« Game 62: Southern Miss at Texas (CWS) | Main | A bit of a delay »

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