« Game 60: Texas at TCU (Austin Super Regional) | Main | MLB Draft note »

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