. Be there or be square.

PS: This game report dedicated to the lovely Kinsey who entered this world yesterday...making her parents and grandparents very happy. At least, that was her grandpa's story in the stands this evening. I'm sure I'll be hearing more and seeing pictures at the ballpark soon. That's what we need, right? More Longhorn baseball fans. Welcome to the world...and to Texas, Kinsey. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:37 PM