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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