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Sunday - May 31, 2009

Game 58: Army at Texas (Austin Regional)

This is a place-holder. I will post a game report for the final game of the Austin Regional as soon as I possibly can.

UPDATE (June 5th). What a game. After the heroics of the 25-inning Saturday night game, we weren't sure what to expect in the Sunday game. It was looking kinda iffy for awhile there. But, Texas figured it out and came away with the win over Army. Which was a relief to all of us. Much as we love watching Texas baseball, we really didn't want to have to watch an extra game on Monday. And, so...

First off, the starting line-ups:

Army Texas
1 Zach Price, 2b
2 Andy Ernesto, cf
3 Clint Moore, ss
4 Joey Henshaw, 1b
5 Kevin McKague, 1b
6 Ben Koenigsfeld, lf
7 J.P. Polchinski, 3b
8 Kyle Fleming, rf
9 J.T. Watkins, c
- Steve Cummings, p 		1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Loy, ss
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Brandon Belt, 1b
5 Preston Clark, dh
6 Kevin Keyes, rf
7 Cameron Rupp, c
8 Connor Rowe, cf
9 David Hernandez, lf
- Taylor Jungmann, p

And, here's how things played out:

Lots of jokes about how the game ended. Brandon Loy said he was glad his double didn't clear the fence so the old guy (Preston Clark) could get all the glory. He said he was just trying to make sure he didn't hit into a double play. Clearly, he needs to do more of that! Coach Garrido joked that he only let Clark bat because he didn't have any catchers left in the line-up.

I can't imagine two more exciting games back-to-back.

We sat around, soaking up the atmosphere. I packed up my scoresheet without bothering to total things out. And, as we were walking back to the cars about 20 minutes later, it suddenly dawned on me that Stayton Thomas got the win. Cool.

I really have to give props to Boston College and Army. Both of those teams played great games. I hope we get to see Texas play both of those teams again some day.

Final line:

[Final line score]

Posted by Joanna at 11:59 PM | Permalink

Elsewhere, Day 3

Selected results of interest to me (if nobody else):

A bad day for the Big 12. 3 wins and 7 losses. Texas moves on. OSU and KSU are still alive and play tomorrow evening.

Posted by Joanna at 11:56 PM | Permalink

Austin Regional, Day 3

Wow.

Okay. First up: Game One of the day, Game Five of the tournament. Boston College played Visitor to Army in an elimination game. I was curious to see what BC would do regarding their catcher (Tony Sanchez). He caught 25 innings yesterday, after all, and was back on the field less than 12 hours later. So, what did BC do? They put Sanchez in at dh. He did catch the 8th. And, what about Mike Belfiore? Remember him? Yesterday, he started at dh, then threw 9.2 shut-out innings (while continuing to hit), went back to dh, and then spent the final 4 innings in lf. In today's game? He played first base. Boston College, amazingly enough, seemed very relaxed and ready to play. At one point, the trainer ran out to take some eye-drops to the catcher. As he ran off the field and back to the dugout, the team ran out to meet him with lots of "high fives" as though he'd just scored. Very funny. BC did jump out to an early lead, scoring 2 in the 2nd. Army came back though, scoring 1 in the 4th and 2 more in the 5th to take a 3-2 lead. BC tied it up in the 7th but Army hit right back, retaking a 1-run lead in the bottom of the inning. And, the 4-3 score held up. The game, sadly, ended on a bit of a sour note as Wiswall hit into a 6-4-3 double play. It looked to them...and most of us, frankly...like the throw to 1b pulled the first baseman off the bag. The 1b coach for BC argued the call vehemently and got the 1b umpire so riled up as they were leaving the field that he (the umpire) yelled back, started after the coach, and had to be held back. It was weird. But, the call held up. Game over. Army advances. BC goes home. I can't believe it but, in all the excitement at the end of the game, I seem to have forgotten to take a photo of the scoreboard at the end of the game. So, you get the line from GameTracker:

[Final line score]

Next? Game Two of the day, Game Six of the tournament. Army played Visitor to Texas. Army scored 2 right away. Texas responded with 3 in the 2nd to take the lead. Army re-took the lead in the next inning. And, kept it through the top of the 9th...in fact, stretched it to 10-6 in the 8th. Texas, very amazingly, scored 4 to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th. Then managed to load the bases with one out. And, up came Preston Clark. All he had to do was get the ball in the air. Or scootch it through the infield. That's it. And, if he didn't do it, Kevin Keyes was up next. Kevin, who hit a 2 run homerun on Saturday, had hit another today in the 7th. It really felt like the Horns would win the game there. In the 9th. So, what did the old man do? He hit a grand slam down the lf line. Oh. My. Goodness. Two fantastic exciting game endings in two days. Wow. Here's the line:

[Final line score]

All tournament team:

I know that the "all-anything" team selections are always based on offense. And, Clint Moore did a great job for Army. But, Brandon Loy made so many amazing plays over the course of the weekend that it's a shame defense isn't really considered when they come up with these things. Perhaps they should consider adding a defensive MVP category. Of course, entertainingly enough, Brandon might not have won the MVP award for the Big 12 tournament last week if his unprecedented defensive lapse had been considered.

TCU won the Fort Worth Regional. So, they'll come to town for the Super Regional.

And, I'll be back with a full game report at some point. First, I'll try to do the report for the Saturday game. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:42 PM | Permalink

Game 57: Texas at Boston College (Austin Regional)

This is a place-holder. It's clear that I'm not going to come close to finishing the recap of last night's game before I have to go back to Disch-Falk to watch the BC/Army game. I'm just posting this to let you know that...

...yes, I'm working on a game report for Game 57. It's just taking a bit longer than usual. I'll be back. Eventually.

UPDATE (June 2nd). I'm back with the report. Have at it...

So...how to do this game justice? I don't think there's a way. Texas beat Boston College in 25 innings. TWENTY-FIVE. The game lasted (officially) 7 hours and 3 minutes. That doesn't include celebration time. And, decompression time. It was 1:04 AM on the scoreboard clock when the Horns recorded the final out. I wasn't able to even think about going to sleep for another 2 hours or so. Too wired. Too keyed up. I'm betting most of the team took longer than that to wind down. And, I'm still feeling BC's pain. I'll say it again: it's not even a little bit fair that they had to lose that game. They played a spectacular game. It's just not fair. Here's the line (cobbled together from a few shots I took over the course of the evening:

[Final line score]

Just look at that. How in the world did Texas record 20 hits and only score 3 runs? How did Texas commit 3 errors and only allow 2 runs (both earned...none of the errors led to runs)? How in the world did Texas throw 25 innings and only give up 8 hits? How? Well, here's how...

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas Boston College
1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Belt, dh
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Cameron Rupp, c
5 Brandon Loy, ss
6 Preston Clark, 1b
7 Kevin Keyes, rf
8 Connor Rowe, cf
9 David Hernandez, lf
- Chance Ruffin, p 		1 Robbie Anston, cf
2 Matt Hamlet, 2b
3 Tony Sanchez, c
4 Mickey Wiswall, 3b
5 Mike Belfiore, dh
6 Barry Butera, ss
7 Andrew Lawrence, lf
8 Mike Sudol, rf
9 John Spatola, 1b
- Pat Dean, p

Here's how things played out:

Offensive numbers (going down the line-up):

  1. Tucker: 2-for-12, 2 singles, 1 rbi, 2 strikeouts, 1 stolen base
  2. Belt: 2-for-8, 2 singles, 1 sac bunt, 3 strikeouts, 3 walks, 2 stolen bases
  3. Torres: 1-for-12, 1 single, 2 strikeouts
  4. Rupp: 2-for-11, 2 singles, 6 strikeouts (wow)
  5. Loy: 2-for-9, 2 singles, 2 sac bunts, 2 strikeouts
  6. Clark: 4-for-11, 1 run scored, 3 doubles, 1 single, 2 strikeouts
  7. Keyes: 2-for-3, 1 run scored, 1 homerun, 1 double, 2 rbi, 1 strikeout
    - Moldenhauer: 0-for-0, hit by pitch
    - Kyle Lusson: 0-for-1
    - Shepherd: 0-for-1
    - Maitland: 0-for-2, 1 strikeout
    - Kevin Lusson: 0-for-0, 1 walk (intentional)
    - Etier: 0-for-2, 1 strikeout
  8. Rowe: 4-for-10, 1 run scored, 4 singles, 1 walk
  9. Hernandez: 2-for-9, 1 run scored, 2 singles, 2 sac bunts, 1 strikeout

Look at all those batters in the 7th spot. And, no other substitutions.

And, the pitchers:

And, one more time...the final line:

[Final line score]

I love how the game started with Travis Tucker hitting a lead-off single. He did not get another hit for almost 7 hours. And, that was the last hit of the game. Lovely bookends.

I wish I had time to add up more of the numbers. But, I want to get this online so I'm gonna leave it be for now. I hope to do more later. But, there are more games to come so that may not happen.

Posted by Joanna at 9:55 AM | Permalink

Elsewhere, Day 2

I'm doing this quickly...just so I'll have a record. Not because I really care at this time of day. But, here's how things went elsewhere:

So, that gives the Big 12 six wins and two losses on the day. All Big 12 teams still alive. Good times. Texas, OSU, and KSU are undefeated.

Posted by Joanna at 2:45 AM | Permalink

Austin Regional, Day 2

Okay. That was a very long day. To put things exceedingly mildly. Wow. I'm so tired. I can't imagine what the players are feeling like. Well, I suppose the Texas players are on Cloud 9 and will not be sleeping anytime soon. The BC players? Man. I feel sorry for 'em. That was just about the worst tough-luck loss I can imagine. I don't see how they'll get any sleep at all.

Anyway...

Game One of the day. Game Three of the tournament. Who can remember that far back? I've seen nearly 3 complete games since then. Looking at the handy photo I took of the scoreboard at the end of the game, I see that Texas State played Visitor to Army's Home team. And, Army won. In much the same fashion that Boston College beat Texas State just a day earlier. Texas State seemed to be in great position to win the game...going into the bottom of the 8th with a 4-2 lead. But, they gave up 5 runs and fell behind 4-7. Going into the top of the 9th, they were in the identical position they found themselves on Friday. Down 3 runs with their homerun king Paul Goldschmidt due up second. Like the Friday game, the runner in front of him got aboard. Unlike the previous game, he hit into a fielder's choice. No 2-run homer for him on Saturday. The next guy hit into another fielder's choice. And, the next into a regular groundout to ss. Game over. Bobcats eliminated. Army ready to face the loser of this evening's game. The line:

[Final line score]

Game Two of the day. Game Four of the tournament. Oh. My. Goodness. Record breaking game in many many categories. I cannot even begin to imagine them all. Texas won 3-2. In 25 innings. Twenty-five. Seven hours and three minutes of baseball. It's completely and totally unfair that either team had to lose. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that Texas won. But, it's just plain unfair that Boston College had to lose. Texas scored 2 in the second inning. The SECOND inning. BC scored one in the 4th and one in the 6th. And, it stayed tied at 2-2 for 18 innings! That's two full games of shut-out baseball. Here's a line-score I cobbled together from a few photos I took over the course of the evening:

[Final line score]

So, Boston College faces Army today at noon. Texas faces the winner of that game this evening at 6. I cannot begin to imagine who I will root for in the afternoon game. I want them both to win. I have to think that Army will have the advantage. They won't have a big adrenaline crash (that BC is sure to be experiencing as I type) to deal with.

Sometime around the 14th or 15th inning, I thought to myself: "I guess this means I won't have to do a full game report. I mean...it's tied 2-2 forever. Who wants to read through that?" Well, maybe not exactly that. But, near enough. And, then the game went on to be historic. HISTORIC. I can't not re-cap that, can I? Geesh. I don't know when I'll be back with a full game report. But, I'll be back. With photos. Much later with the photos, more than likely.

UPDATE (a couple of days later): I was so amused when I saw the GameTracker line from this game that I simply had to include it:

[Final line score]

Posted by Joanna at 1:59 AM | Permalink

Saturday - May 30, 2009

Elsewhere, Day 1

Notes of interest (to me at any rate) in a few regionals elsewhere around the country:

So, that gives the Big 12 five wins and three losses on the day.

Posted by Joanna at 12:54 AM | Permalink

Friday - May 29, 2009

Game 56 photos

A few photos from today's game against Army...

Brandon Belt trying to avoid the pitch that hit him:

[Brandon Belt]

...and then on the ground:

[Brandon Belt]

Ouch. Being helped off the field:

[Brandon Belt]

Normally, I'd include a photo of Cole Green in motion on the mound. But, I liked this one too much so had to include it instead. Here's Cole Green about to get a hug from Coach Garrido after he successfully put down a sac bunt in the 3rd:

[Cole Green, Coach Garrido]

Sadly, I did not have a fully-charged battery with me this evening and took very few additional shots. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow. No promises, though!

Posted by Joanna at 11:58 PM | Permalink

Game 56: Army at Texas (Austin Regional)

Texas played host to Army in the second game of the day in the Austin Regional. And, the Horns won 3-1. Whew. Brandon Belt was hit by a pitch at the edge of his helmet in the first inning. He dropped hard to the ground and flung his helmet off. The trainers and coaches ran out and it did not look very good. He was bleeding quite a bit. But, that always happens with head/scalp cuts. 'Turns out, he has a gash on his ear, a contusion below the ear, and a possible (slight?) concussion. Needless to say, he left the game and was taken to the hospital. Coach Garrido reported in the post-game report that Belt was feeling better and was starting to make jokes but that he'd be spending the night at the hospital. Coach Garrido does not expect Belt to miss much playing time should the Horns continue their winning ways. Good news.

Read on to find out how Texas reacted to the sudden loss of their first baseman when the back-up first baseman was already in the line-up at dh.

Today's starting line-ups:

Army Texas
1 Zach Price, 2b
2 Andy Ernesto, cf
3 Clint Moore, ss
4 Joey Henshaw, dh
5 Kevin KcKague, 1b
6 Ben Koenigsfeld, lf
7 J.P. Polchinski, 3b
8 Kyle Fleming, rf
9 J.T. Watkins, c
- Matt Fouch, p 		1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Belt, 1b
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Cameron Rupp, c
5 Brandon Loy, ss
6 Preston Clark, dh
7 Kevin Keyes, rf
Tant Shepherd, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Cole Green, p

Here's how things played out:

The line:

[Final line score]

Whew. Nice game after the scare in the 1st. Cole Green had a fantastic game. His numbers: 7 innings, 27 batters, 1 earned run, 4 hits (all singles), 6 strikeouts, and 3 walks. Not to mention a sac bunt and single. Wow. I'm thinking he'll make the all-tournament team. What do you think? Heh.

The Horns now move on to face Boston College in tomorrow's late game. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:17 PM | Permalink

Austin Regional, Day 1

In the first game of the day, Texas State seemed to be headed for the winner's bracket when their pitching fell apart. With a 5-2 lead, the Bobcats gave up 6 runs in the top of the 9th. They'd only given up 6 hits going into the final inning. They gave up 8 in the 9th. Boston College sent 11 men to the plate in the final frame. The Bobcats tried to make it up in the bottom of the inning and came close as Paul Goldschmidt hit his 18th homerun (and drove in his 87th and 88th runs...or thereabouts...of the year) to get back to within 1 run. But that proved to be it. The line:

[Final line score]

Here's BC celebrating the 3-run homerun by John Spatola that gave them the lead:

[BC homerun]

And, here are the Bobcats after Goldschmidt's 2-run homerun later in the inning:

[TSTU homerun]

Look at those old-school uniforms. I like 'em!

In the second game of the day, Army put up a good fight. But, Cole Green proved too much for 'em in more ways than one. The Horns won 3-1. The line:

[Final line score]

That means Texas State and Army face off at noon tomorrow in an elimination game. Texas and Boston College will play each other at 6:00.

I'll be back shortly with a full game report on the Texas game.

Posted by Joanna at 10:14 PM | Permalink

Wednesday - May 27, 2009

DVD giveaway reminder

Just a quick reminder. I'm giving away two copies of "Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach" on DVD. See this post for details on how to win a copy. Good luck.

Posted by Joanna at 7:16 AM | Permalink

Monday - May 25, 2009

Regional musings

Texas gets the #1 overall seed!

I like it and hate it. It's been forever since the #1 seed won the CWS (Miami in 2001). The last time one of the top 8 seeds won was Rice in 2003. Time to turn that around, eh?

The teams in the Austin regional (printable bracket):

  1. Texas (official site)
  2. Texas State (official site)
  3. Boston College (official site)
  4. Army (official site)

The Army selection is interesting. And, this is the first time in 42 years that BC's made the field. As always, I'd rather see teams we haven't faced in the year so am sorry to see Texas State again. I was rather expecting the committee to pair up Rice and A&M again 'cause they've done that the last couple of years. No, they've gone back to pairing Rice with LSU and they're pairing the Aggies with us. The winner of our regional plays the winner of the Ft. Worth (TCU) regional:

  1. TCU
  2. Texas A&M
  3. Oregon State
  4. Wright State

'Glad to see Oregon State back in. Not so glad to see them coming this way, though. Heh.

Here's the entire field:

[2009 CWS Field]

I honestly can't believe the Big 12 got 8 teams in. I know I should root for lots of Big 12 teams to get into the tournament but Baylor lost 12 of 14 down the stretch...and they don't even have 30 wins on the year. And, OSU didn't make the conference tournament. I don't see how you make it into the regionals if you couldn't even make it into the conference tournament. Both of those picks just seem wrong. If you're one of the "power conference" schools, you should have to get 30 wins and make the conference tournament in order to make it into the field of 64. If you can't do that much, your spot should go to someone else.

And, they're saying...again...that due to the economy, they're trying to limit the amount of travel. What? You've paired up Louisville with Cal State Fullerton...and TCU with Texas. Why not switch Louisville and TCU? Send each bracket winner half-way across the country. Two halves make a whole...right? I'm a little perplexed, frankly, at TCU even being a host. What about Virginia instead? Their RPI and poll rankings are similar and Virginia has 7 more wins. It hardly seems fair to send Virginia to possibly the toughest Regional in the country while letting TCU host.

Oh well. I'm mostly happy. Texas is hosting again. And will host the next round if they take care of business. So, Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 2:02 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 24, 2009

Game 55: A few more photos

My folks went to the Big 12 Tournament and my mom sent along a few photos she said I could share with y'all. And, so...

Preston Clark, about to finish his homerun trot:

[Preston Clark]

Travis Tucker apparently reaming out Preston Clark for hitting that homerun:

[Travis Tucker, Preston Clark]

Or...maybe not. Heh.

And, Cameron Rupp getting a few props after his grand slam:

[Travis Tucker, Preston Clark]

Thanks, Mom.

Posted by Joanna at 10:12 PM | Permalink

2009 NCAA Regional sites announced

The NCAA Regional Host Sites were announced a little before 3 p.m. today. Texas will host. I plan to attend all the games. As usual.

Here's a list of the Host sites and institutions (records thru May 23):

By conference, the host sites play out like so:

Here are the latest RPI calculations:

Rank NCAA
(May 18)		 Boyd's World
(May 24, 8:30am)		 Warren Nolan
(May 24, 8:00pm)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 		Cal State Fullerton
North Carolina
Texas
Georgia Tech
Arizona State
Florida
Clemson
TCU
Miami
LSU
Virginia
Rice
Arkansas
Mississippi
Oklahoma
Florida State
Texas A&M
UC Irvine
East Carolina
Louisville 		Cal State Fullerton
Texas
North Carolina
Georgia Tech
Arizona State
Florida
Clemson
TCU
Virginia
LSU
Miami
Rice
Arkansas
Florida State
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Mississippi
UC Irvine
Georgia
Elon 		North Carolina
Texas
Cal State Fullerton
Arizona State
Georgia Tech
Virginia
LSU
Florida
Clemson
Rice
Miami
TCU
Florida State
Arkansas
Texas A&M
Ole Miss
UC Irvine
Louisville
Oklahoma
Elon

Last year, the lowest RPI team to host was Michigan (with a #37 RPI). This year, the lowest is 20 (using the older NCAA numbers). 'Wonder why they didn't go out of their way to get a Big 10 host this year? Minnesota has a 24 RPI and Ohio State is at 32. Both are higher than Michigan was last year. Hmmmm... I know the folks up north don't like it but I'm happy to see the committee not folding to pressure from those schools.

Looking at the top 20 in the polls (as of May 18), we see:

Rank Collegiate
Baseball		 Baseball
America		 NCBWA USA Today/
ESPN
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 		UC Irvine
LSU
Arizona State
North Carolina
CS Fullerton
Texas
Florida State
Ole Miss
Florida
Oklahoma
Rice
Alabama
Clemson
Georgia Tech
Missouri
Miami
Louisville
East Carolina
TCU
South Carolina 		UC Irvine
LSU
Arizona State
CS Fullerton
Texas
North Carolina
Ole Miss
Oklahoma
Florida
TCU
Rice
Florida State
Clemson
Georgia Tech
East Carolina
Virginia
Kansas State
Alabama
Cal Poly
Louisville 		UC Irvine
LSU
Arizona State
North Carolina
CS Fullerton
Texas
Florida State
Ole Miss
Rice
Oklahoma
Florida
TCU
Georgia Tech
Virginia
Clemson
Miami
East Carolina
Coastal Carolina
Texas A&M
Arkansas 		UC-Irvine
Arizona State
LSU
North Carolina
Texas
CS Fullerton
Florida State
Ole Miss
Rice
Florida
Oklahoma
Georgia Tech
Clemson
TCU
Virginia
East Carolina
Miami
Alabama
Coastal Carolina
Kansas State

I don't have the energy to really go into any of this in depth. I'll likely have more to say once the field of 64 is announced (11:30 tomorrow on ESPN).

Posted by Joanna at 9:01 PM | Permalink

Big 12 Tournament - Day 5 summary

Texas won the Championship game, beating Mizzou 12-7. The highlight of the game was the 11-run 4th inning for Texas. Cameron Rupp hit a grand slam for the extra-special highlight of the highlight inning.

The All-Tournament team:

I promised a surprise and here you go...a few screen captures (not the best quality but still fun) from today's game...

Cameron Rupp, celebrating his grand slam:

[Cameron Rupp]

Austin Wood and Preston Clark after the final out:

[Austin Wood and Preston Clark]

Brandon Loy, receiving the MVP award:

[Brandon Loy]

Holding the tournament trophy:

[Tournament trophy]

Preston Clark, being interviewed after the game:

[Preston Clark]

And, now it's on to the Regional. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 6:36 PM | Permalink

Game 55: Missouri at Texas (Big 12 Tournament)

The Aggies beat the Red Raiders late last night to send Mizzou to the Championship Game. Texas won the coin toss so got to play home team. My game description below is mostly based on the FSN broadcast.

Today's starting line-ups:

Missouri Texas
1 Austin Holt, 2b
2 Ryan Lollis, rf
3 Greg Folgia, cf
4 Aaron Senne, lf
5 Kyle Mach, 3b
6 Steve Gray, 1b
7 Ryan Ampleman, c
8 McLagan Garrison, dh
9 Michael Liberto, ss
- Scooter Hicks, p 		1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Belt, 1b
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Cameron Rupp, dh
5 Brandon Loy, ss
6 Kevin Keyes, rf
7 Preston Clark, c
8 Tant Shepherd, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Brandon Workman, p

Coach Garrido said in the pre-game show on the radio that Cameron Rupp's injured finger is not bothered at all by batting so he's got dh duties today. And, Keith commented that he expected there might be at least one rain delay. Oh, joy.

Here's how things played out:

That was ugly. Yikes. But, it counts. So: yay! Mizzou used 8 pitchers. Texas used 4. Both teams turned 2 double plays. Highlight of the day, of course: Cameron Rupp's grand slam.

Some of the post-game comments. Coach Garrido (on TV):

We didn't show a lot of character at the end there. That shows how fast the demon fear creeps into the minds of these young players. He's been the most successful closer in college baseball this year and he felt the pressure of winning. I think Cole Green was the key to [the win]. The quality innings that he pitched really helped us out and took a lot of the pressure off the pitching staff.

When asked about the homeruns by Clark and Rupp (on TV):

In college baseball you see that all the time...championships are decided by the unexpected.

Coach Garrido (in his conversation with Keith Moreland on the radio):

We'd like to see it finish different but that's the vulnerability of college baseball. They lost their balance and their focus. That shows the role that the mind plays and how it interferes. It's really difficult when it turns on you. We'll be hosting a Regional and are one of the top 8 seeds. We've got some bull-pen work to do this week. All of this will come back together.

Brandon Loy (on the radio with Keith Moreland):

It's an honor and fun to come out here and play with these guys. The field is quick and is obviously different from what we have at home. It's a challenge but like what we'll be playing in Omaha so we have to get used to it. I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully we'll pull off a lot of wins.

Here's the line (from LiveStats):

[Final line score]

Austin Dicharry ended up with the win to move his record to 7-2. I'll be back shortly with a post about the all-tournament team. And, maybe a couple of surprises. Maybe. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 5:08 PM | Permalink

Texas will host a regional

Just a quick note. Texas, as expected, has been selected to host a Regional. The full field and seedings will be announced tomorrow morning on ESPN (11:30 Austin time).

Posted by Joanna at 2:51 PM | Permalink

Big 12 Tournament - Day 4 summary

Four games on the schedule today. Which makes for a long day. Whew. I worked on this post as the day went on...but held off posting 'til the end of the day.

Game 1: Kansas at Baylor. Both teams were out of the running as far as the tournament was concerned; neither could make it into the Championship game. But Baylor was hoping another win would help them get an at-large bid to a Regional. Baylor jumped out to a 6-0 lead, scoring 3 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd. Kansas answered with a Tony Thompson grand slam in the 3rd. But, that was it for Kansas. Baylor scored two more (1 in the 4th and 1 in the 7th) to win the first game of the day 8-4.

Game 2: Kansas State at Texas. The Horns kept up with the "regular-season 'swept' team wins the tournament game" trend I noted yesterday. Technically, I don't suppose the Jayhawks swept the Horns since the last game ended in a tie. But, the Horns certainly did not win any of the regular season games between the two teams. Today, they held the Jayhawks off, winning 4-2. Nice game for the Horns to move on to the Championship game tomorrow. Hmmmm...going back to that trend thing, none of the other match-ups today featured swept teams but there's a possibility of Texas playing in one of those games tomorrow. Texas swept the Sooners during the regular season. They split series with the other three teams in Pool 2. 'Guess that means we should root for someone other than the Sooners to make it to the Championship game, eh? Or we can assume that any good trend can only last so long. Right? Right.

Game 3: Oklahoma at Missouri. Wow. Missouri beat OU 5-4. The Sooners had chances in the 8th and 9th to tie the game up...and possibly pull ahead. But, they came up short. The Sooners had the bases loaded with 1 out in the 8th. Kaleb Herren hit into a 6-4-3 double play. In the 9th, the Sooners got runners on the corners with nobody out. Aaron Baker struck out swinging. Runners still at the corners, 1 out. J.T. Wise (Big 12 Player of the Year) hit into a 6-3 double play. The shortstop made a great play to stop the ball headed into cf. He raced to 2b and beat the runner from 1b and then gunned the ball to 1b to complete the double play. That was a very exciting end to the game. Yikes. Oklahoma's out of the Championship game. If Tech wins the late game this evening, they play tomorrow. If the Aggies win, Mizzou plays tomorrow. OU and A&M are both out of contention.

As Game 3 ended, they reported that rain appeared to be nearing the ballpark. They did not report what the "in case of rain" plan was.

Game 4: Texas A&M at Texas Tech. The start time for the late game was delayed due to a rain storm that blew through about 7:15 (the game was scheduled to start at 7:30). I think the actual rain lasted about 30-45 minutes. I had the video stream up during the rain delay and was amused to see the crew watering down the dirt areas of the infield after they pulled off the tarp (at about 8:50). By 9 o'clock the bases were on the field and all looked ready for the game to start. A couple of minutes later, the folks running the video feed figured out how to share news with us and put a note across the screen saying the game would start at 9:15. And, it did. I listened to the Aggie radio guys; no point in listening to the satellite radio guys if there's an alternative, eh? The Aggies jumped out on top early...scoring 10 in the first 4 innings. The Red Raiders scored 4 in the first 4 and that was it. The Aggies scored one more run in the 6th and won 11-4. The game lasted nearly 3 hours and 10 minutes. Wow.

So, it'll be Texas and Missouri in the Championship game. G'night!

Posted by Joanna at 12:23 AM | Permalink

Saturday - May 23, 2009

Game 54: Texas at Kansas State (Big 12 Tournament)

I watched the Big 12 Internet stream (audio from Sirius-XM...yawn) of the game. Going in, we knew the winner of today's game would make it into the Championship game tomorrow. Good times.

I guess Texas won the toss since they played home team.

Today's starting line-ups:

Kansas State Texas
1 Adam Muenster, dh
2 Carter Jurica, 2b
3 Nick Martini, lf
4 Justin Bloxom, 1b
5 Jason King, 3b
6 Drew Biery, ss
7 Jordan Cruz, rf
8 Rob Vaughn, c
9 Dane Yelovich, cf
- Todd Vogel, p 		1 Michael Torres, 3b
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh
5 Cameron Rupp, c
6 Brandon Loy, ss
7 Kevin Keyes, rf
8 David Hernandez, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Taylor Jungmann, p

Here's how things played out:

Post-game comments by Coach Garrido (very paraphrased) in the radio interview with Keith Moreland:

That was a great college baseball game. Of course, the unexpected had to take place as Brandon Loy doubled his error count. But, I'm proud of him, he didn't get his head down. He shook it off and got back into his timing. Jungmann is really a good pitcher. He has great presence on the mound. Every day at the ballpark is a learning experience from him and he really loves it. We did the right thing at the right time...which is what usually determines the winner in a baseball game. Brandon Workman will likely be the starter tomorrow. That may change, though. 40 wins!

The line:

RHE
Kansas State 000 020 000 - 260
Texas 000 111 01x - 484

Brandon Loy did not have a very good game. He committed 3 errors and was picked off 1b in the 6th. But, as Coach Garrido said, he didn't let it get him down. He kept playing his game and made a few really nice defensive plays despite his struggles. And, he drove in the final two runs of the game for Texas. Nice going. Taylor Jungmann had his longest career outing, pitching into the 8th inning while limiting a very good offense to 5 hits...all of them singles. Very nicely done. The Horns now play in tomorrow's Tournament Championship game. Opponent to be determined round about 10 o'clock tonight. Hook 'em!

UPDATE. I forgot to update Rupp's injury info. Coach Garrido said he hit the hitter's bat on that throw in the 2nd and opened a cut on one of the fingers on his throwing hand (the middle finger, I think). The cut made it difficult for him to get a good grip on the ball so he was replaced. I'm guessing he may be out for tomorrow's game but should be fine for Regional action. That's just my guess, though.

Posted by Joanna at 4:24 PM | Permalink

Friday - May 22, 2009

Big 12 Tournament - Day 3 summary

In yesterday's Pool play, the winners from the first day played each other while the losers did likewise. So, we were assured there'd be one 2-0 team, one 0-2 team, and two 1-1 teams. Not so today. Pool 2 had the possibility of ending up with everyone having a 1-1 record at the end of the day.

In the first game of the day, Mizzou (1-0) faced Texas Tech (0-1). The Tigers swept the Red Raiders during the regular season. I had the game on but have to admit that I didn't follow it very closely. It just wasn't very interesting to me. It was scoreless through the first 5 innings. Then, Mizzou scored a run in the 6th. And, Tech answered with one of their own in the bottom of the inning. Then, a scoreless 7th. Mizzou scored another run in the top of the 8th. And, Tech matched it in the bottom. And, I left my office, thinking we were in for more of the same. But, no...Tech scored two more in the 8th after I left. Mizzou was unable to answer in the top of the 9th so Tech won 4-2. Revenge! And, both teams now have 1-1 records in the tournament.

I came home fully intending to watch the Aggie/Sooner game via the Big 12 Internet stream. But, I turned on the TV and found that Baylor was playing Michigan in softball Super Regional action. So, I watched that. Baylor lost. Then I watched most of the Stanford/Arizona game. And, finally went upstairs to check out the results of the baseball game. I rather expected it might be over. Nope. Far from it. OU was ahead 10-8 with the Aggies batting in the bottom of the 6th. What? OU scored 6 in the top of the 1st! The Aggies answered with 5 in the bottom of the frame! And on it went. Almost as soon as I tuned in, the Aggies scored 3 runs to take an 11-10 lead. And, then they scored another to push the lead to 2 runs. Wow. As the game went on, the Aggies kept it up, scoring 1 in the 7th and 4 in the 8th. In the 8th, with 2 in, the Aggies hit what was ruled a ground-rule double down the lf line. At least one of the Sooner players was ejected after arguing the call by the 3b umpire...saying that the ball landed in foul territory before bouncing into the crowd. Two players, however, were replaced (the second baseman and the third baseman). Hmmm... In the top of the 9th, behind 10-17, the Sooners loaded the bases with one out on a couple of walks and a wild-pitch 3rd strike that went to the wall. Yikes. Then they scored a run when the next batter was hit. Then the Aggies walked in another run. And, then the Sooners hit a bases-clearing double to get back to within 2! A single put runners at the corners (all still with 1 out) to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Heh heh heh. Oh, my...what a comedy of errors. The Aggies finally replaced the closer (who'd gone into the game with 2 out in the 8th). New pitcher induced a double play to end the game. Nice 5-4-3 double play turned by the Aggies. Wow. Aggies win 17-15.

So, Pool 2 has all teams with 1-1 records going into tomorrow's series of games. Nothing settled there.

I got to thinking about the games involving teams that had been swept in the regular season. It's really hard to beat a team 4 times in one season. For games that have been played where one team was swept by the other during the regular season, here are the results:

Looky there. You sweep during the regular season, you lose in the tournament. Interesting.

There are 4 games on tap for tomorrow. I will try to follow all of them and will have a full report for the Texas game. Again, if Texas wins, they play on Sunday; if KSU wins, they play on Sunday. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:40 PM | Permalink

Thursday - May 21, 2009

Big 12 Tournament - Day 2 summary

Texas beat Kansas rather handily this afternoon 9-3. See my post about the game for details. Kansas State helped us out by beating Baylor in the nightcap 9-4. With the way the games played out, Texas now has complete control of their own destiny. If they win Saturday, they play the winner of Pool 2 on Sunday. If Texas loses, Kansas State moves on. No matter what Baylor and Kansas do, they're both out of the running.

Time go to all Craig Way on you and explain how this worked out:

Isn't that interesting? The upshot is that, once Texas beat Kansas in the early game, Baylor had to win today's game to move on. And, if they had won, they would've secured a spot in Sunday's game...no matter what the other teams did on Saturday. If Texas had lost, that would've stirred up a whole other can of worms and calculations and I didn't bother to go there 'cause that would've automatically meant Texas was out of the running. And, why should I bother with that? Heh.

So, now it's up to Texas to win and move on. No matter what else happens, they're in control. By the way, KSU used A.J. Morris in today's game. He went deep into the 7th and threw 121 pitches. So, we won't be seeing him on Saturday. That's certainly not a bad thing, eh? Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:35 PM | Permalink

Game 53: Texas at Kansas (Big 12 Tournament)

Texas played visitor in today's game against Kansas. Like yesterday, I watched as much as I could. GameTracker didn't seem to be carrying the game so I used the LiveStats thing provided by the Big12Sport.com page to catch up when I had to be away.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas Kansas
1 Michael Torres, 3b
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh
5 Kevin Keyes, rf
6 Brandon Loy, ss
7 Cameron Rupp, c
8 Connor Rowe, cf
9 David Hernandez, lf
- Chance Ruffin, p 		1 David Narodowski, ss
2 Robby Price, 2b
3 Brian Heere, rf
4 Buck Afenir, c
5 Tony Thompson, 3b
6 Casey Lytle, lf
7 James Stanfield, dh
8 Preston Land, 1b
9 Nick Faunce, cf
- T.J. Walz, p

Here's how things played out:

Here's the line (from LiveStats):

[Final line score]

I missed most of the post-game conference on the radio but did catch Coach Garrido that he really wants to win the game on Saturday to get that 40th win so that any doubt in the committee's mind (the committee picking the National Seeds and Regional locations) will be erased.

It was really nice to see Ruffin go the distance. And, the offense was still on. Belt hit his second homerun in as many days. Rupp also got in on the homerun action. Going down the line, here's what the Horns did today:

The Horns get tomorrow off and return to action against Kansas State. It'll be the 2nd game of the day and is scheduled to start at 12:30.

Posted by Joanna at 6:20 PM | Permalink

Wednesday - May 20, 2009

Big 12 Tournament - Day 1 summary

I was happy to discover that the Big 12 is apparently streaming video of all the Tournament games over the Internet. See the Big 12 Sports Championship page for links.

In Pool 1, the KU/KSU game went scoreless for the first 4 innings and then the teams battled back-and-forth a bit before Kansas State managed to pull ahead for good and win 5-4. The Horns, very sadly, lost 9-14 to Baylor in an ugly game.

In Pool 2, Missouri scored 1 in the first and then slowly built on their lead until they were ahead by a 5-spot in the 6th. The Aggies managed to score 2 runs of their own...but not until the 9th. Too little, too late. Mizzou won 5-2. And, in the late game, OU beat Tech by the same score...5-2. I watched an inning or two of the game but couldn't really get into it.

Tomorrow features two Pool 1 games (Texas vs. Kansas and Kansas State vs. Baylor). Pool 2 continues play on Friday.

I really hope the Horns win tomorrow. Those three 1-run losses in Kansas still rankle.

Note: I modified this post almost as soon as I posted it. I had talked about being disappointed in the team's performance today and speculated on how things will play out. And, that's not fair. I'm not there and wasn't even able to watch the whole game. So, I deleted that stuff.

UPDATE: Here's what Coach Garrido said about removing Cole Green from the game after 5 innings when asked if Green was on a pitch-count:

No, that isn't why we took him out. Although, at the end of 5 innings, I felt that we were in good shape with what we were doing. And, that you pitch that pitcher there because he has the ability to recover and pitch in the Championship game. So, if you start to take him out to the 7th or the 8th, even the 6th... I was hoping to end it on a good note for him so that he mentally and physically was in good position to come back [Sunday] and I felt confident, and still feel confident, in the people we brought in.

Posted by Joanna at 10:53 PM | Permalink

Game 52: Baylor at Texas (Big 12 Tournament)

I missed most of the first inning...joining the radio broadcast just in time to hear the Horns take a 3-2 lead. Then, I got back to my office and watched the Big 12 stream as Texas loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd. And, watched as much as possible from then on out. The account below is based partially on watching the stream and catching up here and there with GameTracker.

Today's starting line-ups:

Baylor Texas
1 Dustin Dickerson, dh
2 Raynor Campbell, 3b
3 Shaver Hansen, ss
4 Aaron Miller, rf
5 Dan Evatt, 1b
6 Ben Booker, lf
7 Don Lambert, cf
8 Gregg Glime, c
9 Joey Hainsfurther, 2b
- Logan Varrett, p 		1 Michael Torres, 3b
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Kevin Lusson, dh
5 Cameron Rupp, c
6 Kevin Keyes, rf
7 Brandon Loy, ss
8 David Hernandez, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Cole Green, p

Here's how things played out:

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

Post-game comments from Coach Garrido (very paraphrased, as he spoke with Keith Moreland):

One thing about baseball is that on any given day, anything can happen. Baylor came out with nothing to lose and hit the ball all over the ballpark. There were no bobbled or dropped balls by Texas. Baylor just came with the right attitude. The tournament championship is still out there. The overall performance was good. It was a much better game than the score reveals. Baylor just pounded the ball all over the place.

Austin Dicharry took the loss, moving his record to 6-2 on the year. Baylor really was effective with the bats. Not to mention the "not stranding any runners on base" thing. I'm having a hard time getting past that 6th inning. Dicharry gave up 5 earned runs on 2 hits. Wood gave up 3 earned runs on 2 hits. They each pitched one-third of an inning. That's just plain ugly. Dicharry's ERA coming into today's game? 1.49. Wood's? 2.18. Wow. Hopefully, it's out of their system and we'll see nothing more of this in the post-season. Hopefully.

On the offensive side of things, Belt and Tucker both scored 3 runs. Belt and Loy had 4 hits apiece. Belt and Keyes batted 3 in apiece. I'm getting the feeling that Belt had a great game. Here's how everyone did, running down the line:

The Horns face Kansas tomorrow at 3. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 4:39 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - May 19, 2009

Big 12 Tournament note

I managed, just barely, to get my 2009 postseason schedule online in time for the Big 12 Tournament (it's linked in the sidebar on the main page). Whew. Things have been a little crazy the last couple of days. Anyway...

The sad news is that Texas will be playing afternoon games on Wednesday and Thursday. Which means that I'll have to try and listen from my desk at work. Lately, I have not been spending a whole lot of time at my desk so I hope it works out. You know I'll be trying to make it work out!

Texas faces Baylor at 12:30 on Wednesday, Kansas at 3:00 on Thursday, and Kansas State at 12:30 on Saturday. These teams make up Pool 1 in the tournament. OU, Mizzou, A&M, and Tech make up the teams in Pool 2. Both pools play round-robin tournaments. Winners of the tournaments (with tie-breaker determined by head-to-head match-ups and then Tournament seeding) face off on Sunday at 1:00 for the Tournament Championship. Please note that the start times for the Wednesday and Saturday games are tentative. They will both depend on whether or not the 9 o'clock games end on time or run long. It's been my experience that there are at least 1 or 2 extra-inning games every year during the tournament. The 10-run rule will be in effect for all pool-play games but not for the Championship game.

In Sunday's radio interview following the Alabama A&M double-header, Coach Garrido said the rotation would be Cole Green for the first game, Chance Ruffin for the second, and Taylor Jungmann for the third. Green would likely start in the Championship game, assuming Texas gets there. And, we all know that Texas will get there. Right? Right!

Okay...I'll be back with more as I'm able. Here's hoping the Horns sweep on through the Tournament. Hook 'em!

PS: Go read about the 2009 Big 12 Baseball Postseason Awards at the TexasSports.com site. Austin Wood and Chance Ruffin made the first team. Connor Rowe made the second team. Cameron Rupp, Brandon Belt, Brandon Loy, Michael Torres, and Kevin Keyes received Honorable Mentions.

Posted by Joanna at 11:38 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 17, 2009

Game 51: Alabama A&M at Texas

Texas won the second game of the double-header against Alabama A&M 9-3. Taylor Jungmann was only due to pitch 2 or 3 innings but he had a perfect game going into the 6th, so he stayed in longer than planned. Sadly, the lone hit he gave up in the 6th was a slow dribbler to 2b. Oh well. It'll be better if he throws that perfect game during the post-season, doncha think? Heh.

Today's starting line-ups for Game 2:

Alabama A&M Texas
1 LaDale Hayes, cf
2 Marcus Spencer, rf
3 Kenneth Townsend, 1b
4 Alton Ellison, dh
5 Kency Duarte, 3b
6 Bernard McKinney, 2b
7 Jerard Thomas, lf
8 Chris Jennings, c
9 Fabian Harper, ss
- Kellen Toone, p 		1 Michael Torres, 3b
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Kevin Lusson, dh
5 Cameron Rupp, c
6 Kevin Keyes, rf
7 Brandon Loy, ss
8 Connor Rowe, cf
9 David Hernandez, lf
- Taylor Jungmann, p

Yes, David Hernandez started in lf. Not a single ball made it to lf, though, so his defensive skills out there were not tested. Only two balls even made it out of the infield in the 2nd game for Alabama A&M, though. A fly out to cf in the 4th and a single up the middle in the 9th. Yikes.

Here's how things played out:

Taylor Jungmann had a great game. So did the defense, overall. The Horns faced the minimum through the first 8.2 innings. Very very nice.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

And, now it's on to the Big 12 tournament. The field has been set. I haven't had time to look at the schedule but my mom called to tell me the Horns are scheduled for afternoon games throughout the tournament. Bah. I'll have to try and listen while I'm at work. I'll be back with more regarding the tournament tomorrow. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:16 PM | Permalink

Game 50: Alabama A&M at Texas

Texas was scheduled to play two against Alabama A&M yesterday but it rained quite a bit so they decided to play two today instead (a 7-inning game followed by a 9-inning game). Texas won the first game 5-1. Ruffin was declared the pitcher of record at the start of the game and earned the win to move his record to 8-2.

Today's starting line-ups:

Alabama A&M Texas
1 LaDale Hayes, cf
2 Marcus Spencer, rf
3 Kenneth Townsend, 1b
4 Alton Ellison, dh
5 Kency Duarte, 3b
6 Bernard McKinney, 2b
7 Maverick Scott, lf
8 Chris Jennings, c
9 Fabian Harper, ss
- Chris Hernandez, p 		1 Michael Torres, dh
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Kevin Lusson, 3b
5 Kevin Keyes, rf
6 Brandon Loy, ss
7 Preston Clark, c
8 Tim Maitland, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Chance Ruffin, p

Here's how things played out:

I don't have much to say about the game except that I was surprised at how long Ruffin stayed in the game. It was my understanding that the Horns would try to get an inning or two from most of their pitchers today...trying to get in a bit of work for everyone as they get ready for the Big 12 tournament.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

Posted by Joanna at 9:46 PM | Permalink

Friday - May 15, 2009

Tickets on sale for Regional and Super Regional

UT is selling tickets to the Regional and Super Regional. On the assumption that we're likely to host a Regional this year. So, run on over to the the Texas Box office site and order some tickets. I ordered mine about 5 minutes after the email went out to season ticket holders and then promptly forgot to let the rest of you know tickets were on sale. Tsk tsk tsk.

Here's the bulk of the message that went out to season ticket holders:

The University of Texas Longhorns baseball team is awaiting selection as a possible host for a 2009 NCAA Baseball Championship regional site. NCAA Regional sites are announced Sunday, May 24. If UT is announced as a host institution, games at UFCU Disch-Falk Field are scheduled Friday, May 29-Monday, June 1.

In addition, an NCAA Baseball Championship Super Regional could take place Thursday, June 4-Sunday, June 7. A Super Regional is a best two-out-of-three series involving two of the 16 NCAA Regional winners. NCAA Super Regional sites are determined Monday, June 1.

[ ... ]

NCAA Regional All-Session reserved tickets are $60, and general admission tickets are $45 for all sessions. NCAA Super Regional All-Session reserved tickets are $30. A $6 handling charge is charged on each order.

Individual game tickets (if available) go on sale just prior to each event. All-Session ticket prices are as listed above regardless of the number of games played.

[ ... ]

Parking for the tournament is similar to the regular season. Holders of Longhorn Foundation parking permits are admitted into reserved lots upon presentation of their regular season parking permit.

The stuff I deleted was about how to pay and where/when to pick up your tickets.

By the way (since I'm here), the forecast for tomorrow is calling for rain most of the afternoon. The chance is running from 40% to 60% depending on who's making the forecast. I sure hope it stays away from Disch-Falk. 'Just thought I'd let the out-of-towners know what's up.

Posted by Joanna at 5:24 PM | Permalink

Monday - May 11, 2009

Inning by Inning news

"Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach" is due to be released on June 2nd. Here's a copy of the DVD cover:

[Inning by Inning DVD cover]

Wanna win a free copy? Virgil Films and Entertainment (distribution company for the DVD) has offered me two free copies to give away to readers of my site. I set up a special email address to handle the entries. If you'd like a chance to win, send an email note to dvd_contest@joanna.org with "Inning by Inning contest entry" on the subject line (many email programs will put the subject line in automatically by clicking on the link). One entry per person, please. Good luck!

You can pre-order the DVD here. And, you can join the facebook fan page here...or whatever it is people do on facebook pages. I confess, I'm too much of a fuddy-duddy to have a facebook page!

PS: Rest assured, your email address will be kept private. I won't be sharing the addresses with anyone and once the contest is over, I'll delete them.

UPDATE. I didn't think to mention a deadline. No entries will be accepted after midnight (local Austin time) on June 1, 2009. I'll post a note here the next day with the names of the winners.

UPDATE #2 (June 2). The contest is over. See the results post for more info. Thanks to everyone who played.

Posted by Joanna at 7:46 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 10, 2009

Game 49: Texas A&M at Texas

Texas scored 5 unearned runs in the 1st inning of today's game. Happily, those 5 runs held up as the Horns beat the Aggies 5-4. Whew. Lots of emotion out there today. The crowd was big and loud. I rather expected there to be fewer people in the stands since it was Mother's Day but I think there were actually more people in the stands today than there were yesterday. There were certainly more people in our section at any rate.

Taylor Jungmann started for Texas but did not make it out of the 5th inning. He gave up 3 earned runs on 9 hits with 1 strikeout and 2 walks. Austin Dicharry pitched the middle 2.1 innings to get his 6th win of the year. He gave up 1 earned run on 1 hit with a walk and 2 strikeouts. He also threw a wild pitch. Austin Wood went into the game in the 7th. He didn't allow any runs (he did give up 3 hits and struck out 3) to earn his 13th save of the year.

Offensively, the Horns only managed 5 hits. The best hit of the day was probably the double Travis Tucker hit down the 3b line in the first. Purty. The most important hit was likely the single by Tim Maitland, also in the first inning, to drive in the 3rd and 4th Texas runs.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas A&M Texas
1 Brodie Greene, 2b
2 Brooks Raley, rf
3 Luke Anders, 1b
4 Kyle Colligan, cf
5 Joe Patterson, dh
6 Caleb Shofner, 3b
7 David Alleman, lf
8 Kevin Gonzalez, c
9 Adam Smith, ss
- Barret Loux, p 		1 Michael Torres, 3b
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh
5 Cameron Rupp, c
6 Brandon Loy, ss
7 Kevin Keyes, rf
8 Tim Maitland, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Taylor Jungmann, p

Second start of the year for Maitland.

Here's how things played out:

Anyone know what's up with Keith Shinaberry? The situation in the 5th...with bases loaded and a lefty at the plate...is exactly the sort of situation he's excelled at over the last couple of seasons. Send him in, he throws a couple of pitches, and gets the batter to hit a double-play ground ball. I've seen him throwing in the bull pen several times in the last few weeks but I can't remember the last time he actually appeared in a game. I can only assume that he's suffering from some sort of injury. I wish the folks in the Baseball office would post injury info. But, perhaps that would violate student privacy laws?

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

With the win and a loss by OU to OSU later in the afternoon, Texas clinched the regular-season Big 12 Championship. Congrats!

Today also proved to be Senior Day. Sadly, the Baseball Office didn't bother to advertise that fact. This is the first time I can remember them having Senior Day before the final home game of the season. They did comment that it was the final Big 12 home game of the year. I didn't have my camera with me so y'all don't have any photos of the Seniors from me. The TexasSports.com gallery for today's game has a couple, though. Sigh...

With the series win, I'm thinking Texas has a lock on hosting a Regional this year. They're also likely to be a Top 8 seed. So, things are looking good for the post-season. The team has one more home series...a double-header against Alabama A&M on Saturday...before they head to Oklahoma for the Big 12 tournament. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:32 PM | Permalink

Game 48 photos

Sorry I didn't get these posted last night. I ran out of steam. Anyway...

Scott Bryant's number was retired before yesterday's game:

[Scott Bryant]

He gave a nice speech. That's Coach Gus standing in the background along with Scott's wife and son.

I've enjoyed all of the number retirement ceremonies. It's been fun seeing and hearing the "old" guys. But, I have to say I'm glad they're over. Texas is 1-3 in games on jersey retirement days this year. So, perhaps you can understand that sentiment.

UPDATE. I can't believe I forgot to post this photo. Look who took the ceremonial first pitch from Scott Bryant:

[Tommy Harmon]

Yep...Tommy Harmon. The pitch ended up being high and a little outside. Assuming the imaginary batter was left-handed; if he was a righty, he was plonked.

Travis Tucker gets props from Tommy Nicholson after his single in the 9th:

[Travis Tucker]

Cameron Rupp about to catch the ball for that play at home:

[Cameron Rupp]

He caught the ball and made the tag in time. Sadly, it was knocked loose as Gonzalez slid through Rupp and the plate.

Michael Torres, watching the pitch and leaning away from 1b in the first inning:

[Michael Torres]

Torres was one of only 4 base-runners for Texas on the day; 3 reached on singles and one reached on a dropped third strike. So sad.

Connor Rowe, just beat out by the throw from ss in the 3rd:

[Connor Rowe]

Brandon Loy, shading his eyes and leaning back as he's about to catch a high pop-up in the 7th:

[Brandon Loy]

Brandon Workman on the mound in the 5th:

[Brandon Workman]

Kevin Lusson at the plate as Travis Tucker takes his lead off 1b in the 9th:

[Kevin Lusson, Travis Tucker]

Cole Green on the mound:

[Cole Green]

Kevin Keyes, just before and after making a catch in the 9th:

[Kevin Keyes]

Kendal Carrillo, in the 9th:

[Kendal Carrillo]

Interestingly, Carrillo pitched one-third of an inning without officially facing anyone. He went in with 2 out, threw 3 pitches (2 balls and a strike), and then picked off the runner at 1b. Heh. Also: did you notice the slight homage to Huston Street?

Tant Shepherd, catching a fly ball in the 7th:

[Tant Shepherd]

Here's hoping the Horns take the rubber match this afternoon. Wouldn't that make for a very Happy Mother's Day? Well, for some of us...at any rate. Most of the folks reading this page, I'd wager.

Posted by Joanna at 8:20 AM | Permalink

Saturday - May 9, 2009

Game 48: Texas A&M at Texas

Sadly, Texas ran into a buzz saw named Ross Hales today and lost 0-3 to the Aggies. Hales pitched a complete game and only gave up 3 singles. He did not walk any batters...nor did he hit any. He struck out 9 (every starter but Rupp struck out, Belt struck out twice). By my count, he threw 106 pitches; 71 of them were thrown for strikes. Oh my goodness. Texas, meanwhile, threw what would normally be considered a pretty good game; good enough to give the Horns a win. Cole Green, Brandon Workman, and Kendal Carrillo combined to give up 3 earned runs (actually, Green gave up all of those) on 5 hits (including 1 double and 1 homerun) with 8 strikeouts and 3 walks.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas A&M Texas
1 Brodie Greene, 2b
2 Brooks Raley, rf
3 Luke Anders, 1b
4 Kyle Colligan, cf
5 Joe Patterson, dh
6 Caleb Shofner, 3b
7 David Alleman, lf
8 Kevin Gonzalez, c
9 Adam Smith, ss
- Ross Hales, p 		1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Belt, 1b
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Cameron Rupp, c
5 Kevin Keyes, rf
6 Preston Clark, dh
7 Brandon Loy, ss
8 Tant Shepherd, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Cole Green, p

Here's how things played out:

I don't have much to say beyond what I said at the top of this post so here's the line:

[Final line score]

Yep. That photo of the score means I took my camera to the park this afternoon. I'll be back with photos soon. Nothing too thrilling, though, I'm sorry to report.

Chances are, the Horns won't encounter Aggie pitchers throwing the game of their life in back-to-back games so I'm expecting things to be back on track tomorrow. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 7:37 PM | Permalink

Friday - May 8, 2009

Game 47: Texas at Texas A&M

I barely made it home in time for the first pitch. I listened to the top of the first inning on the radio while I got set up on my computer and found the free video stream from the Aggie page. Thanks, Aggies!

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas Texas A&M
1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Belt, 1b
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Cameron Rupp, c
5 Kevin Keyes, rf
6 Preston Clark, dh
7 Brandon Loy, ss
8 Tant Shepherd, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Chance Ruffin, p 		1 Brodie Greene, 2b
2 Brooks Raley, dh/p
3 Luke Anders, 1b
4 Kyle Colligan, cf
5 Joe Patterson, lf
6 Caleb Shofner, 3b
7 David Alleman, rf
8 Kevin Gonzalez, c
9 Adam Smith, ss
- Brooks Raley, p

Here's how things played out:

I repeat: Wow.

What a game. I was marveling, 'round about the 6th inning, at how quickly the game was running along. Then, things slowed down to a crawl. Yikes. Austin Wood got the win for Texas, taking his record to 5-1, and Austin Dicharry earned his 1st save. I'm so glad our offense was able to answer every time those scrappy Aggies scored. Very nice.

It's too bad Chance Ruffin didn't get a win. He really threw a heck of a game. He only gave up 3 hits. Sadly, two of 'em were multi-rbi homeruns. He struck out 9 tonight. 'Course, he also walked 3 and hit 2...and 3 of those free-pass runners went on to score.

Interestingly, it was the middle and bottom part of the order that did most of the damage for the Horns. Cameron Rupp was the star of the day as he went 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and 3 runs scored. Very nice.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

Here's hoping the Horns come home and keep up the good work. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:41 PM | Permalink

Wednesday - May 6, 2009

Game 46: Texas Southern at Texas

Texas beat Texas Southern this evening 7-3. Stayton Thomas got his first start of the year (actually, I think it's his first start as a Longhorn) and earned the win to improve his record to 3-0. Cool, eh? Thomas went 5+ innings and did give up the 3 earned runs...all in the 6th, though. Through the first 5, he held the Tigers scoreless on 3 singles with 2 strikeouts and 1 walk. He did give up back-to-back-to-back-to-back (yes, really) hits to start off the 6th. Three of those runners scored (1 on a balk...1 of 3 called in the game). After the 4th single (hard-luck infield single to the pitcher!) the Horns sent Kendall Carillo to the mound. Carillo picked off a runner and induced two groundouts to end the 6th. He also pitched the 7th and 8th. So, he threw 3 scoreless innings, faced 9, and gave up 1 single while striking out 2. Austin Dicharry threw a 1-2-3 ninth (with 1 strikeout) to end the game.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas Southern Texas
1 Ray Hernandez, 2b
2 Deshaun Dilworth, lf
3 Earnest Rhone, 3b
4 David Arrendondo, c
5 Charles Derkowski, 1b
6 Adam Sellers, dh
7 Joe Bryant, cf
8 Brandon Mikell, rf
9 Michael Norris, ss
- Danilo Carcamo, p 		1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Brandon Belt, 1b
3 Michael Torres, 3b
4 Preston Clark, dh
5 Cameron Rupp, c
6 Kevin Keyes, rf
7 Brandon Loy, ss
8 Tant Shepherd, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Stayton Thomas, p

Here's how things played out:

The Horns seemed a wee bit flat offensively after their explosion this weekend. But, for the most part, they took ready advantage of the opportunities they were given.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

Texas heads to College Station for a 6:30 game on Friday. Then it's a quick turnaround back to Austin to host the Aggies at noon on Saturday (watch the game on FSN if you can't make it to Disck-Falk). They close out the series at 2 on Sunday. That game will also be on the air...on something called Fox College Sports.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:26 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 3, 2009

Game 45: Texas at Baylor

Texas won today's game 3-1 to sweep Baylor. I watched the game on the Baylor internet stream and this report is based on that. Today's game was very different from the Friday and Saturday games...a low scoring error-free event. Texas out-hit Baylor 12-5 but still only managed to push 3 runs across. The starters for both teams did a great job. Taylor Jungmann got his first start and win in Big 12 play to improve his record to 5-3 on the season. He went 6 innings, faced 22 batters, and gave up 1 earned run on 3 hits with 10 strikeouts (!) and 1 walk. Austin Dicharry pitched the 7th and Austin Wood pitched the final 2 innings of the game to earn his 12th save of the year. Nice.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas Baylor
1 Michael Torres, 3b
2 Travis Tucker, 2b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Kevin Lusson, dh
5 Cameron Rupp, c
6 Kevin Keyes, rf
7 Brandon Loy, ss
8 Connor Rowe, cf
9 Tant Shepherd, lf
- Taylor Jungmann, p 		1 Dustin Dickerson, dh
2 Shaver Hansen, ss
3 Aaron Miller, rf
4 Dan Evatt, 1b
5 Ben Booker, cf
6 Adam Hornung, lf
7 Gregg Glime, c
8 Raynor Campbell, 3b
9 Landis Ware, 2b
- Willie Kempf, p

Yep...Tim Maitland got his first start. Good for him. And, here's how things played out:

Nice job on the part of the Horns today. I would've liked to see more runs come about as a result of all those hits. But, a win is a win. And, I'm a happy camper. The sweep, by the way, puts the Horns back on top in the conference race. And, if I understood Keith Moreland correctly yesterday, the tie game does get dropped (as though the game was not played at all) when calculating winning percentages to determine conference standings.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

Texas now hosts Texas Southern on Wednesday (note: not Tuesday) before facing the Aggies for their final Big 12 series of the season. The first game of that series will be played in College Station and the weekend games will be here in Austin.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 4:38 PM | Permalink

Saturday - May 2, 2009

Game 44: Texas at Baylor

I had trouble getting the video stream to work so listened to most of the first two innings on the radio. Once I finally got video, I switched off the radio since it was about 30 seconds ahead of the video. It was the Baylor Bears stream so had Baylor announcers, who were not bad. Not Craig and Keith but not bad. Anyway...

Texas won 19-11 in a weird game. Read on.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas Baylor
1 Travis Tucker, 2b
2 Michael Torres, 3b
3 Brandon Belt, 1b
4 Kevin Keyes, rf
5 Preston Clark, dh
6 Brandon Loy, ss
7 Cameron Rupp, c
8 Tant Shepherd, lf
9 Connor Rowe, cf
- Cole Green, p 		1 Dustin Dickerson, 1b
2 Shaver Hansen, ss
3 Aaron Miller, dh
4 Dan Evatt, lf
5 Ben Booker, cf
6 Adam Hornung, rf
7 Gregg Glime, c
8 Drew Bias, 3b
9 Landis Ware, 2b
- Aaron Miller, p

A weird game. Cole Green got the win to improve his record to 4-1. Aaron Miller took the loss for the Bears. 'Not sure what to think of the 7th and 9th innings for Baylor. Especially since the Horns threw five 3-up/3-down innings. Ah well. Connor Rowe had another great game at the plate, going 4-for-6 with 4 runs scored and 3 batted in. Travis Tucker's grand slam in the 2nd was a great shot in the arm for the Horns. The offense took advantage of most of their chances and only had one 3-up/3-down inning. Which was nice.

Ah well...here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

The teams are scheduled to face off against each other again tomorrow in Waco at 1:30. Weather permitting. It's supposed to rain quite a bit overnight and the outlook is not great for tomorrow. If they do play, Taylor Jungmann will get his first Big 12 start. Go, Taylor!

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:29 PM | Permalink

Game 43: Baylor at Texas

Just a quick update tonight. It's been a long week and I'm hoping those of you that didn't make it to the park were able to watch on TV. And, so...

Yes. Texas beat Baylor 12-4. Texas jumped on top 4-0 early. Baylor answered with 1 in the 3rd...which Texas promptly got back in the bottom of the inning. And, then Baylor slowly battled their way back into the game. With Texas ahead 5-4 going into the 7th, the Bears fell apart. Basically. They'd already committed 3 errors in the game. They committed 4 more...2 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th. They gave up 7 more runs along the way. Ouch.

Chance Ruffin (really struggling to get his stuff across tonight, according to Coach Garrido in post-game comments) managed to hold things together enough to go 6 innings and get his 7th win of the season. Austin Wood threw the final 3 innings and picked up his 11th save of the season. Kendal Volz took the loss for the Bears, dropping his record to 3-5.

Connor Rowe was the offensive star of the game for Texas. He hit a 2-run homer in the 2nd and hit singles in the 7th and 8th to drive in 3 more runs (1 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th). Sadly, he also committed a terrible faux pas in the 7th. With one out (after having stolen 3b!), he had a chance to score when Tucker hit a bunt to the pitcher. Rowe was running hard and the pitcher tried to throw him out at home. Rowe beat the throw and side-stepped the catcher who was partially blocking the plate. But, Rowe failed to step on the plate. And, he just kept going toward the Texas dug-out. Esther and I (and I'm sure many other people in the stands) were yelling at him to go back and touch the plate. The folks in the Baylor dug-out, meanwhile, were hollering at the catcher to tag Rowe. Which, he finally did...about 15 feet off the plate. Rowe out on the play. I can only guess he somehow thought he'd touched the plate. Weird, though.

Please check out the story on the TexasSports.com site for more info.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

[Final line score]

The teams now travel to Waco for the final two games of the series. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 12:15 AM | Permalink

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