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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