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Sunday - April 19, 2009

Game 37: Oklahoma at Texas

Sweep! The Horns completed a sweep of the Sooners today, winning 8-5 in 8 innings. Due to travel plans, no inning could start after 4:15. We were told this at 4:15 as Texas went to the plate in the bottom of the 8th. Which left me very confused. Why play the bottom of the 8th if we knew there was no way there would be a 9th...and the Horns were ahead? Bizarro world. Oh well.

Starting line-ups for today's game:

Oklahoma	Texas
1 Jamie Johnson, cf 2 Casey Johnson, lf 3 Bryant Hernandez, ss 4 Aaron Baker, 1b 5 Garret Buechele, 3b 6 Cameron Seitzer 7 Matt Harughty, 2b 8 Tyler Ogle, c 9 Chris Ellison, rf - Garrett Richards, p	1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Michael Torres, 3b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Tant Shepherd, lf 5 Kevin Keyes, rf 6 Cameron Rupp, c 7 Kevin Lusson, dh 8 Brandon Loy, ss 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Brandon Workman, p

Did you see that? Kevin Lusson with his second start of the year. Sadly, his 1.000 average was unable to hold up. Oh well. All good things must come to an end. Heh. I guess that's life.

Full game report today:

• 1st inning, OU
• Brandon Workman on the mound for the Horns.
• J. Johnson singled up the middle (hard hit ball on the ground through Workman's legs) and then stole 2b with C. Johnson at the plate.
• C. Johnson struck out swinging.
• Hernandez struck out swinging. Rupp dropped the ball and had to throw down to 1b to complete the inning.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound at this point. Dunno why.
• Baker popped out to ss. The hard wind blowing in from lf, blew the ball from lf in a lot.
• 1st inning, UT
• Garrett Richards on the mound for OU.
• Tucker walked on 4 pitches.
• Torres watched two more balls which prompted a visit to the mound.
• Torres went on to ground out to ss (full count), moving Tucker to 2b.
• Belt grounded out to the pitcher, moving Tucker to 3b.
• Shepherd drew a full-count walk.
• Keyes flew out to cf.
• 2nd inning, OU
• Buechele grounded out to the catcher. He hit a little bloop pop-up that landed about 15 feet in front of the plate. Rupp almost snagged it in the air but it landed and he just picked it up and threw the batter out.
• Seitzer walked on 5 pitches.
• Harughty struck out swinging.
• Ogle singled to cf, moving Seitzer to 2b.
• Ellison walked (full count) to load the bases.
• J. Johnson singled up the middle, scoring Seitzer and Ogle. Ellison moved to 3b on the play. Before the single, Johnson popped up between home and 3b in foul territory. Torres, who was playing pretty far back, rushed in and almost caught the ball but it bounced off his glove. No error was charged immediately but once Johnson hit that single and extended the inning, Torres was retro-actively charged with an error. So, that means the runs scored went unearned.
• J. Johnson moved to 2b on a wild pitch with C. Johnson at the plate. Ellison stayed at 3b.
• C. Johnson struck out swinging.
• Texas down 0-2.
• I couldn't see it but could feel Ruby wondering why she'd come. She did remind me when I saw her before the game that I'd promised a win the next time she could make it out to Disch-Falk. C'mon, guys, don't turn me into a liar!
• 2nd inning, UT
• Rupp hit a high fly ball to lf. Remember that wind? Normally, it would've been a routine out. The wind pushed it back into no-man's land between the left fielder and shortstop. Rupp was running hard and easily made it to 2b. Double.
• Lusson drew a full-count walk. Still batting 1.000!
• Loy hit a sac bunt to the pitcher down the 3b line, moving Rupp to 3b and Lusson to 2b.
• Rowe struck out swinging (3 pitches...ouch).
• Tucker struck out looking (also 3 pitches...double ouch).
• 3rd inning, OU
• Hernandez hit what surely would've been a homerun to lf if not for that blessed wind. Instead, it held up and whirled around just enough so that Shepherd was able to make an amazing circus type catch for an out. He was running to the wall (back to the ball) somehow looking over his shoulder and veered at just the last moment to make the catch. Fun for us...probably not so much for him. UPDATE. Statesman photographer Larry Kolvoord got a beautiful shot of Shepherd twisting around at the last second to make the catch.
• Baker struck out swinging.
• Buechele singled to lf.
• Seitzer struckk out swinging.
• 3rd inning, UT
• OU sent Kaleb Herren into rf (taking C. Johnson's spot in the line-up) and moved Ellison from rf to lf.
• Torres lined out to ss.
• Belt singled through the left side and then stole 2b with Shepherd at the plate.
• Shepherd drew a 7-pitch walk.
• Keyes struck out swinging.
• Rupp drew a full-count walk to load the bases. When I noticed that Kevin Lusson was due up, I started rooting for Rupp to draw a walk to load the bases so Kevin could walk in a run. I just had a feeling.
• Lusson drew a 4-pitch walk to drive belt home. And, keep the bases loaded.
• Loy, likewise, drew a 4-pitch walk to drive in the tying run.
• Which prompted a pitching change. The Sooners sent J.R. Robinson to the mound for Richards. Richards, by the way, opened the game with 6 straight balls. He threw 10 in-a-row to finish his time on the mound. Yikes.
• Rowe singled to rf, scoring Rupp and Lusson. Loy moved to 2b.
• With Tucker at the plate, Loy was caught off 2b and was picked off (2-6-5) for the 3rd out.
• Texas up 4-2.
• 4th inning, OU
• Harughty flew out to lf.
• Ogle doubled to the cf/rf gap. First pitch.
• Ellison hit a blast over the Wendy's sign in right. First pitch. Ouch!
• J. Johnson singled up the middle. Second pitch.
• So, Texas sent Taylor Jungmann to the mound, replacing Workman.
• Herren singled just past a diving Tucker into rf, moving Johnson to 3b.
• Hernandez hit a sac fly to cf, scoring Johnson.
• Baker hit a single up the middle, moving Herren to 3b.
• Buechele grounded out to ss.
• Texas down 4-5.
• I know, Ruby. I know.
• 4th inning, UT
• Tucker hit a ball to rf that appeared to be hooking foul but it landed just fair and then bounced over the retaining fence along the rf line for a ground-rule double. I'm pretty sure it's the first ground-rule double of the year on the new surface. It's definitely the first one that's been hit while I've been in the stands.
• Which brings up something I noticed a few weeks ago but don't think I've written about here. Ground-rule doubles were a pretty common occurrence with the old turf. People would hit high fly balls that would bounce 8 or 10 feet shy of the fence and then bounce off the rubber surface and over the fence. It happened all the time. A few weeks ago, it dawned on me that we hadn't seen any ground-rule doubles so I started paying more attention and the balls just don't bounce off the new field-turf the way the did off the astro-turf. So, no more ground-rule doubles over the outfield fence. Also, no more high fly balls that bounce over the outfielders. But, apparently, we can still get the odd duck to bounce over the 3- or 4-foot retaining walls down the lines...if they've got enough spin on 'em.
• Coach Garrido took a quick offensive time out to talk things over with Torres.
• Torres was hit by a pitch. I don't imagine that scenario came into the conversation with Coach Garrido, do you?
• Belt tried to advance the runners with a bunt but it died close to the plate, giving the catcher plenty of time to field and throw Tucker out at 3b. Torres moved to 2b on the play.
• Which prompted a pitching change: Chase Anderson to the mound for Robinson.
• With Shepherd at the plate, Torres and Belt completed a nice double steal. The catcher surprised me by throwing to 2b instead of trying to get the lead runner out at 3b. Shrug.
• Shepherd struck out swinging. On the play, the ball got away from the catcher and Shepherd took off for 1b. The ball didn't get far enough away from the catcher to allow the runners to advance but the catcher threw to 3b, trying to catch Torres. Which allowed Shepherd to reach 1b safely. Double shrug. Bases loaded.
• Keyes hit a sac fly to rf, scoring Torres. I was a bit disappointed that Belt did not make an effort to tag and advance to 3b. Ah well.
• Rupp drew a full-count walk to re-load the bases.
• Lusson flew out to cf, plummeting his average down to .667. So sad.
• Game tied 5-5.
• 5th inning, OU
• 3-up/3-down: Seitzer struck out swinging; Harughty grounded out to ss; and Ogle struck out swinging.
• 5th inning, UT
• OU sent J.T. Wise in at catcher, replacing Ogle.
• Loy singled to rf.
• Rowe reached on a fielder's choice. On the play, he was trying to bunt Loy over to 2b. The pitcher fielded and tried to throw Loy out at 2b but his throw was a hair late. Runners at 1b and 2b. Nobody out.
• Tucker tried to bunt but popped out to the catcher in foul territory. Ouch.
• Torres tripled to the cf/rf gap, scoring Loy and Rowe.
• Belt hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Torres. OU appealed and the ruling did not go their way. Which sent Galloway out to argue things with the home plate umpire. Yawn.
• Shepherd hit a triple to the rf corner. On the play, the right fielder, trying to slide as he corralled the ball, hit the retaining fence down the rf line pretty hard. 'Looked like it might've hurt quite a bit.
• OU changed pitchers again, sending Michael Rocha to the mound for Anderson.
• Keyes flew out to rf.
• Texas up 8-5.
• Happy now, Ruby? I bet not. Too much of a worrier. Heh.
• 6th inning, OU
• Ellison singled (full count) into cf.
• J. Johnson lined out to 3b. Ellison was off with the pitch and was easily thrown out at 1b for a double play. Nice.
• Herren grounded out to 3b.
• 6th inning, UT
• Rupp singled to rf.
• Lusson flew out to rf, taking his average down to .500. Sigh...
• Loy grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Not nearly as nice when they get the double play. I'll give you that.
• 7th inning, OU
• Hernandez singled through the left side.
• Baker popped out to the catcher (foul). That ball went a lonnnnnng way up in the air. Wow.
• Buechele grounded into a 5-4-3 double play! Beautiful. I'm telling you, it's so much better when the Horns turn the trick.
• 7th inning, UT
• New pitcher for the Sooners: Ryan Duke to the mound, replacing Rocha.
• Rowe was hit in the helmet area by a pitch. That did not look good.
• Tucker tried, unsuccessfully, to get a bunt down and and then reached on an infield single to 3b, moving Rowe to 2b. Tucker, by the way, was also almost hit on the noggin by Duke one of the times he squared to bunt. That was a little scary.
• Torres reached on a full-count walk to load the bases.
• The infield pulled waaaaay in.
• Sadly, Belt hit into a 1-2-3 double play. So very very sad.
• Shepherd lined out to cf to end the inning.
• 8th inning, OU
• Ross Hubbard, pinch-hitting for Seitzer, singled up the middle.
• OU sent Tyson Seng in to pinch-run for Hubbard.
• Harughty popped out to ss in shallow lf.
• With a 1-1 count to Wise, Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Wise went on to strike out swinging. Talk about pretty. That was pretty.
• Texas sent Austin Wood to the mound, replacing Jungmann. At the same time, they sent Kyle Lusson in at rf and Tim Maitland in at lf. Lusson took Shepherd's spot in the line-up and Maitland took Keyes' spot.
• Ellison grounded into a 6-4 fielder's choice for the 3rd out.
• 8th inning, UT
• As OU took the field, the radio guys announced that there was a 4:15 curfew on the game...that no inning could start after 4:15 due to OU's travel plans. It was 4:15 as we were given this news. Very mysteriously, Texas went ahead and batted. Which, as I said earlier, was just bizarre. Why????
• Maitland grounded out to the pitcher.
• Rupp grounded out to 2b.
• I think it was at this point that the public address announcer informed the rest of the crowd about the 4:15 curfew. So, now everyone knew the game was over.
• Kevin Lusson grounded out to ss. Dragging his average down to a paltry .400. Poor guy. Heh heh. Okay, I'll let it go.
• Game officially over.
• Texas wins 8-5.
• And, Sunny Galloway again corners the home plate ump and doesn't bother to go shake hands with the Texas coaching staff. What a guy.

Tommy Nicholson, by the way, was back out coaching 1b for today's game.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Sorry I didn't take any photos this weekend. I didn't want to mess with the rain yesterday. 'Turns out I had nothing to worry about. And, today? I didn't even think about taking my camera.

Rice comes to town on Tuesday. They lost to Marshall this afternoon. I do hope the guys can make it 2 in-a-row for 'em. Wouldn't that be nice? You know it would. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:42 PM