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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:

• 1st inning, UT
• Brooks Raley (lhp) on the mound for the Aggies.
• Tucker was hit by a pitch (on the foot).
• Belt advanced Tucker to 2b with a sac bunt to the pitcher. The pitcher bobbled the ball a bit but recovered in time to make the out at 1b.
• Torres lined out to ss for an unassisted double play. The shortstop caught the ball and stepped on 2b before Tucker could get back.
• 1st inning, TAMU
• Chance Ruffin (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Greene popped out behind the plate (1st pitch)...to the pitcher! On the play, Rupp went for the ball and then the wind blew the ball away from him. Ruffin called off everyone else to make the catch.
• Raley popped out to 1b (right in front of the plate).
• Anders struck out looking after working the count full and fouling off several pitches.
• 2nd inning, UT
• Rupp doubled (full count) off the fence in cf!
• Keyes flew out (1st pitch) to cf at the warning track. Rupp tagged up and advanced to 3b.
• Clark grounded out to ss, scoring Rupp.
• Loy flew out to rf at the warning track.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, TAMU
• Colligan struck out swinging.
• Patterson struck out looking.
• Shofner fell behind 0-2, then drew a full-count walk.
• Alleman struck out swinging.
• 3rd inning, UT
• Shepherd flew out to rf.
• Rowe hit a homerun over the rf fence! The Aggie radio guys didn't think he'd hit the ball very hard. Heh. The right fielder seemed to be running hard for the wall right away.
• Tucker flew out to lf.
• Belt flew out to cf.
• Texas up 2-0.
• 3rd inning, TAMU
• Gonzalez flew out (1st pitch) to cf.
• Smith struck out swinging (foul tip caught by Rupp).
• Greene struck out swinging!
• 4th inning, UT
• Torres struck out swinging.
• Rupp doubled to right-center.
• Keyes struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Clark doubled through the left side, scoring Rupp.
• Childress made a visit to the mound.
• Loy grounded out to ss. Very close play at 1b after the slow grounder.
• Texas up 3-0.
• 4th inning, TAMU
• Raley grounded out to ss.
• Anders grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Colligan flew out to lf.
• 5th inning, UT
• Shepherd grounded out to 3b. The third baseman made a very nice stop of the ball that almost bounced over him and then did a good job to calmly set himself before throwing to 1b.
• Rowe flew out to cf.
• Tucker grounded out to ss.
• 5th inning, TAMU
• Patterson reached on an error by 1b. Belt booted the ball a bit to his right. He tried to bare-hand the ball to throw it to Ruffin covering but couldn't get a handle on the ball.
• Shofner was hit by the first pitch (high...on his shoulder, maybe?...hard to see on the Internet video) to put runners at 1b and 2b.
• Alleman hit a bloop single to lf. On the play, Shepherd charged and almost caught the bloop so the runners had to hold up. The ball was hit so short that the runners didn't have time to run after it dropped in.
• Gonzalez struck out swinging.
• Smith struck out looking.
• Greene flew out to cf. Yes!
• 6th inning, UT
• During the break in action, the Aggies replaced the bases. The video stayed on the little girl (about 5 or 6 years old) involved in changing 3b. She was so cute, I almost overdosed on the sugar rush flowing over the air-waves as she gamely waved to the crowd and then very seriously stomped on the bag to make sure it was secure. Very very cute.
• Belt struck out looking (full count).
• Torres struck out swinging (tip into the catcher's glove).
• Rupp struck out looking (full count).
• 6th inning, TAMU
• Raley struck out looking. 9th strikeout of the evening for Ruffin; 8 batters involved.
• Anders walked on 5 pitches.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• Colligan was hit by the first pitch (left hip, maybe).
• Patterson homered over the rf fence (1-2 count). Second hit of the game for the Aggies. Sigh...
• The home plate umpire visited with both head coaches after the teams apparently started jawing at each other a bit.
• Shofner grounded out to 2b.
• Alleman also grounded out to 2b.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 7th inning, UT
• Keyes singled through the left side.
• Keyes was almost picked off at 1b with Clark at the plate. The home plate ump had words with someone in the Texas dugout after the throw. I'm guessing someone in the dugout (Skip Johnson?) was arguing that Raley should've been called for a balk.
• Clark squared to bunt a couple of times but after a couple of balls, a called strike, and a foul bunt, he managed to work the count full...and then drew a walk, moving Keyes to 2b.
• Much disgust from the Aggie crowd...and apparently the dugout as well. The home plate ump gave some sort of warning to the Aggie dugout.
• Coach Garrido called Loy over from the plate for a short visit.
• Loy watched a ball, bunted a pitch foul, and then flared a single out into shallow cf (the ball fell between cf, rf, and 2b) to load the bases.
• Shepherd doubled (1-1 count) off the top of the fence in lf, clearing the bases!!!
• Rowe was hit by a 1-2 pitch. Not sure where the ball hit Rowe but the pitch was pretty far inside.
• Tucker hit a 5-4 sac bunt to move Shepherd to 3b and Rowe to 2b. Nice throw by the third baseman to get the out at 1b.
• With the infield pulled in, Belt singled through the right side, scoring Shepherd and Rowe.
• Torres singled up the middle, moving Belt to 2b.
• The Aggies sent Alex Wilson (rhp) to the mound, replacing Raley. (No word on whether or not Raley would stay in at dh.)
• Rupp flew out to rf (ball caught a couple of feet shy of the fence). Belt tagged and moved up to 3b on the play.
• Keyes grounded out to 3b. Another leaping catch for the third baseman.
• Texas up 8-3.
• 7th inning, TAMU
• Texas sent Tim Maitland in at lf (taking Keyes' spot in the line-up) and Kyle Lusson in at rf (taking Shepherd's spot).
• Smith drew a full-count walk.
• After the first pitch to Greene (a ball), Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Greene hit a towering homerun down the lf line. Third hit of the game for the Aggies. Yikes.
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Ruffin.
• Raley (who did stay in at dh) struck out looking. And, said something (we'll never know what) to the home plate ump 'cause he was promptly ejected from of the game.
• Anders singled through the left side.
• Colligan homered (1st pitch) off the top of the rf fence. Damn.
• Patterson grounded out to ss. Loy was deep in the hole when he stopped the ball and made a very nice long throw to 1b to get the out.
• Texas up 8-7.
• 8th inning, UT
• Russell Moldenhauer (pinch-hitting for Clark) walked on 4 pitches.
• Loy moved Moldenhauer to 2b on a sac bunt to the pitcher (1-4 on the out). The pitcher had trouble getting the ball out of his glove and just barely made the play.
• Kevin Lusson struck out swinging (0-2 count).
• Rowe flew out to rf at the foul line. The right fielder had to make a long run to make the catch.
• 8th inning, TAMU
• Shofner grounded out to the pitcher (1st pitch).
• Alleman drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Scott Arthur went in to pinch-run for Alleman and stole 2b on the 2nd pitch to Gonzalez.
• Gonzalez fought off several pitches, worked the count full, and eventually popped out to 2b.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Smith tripled off the top of the wall in left-center, scoring Arthur. Smith was called out (8-3-2) at the plate. He looked like he was probably safe...although I'm not sure he actually ever touched the plate. Rupp did a nice job of blocking him. The Aggies did something the folks at Disch-Falk never do. They replayed a controversial play and the crowd went nuts when they saw the potentially bad call played again on the big screen. The folks at Disch-Falk never play anything remotely close. Hmmmm...
• The Aggie 3b coach was ejected from the game after the play at home. Double hmmmm... M'thinks if the folks in the booth hadn't shown the replay, the coach would not have started arguing the call again and wouldn't have been tossed.
• Follow-up: in the post-game show, Keith Moreland said he didn't think Smith ever touched the plate on the play. I also thought that was a possibility when I saw it. It's entirely possible that was the call at the plate.
• Game tied 8-8.
• 9th inning, UT
• Tucker was called out on strikes (0-2 count).
• Belt struck out swinging.
• Torres grounded out to 2b.
• 9th inning, TAMU
• Greene singled up the middle.
• Dylan Petrich (hitting in Raley's dh spot) hit into a lovely 6-4-3 double play.
• Anders grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• 10th inning, UT
• Rupp singled through the left side.
• Childress made a visit to the mound.
• Maitland (who squared to bunt) was hit by a pitch, moving Rupp to 2b.
• Moldenhauer singled up the middle, scoring Rupp and moving Maitland to 3b.
• Jordan Etier went in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
• Maitland scored and Etier moved up to 2b on a wild pitch with Loy at the plate.
• Loy went on to draw a 5-pitch walk.
• Coach Garrido took an offensive time-out to talk things over with Kyle Lusson.
• Kyle Lusson reached on a fielding error by the pitcher who fielded the sac bunt hit right to him and then dropped the ball. Bases loaded.
• Rowe grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Etier scored on the play and Loy moved up to 3b.
• Tucker flew out to lf.
• Texas up 11-8.
• 10th inning, TAMU
• Colligan tripled down the rf line. Ouch. Kyle Lusson had a bit of trouble gathering up the ball; if he'd fielded cleanly, Colligan would've been held to a double.
• Patterson singled through the left side, scoring Colligan.
• Texas sent Austin Dicharry (rhp) to the mound, replacing Wood.
• Shofner flew out to rf.
• Brett Parsons (pinch-hitting for Arthur) worked the count full, fouled off a couple more pitches, and then struck out swinging. Yes!
• Gonzalez struck out looking. Pitch sequence: ball, ball, ball, called strike, called strike, called strike.
• Texas wins 11-9 in 10 innings. Wow.

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):

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

Posted by Joanna at 10:41 PM