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Wednesday - June 24, 2009

Congratulations to the 2009 Texas Longhorns

Texas made it to the Championship Series of the 2009 College World Series. That's a remarkable feat. Congratulations, to the 2009 team. It's sad that they lost the game tonight. But, it's pretty cool that they were there.

Personally, I'm disappointed but not terribly upset. Which strikes me as a bit odd. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. Or maybe it's just that I love this team and no matter how sad it is, I can't be upset because I know they did everything they could to win the CWS. What a great bunch of guys. They gave us some great memories this year...particularly in the last month or so of the season. Maybe that's why I'm not very upset. I sincerely appreciate what this group of guys did this year.

And, hey. Maybe they'll be like the squad that came back after a disappointing 2nd place finish in 2004 and won it all in 2005. I have every confidence that the Horns will be back in Omaha next year. Just think about who's coming back. The starting rotation will all be back: Ruffin, Jungmann, and Green. And, they'll have Workman, Dicharry, Carrillo, Thomas, and McKirahan...all back. And, then there's Rupp and Rowe and Loy and Moldenhauer and Keyes. And, you know some of the guys that didn't play much this year will be sure to contribute. Just look at that team. And, who knows what'll come with the new guys joining the squad next year.

Thanks to the Seniors and Brandon Belt. I'll really miss those guys. Travis Tucker made some really fine plays this season. The capper has to be the start of that double-play in Tuesday's game, though. Wow. Preston Clark. To go through all the surgeries and rehab that he went through and still go out and lead this team every day? Awesome. Michael Torres. He made an amazing transition to become our third baseman this season...I can't remember worrying about a ball hit to the hot corner during the last half of the season. Keith Shinaberry. I loved watching him come to the mound with runners on. And, watch him throw a couple of pitches, get the double play we needed, and go back to the bench. It was a thing of beauty. I wish he'd been able to do it more this year. But, 'turns out he had a sore shoulder. He played through the pain tonight, though. Cool. And Austin Wood. What he accomplished this season is simply amazing. I'm sure I'll never see anything like that BC game again. I'm throwing Brandon Belt into the group 'cause I'm pretty sure he'll sign and move on. You could always count on him with that goofy stance to get a hit when you needed it. I don't know what we'll do for a first baseman next year. He sure turned into Mr. Reliable over there, didn't he? Thanks, again, guys.

And... Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:13 PM | Permalink

Game 67: Louisiana State at Texas (CWS)

Texas played home to the Louisiana State Tigers in the 3rd and final game of the 2009 College World Series Championship Series this evening. As in the last few games, I watched the game on ESPN and listened to the KVET radio broadcast by Craig Way and Keith Moreland, streaming over the Internet (I synced the Internet radio stream with the ESPN broadcast on my TiVo). This report is based on that combination.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas	Louisian State
1 DJ LeMahieu, 2b 2 Ryan Schimpf, lf 3 Blake Dean, dh 4 Sean Ochinko, 1b 5 Jared Mitchell, rf 6 Mikie Mahtook, cf 7 Micah Gibbs, c 8 Derek Helenihi, 3b 9 Austin Nola, ss - Anthony Renaudo, p	1 Michael Torres, 3b 2 Travis Tucker, 2b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh 5 Cameron Rupp, c 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 Connor Rowe, cf 8 Preston Clark, lf 9 Brandon Loy, ss - Cole Green, p

Same line-up for the Horns as Game 2 of the Championship Series.

Here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, LSU
• Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• LeMahieu flew out to the rf corner...just foul.
• Schimpf struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Dean was hit by the second pitch (off his foot).
• Ochinko singled off ss and through the left side (first pitch), moving Dean to 2b.
• Mitchell, sadly, hit a homerun down the rf line...just fair.
• Mahtook grounded out (high chopper) to 3b.
• 17 pitches.
• Texas down 0-3.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Anthony Renaudo (rhp) on the mound for LSU.
• Torres singled (2nd pitch) up the middle.
• Tucker, after failing to get the bunt down, struck out looking.
• Belt flew out to cf.
• Moldenhauer singled through the right side, moving Torres to 2b.
• Rupp drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• After Keyes took a big swing on the second pitch, Coach Garrido took a quick offensive time out to have a quick conversation with Keyes.
• Keyes then fouled off a pitch and struck out swinging at a pitch that was high and out of the zone. Shucks.
• 23 pitches.
• 2nd inning, LSU
• Gibbs singled over 2b into rf (1st pitch).
• Helenihi grounded out (high chopper) to 3b, moving Gibbs (hit and run) to 2b. The throw from 3b was a bit off-line but Belt did a good job to stay with it and tag the batter out before he reached 1b.
• Nola flew out to rf. Gibbs did not tag up.
• LeMahieu reached on an infield single to 2b. Tucker fielded the ball headed into cf with his bare hand and almost got LeMahieu out. Nice play.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• Schimpf singled into cf, scoring Gibbs and moving LeMahieu to 3b.
• Dean popped out to 2b.
• 17 pitches (34 on the day).
• Texas down 0-4.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Rowe reached on an infield single to ss. The shortstop had a slim chance at getting Rowe out but it would've taken a perfect throw...which didn't happen.
• Clark popped out to 3b near the mound.
• Loy flew out to cf.
• Torres popped out to 2b in shallow rf.
• 11 pitches (34 on the day).
• 3rd inning, LSU
• Texas went ahead and sent Brandon Workman (rhp) to the mound, replacing Green.
• Ochinko singled into cf (toward the lf gap). Rowe did a good job to cut the ball off, keeping Ochinko from moving to 2b with a double.
• Mitchell flew out to lf (in the corner at the warning track).
• Mahtook struck out swinging.
• Gibbs struck out swinging. He tried to check his swing on a very high pitch but couldn't do it.
• 15 pitches.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Tucker doubled into the lf corner!
• Belt drew a full-count walk.
• Moldenhauer lined out to cf (toward the lf gap). The center fielder made a last minute stab to catch the ball and rob Moldenhauer of a hit. And, since the ball was lined so hard, Tucker could not advance.
• Tucker and Belt completed a double steal on the first pitch to Rupp!
• Rupp grounded out to ss, scoring Tucker and moving Belt to 3b.
• Keyes reached on a full-count 9-pitch walk.
• Rowe drew a 4-pitch walk.
• The LSU pitching coach made a trip to the mound.
• Clark drew a full-count 10-pitch (!) walk, scoring Belt, and keeping the bases loaded.
• Loy grounded into a 6-unassisted fielder's choice. The shortstop fielded, ran toward 2b, and then dove to tag the bag before Clark could get there. Weird. Shrug.
• 43 pitches (77 on the day).
• Texas down 2-4.
• 4th inning, LSU
• Helenihi grounded out to ss.
• Nola grounded out to the pitcher. The ball bounced hard and right at Workman's head. Nice reaction to yank his head back and glove hand up to catch the ball. Yikes!
• LeMahieu flew out to rf.
• 3-up/3-down. Nice.
• 12 pitches (27 on the day).
• 4th inning, Texas
• Torres lined out to cf (1st pitch). Damn.
• Tucker singled into rf.
• Belt struck out swinging (0-2 count, 5 pitches).
• Moldenhauer grounded out to 2b.
• 11 pitches (88 on the day).
• 5th inning, LSU
• Schimpf grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Dean also grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Ochinko popped out to the catcher behind home plate at the screen. I don't think I've ever seen a pop up fall that close to the screen and be caught. It was less than a foot off the screen. Wow. Also: 1st pitch.
• 7 pitches (34 on the day).
• 5th inning, Texas
• Rupp singled off the mound and up the middle.
• Keyes homered over the lf fence (power alley) to score 2! 1st pitch. Yeah!
• Rowe struck out swinging. The catcher couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Clark fouled off 4 pitches, watched a ball, and hit the 6th pitch into lf for a single.
• Loy flew out to rf in foul territory (full count, 8 pitches).
• Torres flew out to lf.
• 25 pitches (113 on the day).
• Game tied 4-4.
• 6th inning, LSU
• Keyes was being helped in the outfield with apparent cramps as ESPN came back from commercial. Interestingly, Craig and Keith did not say anything about it. They must not have seen it. Keyes stayed in the game but was limping quite a bit.
• Mitchell drew a full-count 7-pitch walk. The last pitch was way inside and almost hit Mitchell. First walk of the day for Texas pitching.
• Mitchell advanced to 2b on a passed ball as Mahtook squared to bunt and did not offer at a high pitch. The ball ricocheted off Rupp's glove and toward the Texas dugout.
• Mahtook squared to bunt at the first two pitches (both balls) and then LSU took the bunt off. Workman threw another ball and then worked the count full. Mahtook fouled off a pitch and then lined a double into cf (toward the rf gap), scoring Mitchell.
• Texas sent Austin Dicharry (rhp) to the mound, replacing Workman (48 pitches on the day).
• Gibbs hit a sac bunt down the 3b line toward the mound. Dicharry fielded and then threw high to 1b. Runners at the corners.
• Helenihi hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Mahtook (1st pitch).
• Nola grounded out to 2b (1st pitch). With the hit and run on, Gibbs moved up to 2b.
• The 3rd pitch to LeMahieu was in the dirt and bounced away from Rupp, allowing Gibbs to take 3b on the wild pitch.
• LeMahieu drew a 4 pitch walk. Runners at the corners.
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Dicharry (8 pitches).
• Schimpf was hit by a pitch. The high inside pitch might have just grazed his arm.
• Mainieri took a quick offensive time-out.
• Dean was also grazed by a pitch to load the bases.
• Ochinko singled through the left side, scoring LeMahieu and Schimpf, and moving Dean to 2b. 1st pitch.
• Mitchell lined out to ss. 1st pitch.
• 10 pitches.
• Texas down 4-9. Sigh.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Tucker flew out to cf.
• LSU sent Chad Jones (lhp) to the mound, replacing Renaudo (119 pitches on the day).
• Belt struck out looking. Ouch.
• Moldenhauer also struck out looking. Wow. Those were some fierce pitches. Ouch.
• 9 pitches.
• 7th inning, LSU
• Mahtook popped out to 2b (foul down the rf line). 1st pitch.
• Gibbs flew out to cf.
• Helenihi flew out to rf. 1st pitch.
• 5 pitches. 3-up/3-down. Very nice.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Rupp flew out to rf.
• Keyes (who looked uncomfortable at the plate as though he might still be suffering a bit from the earlier cramps) reached 1b after being hit on the ankle (ouch) by a pitch.
• After the 1st pitch to Rowe, the trainer went out to talk to Keyes (clearly in pain). Keyes stretched his ankle a bit and stayed in the game.
• Rowe popped out to 1b.
• Clark flew out to lf near the line.
• 15 pitches (24 on the day).
• 8th inning, LSU
• Nola doubled down the rf line (1-2 count).
• LeMahieu singled off the front of Austin Wood's leg just below his knee. The ball ricocheted off his left leg into foul territory in front of the LSU dugout. Belt gathered it up in time to keep Nola from advancing past 3b.
• Keith Shinaberry (lhp) went to the mound, replacing the injured Wood (24 pitches on the day). Note that Wood was limping but probably isn't hurt too badly. A bad bruise, likely. Ouch.
• Schimpf hit a sac fly (full count, 9 pitches) to cf, scoring Nola.
• Dean grounded into a patented Shinaberry double play! This one of the 3-6-1 variety.
• 14 pitches. I said it was a patented double play. But, usually, Shinaberry only has to throw 2 or 3 pitches to get the double play. Heh.
• Texas down 4-10.
• 8th inning, Texas
• LSU sent Louis Coleman (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jones.
• Loy struck out swinging.
• Torres doubled into the cf/rf gap!
• Tucker grounded out to 3b. Great play by Helenihi to dive and rob Tucker of a single into lf. Too bad. Torres had no chance to advance.
• Belt grounded out to 1b (unassisted). Another nice play by the LSU infield.
• 15 pitches.
• 9th inning, LSU
• Ochinko hit a homerun over the lf fence...just fair.
• Mitchell grounded out to the pitcher.
• After the first pitch to Mahtook (a ball), Texas sent Chance Ruffin (rhp) to the mound for Shinaberry (22 pitches on the day with his sore arm). Tip o' the hat to Mr. Shinaberry. I hope he does well on his Teach for America stint up there in South Dakota. I suspect those kids he'll be teaching are very lucky kids.
• Mahtook went on to ground out to 3b (2-2 count).
• Gibbs singled into rf.
• Helenihi struck out swinging. The 3rd strikeout of the day for Texas pitching. Shucks.
• 12 pitches.
• Texas down 4-11.
• 9th inning, Texas
• LSU made several substitutions: Nicholas Pontiff to rf, replacing Mitchell; Buzzy Haydel to 1b, replacing Ochinko; Chris McGhee to 2b, replacing LeMahieu. The new fielders are all seniors on the LSU team. Nice thing for Mainieri to do. We can only hope it comes back to bite him! Heh.
• Moldenhauer drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Kyle Lusson went in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
• Rupp struck out looking.
• Keyes (clearly still in pain) struck out looking.
• Rowe struck out swinging to end the game and the season.
• 16 pitches (31 on the day).
• Texas loses 4-11. So sad.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Post-game press conference comments: In his opening statement, Coach Garrido said that the CWS is a fabulous event and they appreciate being a part of it. LSU is a fine college baseball team. They have a lot of talent and character. He thinks it was more that LSU won the tournament than that Texas lost it. They came back from adversity, got good pitching when they needed it, and good defense. A well-deserved win for LSU. Asked about "leaving meat on the bone" in the early part of the game, Garrido said he's not willing to pick his team apart. LSU beat Texas twice and deserved to win the championship. Travis, when asked about Keyes' homerun, said they were all excited and thought they'd keep on rolling but... (He got choked up and didn't continue.) Asked another question, he agreed that it was deflating when LSU came right back after Texas tied the game. In hind sight, Garrido said taking Workman out doesn't look so good but they played their cards and it didn't work out. Give credit to the opponent, though: they are the best team Texas has played this year. By far. Clark said this was the best team he's ever been a part of. It was a great run but they just came up short today. LSU took it to another level and the Horns couldn't get another rally going. It was a great run for the team. Garrido said his players are not losers, they lost the game, and if you think about it, they accomplished a lot more than they were expected to this year...it's pretty cool. He thinks this is the start of a new era for Texas baseball. This is the best team he's ever brought to the CWS with no experience...it's amazing that they made it to the finish. He thinks it's important how the players react to the loss and said that his teams that have finished 2nd in the CWS have gone on to higher personal success after college baseball than his teams that won championships. As a teacher on a personal level, he gets to enjoy all of their careers...not just the players that stay in professional baseball. Travis reiterated Preston's comments that they love each other, they've made life-long friends, and that is a big part of why they did so well this year. When asked how much longer he wants to do this, Augie asked if the reporter was asking about the press conference. Heh. He said that for him, it's a lifestyle...not a job. As long as he's healthy, feels the way he does about the players, and it's working, he plans to keep coaching.

I hope y'all don't mind but I don't think I'll cover the LSU side of the press conference tonight.

I sure wish it had gone the other way.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:34 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 23, 2009

Game 66: Texas at Louisiana State (CWS)

Texas played visitor to the Louisiana State Tigers in the 2nd game of the 2009 College World Series Championship Series this evening. The start of the game was delayed until about 7:40 by rain. As in the last couple of games, I watched the game on ESPN and listened to the KVET radio broadcast by Craig Way and Keith Moreland, streaming over the Internet (I synced the Internet radio stream with the ESPN broadcast on my TiVo). This report is based on that combination.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas	Louisian State
1 Michael Torres, 3b 2 Travis Tucker, 2b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh 5 Cameron Rupp, c 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 Connor Rowe, cf 8 Preston Clark, lf 9 Brandon Loy, ss - Taylor Jungmann, p	1 DJ LeMahieu, 2b 2 Ryan Schimpf, 1b 3 Blake Dean, dh 4 Micah Gibbs, c 5 Mikie Mahtook, cf 6 Jared Mitchell, rf 7 Leon Landry, lf 8 Derek Helenihi, 3b 9 Austin Nola, ss - Austin Ross, p

Coach Garrido switched Rowe and Loy in today's line-up.

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Austin Ross (rhp) on the mound for LSU.
• Torres drew a 4-pitch walk.
• LSU tried to pick Torres off after the first pitch but the throw from the catcher was high and went down the line. Torres made it to 2b on the error (E2).
• Tucker hit a 5-3 sac bunt down the 3b line, moving Torres to 3b.
• Belt singled through the right side (!), scoring Torres.
• Moldenhauer reached on a fielder's choice to ss. The shortstop bobbled the ball, stayed with it, stepped on 2b for the out, and threw to 1b. The ball got there as Moldenhauer did. This time, the tie went to the runner. Safe at 1b.
• Rupp singled through the right side (1st pitch).
• Keyes flew out to cf.
• 23 pitches.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 1st inning, LSU
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• LeMahieu grounded out to 3b.
• Schimpf struck out looking (1-2 count).
• Dean struck out swinging.
• 13 pitches.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Rowe lined out to 3b (2-2 count).
• Clark lined a homerun over the lf fence! (Chest bump from Cole Green as he went into the dugout...heh.)
• Loy grounded out to 3b.
• Torres singled through the left side (1st pitch).
• Tucker reached on catcher's interference, moving Torres to 2b in the error (E2).
• With Belt at the plate (3-1 count), Torres was caught too far off 2b and picked off 1-5-6. Sigh.
• 18 pitches (41 on the day).
• Texas up 2-0.
• 2nd inning, LSU
• Gibbs grounded out to 3b. Torres made a very nice play to charge the ball, scoop, and throw.
• Mahtook grounded out on a one-bounce chopper to 3b.
• Mitchell singled into lf.
• Landry reached on an infield single to 3b in front of the ss. Torres fielded the ball but had to spin around in order to throw to 1b and just missed catching Landry.
• Helenihi reached on a fielding error by ss. A ground ball to the left side of the 2b bag skipped off the heal of Loy's glove into cf. Mitchell scored and Landry moved up to 3b.
• Nola struck out looking.
• 17 pitches (30 on the day).
• Texas up 2-1.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• LSU sent Ryan Byrd (lhp) to the mound, replacing Ross. Keith Moreland, by the way, predicted earlier in the afternoon that LSU would go through 6 or 7 pitchers in this evening's game.
• Belt popped out to 3b at the edge of the grass on the foul line.
• Moldenhauer homered (3-1 count) over the rf fence in the power alley...about 10 rows deep!!
• Rupp hit a bloop double into shallow rf. The right fielder dove for the ball but didn't make the catch. The ball got about 15 or 20 feet from him, allowing Rupp to reach 2b.
• Keyes flew out to rf at the warning track. Rupp tagged and moved up to 3b.
• Rowe doubled down the lf line, scoring Rupp!
• LSU went to the bullpen, sending Nolan Cain (rhp) to the mound for Byrd (15 pitches).
• Clark singled through the left side, scoring Rowe.
• Loy grounded out to 2b. LeMahieu made a nice stop on the ball to rob Loy of a single.
• 6 pitches for Cain.
• Texas up 5-1.
• 3rd inning, LSU
• LeMahieu tripled off the top of the wall in the rf corner.
• Schimpf hit a soft liner to 2b.
• Dean drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Gibbs struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• Mahtook grounded into a 5-4 fielder's choice.
• 17 pitches (47 on the day).
• 4th inning, Texas
• Torres struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• Tucker grounded out to 3b.
• Belt drew a full-count walk.
• "Deauxn't Mess With Texas" - fan sign shown on TV. Heh.
• Moldenhauer grounded out to ss. Belt was off with the pitch. To no avail.
• 13 pitches (19 on the day).
• 4th inning, LSU
• Mitchell drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Landry reached on a 6-4 fielder's choice.
• Helenihi hit into a 4-6-3 double play! Tucker made a fantastic stop on a ball headed past 2b into cf. He then flipped sideways across his body (as his momentum was carrying him toward cf) to Loy who then made a great turn to get the ball to 1b in time for the 3rd out. Wow!!
• 10 pitches (57 on the day).
• 5th inning, Texas
• Rupp struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Keyes lined out to lf in the corner. Landry dove and caught the ball in the dirt down the line. Wow. And, ouch!
• Rowe struck out looking.
• 13 pitches (32 on the day).
• 5th inning, LSU
• Nola lined out to rf.
• LeMahieu grounded out to the pitcher.
• Schimpf flew out to cf.
• 10 pitches (67 on the day).
• 6th inning, Texas
• Clark singled into lf (0-1 pitch).
• Loy (who failed, uncharacteristically, to get the bunt down on the first two pitches) struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Torres flew out to cf at the warning track.
• Tucker singled into rf down the line, moving Clark to 3b!
• The LSU pitching coach made a visit to the mound.
• Belt popped out to ss in shallow lf (3-1 count).
• 17 pitches (49 on the day).
• 6th inning, LSU
• Dean hit a slow high-chopper toward 1b. Belt fielded but then there was confusion between Jungmann and Tucker as to who should field. Tucker was there but the ball got away from Tucker, allowing Dean to reach 2b.
• Gibbs flew out to cf. Dean, trying to reach 3b, left 2b early and was called out when Texas appealed. 8-5-1-4 double play!
• Mahtook struck out looking (1-2 count).
• 10 pitches (77 on the day).
• 7th inning, Texas
• Moldenhauer drew a full-count 7-pitch walk.
• Rupp drew a 4-pitch walk, moving Moldenhauer to 2b.
• LSU sent Daniel Bradshaw (rhp) to the mound, replacing Cain (60 pitches on the day).
• Keyes grounded into a 6-3 double play. The shortstop fielded, stepped on 2b for the first out, and threw to 1b.
• Rowe grounded out to 3b.
• 6 pitches for Bradshaw.
• 7th inning, LSU
• Mitchell flew out to lf (toward the cf gap).
• Landry struck out swinging (2-2 count, 7 pitches, 4 foul balls).
• Helenihi struck out swinging! 7th strikeout of the night for Jungmann.
• 14 pitches (91 on the day).
• 8th inning, Texas
• Clark popped out to ss in shallow lf. Nola made an amazing catch as he was running with his back to the infield and just sort of flailed his glove out at the last second to catch the ball. Wow.
• Loy reached on an infield single to 3b.
• Torres grounded out to the pitcher who fielded and then ran to 1b, beating Torres to the bag for the out. Loy moved to 3b on the play.
• Tucker flew out to rf (1st pitch). Sigh.
• 15 pitches (21 on the day).
• 8th inning, LSU
• Nola grounded out to 3b.
• LeMahieu reached on another error by ss (E6). The play was very similar to the earlier error. Weird.
• Schimpf grounded out on a slow-rolling ball to 3b. Nice play by Torres! LeMahieu moved to 2b on the play.
• Dean popped out to 1b in foul territory...about two-thirds of the way to the 1b bag.
• 15 pitches (106 on the day).
• 9th inning, Texas
• Belt singled into lf.
• Moldenhauer grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. Sigh.
• Rupp was hit by a pitch (near his wrist).
• Keyes grounded out to the pitcher.
• 12 pitches (33 on the day).
• 9th inning, LSU
• Gibbs singled past a diving Loy into lf.
• Mahtook struck out swinging (3 pitches)!
• Mitchell out on a slow grounder to 3b (close play but shown to be a good call on super-slo-mo replay), moving Gibbs to 2b.
• Gibbs moved up to 3b on a balk call with Landry at the plate (after the 2nd pitch).
• Landry struck out swinging!! 9th strikeout of the game for Jungmann! Complete game for Jungmann!! Longest outing of the year for Jungmann!!! Beautiful.
• 20 pitches (126 on the day). The most pitches in an inning for Jungmann in tonight's game.
• Texas wins 5-1.

Wow. I wonder how many games LSU has played this year where they only scored 1 run? Fantastic. And, now we go to a third game.

(I went and checked on that 1-run thing...the Tigers were limited to 1 run on 3 other occasions this year. Not surprisingly, they lost those games as well. Texas, oddly enough, is 2-2 in games in which they scored only 1 run this year.)

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Post-game radio comments from Tommy Harmon: Asked about Belt's first at-bat, Harmon said it helped a lot to set the momentum in the game. Asked about Moldenhauer, Harmon said he's being more aggressive and confident at the plate and being smart about when he swings. Before that, he joked that Moldenhauer had told him at the beginning of the season that he'd hit 18 balls to the warning track last year and Harmon told him he needed to start hitting them farther than that! Harmon said his nickname for Jungmann is "Shoulders" and he told Jungmann at the start of the game that they were gonna get on those skinny shoulders and ride 'em to a win. Heh.

Post-game radio comments from Belt: asked about his first at-bat, Belt said he was just trying to put the ball in play. He said he'd been putting too much pressure on himself earlier in the tournament and he was more relaxed and confident today. Asked about the team's mental attitude tonight he said they didn't enjoy the feeling of losing but everyone on the team knew that if they played their own kind of baseball they'd win tonight.

Post-game news conference comments from LSU: Coach Mainieri complimented Jungmann's performance, calling it outstanding. He said he did a great job of mixing it up. Both teams made a few mistakes but they're going to put the loss behind them and go with their Friday night starter on the mound and they're excited about that. He said they had a terrible start right off and felt, honestly, that they were lucky to get away with only giving up 2 runs in the first two innings. He did not consider changing the pitching decision after the weather changed. Asked about Jungmann, Jared Mitchell said he just changed speeds well and gave the hitters fits, he stayed in the zone and made it tough on them. Coach reiterated that this was their first loss in 15 games and they have nothing to be ashamed of. Nolan Cain said he and the rest of the team feel confident that they will win tomorrow. The coach said it just wasn't their night tonight but he doesn't want to make more of it than it was. He also pointed out that they shut the Horns out for the last 6 innings of the game so they showed that they can get it done. They just had too much of a hole to climb out of with the way Jungmann was pitching. Mitchell said they've done a good job all year bouncing back after losses and they'll be fine tomorrow. He said at the end of the day, you just need to win the series. When asked why he used Leon Landry Mainieri said he was just trying to put more lefties in the line-up and he got a hit and made a great play in rf...and Jungmann was tough on the right-handed batters.

Looking over the scoresheet, I see that LSU's four right-handed batters went 1-for-14 tonight. The team as a whole, only managed 4 hits, though. Jungmann was really on fire. Wow.

Post-game news conference comments from Texas: Garrido said the rain made a difference in the game...it took the temperature down and helped Jungmann out a lot. Jungmann was brilliant in his performance and his teammates helped by getting a lead early in the game. We hit some bumpy spots, we made three errors, but we battled every inning. The early lead held up and now we've created just a little bit of drama. Asked if he was concerned about Jungmann after last night, Coach Garrido said he was very confident. The decision to put Jungmann in last night was a bad decision. Jungmann said he just had a really good feel for the ball today. When asked about the complete game, he joked that he was saving it for the end. He said he did watch the LSU batters closely last night and it helped. Clark said it feels great to have such a good offensive game. He said he's been pressing too much earlier in the series. He said he loves to play and it's great being out there. Asked about Moldenhauer's homerun in the 3rd, Coach Garrido said it was obviously a great thing to get that response after LSU had scored in the 2nd. And, he'll join about 350,000 Longhorn fans in thinking he was wrong to take Moldenhauer out in last night's game. Jungmann said he thinks he bears down a little more when he has runners on base. Clark said he thinks they play better when their back is to the wall and when things count more. Coach Garrido said that just like last night, the team has to "flush" tonight's game before tomorrow's game. They can't just be satisfied that they won tonight...they need to win another one tomorrow. Asked about Cole Green, Garrido said he's been very effective and is now in the position they put him in a month ago when they decided how'd they'd pitch through the post-season. All of the players have confidence in Green, they followed their plan, and now here they are.

Things that make you go hmmmm...a graphic shown on ESPN after the game (during SportsCenter, I think):

The Horns will be the home team tomorrow night. Hook 'em, Horns!!!

Posted by Joanna at 11:42 PM | Permalink

Monday - June 22, 2009

Game 65: Louisiana State at Texas (CWS)

Texas played home to the Louisiana State Tigers in the 1st game of the 2009 College World Series Championship Series this evening. As in the last game, I watched the game on ESPN and listened to the KVET radio broadcast by Craig Way and Keith Moreland, streaming over the Internet (I synced the Internet radio stream with the ESPN broadcast on my TiVo). This report is based on that combination.

By the way, as I was rushing to get home in time for the first pitch, I was wondering what I could put together for a quick meal before the game. And, then I remembered. I brought left-overs home from the wonderful Father's Day meal my mom cooked yesterday. Yummm! Thanks, Mom!

Anyway...

Today's starting line-ups:

Louisian State	Texas
1 DJ LeMahieu, 2b 2 Ryan Schimpf, lf 3 Blake Dean, dh 4 Micah Gibbs, c 5 Mikie Mahtook, cf 6 Jared Mitchell, rf 7 Sean Ochinko, 1b 8 Derek Helenihi, 3b 9 Austin Nola, ss - Louis Coleman, p	1 Michael Torres, 3b 2 Travis Tucker, 2b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Russell Moldenhauer, dh 5 Cameron Rupp, c 6 Kevin Keyes, rf 7 Brandon Loy, ss 8 Preston Clark, lf 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Chance Ruffin, p

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, LSU
• Chance Wheeless (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• LeMahieu grounded out to 3b.
• Schimpf homered waaaay over the rf fence.
• Dean struck out looking (2-2 count).
• Gibbs struck out looking (full count, 7 pitches).
• 16 pitches.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Louis Coleman (rhp) on the mound for LSU.
• Torres flew out to cf (1st pitch).
• Tucker grounded out to 3b.
• Belt flew out to rf.
• 12 pitches.
• 2nd inning, LSU
• Mahtook struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• Mitchell singled up the middle...off the mound.
• Ochinko popped out to ss in shallow lf behind 3b.
• Helenihi struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• 15 pitches (31 on the day).
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Moldenhauer singled into cf.
• Rupp lined out to lf.
• Keyes popped out to 2b.
• Loy struck out looking (2-2 count).
• 13 pitches (25 on the day).
• 3rd inning, LSU
• Nola singled over 2b into rf.
• LeMahieu moved Nola to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt. Ruffin might've had a chance to throw Nola out at 2b but slipped as he fielded and squared to throw so went to 1b instead.
• Schimpf struck out looking. Purty.
• Dean popped out to 2b in shallow cf.
• 12 pitches (43 on the day).
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Clark struck out swinging after fouling off 3 pitches (2-2 count).
• Rowe popped out to ss (on the 1b side of 2b).
• Torres lined out to 2b.
• 11 pitches (36 on the day).
• 4th inning, LSU
• Gibbs struck out swinging.
• Mahtook also struck out swinging.
• Mitchell flew out to cf. Rowe made a nice running catch at the warning track as he ran toward the wall and to his right. Yes!
• 12 pitches (55 on the day).
• 4th inning, Texas
• Tucker hit a homerun over the lf fence!
• Belt grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Moldenhauer hit a homerun over the cf fence!
• I love this team.
• Rupp flew out to cf.
• Keyes hit a homerun over the lf fence (way over the 375 sign)!
• Oh my.
• Coach Mainieri made a visit to the mound.
• Loy lined out to rf.
• 14 pitches (50 on the day).
• Texas up 3-1. Yes!
• 5th inning, LSU
• Ochinko drew a full-count walk.
• After Ruffin threw 2 balls to Helenihi, Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• Helenihi flew out to lf on the next pitch.
• Nola popped out to 1b in foul territory (1st pitch).
• LeMahieu struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• 15 pitches (70 on the day).
• 5th inning, Texas
• Clark grounded out to 3b.
• Rowe struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• Torres singled though the right side.
• Tucker struck out looking (3 pitches).
• 16 pitches (66 on the day).
• 6th inning, LSU
• Schimpf struck out looking!
• Dean singled into cf.
• Gibbs singled past 2b, moving Dean to 3b. Tucker was moving to cover 2b or he would've probably fielded the ground ball for an out. Darnit. The throw in from rf was off-line but Torres did a great job to stop it and keep the runners from advancing further. Whew.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• Mahtook struck out for the 3rd time in as many plate appearances!
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Ruffin (88 pitches on the day with 10 (!!) strikeouts).
• Chance Ruffin, by the way, seemed to be in quite a bit of pain in the dugout as Wood took his warm-up pitches...a cramp perhaps?
• Mitchell tripled to the wall in the lf/cf gap, scoring both base runners.
• Ochinko grounded out to 3b.
• 5 pitches.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Belt flew out to cf at the warning track (1st pitch). Mahtook (cf) appeared to be suffering from a cramp and a trainer ran out to see if he could help Mahtook stretch it out. Play resumed after a couple of minutes.
• Moldenhauer hit his second homerun of the night...this time over the lf wall. Yes!!
• Rupp struck out swinging (full count).
Keyes singled into cf.
• Loy doubled into cf (toward the rf gap), moving Keyes to 3b.
• Which prompted another visit to the mound...by an assistant coach this time.
• On a wild pitch that went behind (!!) Clark, Keyes scored and Loy moved up to 3b!
• Clark went on to strike out swinging (full count, 8 pitches).
• 23 pitches (80 on the day).
• Texas up 5-3.
• 7th inning, LSU
• Texas sent Tim Maitland into lf, replacing Clark.
• Helenihi grounded out to ss behind 2b.
• Nola worked the count full and then struck out swinging.
• LeMahieu hit a homerun over the cf wall.
• Schimpf struck out swinging!
• 20 pitches (25 on the day).
• Texas up 5-4.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Rowe hit another homerun over the lf fence (in the power alley). Wow.
• LSU sent Chad Jones (lhp) to the mound, replacing Coleman (5 pitches, 94 on the day).
• Keith Moreland commented that Jones did not throw a strike during his warm-up pitches.
• Torres grounded out to 1b (pitcher covered the bag).
• Tucker flew out to cf (1st pitch).
• Belt struck out swinging.
• 8 pitches.
• Texas up 6-4.
• 8th inning, LSU
• Dean drew a 5-pitch walk to lead things off.
• Gibbs flew out to rf at the line.
• Mahtook grounded into a 4-6-3 double play!
• 12 pitches (37 on the day).
• 8th inning, Texas
• Tant Shepherd was announced as a pinch-hitter for Moldenhauer. LSU countered with a pitching change, sending Paul Bertuccini (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jones.
• So, Texas sent Kevin Lusson (switch-hitter) to the plate, for Shepherd.
• Lusson drew a full-count walk.
• Rupp grounded out on a slow bouncer to 3b, moving Lusson to 2b.
• Keyes popped out to shallow lf.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• 13 pitches.
• 9th inning, LSU
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson into rf, replacing Keyes.
• Mitchell grounded out to ss.
• Ochinko singled through the left side.
• LSU sent Leon Landry in to pinch run for Ochinko.
• Texas sent Taylor Jungmann (rhp) to the mound, replacing Wood (42 pitches on the day).
• Helenihi drew a 4-pitch walk. Sigh.
• With a 2-0 count to Tyler Hanover (pinch-hitting for Nola), Texas sent Austin Dicharry to the mound, replacing Jungmann (who'd thrown 6 pitches, all balls).
• Oh. My. Goodness.
• Hanover went on to strike out swinging (full count). Whew.
• LeMahieu hit a double into the lf corner (first pitch), scoring Landry and Helenihi. Damn.
• Texas intentionally walked Schimpf.
• Dean flew out to cf.
• 12 pitches.
• Game tied 6-6.
• 9th inning, Texas
• LSU sent Matty Ott (rhp) to the mound, replacing Bertuccini. They also moved LeMahieu to ss and kept Hanover in the game at 2b. Shimpf moved to 1b and Landry stayed in the game in lf.
• Maitland was hit by a 1-2 pitch (knee). He did not make a move to get out of the way of the pitch and could've easily been kept at the plate.
• Rowe moved Maitland to 2b with a sac bunt down the 1b line. The first baseman fielded and tagged Rowe out.
• Torres fought off four pitches, worked the count full, and then flew out to lf at the warning track.
• Tucker flew out to cf (toward the rf gap).
• 15 pitches.
• 10th inning, LSU
• Gibbs drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Which prompted a visit to the mound by Skip Johnson. Dicharry also had to replace his belt, which had broken.
• Mahtook singled through the right side, nearly hitting Gibbs with the ball. Runners at 1b and 2b. Twice during his at-bat Mahtook squared to bunt and watched balls both times. He swung away without squaring at the other 3 pitches he saw.
• Mitchell flew out to rf. Gibbs tagged and moved up to 3b.
• The second pitch to Landry was in the dirt and got away from Rupp, not far enough to score the run but far enough to move Mahtook to 2b.
• Texas went ahead and intentionally walked Landry to load the bases.
• Texas sent Brandon Workman (rhp) to the mound, replacing Dicharry (30 pitches on the day).
• Helenihi struck out swinging after fouling off a couple of pitches.
• Hanover struck out swinging. The ball got away from Rupp but he picked it up and stepped on the plate to end the inning.
• Whew. 9 pitches.
• 10th inning, Texas
• Belt grounded out to 2b.
• Kevin Lusson flew out to cf (1st pitch).
• After the first pitch to Rupp (a ball), LSU made a visit to the mound. Coach Garrido took advantage to talk to Rupp.
• Rupp drew a full-count walk.
• Kyle Lusson struck out swinging.
• 17 pitches (32 on the day).
• 11th inning, LSU
• LeMahieu drew a full-count 7-pitch walk.
• Schimpf popped out to ss (1st pitch).
• Dean flew out to lf at the warning track.
• LeMahieu took off on the first pitch to Gibbs. The throw from Rupp got through into cf, allowing LeMahieu to move up to 3b.
• Gibbs drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Mahtook singled into cf, scoring LeMahieu and moving Gibbs to 2b.
• Mitchell flew out to rf.
• 22 pitches (31 on the day).
• Texas down 6-7.
• 11th inning, Texas
• Loy struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Maitland struck out looking.
• Rowe worked the count full, fought off a few pitches, and then grounded out to 2b. Damn.
• 16 pitches (48 on the day).
• Texas loses 6-7.

Damn. That was painful. I sure wish the Horns had put the Tigers away in the 9th. Sigh. It was all so exciting for awhile, eh? And, answer me this: if you'd been told Texas would hit 5 homeruns in a game, would you ever have believed they'd lose that game? Wow. And, yes...m'thinks the Horns can still win it all. I just wish they'd done it in two.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Post-game comments from Texas: Coach Garrido was at the table ready to go very soon after the game was over and waited for the players (Moldenhauer and Ruffin) to join him for 3 minutes or so. Weird. Coach Garrido opened saying it was an incredible game with two teams doing everything they could to win. The team that would lose was going to have to deal with the wrath of baseball. We became that team and have to refocus and get ready for tomorrow's game. When asked about his homeruns, Moldenhauer said he was just feeling relaxed and good today and put good swings on the balls that went out. Asked about his cramps, Ruffin said they didn't take him out of the game...he was going to fight through it. Coach Garrido has talked to the team about how they're going to handle the adversity and what they're going to do now. The players need to have the courage to leave tonight's game behind them and battle back tomorrow. All things are possible in a 2-out-of-3 series. Asked if he saw anything in Jungmann that could explain his trouble tonight, Garrido said he felt confident that what happened would not happen and the trouble was more with his decision than with anything Jungmann did. Jungmann will start tomorrow. Moldenhauer said the difference in their power surge is that they're not playing at Disch-Falk which is a bigger park. When asked what he says to the team in this situation, Coach Garrido said he thinks that really should stay with the team. They got down to the end in the Super Regional as well but won it. He said the performance tonight was really good so the problem is the loss. The secret is to let go of the imperfections instead of nit-picking them to death. Moldenhauer said they just need to forget the loss and come back tomorrow with the feelings they had at the beginning of tonight's game and everything will be fine.

Post-game comments from LSU: Coach Mainieri opened saying that was the most courageous never-say-die performance by a team he's ever coached. Even when they were down, he never felt out of the game and they'd be able to rally. He thought Ott was a real key to winning the game. It was a total team effort. Mahtook said he got an IV after the cramps got him down but didn't have any more problems as the game went on. He saw that Workman was throwing the ball really hard and after fighting off some pitches he was able to find one to hit. Mainieri was happy to see his bullpen do a good job today. Ott said his arm felt good the whole time even though he usually just throws 1 or 2 innings but he's been working on his conditioning so he could go longer as the season went on. Mahtook said he had 3 terrible at-bats but got some encouragement from the older guys to keep him from getting his head down. LeMahieu said they focus on their own game and don't worry about what Texas might do. Coach Mainieri said winning 14 games in a row has added a little bit more to the team's confidence. He said he does not know who will start tomorrow. He said he thinks his team will have the correct mindset for tomorrow's game. He said they've had some great wins but, yes, this was the biggest win they've ever had. It was a very sweet win.

And, now their backs are to the wall. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:03 PM | Permalink

Friday - June 19, 2009

Game 64: Arizona State at Texas (CWS)

Texas played home to the Sun Devils of Arizona State in the 12th game of the 2009 College World Series today. The start of the game was delayed a couple of hours due to rain in Omaha earlier in the day. I watched the game on ESPN2 and listened to the KVET radio broadcast by Craig Way and Keith Moreland, streaming over the Internet. I managed to sync the Internet radio stream with the ESPN broadcast on my TiVo and was in heaven (relatively speaking). Nice. It was so wonderful not hearing a word of the nonsense espoused by the folks in the ESPN broadcast booth. 'Wish I'd tried that earlier. This report is based on that combination.

Anyway...

Today's starting line-ups:

Arizona State	Texas
1 Drew Maggi, ss 2 Jason Kipnis, cf 3 Carlos Ramirez, c 4 Kole Calhoun, lf 5 Johnny Ruettiger, dh 6 Jared McDonald, 1b 7 Raoul Torrez, 3b 8 Matt Newman, rf 9 Zack MacPhee, 2b - Mike Leake, p	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 Preston Clark, lf 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Cole Green, p

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, ASU
• Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Maggi struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• Kipnis drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Ramirez struck out looking (3 pitches).
• Calhoun singled through the right side, moving Kipnis to 3b.
• Ruettiger grounded into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
• 21 pitches.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Mike Leake (rhp) on the mound (!) for ASU.
• Torres struck out swinging at a high-outside pitch (1-2 count).
• Tucker singled past 3b into lf.
• Belt out on a soft liner to 2b (had to make a leap to catch the ball, nice play).
• Moldenhauer struck out swinging (full count).
• 16 pitches.
• 2nd inning, ASU
• McDonald grounded out to 2b.
• Torrez struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• Newman singled through the right side.
• MacPhee struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• 13 pitches (33 on the day).
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Keyes struck out swinging (3 pitches). Like MacPhee, last batter in previous half-inning, he tried to check his swing but couldn't quite hold up.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Rupp singled through the left side.
• Clark also singled through the left side, moving Rupp to 2b.
• Rowe struck out swinging (1-2 pitch).
• 13 pitches (29 on the day).
• 3rd inning, ASU
• Maggi popped out to 1b about half way down the line to the 1b bag.
• Kipnis singled past ss into cf (full count).
• Ramirez reached on a fielder's choice/E6. On the play Loy fielded behind 2b and flipped to Tucker. Bad toss. Both runners safe. Kipnis took advantage of the ball dribbling toward the mound to move up to 3b. Kipnis was running on the hit-and-run; Loy should've thrown to 1b.
• Calhoun singled into cf, scoring Kipnis and moving Ramirez to 3b. Rowe booted the ball to his left as he was about to field it, allowing Calhoun to reach 2b (E8).
• Ruettiger struck out looking (2-2 count). Yes!
• McDonald grounded out to 2b (full count, 8 pitches). Whew.
• 27 pitches (60 on the day).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Torres started out 0-2, worked the count full, and then hit a homerun over the rf fence!!!
• Coach Murphy was shown complaining about something to the home plate umpire. I guess he was complaining about the pitch call but the ump's strike zone looked pretty good (and, moreover, consistent) to me. Which is the most you can realistically hope for. Shrug.
• Tucker grounded out to ss (nice job to field the short-hop and throw to 1b).
• Belt singled straight up the middle (Leake had to duck down to avoid the ball).
• Moldenhauer, sadly, grounded into a 3-6-1 double play. Craig Way said 3-6-3 but I think it was Leake covering 1b to end the play.
• 13 pitches (42 on the day).
• Game tied 1-1.
• 4th inning, ASU
• Torrez grounded out (hard grounder) to 3b.
• Newman struck out swinging (1-2 pitch).
• MacPhee doubled into shallow lf near the line. The ball was falling between Clark and Loy both chasing after it. They both slipped (on a wet spot?) and fell. Both missed the ball and MacPhee was able to reach 2b pretty easily.
• Maggi singled into cf (0-2 count), scoring MacPhee.
• Kipnis grounded into a 6-unassisted fielder's choice (Loy fielded and stepped on 2b for the out).
• 17 pitches (77 on the day).
• Texas down 1-2.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Keyes fell behind 0-2, worked the count full, fouled off a pitch, and then drew a walk. Purty.
• Loy reached on a 1-6 fielder's choice. He tried to bunt Keyes to 2b but hit the ball a bit hard and the pitcher made a nice job to field and throw to 2b in time to get the lead runner out.
• Rupp reached on a 5-4 fielder's choice. ASU had a chance to turn a double play but the relay throw from 2b was in the dirt and the first baseman was unable to catch it. It did not get far enough away from him to allow Rupp to advance to 2b, though.
• Clark struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• 12 pitches (54 on the day).
• 5th inning, ASU
• Ramirez grounded out to the pitcher.
• Calhoun drew a full-count walk. 1st walk of the day for Green.
• During Calhoun's at-bat, he hit a 3-1 pitch down the line in foul territory. Tucker chased after it and dove for the ball but missed it. He skidded along the grass and into the dirt/gravel warning track on his left shoulder and face. Ouch!!!
• Ruettiger singled over 3b into lf. Calhoun could only move up to 2b as he had to hold up to see if Torres would make the catch.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound. (His second of the day. I forgot to note the first one. Sigh...)
• McDonald flew out to lf.
• Torrez flew out to rf (toward the cf/rf gap). Keyes and Rowe brushed against each other as Keyes fielded. Yikes.
• 18 pitches (95 on the day).
• 5th inning, Texas
• Rowe doubled down the lf line into the corner.
• Torres (after talking to Coach Garrido, who took an offensive time out) moved Rowe to 3b on a 2-3 sac bunt. Very close play. A tie is supposed to go to the runner but not in this case, apparently. Torres, by the way, did not square to bunt until the count went to 3-1. And then he bunted a ball that died at the plate just past the dirt area. Nice.
• Tucker (with the infield pulled in) singled into cf (2-2 count), scoring Rowe.
• The ASU pitching coach made a visit to the mound.
• Belt struck out swinging (full count).
• Moldenhauer grounded out to ss. Another close play. Not as close as the Torres play but close.
• 21 pitches (75 on the day).
• Game tied 2-2.
• 6th inning, ASU
• Newman singled into rf.
• MacPhee moved Newman to 2b with a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Maggi grounded out to 3b. Great dive and stop by Torres!!!
• Kipnis was intentionally walked, putting runners at 1b and 2b.
• Ramirez grounded into a 4-6 fielder's choice. Tucker made a great play to grab the ball and keep it from scooting through into cf. Yes!
• 16 pitches (111 on the day).
• 6th inning, Texas
• Keyes singled off the 3rd baseman. It was lined a bit to his right and should probably have been ruled an error as the ball went off his glove.
• Loy (who had a quick visit with Coach Garrido after the first pitch; a ball) moved Keyes to 2b with a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Rupp struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Clark lined out to cf (1st pitch). Damn.
• 10 pitches (85 on the day).
• 7th inning, ASU
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Green.
• Calhoun reached on an infield single to ss (deep in the hole, 2-2 count).
• Zach Wilson (pinch-hitting for Ruettiger) grounded out 5-4-3. Texas tried to turn a double play but Calhoun was running on the hit-and-run and was safe at 2b. Tucker did a nice job to get the relay throw to 1b in time, despite Calhoun hitting his foot as he slid into 2b.
• Riccio Torrez (pinch-hitting for McDonald) grounded out to 3b. Calhoun moved up to 3b.
• Raoul Torrez flew out to shallow rf. Tucker was running back for the ball but gave way to Keyes in rf. Whew.
• 18 pitches.
• 7th inning, Texas
• ASU sent Mitchell Lambson (lhp) to the mound for Leake and kept Riccio Torrez in the game at 1b.
• Rowe grounded out to the pitcher (1st pitch).
• Torres struck out looking.
• Tucker struck out looking (full count, 9 pitches).
• 14 pitches.
• 8th inning, ASU
• Austin Barnes (pinch -hitting for Newman and making his first appearance in the post-season for ASU) grounded out to 3b. Very nice play by Torres.
• MacPhee grounded out to 3b. A much more routine play for Torres this time. Heh.
• Maggi struck out swinging!
• 12 pitches (30 on the day).
• 8th inning, Texas
• Andy Workman went into rf for ASU (replacing Barnes in the line-up).
• Belt flew out to cf (1st pitch).
• Tant Shepherd (pinch-hitting for Moldenhauer) struck out swinging.
• Keyes struck out swinging (3 pitches). Ouch.
• 8 pitches (23 on the day).
• 9th inning, ASU
• Kipnis reached on an infield single to 1b (full count, 11 (!) pitches). Belt knocked the ball down and Tucker backed him up but threw wide of Wood covering 1b. Kipnis moved up to 2b on the error (E4). Ouch.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Ramirez lined out to lf. Kipnis could not advance.
• Calhoun struck out swinging!
• Wilson tripled into the rf corner, scoring Kipnis. Keyes dove for the ball, trying to make the out but came up short.
• Riccio Torrez lined out to 2b.
• 22 pitches (52 on the day).
• Texas down 2-3.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Loy struck out swinging. Ouch.
• Rupp homered to dead cf!!!
• Clark popped out to the catcher behind home plate.
• Rowe homered over the lf fence to win the game!!!!! (First pitch.)
• Texas wins 4-3. Wow. And: WOW!!!!!

I can't believe it. Wow. I love this team. I really do. Wow.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Radio post-game comments. From Coach Harmon: I don't know that you can have many endings like that and survive them! He gave credit to Cole...and then Leake who he said made a very gutsy performance. From Skip Johnson: Cole battled and got out of some tough innings. No doubt Cole's ability to get the change-up across made a great difference. They will probably go with Ruffin, Jungmann, and then Green in the Championship series.

Post-game comments from ASU: Coach Murphy opened saying that it's a pretty emotional time...pretty tough. Mitch has been good all year and again tonight but give credit to Texas for pulling through in the end. He's really proud of his club and what they accomplished this year. They are a team. A team. He said he's seen some great performances from some guys. He's privileged and grateful that he's been able to be around the players on this team. It's sad but he'd like to give great credit to Texas for winning the ball game. He thinks they'll be watching Mike Leake get inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame one day. Whenever we needed him to step up he did...and he did it again today. This team did all the things you want kids to do so they can go on in life and not be afraid as they go forward. They've done it all year, win or lose. He's as proud of this team as any team...maybe more proud...he's been around in the past. Mike Leake said this was the best team he's ever been on. Jason Kipnis said the loss will sit with him for awhile but the team is made up of a great group of guys. Kole Calhoun echoed the thoughts of the other two players. Mike Leake said he wanted the ball and wanted to be the player to take the team into tomorrow's game. He made a couple of mistakes but had the team in mind as he tried to make his pitches. Leake said Texas battled well and responded to every mistake. Jason Kipnis, regarding the final at-bat, gave credit first-off to Austin Wood and then said he was just determined to get on base. He battled off pitches until he put the ball in play. Then Zach Wilson who has such good potential came through for them and got the hit to score the run. Hats off to Texas for winning the game, though. Kole Calhoun said playing at the CWS was one of the best things he's ever gotten to do. This is something that he'll remember forever. Coach Murphy repeated again that he's proud of his team, adding that it's tough to handle when you lose and your season is over.

Before getting to the post-game comments from Texas we learned that the home team rotation for the final best-of-three series will go: Texas, LSU, and Texas (if it goes to 3 games).

Post-game comments from UT: Coach Garrido opened by recognizing ASU and the job they did with their program, the competitiveness of their team, their great pitching. He said you saw two great teams not being ready to give up. The two homeruns are about as dramatic as you can get. We struck out 12 times which is pretty amazing. He feels blessed that Texas won. How does it happen? It just does. Connor Rowe regarding his mindset said he was not thinking homerun and was surprised to be given the green light. He was sitting on the change-up which is what he'd been seeing all night so it worked out for him. Austin Wood said they're just going out there to do their jobs and we'll know by Wednesday if they're a team of destiny or not. Coach Garrido said he thinks LSU has played the best baseball all around in this tournament and most people will probably pick them as the favored team; but if it's about drama, we've got that. Rupp said they came into the dugout to start the bottom of the 9th a little upset but, like they do all year, they just competed and picked each other up. Rupp said he knew the ball was out when he hit it. Coach Garrido said losing today's game would've been the final good thing to happen to LSU and would've weakened Texas considerably in relation to where LSU is. He said they needed to win to give themselves a chance. When asked if they felt obligated to pick Austin Wood up in the bottom of the 9th, Rupp joked that it wasn't the first time the team had to pick up after him but it felt great. Rowe said he felt they still owed Wood a bit for the 25-inning game. Coach Garrido said he would expect Chance Ruffin to pitch the first game. They need to prepare by getting back to the fundamentals of the game. Two of the errors were really tough plays but they have to work more on getting back to their fundamentals because LSU has not made any mistakes so far this tournament. Augie talked about what a cruel game baseball can be but joked that it's better than gun-fighting or gladiator-fighting where you only get to lose once. Rupp said they'll take any win they can get. He said for the team to show composure and not get down helps them a lot...they'll play the same game no matter the situation.

So, Texas faces LSU in the Championship Series on Monday at 6 pm. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:28 PM | Permalink

A bit of a delay

The start time for this evening's game has been delayed due to rain in Omaha earlier this afternoon. That rain pushed back the start of the early game by nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes. The early game (won by LSU) ended at 6:52 so our game will likely start at about 7:45 or so.

Posted by Joanna at 7:02 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 16, 2009

Game 63: Texas at Arizona State (CWS)

Texas played visitor to the Sun Devils of Arizona State in the 8th game of the 2009 College World Series today. I watched the game on ESPN and this report is based on that viewing.

Today's starting line-ups:

Texas	Arizona State
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 Preston Clark, lf 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Chance Ruffin, p	1 Drew Maggi, ss 2 Jason Kipnis, cf 3 Carlos Ramirez, c 4 Kole Calhoun, lf 5 Johnny Ruettiger, dh 6 Matt Newman, rf 7 Raoul Torrez, 3b 8 Jared McDonald, 1b 9 Zack MacPhee, 2b - Mike Leake, p

Here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Mike Leake (rhp) on the mound for ASU.
• Torres hit a 1-0 pitch just inside the 1b bag and into the rf corner for a double!
• Tucker drew a full-count walk. He squared to bunt on every pitch but did not offer at any.
• Belt struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• Moldenhauer, sadly, hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
• 14 pitches.
• 1st inning, ASU
• Chance Ruffin (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Maggi struck out swinging (3 pitches). He tried, unsuccessfully, to check his swing.
• Kipnis singled (0-1 count) into cf.
• Ramirez struck out swinging. Strike 'em out, throw 'em out! Kipnis was off with the pitch and was thrown out (2-6) for a double play. Yes!
• 13 pitches.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Keyes struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• Loy hit a slow grounder down the 1b line. The ball was fielded by 1b and tossed to the pitcher covering. The pitcher swiped at the ball and did not catch the toss from 1b. E1.
• Rupp drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Clark struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• Rowe fouled off a couple of pitches and then went down swinging.
• 20 pitches (34 through 2).
• 2nd inning, ASU
• Calhoun hit an opposite-field homerun over the lf fence.
• Ruettiger struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• Newman hit a line drive past Ruffin's head into cf for a single. Yikes!
• Torrez blooped a single into cf, moving Newman to 3b.
• On a pitch-out (0-2 pitch) to McDonald, the ball careened off Rupp's glove, scoring Newman and moving Torrez to 2b.
• McDonald singled through the right side, scoring Torrez.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• MacPhee flew out to rf.
• Maggi singled into cf (toward right), moving McDonald to 3b.
• Kipnis flew out to cf.
• Texas down 0-3.
• 23 pitches (36 through 2). Ruffin has been ahead of every batter but one. Frustrating.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Torres hit another ground ball down the line. The first baseman was ready this time...ground out to 1b (unassisted).
• Tucker blooped a single into lf.
• Belt flew out to cf.
• Moldenhauer struck out swinging.
• 15 pitches (50 through 3).
• 3rd inning, ASU
• Ramirez hit a towering homerun over the lf fence.
• Calhoun drew a 5-pitch walk.
• With Austin Dicharry warming up, Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Ruettiger reached on a fielding error by 2b. 'Looked like Tucker was thinking about the double play and took his eye off the ball which scooted between his legs into cf. Calhoun moved to 3b on the play.
• Texas sent Austin Dicharry (rhp) to the mound, replacing Ruffin (12 pitches, 48 on the day).
• Newman walked on 4 pitches. Ouch.
• Torrez struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• McDonald flew out to rf (foul, sac fly), scoring Calhoun (unearned) and moving Ruettiger to 3b.
• With a 1-1 count to MacPhee, Rupp had to replace his glove. On the subsequent pitch, the runner from 1b took off. Rupp threw to 2b but nobody was covering. The ball went into cf. Ruettiger scored (unearned) and Newman moved up to 3b. Sigh... (Mysteriously, the error was charged to 2b.)
  UPDATE. It turns out that Rupp had called a play where he would make a pick-off throw to 3b but forgot and threw to 2b instead. That explains Loy's complete surprise at the time. I bet Rupp made the call before he noticed the problem with his glove and then forgot as he was making the equipment change. It looks like they changed the error to E2 instead of E4 as well...at least it's changed on the Texas version of the boxscore which is what's linked from the NCAA CWS site.
• MacPhee went on to draw a 5-pitch walk.
• Maggi drew a full-count walk to load the bases. Double sigh...
• Kipnis lined out to 2b.
• Texas down 0-6. 3 runs scored on 1 hit, 2 errors, and 4 walks. Wow.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Keyes singled past ss into cf.
• Loy was hit by a 1-1 pitch (upper arm), moving Keyes to 2b.
• Rupp hit a 3-run homerun over the rf fence!!!
• Clark singled up the middle.
• Rowe singled into rf, moving Clark to 2b.
• Torres reached on a 4-6 fielder's choice, moving Clark to 3b. The slow bouncer did not have enough on it to allow ASU to turn the double play.
• Tucker bunted down the 1b line (squeeze!) scoring Clark and moving Torres to 2b (credited with a bunt single). The first baseman threw low and past the second baseman covering the bag (E3), allowing Torres to reach 3b and Tucker to reach 2b!
• Belt singled through the right side (!), scoring Torres and Tucker (1 run unearned).
• ASU sent Jordan Swagerty (rhp) to the mound, replacing Leake (28 pitches, 78 on the day).
• Moldenhauer popped out to 3b.
• Keyes struck out looking (1-2 count).
• Game tied 6-6. Wow.
• 4th inning, ASU
• Ramirez struck out on 3 called strikes.
• Calhoun doubled into the rf corner.
• Ruettiger drew a 5-pitch walk.
• After the first pitch to Newman (a ball), Texas sent Taylor Jungmann (rhp) to the mound, replacing Dicharry (14 pitches, 43 on the day).
• Newman flew out to lf at the line (1st pitch from Jungmann).
• The runners moved up a base on a wild pitch (0-1 count) to Torrez.
• Torrez struck out swinging (foul tip held onto by Rupp).
• Whew. The line after 4? Both teams with 6 runs on 8 hits with 2 errors. Amazing.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Loy singled past a diving ss into cf.
• Rupp drew a 5-pitch walk, moving Loy to 2b.
• ASU sent Mitchell Lambson (lhp) to the mound, replacing Swagerty (6 pitches, 16 on the day).
• Clark struck out swinging (foul tip, full count, 8 pitches).
• Rowe flew out to cf.
• Torres flew out to cf at the warning track. Damn.
• 5th inning, ASU
• McDonald grounded out to ss.
• I wrote that "6-3" down on my score sheet and realized that was the first ground out of the day recorded by the Texas defense! Wow.
• MacPhee flew out to cf.
• Maggi struck out looking (he watched all three pitches).
• First 1-2-3 inning for either team (ASU did not end up converting one as the game wore on). Go, Horns!
• 6th inning, Texas
• Tucker singled past a diving 2b into cf.
• Belt moved Tucker to 2b on a sac bunt (1-3).
• Tant Shepherd (pinch-hitting for Russell Moldenhauer) drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Keyes popped out to 1b.
• Loy grounded out to the pitcher.
• 6th inning, ASU
• Kipnis flew out to cf (toward the cf/rf gap).
• Ramirez struck out swinging.
• Calhoun singled into lf.
• Ruettiger drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Newman flew out to lf.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Rupp homered over the rf fence again!
• Clark singled into cf.
• Sadly, the pitcher caught him leaning and he was picked off 1-3-6 before the first pitch to Rowe.
• Rowe struck out swinging.
• Torres struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Texas up 7-6.
• 7th inning, ASU
• Texas sent Tim Maitland into lf, replacing Clark.
• Torrez struck out looking.
• McDonald grounded out to 1b. Great stop by Belt who dove to his right and then tossed in time to Jungmann covering. Yes!
• MacPhee struck out swinging. Pitch sequence: ball, ball, ball, (visit to mound by Rupp), called strike, called strike, swinging strike!
• Another 1-2-3 inning.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Tucker drew a full-count walk, reaching base for the 5th time in as many plate appearances.
• Belt moved Tucker to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt. The pitcher made a great play to dive as he was running toward 1b to field the ball and then throw to 1b to get the out. Wow.
• With the count 1-1 to Shepherd, ASU sent Seth Blair (rhp) to the mound, replacing Lambson (10 pitches in the 8th, 54 on the day).
• Texas countered by sending Kevin Lusson (who inherited the 1-1 count) to pinch-hit for Shepherd.
• Kevin Lusson watched 3 balls go by to draw a walk.
• Keyes doubled off the base of the wall in the cf/rf gap, scoring Tucker and moving Lusson to 3b.
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson in to pinch-run for Keyes.
• After Loy took a big swing at the first pitch, Coach Garrido took an offensive timeout to talk to Loy.
• Loy (with the infield pulled in) singled into cf (toward the rf gap), scoring the Lusson brothers. The hit would've cleared the infield even had they been at regular depth, by the way.
• ASU sent Jason Franzblau (rhp) to the mound, replacing Blair.
• Rupp struck out swinging. Loy stole 2b on the strikeout pitch.
• Maitland was hit (near his knee) by a pitch (1-2 count).
• Rowe (8th batter of the inning) grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 10-6.
• 8th inning, ASU
• Texas kept Kyle Lusson in the game in rf.
• Maggi grounded out to ss.
• Kipnis struck out swinging. 6th strikeout for Jungmann.
• Ramirez flew out to lf...just shy of the warning track. The crowd sure thought it was going out. 'Glad it didn't.
• Another 1-2-3 inning for Jungmann.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Torres struck out swinging (full count, 7 pitches).
• Tucker flew out to cf (first pitch).
• Belt singled into lf.
• Kevin Lusson grounded out to ss.
• 9th inning, ASU
• Calhoun flew out to cf at the wall.
• Ruettiger reached on an infield single (a slow bouncer to 2b).
• Newman flew out to cf.
• Ruettiger stole (?) 2b on the first pitch to Torrez. At least, I think he did...more likely, it was defensive indifference. Nobody at ESPN noticed. Not the yackers...not the folks in the booth. He was standing out there, though, when Jungmann threw his 2nd pitch to Torrez.
• Torrez grounded out (high bouncer) to ss.
• Texas wins 10-6!

Oh. My. Goodness. You just gotta love this team, eh? Heh. Taylor Jungmann gets his 2nd win in as many chances at the College World Series. Pretty cool. And, Cameron Rupp, who struggled behind the plate, hits two homeruns. Defensively, the Horns only recorded 4 outs via ground out. They didn't get their first one 'til the 5th. Then they had another in the 7th, one in the 8th, and one more in the 9th to end the game. How bizarre is that for this team?

Everyone expected a pitcher's duel but no such luck. I love college baseball. I especially love UT baseball. I feel so sorry for the talking heads in the ESPN broadcast booth. They just don't have a clue.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Post-game comments from ASU: Coach Murphy started with crediting Texas for doing such a good job getting back into the game. He said that just goes to show you how great baseball is. Leake is 16-1 and hasn't had an outing like that in 3 years. That is not a typical outing for him, obviously. That was the first time Leake went out of the game before the 7th inning all year. Texas played great and had timely hitting...their experience showed. Leake said he hadn't had too long of a rest; he has too much going through his mind right now to tell you what happened to him tonight. Calhoun said that the offense might have laid back a bit after getting the 6-run lead. He said that "Jungmann kid" pounded the strike zone and pitched really well. Coach Murphy said they're not done and will work on winning the next three games.

Post-game comments from Texas: Coach Garrido said that baseball creates enough adversity but we added to it 10-fold both defensively and offensively so for the team to find a way to win was nothing short of a miracle and quite a testimony to their will to win and belief in each other. They got it done. It was rough and it was ugly but they got it done. When asked what he said to the team before the 4th inning, he said he thought that was a better question for the players to ask what stuck with them. Tucker said Coach Garrido asked them how good it would fell to come back and win. Rupp said the coach reminded them they'd scored 11 runs in an inning, 8 in an inning, and on; they just put the first 3 innings behind them and decided to move on. When asked about the coach's demeanor, Rupp said the coach stayed calm and told them it could be done if they put the bad stuff behind them they'd be successful. Tucker, when asked if the team knew they'd win after the speech, said they didn't know it but felt good about it. Rupp said that he had a terrible defensive game but left it all on the field and from the 3rd inning on played his own game. Tucker said he had a conversation with his glove...that it was all the glove's fault...and after that, everything was good. Heh. Garrido said after the 3rd inning, the Horns stopped swinging at stuff in the dirt and that helped turn things around. Jungmann said the team knew they had the game when they tied it up. Coach Garrido said going to Jungmann in the situation with the score tied is where the team wants to be. He said he probably wouldn't have put Jungmann in the game if the Horns had been behind by 2 when they took Dicharry out...they probably would've stuck with Dicharry. He pointed out that the team found yet another way to win a game. He said it's all about attitude and the sense of responsibility to pick each other up...where the intangibles and luck factor come in. The team has been taking the blows thrown by the other teams and fight their way back. When asked what they've learned over the last 8 games, Tucker said they've learned that you can't ever give up and that they trust each other and rally for each other. Rupp said they appreciate that the coach never gives up on them. When asked about the plans for the next couple of days, the coach said they'd probably run around and try to take the edge off tomorrow afternoon, have a team meal, go to a movie, hang out...then have a structured practice on Thursday and get back into their normal routines.

Texas is off until 6 on Friday evening when they will face the winner of Thursday night's game between North Carolina and Arizona State. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:18 PM | Permalink

Sunday - June 14, 2009

Game 62: Southern Miss at Texas (CWS)

Texas played home team to the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss in the 4th game of the 2009 College World Series today. I watched the game on ESPN2 and this report is based on that viewing.

Today's starting line-ups:

Southern Miss	Texas
1 Bo Davis, cf 2 James Ewing, 2b 3 Kameron Brunty, lf 4 Corey Stevens, rf 5 Joey Archer, 1b 6 Michael Ewing, dh 7 B.A. Vollmuth, ss 8 Travis Graves, c 9 Taylor Walker, 3b - Todd McInnis, p	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 Preston Clark, lf 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Taylor Jungmann, p

UPDATE (Monday): I don't know why or how but I had the wrong line-up listed for Texas. All fixed now.

Here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Southern Miss
• Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Davis flew out to cf at the warning track (1st pitch).
• J. Ewing flew out to cf toward the lf gap (full count).
• Brunty singled into lf.
• Stevens struck out swinging.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Todd McInnis (rhp) on the mound for Southern Miss.
• Torres singled into cf.
• Tucker struck out looking after failing to get the bunt down (2-2 count). He squared to bunt twice and bunted the ball foul and then watched a called strike.
• Belt flew out to cf.
• Moldenhauer drew a full-count walk (8 pitches).
• Keyes doubled off the wall in the cf/rf gap, scoring Torres and Moldenhauer!
• Loy grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 2-0.
• 2nd inning, Southern Miss
• Archer grounded out to 2b.
• M. Ewing singled into cf.
• Vollmuth hit into a picture-perfect 6-4-3 double play.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Rupp flew out to cf (1st pitch).
• Clark grounded out off the pitcher's glove (1-4-3).
• Rowe flew out to lf at the warning track (1st pitch).
• 6-pitch inning for McInnis.
• 3rd inning, Southern Miss
• Graves singled into cf.
• Walker struck out swinging.
• Davis hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Yes!
• 8-pitch inning for Green.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Torres flew out to lf.
• Tucker struck out looking again.
• Belt reached on a full-count walk and advanced to 2b on a wild pitch (the 4th pitch) to Moldenhauer.
• Moldenhauer grounded out to 2b. Bad call in my opinion. The throw from 2b to 1b was off-line and pulled the first baseman off the base. He fell down the rf line as he caught the ball. Moldenhauer should've been ruled safe (E4). ESPN did not show the replay. Sigh...
• 4th inning, Southern Miss
• J. Ewing struck out swinging.
• Brunty struck out swinging.
• Stevens grounded out to ss.
• 10-pitch inning for Green. 45 pitches through 4.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Keyes grounded out to 2b (1st pitch).
• Loy fell behind 0-2, then worked the count full, and drew a walk without ever swinging his bat.
• Rupp popped out to rf.
• With Clark at the plate, Loy was picked off (1-3). Damn.
• 10-pitch inning for McInnis. 68 pitches through 4.
• 5th inning, Southern Miss
• Archer drew a 5-pitch walk.
• M. Ewing hit a homerun over the fence in the cf/rf gap (1st pitch).
• Vollmuth singled through the left side.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Graves moved Vollmuth to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Walker grounded out to ss, moving Vollmuth to 3b. Loy made a great diving stop to his right, jumped up, and made a great throw to 1b.
• Davis struck out swinging.
• Game tied 2-2.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Clark singled into the rf/cf gap.
• Mound visit after the first pitch (a ball) to Rowe.
• Rowe moved Clark to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt down the 1b line.
• Torres lined out to lf. Clark was off with the pitch and was thrown out easily (7-4), giving Southern Miss their first (and only, it turned out) double play of the game.
• 6th inning, Southern Miss
• J. Ewing flew out to lf.
• Brunty lined out to ss.
• Stevens struck out swinging (he tried to check his swing).
• 6th inning, Texas
• Tucker grounded out to 1b (p covered the bag).
• Belt flew out to lf just shy of the warning track.
• Moldenhauer homered way over the lf fence!
• Keyes struck out swinging.
• Texas up 3-2.
• 7th inning, Southern Miss
• Archer struck out swinging. He tried to check his swing but could not hold up. Rupp dropped the ball so had to tag Archer to complete the out.
• M. Ewing grounded out to the pitcher.
• Vollmuth struck out swinging.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Loy singled into cf toward the lf gap.
• Rupp moved Loy to 2b with a 1-3 sac bunt down the 1b line.
• Clark struck out swinging.
• Rowe singled into lf toward the cf gap, scoring Loy!
• Southern Miss sent Scott Copeland (rhp) to the mound, replacing McInnis.
• Torres grounded out to ss on a slow-bouncer over the mound (1st pitch).
• Texas up 4-2.
• 8th inning, Southern Miss
• Texas sent Tim Maitland into lf, replacing Clark.
• Adam Doleac, pinch-hitting for Graves, doubled into rf.
• Southern Miss sent Nick Smith in to pinch-run for Doleac.
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Green.
• Walker reached on an infield single to ss, deep in the hole. Smith moved up to 3b.
• The first pitch to Davis got away from Rupp. Wild pitch. Smith scored and Walker moved up to 2b.
• Davis tried to bunt Walker to 3b but could not get the bunt down. He went on to strike out swinging.
• J. Ewing drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Brian Dozier was announced as a pinch-hitter for Brunty.
• Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound to discuss the situation.
• Dozier reached on catcher interference. His bat hit Rupp's glove as he was swinging at a pitch (1-1 count). Bases loaded.
• Stevens drew a full-count walk (8 pitches). RBI. Bases still loaded.
• Archer reached on a fielder's choice plus E5. Torres fielded in time to get the out at home but made a bad throw in the dirt that Rupp could not hold onto. J. Ewing scored. Bases still loaded.
• M. Ewing struck out swinging.
• Vollmuth (9th batter of the inning) struck out swinging.
• Texas down 4-5.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Southern Miss kept Smith in the game in lf. Kyle Maxie went in at catcher, replacing Dozier in the line-up.
• Tucker reached on an infield single to 3b (slow bouncer). The third baseman threw the ball away but the second baseman did a good job backing up the throw to 1b so Tucker could not advance to 2b.
• Belt flew out to cf.
• Southern Miss sent Collin Cargill (rhp) to the mound, replacing Copeland.
• Moldenhauer doubled to cf (toward the lf gap), moving Tucker to 3b.
• Keyes was walked intentionally, loading the bases.
• Coach Garrido took an offensive time-out to talk to Loy and Rupp.
• Kevin Lusson was sent in to pinch-run for Keyes after the first pitch to Loy (a ball).
• Loy drew a 5-pitch walk (ball, ball, ball, called strike, ball) to drive in a run (Tucker scored) and keep the bases loaded.
• With a 2-0 count to Rupp, Southern Miss sent Josh Fields (rhp) to the mound, replacing Cargill.
• Rupp went on to be called out on strikes.
• Kevin Lusson (pinch-hitting for Maitland) drew a 5-pitch walk to drive in another run (Shepherd scored) and keep the bases loaded.
• Rowe flew out to cf about 10 feet shy of the warning track (1st pitch).
• Texas up 6-5.
• 9th inning, Southern Miss
• Texas kept Kyle Lusson in the line-up and moved him into rf. David Hernandez went into lf, taking Kevin Lusson's spot in the line-up.
• Tyler Koeling (pinch-hitting for Smith) singled into rf.
• Walker moved Koeling to 2b with a 2-3 sac bunt.
• Texas sent Taylor Jungmann (rhp) to the mound, replacing Wood. Wow.
• Davis grounded out to 3b (1st pitch). Koeling unable to advance.
• J. Ewing hit a bloop single over 2b to tie the game.
• Ewing advanced to 2b on a wild pitch to Maxie, which prompted a visit to the mound by Skip Johnson.
• Maxie (with a 2-0 count after the wild pitch) was intentionally walked.
• Stevens grounded out to ss.
• Game tied 6-6.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Southern Miss kept Koeling in the game in rf and moved Stevens to lf (from rf).
• Torres flew out to cf. The pitch was high and would've been ball 4.
• Tucker was hit by the first pitch (left elbow).
• With a 2-0 count to Belt, Southern Miss made a visit to the mound.
• Belt drew a 4-pitch walk, moving Tucker to 2b.
• Southern Miss sent Jonathan Johnston (rhp) to the mound, replacing Fields.
• The terribly unobservant ESPN announcers kept announcing Moldenhauer as the on-deck batter with Belt at the plate and after the pitching change until finally, the cameras focussed on Moldenhauer sitting in the dugout and Shepherd swinging a bat. Oh yeah, they remembered, someone pinch-ran for Moldenhauer earlier. They are so bad. Bah.
• Shepherd struck out swinging. Shucks.
• Kyle Lusson drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Loy drew a 4-pitch walk to win the game. Wow.
• Texas wins 7-6. Oh. My.

That was ugly. But, a win's a win. And, I'll take it.

Cole Green pitched a very nice game. He sat the Golden Eagles down in order 3 times (4th, 6th, and 7th innings) and got 2 double plays turned by his defense in the 2nd and 3rd innings. He also struck out 8 and only walked 1. And, what about Russell Moldenhauer? He got his first homerun of the year. Yay, Russell!

If the yahoos on ESPN had looked at a stat sheet for 3 or 4 seconds, they would've realized that he had limited appearances this year and that he seems to be getting back to the form he showed last year. But, they couldn't be bothered. After all, it's only college baseball and none of it really matters. Their attitude seems to be: "Why is ESPN even bothering to carry college baseball games?" They don't know anything about the way the game is played at the college level and can't be bothered to watch what's actually happening on the field. I miss Harold Reynolds. And, let me tell you: I never really knew I was a fan of Harold Reynolds 'til he lost his job and I found out how truly awful everyone else would be. Ugh.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

Post-game comments from USM: Coach Palmer said his team just didn't throw strikes and that led to the loss. He said he'd much rather have lost on a grand slam than the way they did lose. He said they walked 9 while Texas walked 4...and there's your ball game. James Ewing commented that the game was kind of sloppy on both sides...pitching wise. He knows Austin Wood's a better pitcher and so are the USM pitchers. But, Texas managed to do just enough to win the game.

Post-game comments from Texas: Coach Garrido thought the ending of the game was not befitting the performance. He commented once again that baseball's a brutal game. He thought the breakdown by Southern Miss at the end of the game misrepresented the team. He thought being in the environment for the first time created some nerve problem that eventually led to the demise of an otherwise very courageous team. It was a tough way for the game to end. From the Texas side of things, the team responded to adversity they way they've been doing of late. It's just about team work. He said they could play 50 games and the same thing wouldn't happen again. He thought Cole Green pitched very well. Championships are decided by the unexpected and all of that took place tonight. When asked what he said to Brandon Loy in the 9th, he told him to take until he got 2 strikes...but to work on his rhythm and timing as he went through that at-bat. After Torres hit the 4th ball for an out, Coach Garrido decided that none of the batters would swing without 2 strikes for the rest of the inning. Loy said getting the bases loaded is what put pressure on the other team's pitchers. Moldenhauer said he thinks he's hit the ball well all year and Coach Garrido believes in him so he's glad he could help out tonight; hitting the homerun was great but they need to move on now and focus on the next game. Asked if the homerun gave him confidence later in the game he said it definitely helped; he felt comfortable swinging. Coach Garrido on Arizona State: they're a well-constructed team, very aggressive, good pitching, they go to war, they battle, they make a lot of things happen, they play a highly-fueled up-beat offensive game with some power; it ends up being about the pitchers again. Green said he was very excited to get to start in the first game, that it wasn't a surprise, that he had command of all his pitches and that Southern Miss capitalized whenever he did make a mistake but he felt confident. Coach Garrido again gave props to the way the Southern Miss team plays.

Next up: Arizona State on Tuesday at 6. Texas will be in the visitor dugout for that game. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 10:41 PM | Permalink

Wednesday - June 10, 2009

MLB Draft, Day 2

Checking the draft news over my lunch break, I find that Brandon Belt and Austin Wood were taken in the 5th round. Brandon was picked by San Francisco (147th pick overall) and Austin was picked by Detroit (3 picks later...150th). Congrats! I'll be back with more as I have time. Hook 'em!

UPDATE. Four more Texas signees have been drafted. Watch my 2009 Draft Summary page for more info.

Posted by Joanna at 12:22 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 9, 2009

MLB Draft note

The MLB Draft got underway this evening. They got through the first 3 rounds before calling it a day. So far, the only draft pick that'll likely have a direct impact on the Horns is center fielder Everett Williams out of McCallum HS (here in Austin). He's a Texas signee. He was drafted in the 2nd round (52nd overall) so I'm guessing he will not be on campus next year. As usual, I'll be keeping track of things on my own draft summary page. I'll update as often as I can. There's a handy link in the sidebar on the main page if you lose track of this post.

Also of note, through the first 3 rounds:

• Tony Sanchez (the BC catcher we saw at the Regional) was drafted 4th overall. Wow.
• Aaron Crow (rhp, previously of Missouri) and Kyle Gibson (rhp, currently of Missouri) were also drafted in the first round.
• Aaron Miller (lhp, Baylor), Garrett Richards (rhp, OU), and Mike Belfiore (lhp, BC...remember him from the 25 inning game?) were drafted in the supplemental round between the 1st and 2nd rounds.
• And, Alex Wilson (rhp, TAMU) was drafted in the 2nd round.
• Josh Prince (who played for Texas in 2007 and then transferred to Tulane) was drafted in the 3rd round.

This is the first time in a long time that Rice didn't have someone selected in the first 3 rounds.

Posted by Joanna at 9:58 PM | Permalink

Monday - June 8, 2009

Game 61: TCU at Texas (Austin Super Regional)

Omaha bound! Very cool. Texas beat TCU 5-2 this evening to win the Austin Super Regional and advance to the College World Series. First trip to Omaha for the Longhorns since 2005. Very very cool.

The starting line-ups:

TCU	Texas
1 Corey Steglich, 2b 2 Taylor Featherston, ss 3 Matt Carpenter, 3b 4 Matt Vern, 1b 5 Bryan Holaday, c 6 Chris Ellington, rf 7 Jason Coats, lf 8 Matt Curry, dh 9 Aaron Schultz, cf - Tyler Lockwood, p	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 Preston Clark, lf 8 Cameron Rupp, c 9 Connor Rowe, cf - Taylor Jungmann, p

Texas won the coin toss and got to play Home team. Which I always prefer. Heh. Coach Garrido also slipped Russell Moldenhauer into the line-up. I watched Moldenhauer taking batting practice yesterday and he hit several balls out of the park. I didn't see him before this evening's game so don't know if he did the same today. I suspect, but have no way of knowing, that Coach Garrido was hoping to give the Horns a bit of power this evening by inserting him into the dh spot.

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, TCU
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Steglich flew out to cf.
• Featherston lined out to rf. Keyes made a fantastic diving catch to make the out.
• Carpenter drew an 8-pitch walk.
• Vern struck out swinging.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Tyler Lockwood (rhp) on the mound for TCU.
• Torres reached on an infield single to 2b. The second baseman made a nice play behind the bag to make the catch and tried to throw Torres out but the throw was too late.
• Tucker moved Torres to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Belt tripled off the cf wall, scoring Torres.
• Moldenhauer grounded out to 2b, scoring Belt.
• Keyes hit a homerun over the lf bullpen. Purty.
• Loy grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 3-0.
• 2nd inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down: Holaday grounded out to 2b (slow bouncer); Ellington struck out swinging (full count, 8 pitches); and Coats grounded out to ss.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Clark grounded out to 3b.
• Rupp drew a full count walk.
• Rowe lined out to cf.
• Torres struck out looking.
• 3rd inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down: Curry lined out to lf; Schultz struck out swinging; and Steglich struck out swinging.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Tucker flew out to cf.
• Belt was hit by a 2-2 pitch.
• Moldenhauer grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Damn.
• 4th inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down: Featherston grounded out to the pitcher (unassisted; Jungmann fielded the ball going down the 1b line and his momentum made it easier and safer for him to go all the way to the bag rather than toss to Belt at 1b); Carpenter grounded out to 2b; and Vern struck out looking.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Keyes doubled off the rf wall.
• Loy grounded out to ss. Keyes could not advance.
• TCU sent closer Eric Marshall (rhp) to the mound, replacing Lockwood.
• Keyes moved up to 3b on the first pitch to Loy (I thought it was a wild pitch but the official scorer apparently called it a passed ball).
• Clark struck out swinging.
• Rupp doubled down the lf line, scoring Keyes.
• Rowe singled up the middle, scoring Rupp.
• Torres grounded out to 2b. Nice stop by the second baseman.
• Texas up 5-0.
• 5th inning, TCU
• Holaday singled over 2b into rf. Jungmann had retired 10 batters in a row at this point. Nice.
• Ellington flew out to cf. Rowe made a great diving catch!
• Coats grounded into a beautiful 6-4-3 double play.
• 5th inning, Texas
• TCU sent Taylor Cragin (rhp) to the mound, replacing Marshall.
• Tucker singled up the middle.
• Belt struck out swinging after fouling off a couple of pitches.
• Moldenhauer lined out to 3b.
• Keyes struck out looking.
• 6th inning, TCU
• Curry singled into rf.
• Schultz was apparently hit by a pitch, moving Curry to 2b. The umps held a meeting near 1b to go over the call and confirmed the hbp. Shrug.
• Steglich reached on a 1-5 fielder's choice (Curry out, Schultz advanced to 2b). Nice play by Jungmann. Torres tried to turn the double play but his throw to 1b was a step late. It looked like UT probably could've turned the double play if Jungmann had gone to 2b but I think you always go for the lead runner if you can. Keeping the runner away from 3b makes it that much harder for the opponent to score. So, get him and then worry about the next out.
• Featherston, obligingly, grounded to Jungmann, giving him the chance to try the 1-6-3 thing again. And, it worked just fine. Heh.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Loy struck out swinging.
• Clark flew out to cf.
• Rupp drew a full-count walk.
• Rowe lined out to lf.
• 7th inning, TCU
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann.
• 3-up/3-down: Carpenter popped out to 3b (foul); Vern struck out swinging; and Holaday lined out to cf.
• 7th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Torres flew out to cf (at the warning track); Tucker flew out to cf (the center fielder made a nice long run); and Belt flew out to cf. All center field, all the time.
• 8th inning, TCU
• Ellington reached on an error by 1b. Belt dropped the throw from ss. Unusual for the error to be called on 1b instead of on the ss. I thought the throw was a bit off-line.
• Coats grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Yes!
• Hunt Woodruff (look at that name!), pinch-hitting for Curry, doubled into lf down the line.
• Brance Rivera (look at that name!...Brance? Brance Rivera?), pinch-hitting for Schultz, singled through the right side, moving Woodruff to 3b. Keyes had trouble picking up the ball. Woodruff could've scored easily. Of course, the 3b coach had no way of knowing that Keyes wouldn't grab the ball cleanly and throw home. No matter, though, 'cause...
• Steglich singled into cf, scoring Woodruff and moving Rivera to 2b.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Featherston grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Texas up 5-1.
• 8th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Moldenhauer struck out swinging (the catcher dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out); Keyes flew out to lf; and Loy flew out to cf.
• 9th inning, TCU
• Carpenter grounded out to 2b.
• Vern tripled off the wall in lf.
• Holaday singled through the left side, scoring Vern.
• Texas sent Chance Ruffin (rhp) to the mound, replacing Wood.
• Ellington popped out to ss.
• On the 3rd pitch to Coats, Holaday moved up to 2b on a wild pitch.
• Coats struck out swinging!!
• Texas wins 5-2!!!

Jungmann got the win, moving his record to 8-3. And, Ruffin got his 2nd save of the year. Nice.

Final line:

I had to include the image on the video portion of the scoreboard with the line this evening. Isn't it great? I did doctor the photo a bit to remove the ads to the left and right of the screen since they just cluttered things up.

And, another photo...the last pitch of the game (the ball's about a quarter of the way to the plate):

Texas moves on to the 2009 College World Series. Their first opponent is Southern Miss. They play on Sunday at 6 pm.

Posted by Joanna at 11:51 PM | Permalink

Sunday - June 7, 2009

Game 60: Texas at TCU (Austin Super Regional)

Today's game was not nearly as fun as yesterday's game. At least, not for Texas fans. Texas lost 2-3 to TCU in the second game of the Austin Super Regional. The Horns are now 8-5 on the season in 1-run games. Bah.

The starting line-ups were identical to yesterday's for both teams:

Texas	TCU
1 Michael Torres, 3b 2 Travis Tucker, 2b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Kevin Keyes, rf 5 Brandon Loy, ss 6 Preston Clark, dh 7 Cameron Rupp, c 8 Connor Rowe, cf 9 David Hernandez, lf - Cole Green, p	1 Corey Steglich, 2b 2 Taylor Featherston, ss 3 Matt Carpenter, 3b 4 Matt Vern, 1b 5 Bryan Holaday, c 6 Chris Ellington, rf 7 Jason Coats, lf 8 Matt Curry, dh 9 Aaron Schultz, cf - Paul Gerrish, p

And, here's the sad story of today's game:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Paul Gerrish on the mound for TCU.
• Torres ground out to ss.
• Tucker singled into rf.
• Belt struck out swinging (full count). Tucker was off with the pitch and was thrown out (2-6, caught stealing). Double play. Damn.
• 1st inning, TCU
• Cole Green on the mound for Texas.
• Steglich grounded out to 2b.
• Featherston singled into the lf/cf gap.
• Carpenter flew out to cf (in front of the scoreboard).
• Vern grounded out to 2b.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Keyes struck out looking.
• Loy reached on a throwing error by ss. The throw sailed over 1b. The second baseman quickly grabbed the ball as it ricocheted off the wall so Loy was unable to advance to 2b.
• Clark flew out to rf.
• Rupp grounded out to ss.
• 2nd inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down: Holaday grounded out to the pitcher; Ellington grounded out to ss; and Coats lined out to rf.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Rowe struck out swinging; Hernandez grounded out to ss; and Torres flew out to cf.
• 3rd inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down: Curry struck out looking; Schultz struck out looking; and Steglich grounded out to the pitcher (0-1 count, bunt attempt).
• 4th inning, Texas
• 3-up/3-down: Tucker flew out to cf; Belt struck out swinging; and Keyes hit a soft pop up to 2b in shallow rf.
• 4th inning, TCU
• Featherston singled past Torres into lf.
• Carpenter flew out to lf.
• Vern hit a homerun over the rf fence (1-2 count). I think the ball bounced off a car parked along Comal and right back into the field of play. Weird.
• Holaday singled into the lf/cf gap. Rowe did a nice job to cut the ball off and limit Holaday to a single.
• Which prompted a trip to the mound by Skip Johnson.
• Ellington grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Loy flew out to rf toward the gap.
• Clark grounded out to 2b.
• Rupp singled off the mound into cf.
• Rowe grounded out to 3b.
• 5th inning, TCU
• Coats lined out to 2b. Nice play by Tucker who ranged to his left to grab the ball.
• Curry lined out to lf.
• Schultz singled into cf.
• Green threw a pitch-out to Rupp (0-2 count) with Steglich at the plate. Schultz was off with the pitch and was caught stealing (2-4).
• 6th inning, Texas
• Hernandez singled over 2b into rf. First lead-off batter to reach for the Horns.
• Torres popped out to 1b (bunt attempt).
• Tucker struck out swinging (full count, 7 pitches).
• Belt also struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• 6th inning, TCU
• Steglich grounded out to 3b.
• Featherston struck out swinging.
• Carpenter homered over the rf fence (1-0 count).
• Vern flew out to cf.
• Texas down 0-3.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Keyes doubled to rf.
• Insert visit to mound.
• Loy grounded out to ss.
• Clark singled up the middle, scoring Keyes.
• Rupp flew out (sky high!) to rf. I wasn't sure the ball was going to come back down.
• Rowe flew out to rf (foul).
• Texas down 1-3.
• 7th inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down: Holaday grounded out to ss; Ellington flew out to cf; and Coats flew out to lf.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Russell Moldenhauer (pinch-hitting for Hernandez) was hit by the first pitch (upper arm or shoulder).
• Texas sent Tim Maitland in to run for Moldenhauer.
• TCU sent Eric Marshall (rhp) to the mound, replacing Gerrish.
• Torres reached on a 1-6 fielder's choice. The double play throw was in time but a little high...and then dropped by the first baseman. The official scorer did not charge an error on the play; I disagree with the ruling. I know you can't assume the double play but when the ball gets there in time, it should be ruled an error if it's off-target or dropped.
• Tucker grounded out to ss (deep in the hole; nice play). Torres unable to advance from 2b.
• Belt singled up the middle, scoring Torres.
• This prompted another visit to the mound.
• Keyes flew out on a soft pop-up to 2b.
• Texas down 2-3.
• 8th inning, TCU
• Maitland stayed in the game at lf.
• Curry grounded out to the pitcher.
• Schultz struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Steglich drew a 7-pitch walk. On two different pitches (1-2 count and then the final pitch), Steglich tried to check his swing. The 1b ump ruled he did not go around on either pitch but it sure looked like he offered at both of them to me; especially the first one.
• Texas sent Austin Dicharry (rhp) to the mound, replacing Green.
• Featherston singled through the right side, moving Steglich to 3b.
• Texas sent Austin Wood (lhp) to the mound, replacing Dicharry.
• The runners broke with Carpenter at the plate (1-2 count) and Steglich was picked off 1-2-5. They broke broke way too early. Wood was able to step off the mound and it was a pretty easy play.
• 9th inning, Texas
• TCU sent Ben Carruthers in at ss (replacing Steglich in the line-up). They moved Featherston from ss to 2b.
• 3-up/3-down (so sad): Loy grounded out to 2b; Clark grounded out to 3b; and Rupp grounded out to 1b (p covered bag).
• Texas loses 2-3.

Texas just couldn't seem to figure Gerrish out until late in the game. And, then they ran out of time. The Horns only got the lead-off man aboard in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. They scored in the 7th and 8th. After the record-breaking small ball day yesterday, the Horns only attempted 1 sac bunt today and failed to execute on the one attempt. Interesting. I suppose. Texas only managed 6 hits...all singles except for the lead-off double by Keyes in the 7th. TCU only had one more hit than the Horns but...two of their hits left the park. All of TCUs runs in the first two games of the Super Regional have been scored on homeruns. Cole Green took the loss, by the way, to move his record to 5-3.

Final line:

Texas and TCU play again tomorrow at 6. We've been told that Texas will be back in the Home dugout.

Posted by Joanna at 8:51 PM | Permalink

Saturday - June 6, 2009

Game 59: TCU at Texas (Austin Super Regional)

Wow. Texas won the first game of the Super Regional 10-4. Michael Torres hit 2 (two!) homeruns today. He doubled his season homerun total. Heh heh. And, Chance Ruffin threw his 3rd complete game of the season. Oh, my. What fun! So, how'd they do that? Read on.

First off, the starting line-ups:

TCU	Texas
1 Corey Steglich, 2b 2 Taylor Featherston, ss 3 Matt Carpenter, 3b 4 Matt Vern, 1b 5 Bryan Holaday, c 6 Chris Ellington, rf 7 Jason Coats, lf 8 Matt Curry, dh 9 Aaron Schultz, cf - Kyle Winkler, p	1 Michael Torres, 3b 2 Travis Tucker, 2b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Kevin Keyes, rf 5 Brandon Loy, ss 6 Preston Clark, dh 7 Cameron Rupp, c 8 Connor Rowe, cf 9 David Hernandez, lf - Chance Ruffin, p

And, here's how the game went:

• 1st inning, TCU
• Chance Ruffin (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Steglich flew out to cf.
• Featherston hit a homerun over the lf fence (0-1 count). Ick.
• Carpenter flew out to rf at the warning track.
• Vern drew a 9-pitch walk.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• Holaday flew out to cf. Connor Rowe made a great leaping catch against the cf wall. Wow.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Kyle Winkler (rhp) on the mound for TCU.
• Torres singled up the middle.
• Tucker tried to bunt Torres over to 2b but ended up drawing a 5-pitch walk.
• Insert visit to the mound by a TCU coach.
• Belt put down a perfect 5-4 sac bunt down the 3b line to advance the runners to 2b and 3b
• Keyes doubled to the lf/cf gap, scoring Torres and Tucker!
• Loy drew a 5-pitch walk. As the count went from 2-1 to 3-1, TCU sent a couple of pitchers and a catcher down to the bullpen.
• Clark flew out to rf.
• Rupp lined out to cf.
• Texas up 2-1.
• 2nd inning, TCU
• Ellington grounded out to ss. At the start of his at-bat, Ellington called time (and was granted time by the home plate ump) just as Ruffin was going into his wind-up. He then swung at a pitch (and missed it). He called time again as Ruffin was about to deliver the next pitch. And the ump granted it. Ruffin went ahead and finished his motion. The ball bounced in the dirt and hit the ump on the shin. The ump went out to talk to Ruffin. And, give him a warning, I guess. Ellington was the one playing games, though. He was trying very hard to get under Ruffin's skin and mess up his timing. Ruffin was not taking any time at all as he got the call from Rupp behind the plate so Ellington had no reason to be calling time. I call foul on Ellington.
• Coats flew out to cf.
• Curry grounded out to 2b. Tucker made a great stop on a hard-hit ball that seemed destined for rf. Nice play.
• First of four 3-up/3-down innings for Ruffin.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Rowe grounded out to the catcher. A high chopper just in front of the plate.
• Hernandez flew out to rf.
• Torres hit a homerun over the rf fence! His second run scored of the game. Cool.
• Tucker grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 3-1.
• 3rd inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down #2.
• Schultz grounded out on a slow bouncer to ss.
• Steglich popped out to shallow cf.
• Featherston struck out swinging.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• First of two 1-2-3 innings put up by the Texas offense.
• Belt grounded out to 2b.
• Keys grounded out to ss.
• Loy struck out swinging.
• 4th inning, TCU
• Carpenter hit an 0-2 pitch (after watching two called strikes) into the Texas bullpen. Ugh.
• Vern struck out swinging.
• Holaday grounded out to 3b.
• Ellington struck out looking.
• Nice bounce back by Ruffin after giving up the homerun.
• Texas up 3-2.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Texas answers again.
• Clark singled past the ss into cf.
• Rupp hit a sac bunt down the 1b line. Very weirdly, the third baseman was charging hard and managed to pass the pitcher to get to the ball and then he couldn't pick it up. E5. Clark safe at 2b. Rupp credited with a sac bunt.
• TCU sent a coach to the mound. He spent much of the visit talking to the third baseman.
• Rowe hit a 1-4 sac bunt, moving Clark to 3b and Rupp to 2b.
• Hernandez hit a 3-unassisted sac bunt (squeeze!) down the 1b line, scoring Clark and moving Rupp to 3b.
• Geesh! I just realized they hit 3 sac bunts in an inning! Back-to-back-to-back, no less! That's extremely unusual. I mean, sac bunts usually result in outs. And, you know...you usually only get three outs an inning. Cool.
• Torres grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 4-2.
• 5th inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down #3.
• Coats lined out to cf.
• Curry lined out to 1b.
• Schultz out on a soft liner...also to 1b. Heh.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Tucker struck out swinging.
• Belt singled through the right side.
• Keyes flew out to rf in the cf/rf gap.
• Loy flew out to cf in the lf/cf gap.
• 6th inning, TCU
• TCU ties it up.
• Steglich flew out to cf.
• Featherston grounded out to 3b.
• Carpenter singled into rf.
• Vern hit a homerun off the bottom of the scoreboard (the ball hit the BMW ad).
• Skip Johnson made a quick trip to the mound.
• Holaday struck out swinging. Rupp dropped the ball and had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Game tied 4-4.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Texas answers again. Third time in the game that TCU scored, and Texas answered with runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.
• Clark drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Rupp moved Clark to 2b with a 3-4 sac bunt down the 1b line (2b covering the 1b bag).
• TCU sent Erik Miller (rhp) to the mound, replacing Winkler.
• Rowe singled up the middle, scoring Clark.
• Hernandez flew out to cf (8-pitch plate appearance).
• Torres singled into rf, moving Rowe to 2b.
• Tucker doubled into cf, scoring Rowe and moving Torres to 3b.
• TCU intentionally walked Belt to load the bases.
• TCU then sent Trent Appleby (rhp) to the mound, replacing Miller.
• Keyes, sadly, struck out swinging (full count).
• Texas up 6-4.
• 7th inning, TCU
• 3-up/3-down #4.
• Ellington flew out to cf.
• Coats grounded out to ss.
• Curry struck out swinging. Rupp dropped the ball and tagged Curry to complete the out.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Loy singled into cf.
• Clark moved Loy to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Rupp reached on an infield single (slow bouncer) to ss, moving Loy to 3b.
• Rowe advanced the runners with a 1-3 sac bunt (squeeze #2!) down the 1b line. Loy scored and Rupp moved to 2b.
• Russell Moldenhauer, pinch-hitting for Hernandez, reached on a full-count walk without ever swinging his bat.
• Texas sent Tim Maitland in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
• Michael Torres hit the first pitch he saw way over the rf fence (toward the folks sitting on the buses). His second homerun of the game...fourth of the year!
• Tucker watched 3 balls and then 2 called strikes. Then, he fouled off 3 pitches. And, finally hit a single up the middle.
• Tucker was caught stealing (2-6) on the 2nd pitch to Belt.
• Texas up 10-4.
• 8th inning, TCU
• Texas kept Maitland in the game in lf.
• Schultz grounded out on a slow bouncer to the pitcher.
• Steglich grounded out to 2b.
• Featherston singled into cf.
• Carpenter flew out to cf.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Another 1-2-3 inning.
• TCU sent Carruthers into the game in ss (taking Schultz's spot in the line-up). The moved Featherston from ss to 2b and moved Steglich from 2b to cf. They also sent Steven Maxwell (rhp) to the mound, replacing Appleby.
• Belt grounded out to 1b (p covered the bag).
• Keyes grounded out to ss.
• Loy also grounded out to ss.
• 9th inning, TCU
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson into rf, replacing Keyes.
• Vern flew out to rf (testing Lusson, right off).
• Holaday singled into rf.
• Ellington singled past a diving Torres into lf, moving Holaday to 2b.
• Coats struck out swinging.
• Curry also struck out swinging.
• Texas wins 10-4!!

Chance Ruffin pitched his third complete game of the year to move his record to 10-2. By my count, he threw 127 pitches. He faced 35 batters and gave up 4 earned runs on 7 hits (3 homers and 4 singles). He struck out 7 and walked only 1. Sigh...what a game.

And, going down the line, here's how the batters did:

1. Torres: 4-for-5, 2 homeruns, 2 singles, 4 rbi, 3 runs scored...WOW
2. Tucker: 2-for-4, double, single, rbi, run scored, strikeout, caught stealing
3. Belt: 1-for-3, single, sac bunt, intentional walk
4. Keyes: 1-for-5, double, 2 rbi, strikeout
   - Kyle Lusson: no plate appearances
5. Loy: 1-for-4, single, run scored, walk, strikeout
6. Clark: 1-for-2, single, 2 runs scored, walk, sac bunt
7. Rupp: 1-for-2, single, run scored, 2 sac bunts
8. Rowe: 1-for-2, single, 2 rbi, run scored, 2 sac bunts
9. Hernandez: 2-for-2, rbi, sac bunt
   - Moldenhauer: 0-for-0, walk
   - Maitland: no plate appearances, run scored

The 7 sac bunts hit by Texas set a single-game NCAA record. And, look at Loy's line. He did not participate in the sac bunt parade. Going into today's game, Loy led the team with 24 sac bunts on the year. Next in line? Brandon Belt with 8. Loy's 24 sac bunts, by the way, also lead the country. Through games played as of June 1st, he was tied at 24 with Joe Scott of Cal State Fullerton. And, he didn't get one today. Heh.

Final line:

Texas and TCU play again tomorrow. Texas will play visitor. Go, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:38 PM | Permalink

Friday - June 5, 2009

Quick note about Game 58

Whew. I managed to finish the game report for the Army game. If you're interested, check it out. Just in time for the Supers.

Posted by Joanna at 11:47 PM | Permalink

Wednesday - June 3, 2009

Quick note about Game 57

Late last night I managed to finish the game report for the epic Texas/Boston College game. If you're interested, check it out.

Posted by Joanna at 7:39 AM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 2, 2009

Austin Wood article

In the Statesman: Pitcher Wood reflects on his place in Longhorns lore by Alan Trubow. "This has been a dream. It's been amazing."

Posted by Joanna at 9:31 PM | Permalink

"Inning by Inning" giveaway results

I just went to random.org to generate a couple of random numbers and the two winners of the "Inning by Inning" DVD are:

1. Joe in California Florida (sigh...I don't have any idea why I initially wrote "California")
2. Bary in Austin

Congratulations, Joe and Bary! I'll be in contact via email.

Posted by Joanna at 8:20 AM | Permalink

Monday - June 1, 2009

Quick post regarding the Texas Super Regional

Four of the Super Regional Tournaments are scheduled to start on Friday and four on Saturday. The Austin Super Regional (in which Texas plays host to TCU) will start on Saturday. Start times for individual games have not yet been announced. See the NCAA press release for more info.

UPDATE (about 10 minutes later). The start times have been announced on the TexasSports.com site:

The first pitch for Saturday's game is set for 5 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised live on ESPNU. Sunday's game is slated for 2 p.m. with television booked for ESPN. If necessary, Monday's game will start at either Noon or 6 p.m. and will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Posted by Joanna at 10:40 PM | Permalink

Elsewhere, Day 4

The six regionals that went to a 7th game are all over. The Big 12 did not fare well:

• Clemson Regional: For a good part of the game, it looked like Oklahoma State would pull it off. They scored first and led 5-1 going into the bottom of the 7th. Clemson (home team) managed to score 3 in that inning and 2 more in the 8th while keeping OSU scoreless to win the regional and move on.
• Houston Regional: Rice scored 2 in the 1st. Kansas State managed to tie the game with single runs in the 2nd and 3rd but gave up a 6-spot in the 4th which pretty much did them in. KSU lost 4-13.

So, Texas is the only Big 12 team to advance to the next round.

And, what about that next round? Well, there were only three upsets when all the dust settled. OU and UC-Irvine lost their regionals yesterday. And, Georgia Tech lost today. So do all the #1 seeds automatically host the next round? I'm not sure; we'll know shortly. The NCAA was supposed to make an announcement at 11 o'clock (Eastern time, I believe) and there's still no news. The top 8 National Seeds (Texas, Cal State Fullerton, LSU, North Carolina, Arizona State, and Florida) will host by virtue of being top seeds. OU and UCI were in that group and lost. I rather expect that the "upsetters" will be the traveling teams come next week. But, you never know. At any rate, we do know who will be playing:

• The "1-4-5-8" side of the CWS bracket:
• (1) Texas will host TCU
• (4) North Carolina will host East Carolina
• (5) Arizona State will host Clemson
• (8) Florida will host Southern Miss (#3 seed at Georgia Tech regional)
• The "2-3-6-7" side of the CWS bracket:
• (2) Cal State Fullerton will host Louisville
• (3) LSU will host Rice
• (6) Ole Miss will likely host Virgina (#2 seed at UCI regional)
• (7) Florida State will likely host Arkansas (#2 seed at OU regional)

I'll be back with more info when I have it.

UPDATE. I predicted correctly. Ole Miss and Florida State have been selected to host the next round.

UPDATE #2. The teams on the "1-4-5-8" side of the CWS will play their super regionals on Saturday through Monday. The teams on the "2-3-6-7" side will play on Friday through Sunday.

Posted by Joanna at 10:14 PM | Permalink

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