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Thursday - May 21, 2009

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:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Torres singled through the right side.
• Tucker moved Torres to 2b on a 3-4 sac bunt.
• Belt homered off the top of the rf wall!!
• Moldenhauer flew out to lf at the wall.
• Keyes struck out swinging.
• Texas up 2-0.
• 1st inning, Kansas
• Narodowski flew out to lf.
• Price struck out (looking, I think).
• Heere grounded out to 2b.
• 3-up/3-down. Nice.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Loy and Rupp flew out (both to rf, I think).
• Rowe struck out looking.
• 2nd inning, Kansas
• Afenir popped out to 1b (foul).
• Thompson flew out to cf.
• Lytle flew out. To lf, I think. I'd muted the sound to answer a question from a student and when I looked back at the screen, they were focused on David Hernandez...quickly joined by Connor Rowe as they ran off the field.
• 1-2-3 again.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Hernandez grounded out (high chopper) to 3b.
• Torres singled into cf. Nice. Two plate appearances, two hits.
• Tucker hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
• 3rd inning, Kansas
• Stanfield grounded out to 2b.
• Land struck out (swinging, I think).
• Faunce struck out swinging.
• 3 innings, 9 batters. Purty.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Belt struck out swinging. The catcher couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Moldenhauer singled to lf.
• Keyes walked, moving Moldenhauer to 2b.
• Loy singled to rf, scoring Moldenhauer and moving Keyes to 3b. Yes!!
• Rupp hit a 3-run homerun over the fence in right-center field! Hook 'em!
• Rowe struck out swinging.
• Hernandez flew out to rf. Long run to make the catch by the right fielder.
• Texas up 6-0.
• 4th inning, Kansas
• I missed a bit. LiveStats report: Narodowski homered to left center; Price grounded out to 1b unassisted; and Heere grounded out to 1b unassisted.
• The perfect game, no-hitter, and shut-out...all gone with one swing of the bat. Shucks.
• Afenir popped out to 1b (foul).
• Look at that...Belt made all three outs.
• Texas up 6-1.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Torres doubled to the lf/cf gap! Three hits on the day. Nice.
• Tucker struck out looking.
• Belt singled to rf, scoring Torres. Woo hoo.
• Moldenhauer singled on a high bloop to shallow lf (over the ss). Belt moved to 2b. On the replay, it looked like the left fielder might've caught the ball behind the shortstop as they both fell to the ground. But, hard to tell. The ruling went against Kansas on the appeal.
• The runners advanced to 2b and 3b on a wild pitch with Keyes at the plate.
• Keyes eventually drew a full-count walk.
• Loy flew out to rf (sac fly), scoring Belt.
• Rupp struck out swinging.
• Texas up 8-1.
• 5th inning, Kansas
• Thompson grounded out to 1b (unassisted). It was actually a little pop-up that fell shy of 1b. Belt picked it up and stepped on the base for the out.
• Lytle grounded out to the pitcher.
• Stanfield singled into cf. Second hit by Kansas on the day.
• Land flew out to cf...at the warning track.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Brett Bollman went to the mound for Kansas, replacing Walz.
• Rowe grounded out to 2b. Nice play by the Kansas second baseman who was running hard to his right as he caught the grounder. He had to stop and throw back across his body. The throw just beat Rowe.
• Hernandez grounded out to ss.
• Torres flew out to cf.
• 6th inning, Kansas
• Faunce walked. First walk of the day for Ruffin.
• Narodowski flew out to lf at the warning track.
• Price grounded out to 2b, moving Faunce to 2b. Very nice play by Tucker. He had to, like the Kansas second baseman earlier, stop in his tracks and throw across his body quickly to get the batter out.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound after Ruffin started Heere off with two balls. Next pitch? Strike.
• Heere wound up grounding out to 1b. Nice play by Belt.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Tucker flew out to rf.
• Kansas sent Travis Blankenship (lhp) to the mound, replacing Bollman.
• Belt popped out to ss.
• Preston Clark was announced as the pinch-hitter for Moldenhauer which prompted another pitching change. Brett Bochy (rhp) went to the mound.
• Clark struck out looking.
• That was a long 1-2-3 inning. What with the 2 pitching changes.
• 7th inning, Kansas
• LiveStats update after I had to leave my office: Afenir struck out swinging; Thompson doubled to right center; Lytle flew out to cf; and Stanfield grounded out to p.
• 8th inning, Texas
• LiveStats (cont.): Keyes flied out to rf; Loy grounded out to p unassisted; and Rupp struck out looking.
• 8th inning, Kansas
• LiveStats (cont.): Kyle Lusson to rf for Keyes and Tim Maitland to lf for Hernandez. Then: Land walked (full count); Faunce tripled to left center (Land scored); Faunce scored on a passed ball (unearned), and Narodowski flew out to cf.
• I'm back now.
• Price grounded out to 2b.
• Heere struck out swinging.
• Texas up 8-3.
• 9th inning, Texas
• New pitcher for Kansas: Paul Smyth.
• Rowe doubled off the base of the wall in lf.
• Maitland (high socks!...joining Belt and Ruffin in that regard) singled up the middle, scoring Rowe. Very nice.
• Torres walked, moving Maitland to 2b.
• Tucker hit into a triple play! The shortstop caught the line drive about 5 inches off the ground and about 6 feet from 2b, flipped the ball to the second baseman who turned and threw to 1b for the third out. Wow.
• Texas up 9-3.
• 9th inning, Kansas
• Chance Ruffin still on the mound!
• Afenir flew out to rf.
• Thompson flew out to cf at the wall.
• Lytle struck out swinging to end the game.
• Texas wins 9-3.

Here's the line (from LiveStats):

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:

• Torres: 3-for-4, 2 runs scored, 1 walk, 1 double
• Tucker: 0-for-4 with a strikeout (so sad)
• Belt: 2-for-4, 2 runs scored, 3 batted in, 1 strikeout, 1 double, 1 homerun
• Moldenhauer: 2-for-3, 1 run scored
• Clark: 0-for-1 with a strikeout
• Keyes: 0-for-2, 1 run scored, 2 walks, 1 strikeout
• Kyle Lusson: did not bat
• Loy: 1-for-3, 1 run scored, 2 batted in
• Rupp: 1-for-4, 1 run scored, 3 batted in, 2 strikeouts, 1 homerun
• Rowe: 1-for-4, 1 run scored, 2 strikeouts, 1 double
• Hernandez: 0-for-3
• Maitland: 1-for-1, 1 run batted in

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