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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:

• 1st inning, Texas A&M
• Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Greene tried to sneak in a bunt down the 3b line after watching a few pitches, but ended up grounding out (1-3 on the out).
• Raley watched 6 pitches and drew a full-count walk.
• Anders grounded out to 2b.
• Colligan grounded out to ss.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Ross Hales on the mound for Texas A&M.
• Tucker struck out swinging (foul tip caught by catcher).
• Belt grounded out to ss.
• Torres singled into cf (1-0 pitch).
• Rupp popped out to ss. Torres, by the way, would've been called out for runner's interference if the shortstop had dropped the ball. He ran right in front of Smith (in an effort to distract the ss, I suspect) as the ss was about to field the ball.
• 2nd inning, Texas A&M
• Patterson grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Shofner struck out swinging.
• Alleman grounded out to 2b. Tucker bobbled the ball a bit but made a nice recovery and throw to 1b to get the out.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Keyes flew out to rf (1st pitch); Clark popped out to ss; and Loy grounded out to 3b.
• 3rd inning, Texas A&M
• 3-up/3-down: Gonzalez flew out to cf; Smith struck out swinging; and Greene lined out to cf.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down (so sad): Shepherd grounded out to the pitcher; Rowe grounded out to ss; and Tucker grounded out to the pitcher.
• 4th inning, Texas A&M
• Raley popped out to ss (in foul territory).
• Anders grounded out to the pitcher.
• Colligan hit a 1-1 pitch over the lf fence in front of the scoreboard (possibly wind aided).
• Patterson singled to rf.
• Shofner struck out swinging.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 4th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Belt struck out swinging, Torres grounded out to 2b (1st pitch), and Rupp grounded out to 2b.
• 5th inning, Texas A&M
• Alleman drew a 5-pitch walk.
• After the ball walk was called, the home plate ump issued a warning of some sort to someone in the Texas dugout. Tommy Harmon, perhaps?
• Gonzalez doubled through the left side, moving Alleman to 3b. On the hit and run, Alleman hustled into 3b. On the play, Loy made a move to cover 2b as the runner from 1b took off. If he'd been at his normal position, the line drive would've been right at him for a nice double play. Damn.
• With the corners pulled in a bit, Smith grounded out to 3b. Torres looked Alleman back to 3b before throwing to 1b.
• Again, with the corners in, Greene singled into cf, just past the diving ss, scoring both runners. Greene moved up to 2b on the throw home. The play at home was very close. In fact, the throw (very nice throw from Rowe in cf) and tag were in time but Rupp could not hold onto the ball.
• Greene was caught stealing (2-5) with Raley at the plate. Another close call by Dave Yeast (home plate ump last night).
• Raley drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Anders singled off the mound into cf, moving Raley to 3b.
• The first pitch to Colligan was a ball. Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound and called Brandon Workman (rhp) in to replace Green on the mound.
• Anders moved up to 2b on a wild pitch with Colligan at the plate. The ball got away from Rupp but not far enough that the runner from 3b could make a move.
• Colligan struck out swinging (full count).
• Texas down 0-3.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Keyes struck out swinging.
• Clark popped out to 3b (in foul territory).
• Loy singled to right-center and advanced to 2b on an error by the center fielder, who booted the ball a bit once he got to it.
• Shepherd struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so tagged Shepherd to complete the out.
• 6th inning, Texas A&M
• Patterson flew out to lf at the warning track.
• Shofner drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Alleman lined out to cf.
• Shofner moved up to 2b on a balk with Gonzalez at the plate.
• Gonzalez struck out swinging (foul tip into catcher's glove).
• 6th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Rowe grounded out to 3b; Tucker lined out to 2b, and Belt struck out swinging.
• 7th inning, Texas A&M
• Smith drew a full-count walk without ever swinging his bat.
• Greene moved Smith to 2b with a sac bunt down the 1b line (1-3 on the out).
• Raley flew out to lf.
• Anders popped out to ss.
• 7th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Torres struck out swinging, Rupp flew out to rf, and Keyes grounded out to 2b.
• 8th inning, Texas A&M
• 3-up/3-down: Colligan struck out swinging, Patterson struck out swinging, and Shofner grounded out to ss.
• 8th inning, Texas
• The Aggies made a couple of defensive changes. They moved Raley over to lf and sent Scott Arthur in at rf (taking Alleman's spot in the line-up).
• Clark struck out swinging (foul tip into catcher's glove).
• Loy struck out swinging...on a wild pitch. The pitch got away from the catcher (bouncing toward the Aggie dug-out) and Loy made it to 1b pretty easily.
• Shepherd, sadly, hit into a picture-perfect 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
• 9th inning, Texas A&M
• Texas sent Tim Maitland into lf, replacing Shepherd.
• Arthur, after trying to bunt his way aboard, went on to strike out swinging.
• Gonzalez flew out to rf.
• Smith drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Which prompted a pitching change. Kendal Carrillo (rhp) went to the mound, replacing Workman.
• After throwing a couple of balls and a called strike to Greene, Carrillo picked Smith off (1-4-3).
• 9th inning, Texas
• Rowe struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Tucker singled up the middle. Third Fourth base-runner of the game for Texas. Of the GAME. Wow.
• Kevin Lusson (pinch-hitting for Belt) reached on a 4-6 fielder's choice. The relay throw from 2b was high and off-line. It would've been a close play to get the double play if the throw had been right on target.
• Torres flew out to lf (1st pitch) to end the game.
• Texas loses 0-3. Great effort by Ross Hales.

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

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