« Game 57: Texas at Boston College (Austin Regional) | Main | Elsewhere, Day 3 »

Sunday - May 31, 2009

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