« Game 59: TCU at Texas (Austin Super Regional) | Main | Game 61: TCU at Texas (Austin Super Regional) »

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