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Friday - March 5, 2010

Game 9: Rice at Texas (Houston College Classic)

'Was driving home during the first inning and listened to the game on the radio. Then, when I got into the house, I couldn't find a radio that would work! Ack. I finally found the radio I use at the games and tuned back in. Then, sometime during the top of the 3rd inning, I saw a post on the TexasSports.com page noting that the game was being streamed online courtesy of the Astros. So, I pulled that right up. Yes! Nice video with the Craig Way/Bill Little audio from KVET. Excellent!

Nothing much had happened to that point. Connor Rowe apparently made a nice catch at the wall in the lf/cf gap to keep one of the Rice batters from hitting a double (or possibly a triple) in the 2nd. He made another nice catch to deep cf in the 3rd. Each team had a hit under its belt at this point. Scoreless game going into the bottom of the 3rd...

• Texas, Bottom of the 3rd
• Taylor Wall on the mound for Rice.
• Kyle Lusson (lf) lined out to rf.
• Jordan Etier (2b) struck out swinging.
• Tant Shepherd (1b) struck out swinging.
• Rice, Top of the 4th
• Taylor Jungmann on the mound for the Horns.
• Anthony Rendon (3b) grounded out to 3b.
• Chase McDowell (dh) struck out swinging (full count).
• Rick Hague (ss) struck out looking. Nice. Sixth strikeout for Jungmann.
• Texas, Bottom of the 4th
• Brandon Loy (ss) lined out to cf.
• Cameron Rupp (c) flew out to cf.
• Kevin Keyes (rf) singled up the middle (ball ripped hard off the mound).
• Russell Moldenhauer (dh) struck out looking. Shucks. Fifth strikeout for Wall.
• Rice, Top of the 5th
• Craig Manuel (c) out at 2b. On a weird play. He hit a line drive to lf that Kyle Lusson charged hard in an attempt to catch. He misjudged it a bit and it ricocheted off his shoulder. Loy, ran out to get the ball and threw quickly to Etier at 2b to get Manuel out at 2b! Wow. Single plus 6-4 on the out. Amazing.
• Jeremy Rathjen (cf) struck out swinging.
• Jimmy Comerota (1b) flew out to rf.
• Texas, Bottom of the 5th
• Connor Rowe (cf) flew out to cf.
• Kevin Lusson (3b) struck out swinging (I think).
• Kyle Lusson flew out to cf. The center fielder charged hard after a shallow flare out to cf and made a nice diving catch to rob Kyle of a single.
• Rice, Top of the 6th
• Michael Ratterree (2b) grounded out to ss.
• Chad Mozingo (rf) grounded out to ss. Loy made a great play as he juggled the ball a little bit before he managed to get his throwing hand on it and gun the ball to 1b in time for the out. Wow.
• Michael Fuda (lf) struck out looking!
• Texas, Bottom of the 6th
• Etier singled into shallow rf near the line.
• Shepherd reached on a fielder's choice (1-6). He bunted down the right side but too hard and too close to the mound. The pitcher fielded and just managed to nip Etier at 2b.
• Shepherd stole 2b with Loy at the plate. The pitcher had thrown to 1b several times during the at-bat. Nice steal.
• Loy grounded out to 3b. Sadly, Shepherd was unable to advance on the play.
• Rupp singled up the middle, scoring Shepherd!!
• Rupp advanced to 2b on a wild pitch with Keyes at the plate.
• The Owls went on to intentionally walk Keyes. Hmmm...Moldenhauer on deck. Rice going for the lefty-lefty match-up. Moldenhauer's hr last weekend was against a lefty.
• Moldenhauer, sadly, struck out swinging.
• Texas up 1-0.
• Rice, Top of the 7th
• Rendon flew out to Loy (ss) in shallow cf behind 2b.
• McDowell grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Hague flew out to cf.
• Texas up 1-0.
• Texas, Bottom of the 7th
• Rowe walked but was then picked off (after several throws to 1b) with Kevin Lusson at the plate.
• Kevin Lusson went on to strike out.
• Kyle Lusson flew out to rf at the wall. So sad.
• Rice, Top of the 8th
• Jungmann, with 102 pitches, still on the mound. Wow.
• Manuel lined into lf for a single.
• Rice sent Daniel Gonzales-Luna in to pinch run for Manuel.
• Rathjen moved Gonzales-Luna to 2b on a 5-3 sac bunt.
• Abel Gonzales was sent in to pinch-hit for Comerota.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound. No pitching change, however.
• Gonzales singled down the lf line, scoring Gonzales-Luna. He tried to stretch it into a double but was tagged out (7-4?) at 2b.
• Texas sent Chance Ruffin to the mound, replacing Jungmann on the mound.
• Ratterree doubled off the wall in lf. It was just a couple of feet short of clearing the wall. Whew. Good thing Gonzales was tagged out at 2b earlier, eh?
• It looked like Texas was going to intentionally walk Mozingo. The first pitch to him was an intentional ball...with Rupp standing, catching arm extended. But, then they buckled down and pitched to him. And, he flew out to deep cf. Rowe made a great running catch on that goofy hill in Minute Maid park to make the 3rd out. Wow.
• Game tied 1-1.
• Texas, Bottom of the 8th
• Taylor Wall, with 101 pitches, still on the mound for Rice.
• Etier struck out swinging.
• Shepherd drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Wayne Graham made a visit to the mound. Like Texas...no pitching change. 'Hope Texas gets a hit the way Rice did after the mound visit in the top half of the inning!
• Loy doubled off the wall in the lf/cf gap, scoring Shepherd! Yes!
• Rice sent Tyler Duffey to the mound, replacing Wall.
• Rupp flew out to the warning track in cf. Loy tagged and moved up to 3b.
• Keyes grounded out to 2b.
• Texas back on top, 2-1.
• Rice, Top of the 9th
• Texas made their now customary changes in the outfield in the top of the 9th. They moved Kyle Lusson over to rf and sent Cohl Walla into lf (taking Keyes' spot in the lineup).
• Fuda struck out looking. Purty.
• Rendon struck out swinging!
• McDowell stuck out swinging! Yes!
• Texas wins 2-1!

Chance Ruffin gets the win and Taylor Wall gets the tough-luck loss.

Beautiful. That's pretty much all. Thanks so much to the Astros for streaming the game. 'Much prefer watching the game to just listening. Texas faces Houston tomorrow afternoon at about 3:30.

Posted by Joanna at 9:57 PM