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Sunday - May 17, 2009

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:

• 1st inning, Alabama A&M
• Chance Ruffin (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Hayes grounded out to 1b (pitcher covered 1b).
• Spencer singled through the right side.
• Townsend singled through the left side, moving Spencer to 2b.
• Ellison popped out to 3b.
• Duarte drew a full-count walk without ever taking the bat off his shoulder to load the bases.
• McKinney grounded out to 2b. It was a close play at 1b as the ground ball to 2b was a slow bouncer. Nice play by Tucker. Whew.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Chris Hernandez (rhp) on the mound for AAMU.
• Torres doubled to lf. It could've easily been ruled E7 as the left-fielder had trouble tracking the ball and actually got a glove on the ball and then dropped it. But, the official scorer gave him a double.
• With Tucker at the plate, Torres stole 3b.
• Tucker drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Belt popped up a bunt toward 2b. The runners had to hold up to see if it would be caught. The second baseman did not make the catch but did field the ball and tag Tucker out. He charged toward 1b and almost managed to get Belt as well. But, he was barely late. Torres scored on the play.
• Lusson flew out to cf.
• Keyes grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Alabama A&M
• Scott struck out swinging.
• Jennings struck out looking.
• Harper, who squared to bunt, was hit on the shoulder by a pitch.
• Hayes grounded into a 4-unassisted fielder's choice.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Loy fouled off a few pitches before drawing an 8-pitch walk; he was then caught stealing (2-4) with Clark at the plate (pitch-out on the play).
• Insert mound visit.
• Clark lined out to rf. The right-fielder dove and made a very nice catch.
• Maitland drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Rowe flew out to rf (foul).
• 3rd inning, Alabama A&M
• 3-up/3-down: Spencer grounded out to ss; Townsend struck out swinging; and Ellison grounded out to 2b.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Torres doubled to the cf/rf gap.
• Tucker reached on a bunt single, moving Torres to 3b. The first baseman made a great play to stop a bad throw from the pitcher from going to the wall. Error avoided.
• Tucker stole 2b with Belt at the plate.
• Belt singled to cf, scoring Torres and Tucker.
• Belt stole 2b on the first pitch to Kevin Lusson.
• Lusson grounded out to 3b. The third baseman looked Belt back to 2b but as soon as he threw to 1b, Belt took off and made it to 3b easily.
• Keyes singled through the left side, scoring Belt.
• Loy was hit on the helmet by a hard fast ball. Ouch.
• AAMU sent Grant Mattix (rhp) to the mound, replacing Hernandez.
• Clark moved Keyes to 3b and Loy to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt down the 3b line.
• Maitland grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 4-0.
• 4th inning, Alabama A&M
• 3-up/3-down: Duarte grounded out to 1b; McKinney grounded out to 3b; and Scott popped out to the catcher (foul) on a bunt attempt.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Alabama A&M played musical chairs: Hayes moved from cf to rf; Spencer moved from rf to lf; Duarte moved from 3b to cf; and Jerard Thomas went in at 3b (replacing Scott in the line-up).
• Rowe doubled through the left side. UPDATE. I forgot to note when I initially posted this game report that the ball went through the left-fielder's glove and got stuck in his shirt. If he'd fielded cleanly, Rowe would've been kept to a single. Funny stuff.
• Torres grounded out to 2b, moving Rowe to 3b.
• Tucker grounded out to the pitcher; no chance for Rowe to advance.
• Belt lined out to 1b.
• 5th inning, Alabama A&M
• Texas sent Stayton Thomas (rhp) to the mound, replacing Ruffin.
• Jennings singled up the middle.
• Harper reached on a bunt single down the 1b line, moving Jennings to 2b.
• Hayes reached on a fielder's choice. He bunted toward the pitcher on the 3b side. Thomas fielded and tried to get the lead runner at 3b. Sadly, he threw way over Lusson's head. The runner from 2b scored, the runner from 1b made it to 3b, and the batter made it to 2b on the error.
• Spencer grounded out to 3b.
• Townsend struck out swinging.
• Ellison grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 4-1.
• 5th inning, Texas
• More musical chairs in the outfield: Hayes moved from rf to lf; Spencer moved from lf to cf; and Duarte moved from cf to rf.
• Kevin Lusson singled through the left side.
• Keyes reached on an error by 3b (ground ball got through between the legs), moving Lusson to 2b.
• Loy advanced the runners on a 2-4 sac bunt.
• With the infield pulled in, Clark hit a sac fly to rf, scoring Lusson.
• Maitland flew out to cf.
• Texas up 5-1.
• 6th inning, Alabama A&M
• Texas sent Austin Dicharry (rhp) to the mound, replacing Thomas.
• 3-up/3-down: Duarte flew out to rf; McKinney grounded out on a chopper to the pitcher; and Thomas struck out swinging (foul tip).
• 6th inning, Texas
• A few more changes in the field: Duarte moved from rf to 2b; McKiney moved from 2b to 3b; Jerard Thomas moved from 3b to rf; and J.T. Thomas went into the game at 1b (taking Townsend's spot in the line-up).
• Rowe singled off the third baseman.
• Torres grounded out to 2b, moving Rowe to 2b.
• Tucker was hit by a pitch.
• Belt reached on a 4-6 fielder's choice; Rowe moved to 3b on the play.
• Kevin Lusson popped out to ss.
• 7th inning, Alabama A&M
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson into rf, replacing Keyes.
• Jennings grounded out to 2b.
• Harper struck out looking.
• Hayes singled into rf and was caught stealing (2-4) on the first pitch to Spencer. He actually beat the throw to 2b but slid 2 or 3 feet past the bag and was tagged out off the bag to end the game.
• Texas wins 5-1.

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):

Posted by Joanna at 9:46 PM