« Elsewhere, Day 3 | Main | Elsewhere, Day 4 »

Sunday - May 31, 2009

Game 58: Army at Texas (Austin Regional)

This is a place-holder. I will post a game report for the final game of the Austin Regional as soon as I possibly can.

UPDATE (June 5th). What a game. After the heroics of the 25-inning Saturday night game, we weren't sure what to expect in the Sunday game. It was looking kinda iffy for awhile there. But, Texas figured it out and came away with the win over Army. Which was a relief to all of us. Much as we love watching Texas baseball, we really didn't want to have to watch an extra game on Monday. And, so...

First off, the starting line-ups:

Army	Texas
1 Zach Price, 2b 2 Andy Ernesto, cf 3 Clint Moore, ss 4 Joey Henshaw, 1b 5 Kevin McKague, 1b 6 Ben Koenigsfeld, lf 7 J.P. Polchinski, 3b 8 Kyle Fleming, rf 9 J.T. Watkins, c - Steve Cummings, p	1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Brandon Loy, ss 3 Michael Torres, 3b 4 Brandon Belt, 1b 5 Preston Clark, dh 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 Cameron Rupp, c 8 Connor Rowe, cf 9 David Hernandez, lf - Taylor Jungmann, p

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Army
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Price grounded out to ss. Yet another great scoop and throw on a slow grounder by Loy.
• Ernesto singled into the lf/cf gap. Rowe did a great job to cut the ball off and limit Ernesto to a single.
• Moore doubled down the lf line, moving Ernesto to 3b.
• Henshaw grounded out to 2b, scoring Ernesto and moving Moore to 3b.
• Moore scored on a wild pitch (4th pitch, taking the count to 2-2) with McKague at the plate.
• McKague struck out looking at the next pitch.
• Texas down 0-2. Ouch.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Steve Cummings (lhp) on the mound for Army.
• Tucker grounded out to 2b. The second baseman booted the ball a bit but stayed with it and got the out.
• Loy grounded out sharply to 2b.
• Torres grounded out to ss.
• 2nd inning, Army
• Koenigsfeld grounded out to 3b.
• Polchinski struck out looking (0-2 count, after fouling off 3 pitches).
• Fleming flew out to lf.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Belt doubled into lf down the line (full count, 8 pitch plate appearance).
• Clark singled up the middle (1st pitch), scoring Belt.
• Keyes moved Clark to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Rupp singled into cf, moving Clark to 3b.
• Rowe moved Rupp to 2b on a 1-4 sac bunt. Squeeze attempt. The ball got to the pitcher too quickly so Clark was unable to score.
• Hernandez drew a 4-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Insert visit to the mound by Army coach.
• With 2 out and a full count to Tucker, the runners were off with the pitch. Tucker reached on an infield single. Clark and Rupp scored. Hernandez tried to reach 3b on the throw to 1b but didn't make it. The out went 6-3-5.
• Texas up 3-2. Yes. Too bad about that base-running mistake, though.
• 3rd inning, Army
• Watkins singled into rf.
• Price struck out swinging.
• Ernesto singled into rf, moving Watkins to 2b.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound after Jungmann fell behind 2-0.
• Moore drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Henshaw drew an 11-pitch walk (rbi). Wow. He fouled off 7 pitches.
• McKague grounded out to ss, scoring Ernesto. Moore moved to 3b and Henshaw to 2b.
• Koenigsfeld flew out to rf.
• Texas down 3-4. Damn.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Loy grounded out to ss.
• Torres flew out to cc. Ernesto made a great twisting acrobatic catch as he was running toward the cf fence to rob Torres of a single, if not a double.
• Belt flew out to lf.
• 4th inning, Army
• Polchinski struck out swinging (full count).
• Fleming drew a full-count 6-pitch walk.
• Watkins singled through the right side, moving Fleming to 3b.
• Price singled through the left side, scoring Fleming and moving Watkins to 2b.
• Texas sent Keith Shinaberry (lhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann.
• Ernesto singled into rf to load the bases.
• Texas sent Brandon Workman (rhp) to the mound, replacing Shinaberry.
• Moore grounded out to 1b (unassisted), scoring Watkins and moving Price to 3b and Ernesto to 2b.
• Henshaw struck out swinging (check swing). Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to tag Henshaw to complete the out.
• Texas down 3-6.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Clark grounded out to ss. The throw was a bit off-line and the first baseman had to tag Clark to make the out.
• Keyes drew a full-count walk.
• Rupp doubled to the cf/rf gap, moving Keyes to 3b.
• Rowe grounded out to the pitcher. No chance to advance by the runners.
• Hernandez grounded out to ss.
• 5th inning, Army
• McKague flew out to rf.
• Koenigsfeld singled into lf.
• Polchinski struck out swinging on a foul tip (3 pitches; 2 foul balls).
• Koenigsfeld moved up to 2b on a passed ball (5th pitch) with Fleming at the plate.
• Fleming struck out looking at the next pitch.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Tucker singled up the middle.
• Loy moved Tucker to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Torres drew a full-count walk.
• Belt singled through the right side, scoring Tucker and moving Torres to 3b.
• Army sent Tyler Anderegg (rhp) to the mound, replacing Cummings.
• Clark grounded out to the catcher. Um. Yeah. He swung away and the ball just dribbled about 6 feet from the plate toward the mound.
• Keyes drew a 5-pitch walk, putting runners at the corners.
• Rupp struck out swinging.
• Texas down 4-6.
• 6th inning, Army
• Watkins struck out swinging.
• Price doubled into lf.
• Ernesto struck out swinging. Rupp dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out. Price moved up to 3b on the play.
• Moore grounded out to ss.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Rowe singled into lf and moved up to 2b on a balk by the pitcher (first pitch to Hernandez).
• Hernandez reached on a 1-4 sac bunt. Mysteriously, Rowe did not advance. Mental lapse? Missed sign? Dunno.
• Tucker grounded out to ss, moving Rowe to 3b. The shortstop made a nice play to field and throw from deep in the hole.
• Loy reached on a 4-pitch walk to put runners at the corners.
• The Army coach made a visit to the mound after the first pitch (a ball) to Torres.
• Torres went on to draw a full-count walk without ever swinging the bat to load the bases.
• Belt flew out to rf. Fleming made a fantastic play to catch the ball at the wall (he ran into the wall hard) and rob Belt of a double. Damn.
• 7th inning, Army
• Texas sent Tim Maitland into cf, replacing Rowe. I suspect this replacement was due to the base-running lapse in the bottom of the 6th. Not sure about that, though...of course.
• Henshaw struck out swinging.
• McKague tripled into the cf/rf gap.
• Koenigsfeld singled past ss into cf, scoring McKague.
• Polchinski struck out looking (10 pitches, full count).
• Fleming flew out to lf at the warning track.
• Texas down 4-7.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Clark reached on a throwing error by 2b. I failed to note the details and can't remember them now. Sigh.
• Keyes homered over the lf fence...just in front of the scoreboard (1st pitch). Nice!
• Rupp reached on an infield single off the shortstop.
• Maitland struck out on a bunt attempt that went foul. Well, actually, it bounced in the dirt and hit him. Huh? He'd already bunted two pitches foul. 'Not sure why he was bunting with two strikes.
• Hernandez reached on a full-count walk, moving Rupp to 2b.
• Tucker struck out looking.
• Loy ground into a 5-unassisted fielder's choice. The third baseman fielded and stepped on 3b to force Rupp out.
• Texas down 6-7. Things looking up. Or so we thought.
• 8th inning, Army
• Watkins was hit by a 2-2 pitch.
• Texas sent Kendal Carrillo (rhp) to the mound, replacing Workman.
• Price moved Watkins to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Ernesto lined out to rf. Nice play by Keyes.
• Moore lined a homerun over the 375 ft sign in lf. Ouch.
• Henshaw hit a MONSTER shot over the green monster in cf. Dead center. I was watching Maitland run back to try and make the catch and could only think that he needed to stop running back so he could get the ball as it bounced off the wall and not let it get past him and back into cf. And, then the ball cleared the fence by 10 feet or so. Double ouch. And, wow.
• McKague singled through the left side.
• Texas sent Stayton Thomas (rhp) to the mound, replacing Carrillo.
• Koenigsfeld flew out to cf.
• Texas down 6-10. Yikes.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Army sent Matt Fouch (lhp) to the mound, replacing Anderegg.
• Torres flew out to cf.
• Belt grounded out to 2b.
• clark struck out swinging.
• Ugh. Quite a few Texas fans started heading for the exits...thinking they'd be back on Monday. Most of the crowd stayed, mind you. But, quite a few did leave. You know they were very sorry about 30 minutes later. Heh heh heh. And, they're not gonna admit they left early.
• 9th inning, Army
• Polchinski grounded out to 2b.
• Fleming drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Watkins ground into a 6-3 double play. Loy fielded, stepped on 2b for the force, and then threw to 1b for the 2nd out. Yes!
• 9th inning, Texas
• Army sent Capozzi in at 2b, replacing Price.
• Keyes drew a 7-pitch full-count walk.
• Rupp singled into rf (2-1 count), moving Keyes to 2b.
• Texas sent Etier in to pinch run for Rupp.
• Tant Shepherd, pinch-hitting for Maitland, reached on an infield single to ss (!) to load the bases.
• Insert Army visit to the mound.
• Hernandez grounded out to 1b (pitcher covering 1b), scoring Keyes and moving Etier to 3b and Shepherd to 2b.
• Tucker drew a 4-pitch walk to load the bases!
• Loy hit a bases clearing double off the top of the fence in lf! Game tied! Six inches or so more and the ball would've cleared the fence. So close.
• Army moved Kevin McKague (rhp) from 1b to the mound, replacing Fouch. Henshaw moved from dh into the field at 1b.
• Torres drew a full-count walk!
• Belt drew a full-count walk to load the bases!!
• Which brought Clark to the mound with bases loaded, 1 out, and Kevin Keyes on deck.
• Clark hit the first pitch over the lf wall!!! It was fair by inches. Wow. WOW!!!! How cool is that?
• Texas scores 8 in the bottom of the 9th to win 14-10.

Lots of jokes about how the game ended. Brandon Loy said he was glad his double didn't clear the fence so the old guy (Preston Clark) could get all the glory. He said he was just trying to make sure he didn't hit into a double play. Clearly, he needs to do more of that! Coach Garrido joked that he only let Clark bat because he didn't have any catchers left in the line-up.

I can't imagine two more exciting games back-to-back.

We sat around, soaking up the atmosphere. I packed up my scoresheet without bothering to total things out. And, as we were walking back to the cars about 20 minutes later, it suddenly dawned on me that Stayton Thomas got the win. Cool.

I really have to give props to Boston College and Army. Both of those teams played great games. I hope we get to see Texas play both of those teams again some day.

Final line:

Posted by Joanna at 11:59 PM