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Tuesday - March 9, 2010

Game 12: Texas State at Texas

That was a bit of a nail biter! Wow. First, the line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas State	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	5	1
Texas	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	x	4	8	0

See what I mean? Whew. The Texas State starter went 7 innings. In the first 6 innings, he struck out 7 batters and only 4 batters even reached base (one each in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th). Yowza.

Austin Dicharry got the start for the Horns and went 7+ innings. By my count, he faced 26 batters and threw 87 pitches (58 strikes), had 1 wild pitch, 4 strikeouts, gave up 5 hits, and all 3 runs (1 unearned). Stayton Thomas relieved Dicharry in the 8th after he gave up a lead-off double to the cf/rf gap. Thomas went .2 innings. He faced 2 batters and threw 9 pitches (6 strikes). Both batters grounded out. Andrew McKirahan faced the final batter of the 8th (a lefty) and got him to ground out back to the mound. McKirahan threw 6 pitches (only 1 ball)...but that was enough to earn his first victory of the year. Sweet. Chance Ruffin threw the 9th for his 4th save of the year. He faced 4 batters and threw 19 pitches (10 strikes), walked 1 batter, and threw 1 strikeout. The first two batters he faced managed to work the count full. Nice job of getting out of the inning.

Offensively, the Horns did struggle early in the game. Kevin Keyes reached on an 1-out infield-single to 3b in the 2nd. He really did a great job to beat the throw from 3b. Alas, he was stranded at 2b. In the 3rd, Tant Shepherd reached on a 2-out single through the right side but, again, stranded. In the 4th, Russell Moldenhauer worked his way aboard on a 1-out full-count walk. Alas, the next two batters went down swinging. In the 5th, Jordan Etier reached on a 2-out error by the ss. I would've ruled it an infield single since I really do think he beat the throw to the bag but the throw was high and the official scorer ruled it an error...even though Etier did not advance to 2b. Ah well. He stole 2b on the first pitch to Shepherd and then moved to 3b on a wild pitch. Alas, he was stranded there when Shepherd struck out swinging.

They finally scored a run in the 7th:

• Kevin Keyes reached on another infield single to 3b. Another great job of hustling down the line as the 3rd baseman charged a weakly hit ground ball. Nice.
• Keyes moved to 2b on a sac bunt down the 1b line (3-unassisted) by Kyle Lusson.
• Kevin Lusson doubled to the lf/cf gap, scoring Keyes.
• Paul Montalbano, pinch-hitting for Connor Rowe, hit a high bouncer off the plate on the 3rd base side of the mound for a single, moving Lusson to 3b.
• Texas then put the squeeze on. Jordan Etier watched three balls go by...squaring to bunt each time. The forth pitch (again, squared to bunt) was called a strike. He got the 5th pitch down...and down the 1b line. The first baseman fielded, almost tagged Etier, and threw home. Lusson slid hard into the plate and knocked down the home plate ump (flat on his face...ouch). The ump lay flat on the ground for a couple of seconds and then pulled himself up enough to call Lusson out. I don't really think the catcher got the tag down but whatcha gonna do? The first baseman nearly got a double play out of the thing. Anyway, runners at 1b and 2b, 2 out.
• Tant Shepherd swung at a couple of pitches and then went down looking. So sad.

Montalbano stayed in the game in lf and Kyle Lusson moved to cf for the top of the 8th. Texas State scored in the 8th: lead-off double, ground out to 3b (runner stayed at 2b), ground out to 2b (runner moved to 3b), passed ball scored run. Ouch.

The bottom of the 8th was quite the exciting inning:

• The Bobcats finally replaced their starting pitcher. They sent Mitchell Pitts in for Carson Smith.
• Brandon Loy led things off with a single up the middle. And, now I insert a note about Loy hurting himself in the 3rd. He fouled the third pitch he saw in the 3rd off his left foot and immediately fell to the ground in a lot of pain. He got up and walked around very tenderly for 2 or 3 minutes, visited with a trainer and Coach Garrido, and eventually stayed at the plate. He grounded out to the ss a couple of pitches later. He limped quite a bit going down the line on the play. But, he stayed in the game. He was not 100%, though, clearly. When he got the lead-off hit in the 8th, I was sure Texas would send in a pinch runner. But, nope. They left Loy at 1b.
• Cameron Rupp worked the count full and then hit another hard ground ball up the middle. Loy, on his hurt let, did not even think about reaching for 3b.
• With runners at 1b and 2b and nobody, out, the Horns left Loy in the game. What?
• First pitch to Moldenhauer...who squared to bunt????...was a ball. And, Texas sent Tim Maitland in to pinch-run for Loy. Finally!
• Moldenhauer again squared to bunt and, sadly, got the bunt down. The ball did not stay close enough to the line and the pitcher was able to field and throw to 3b to get the lead runner out. The healthy wheels ended up making no difference! You just never know. Runners at 1b and 2b, one out.
• The Bobcats sent Garret Carruth to the mound and Texas sent Jonathan Walsh in to pinch run for Moldenhauer. Walsh's first action in a Texas uniform.
• Keyes drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases. The Horns sent Cohl Walla in to pinch-run for Keyes.
• Kyle Lusson reached on a 6-4 fielder's choice, scoring Rupp and moving Walsh to 3b.
• Kevin Lusson then drew a full-count walk to re-load the bases.
• Paul Montalbano hit a soft line drive into cf, scoring Walsh and Kyle Lusson! Kevin Lusson moved to 2b.
• Jordan Etier was hit by a full-count pitch to load the bases yet again.
• Which prompted Texas State to change pitchers again. They sent Jeff McVaney to the mound.
• Shepherd then hit into a 6-unassisted fielder's choice to end the inning.

Oh. My. Such stress! But, Horns win! Horns win! And, that's what matters most. Yes!

By the way, defensively in the 9th, Texas moved Jordan Etier over to ss and sent Jordan Weymouth in at 2b. Weymouth seemed very excited to be out there...another Longhorn player seeing his first action of the year. Kyle Lusson moved over to rf, and Cohl Walla stayed in the game in cf.

The Horns play host to Iowa this weekend in a 4-game series, including a double-header on Saturday. I suspect the double header will be a scheduled 7-inning game followed by a 9-inning game but I'm not sure about that.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:18 PM