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Friday - April 16, 2010

Game 35: Texas A&M at Texas

Texas won 4-3 in 11. The Aggie third baseman made a 2-out bases-loaded fielding error to let the game-winning run score. And, I'm exhausted. So, I'll be back sometime tomorrow with a complete game report.

UPDATE (Saturday afternoon). Sorry for taking so long to get back to this.

The game conditions were very wet. It was drizzling for most of the game and rained rather hard a couple of times. We actually saw a bit of sun in the 4th inning or so and a pretty rainbow broke out...but that only lasted for about 10 minutes or so. The umps called a rain delay as the top of the 6th ended and play stopped for about 20 minutes. Both starters had been doing quite well and we wondered if either would be back. They both stayed in the game. The rain/drizzle continued for the rest of the game. Taylor Jungmann started for the Horns and Barret Loux started for the Aggies. Both went 7 innings. Neither was involved in the final decision. Both teams sent their closers into the game in the 8th and, again, neither figured into the decision. Hoby Milner faced one batter, in relief of Chance Ruffin, and then Stayton Thomas threw the final 1.2 innings to get the win for Texas, moving his record to 3-0.

There seemed to be a lot of foul balls hit into the crowd. More than I can ever remember seeing in one game. I guess the wet conditions must've come into play on that front. Shout out, by the way, to Rhonda...who I met last night. I think one of the first balls that went into the crowd was claimed by someone sitting very close to her. The first batter of the day started things off by fouling off 4 pitches before striking out. And, Kevin Lusson fouled off 6 pitches before hitting a homerun in the 7th. I really wonder how many extra balls they ended up using in the game. Extra innings and a bazillion foul balls into the crowd. There must've been a lot of extra baseballs used.

And, so...the line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Texas A&M	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	1
Texas	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	4	8	2

And, here's how things played out...

• 1st inning, Aggies
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Jungmann struck out the side: Andrew Collazo (rf) swinging (after fouling off 4 pitches), Scott Arthur (cf) looking, and Brodie Greene (ss) swinging. Nice.
• 1st inning, Horns
• Barret Loux (rhp) on the mound for A&M.
• Cohl Walla (lf) struck out swinging (0-2 count).
• Brandon Loy (ss) popped out to 2b.
• Tant Shepherd (1b) hit a towering homerun to lf. I thought it cleared the scoreboard but nobody else seemed to think so. Shrug.
• Cameron Rupp (c) struck out swinging (0-2 count).
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Aggies
• Caleb Shofner (3b) lined out to cf.
• Joaquin Hinohosa (lf) drew a 4-pitch walk and was caught stealing (2-4) late in the next at-bat.
• Kenny Jackson (1b) grounded out to the pitcher after the longest at-bat of the game. He saw 12 pitches: ball, called strike, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, ball, foul, ball, foul, ground out. Wow.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Horns
• Russell Moldenhauer (dh) flew out to left center.
• Kevin Keyes (rf) grounded out to ss.
• Kevin Lusson drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Connor Rowe (cf) struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• Texas up 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Aggies
• Joe Patterson (dh) reached on a bloop single down the line. It was just barely fair. I was a little surprised that he did not try for 2b because Walla had to make a long run in to field the ball.
• Kevin Gonzalez (c) tried to bunt Patterson to 2b but Jungmann did a nice job fielding his position and threw to 2b (ss covering) to get the runner from 1b.
• Adam Smith (2b) flew out to rf.
• Collazo flew out to shallow rf.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Horns
• Jordan Etier (2b) flew out to cf. The Aggie center fielder made a great twisting over-the-shoulder running catch at the wall. Great play. Sadly. Heh.
• Walla reached on a 5-pitch walk.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Walla stole 2b on the first pitch to Shepherd.
• Sadly, Shepherd grounded out to 1b (p covered bag) on the next pitch.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 4th inning, Aggies
• Arthur reached on a fielding error by 3b. Lusson was ranging to his left to field the ball and it went off his glove toward the ss position and he had no chance of catching up to it in time to make a throw to 1b.
• Greene moved Arthur to 2b on a 5-3 sac bunt. Lusson's throw was a little off-line but rounded up nicely by Shepherd for the out.
• Shofner struck out swinging.
• Hinohosa was hit on the arm by the first pitch. That looked like a really bad call by the home plate ump. Not only did Hinojosa make no move to avoid the pitch, he actually seemed to lean his arm into the pitch.
• Jackson lined out to cf. Great charging run and diving catch by Rowe to make the play!
• Texas up 1-0.
• 4th inning, Horns
• Rupp flew out to cf.
• Moldenhauer grounded out to ss.
• Keyes doubled off the base of the wall in lf. And, then, sadly, was caught stealing 3b (2-5)...on the 6th pitch to Kevin Lusson.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 5th inning, Aggies
• The ground crew worked on the mound...trying to battle the wet conditions.
• Jungmann had his second strike-out-the-side inning of the day: Patterson, Gonzalez, and Smith all went down swinging. Purty.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 5th inning, Horns
• First 1-2-3 inning of the day for Texas: Lusson flew out to lf, Rowe struck out swinging (1-2 count), and Etier flew out to rf at the warning track. All on 8 pitches. Sigh...
• Texas up 1-0.
• 6th inning, Aggies
• The rain got heavier as the 6th started.
• Collazo drew a full-count walk.
• Arthur struck out swinging.
• Collazo stole 2b on the 2nd pitch to Greene.
• Greene popped out to 1b.
• Shofner struck out swinging. Second K for Shofner, ninth for Jungmann.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 6th inning, Horns
• Insert 20-minute rain delay.
• Walla popped out to 2b.
• Loy struck out looking (0-2 count).
• Shepherd reached on a bloop single to lf.
• Rupp struck out looking (2-2 count).
• Texas up 1-0.
• 7th inning, Aggies
• Hinojosa struck out swinging. On the second-to-last pitch, Shepherd almost caught a foul pop-up at the retaining wall near east of the 1b dugout but he hit the wall quite hard and could not hang onto the ball. Ouch!
• Jackson singled up the middle and then stole 2b on the first pitch to Patterson. Jackson should've been called out via batter's interference. Patterson (left-handed batter) lunged way over the plate at an outside pitch and almost ended up in the right-handed batter's box. Rupp argued that he was interfered with but since he managed to avoid running into Patterson, I guess the ump didn't feel he was interfered with. Another bad call by the home plate ump. Ugh.
• Patterson went on to ground out to ss, moving Jackson to 3b. Loy made a really nice play, fielding the ball behind 2b and throwing to 1b in time to make the out.
• Gonzalez struck out swinging. Eleventh strike out of the day for Jungmann.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 7th inning, Horns
• Moldenhauer lined into rf for a single.
• Keyes struck out looking (2-2 count).
• Lusson had the at-bat of the night. It went: ball, swinging strike, ball, ball, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, homerun over the Wendy's sign behind the Texas bullpen!!
• Rowe drew a 7-pitch walk and was then picked off (1-3-6) with Etier at the plate. He actually had 2b stolen on the bobbled pick-off throw but slid past 2b by about 3 feet on the wet turf and was tagged out by the shortstop. So sad.
• Etier struck out swinging (full count).
• Texas up 3-0.
• 8th inning, Aggies
• Chance Ruffin (rhp) went to the mound, replacing Jungmann. The ground crew also worked on the mound again.
• Smith doubled to the wall in the lf/cf gap. Ouch.
• Collazo singled up the middle, scoring Smith.
• Arthur drew a 5-pitch walk, moving Collazo to 2b.
• Which prompted a visit to the mound by Skip Johnson.
• Greene struck out swinging.
• Shofner struck out swinging.
• Hinojosa was, again, hit by a pitch to load the bases. Again, I think he made no effort to avoid the pitch but it wasn't as flagrant as in the 4th inning.
• Jackson struck out swinging.
• Texas up 3-1.
• 8th inning, Horns
• John Stilson (rhp) went to the mound, replacing Loux.
• Walla grounded out to ss.
• Loy struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Shepherd singled through the left side.
• Rupp struck out swinging (2-2 count).
• Texas up 3-1.
• 9th inning, Aggies
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson into rf, replacing Keyes.
• Patterson reached on an error by ss. The sharply-hit ground ball went through Loy's lets. Wow. Almost unimaginable. I couldn't believe my eyes!
• The Aggies sent Tyler Naquin in to pinch-run for Patterson.
• Matt Juengel (pinch-hitting for Gonzalez) doubled to lf. Walla was in pretty deep lf and charged hard on the soft liner to lf. And, he made a bit of a freshman error in thinking. He dove for the ball. But, he was about 10 or 15 feet short of the ball which rolled past him. The runners ended up at 2b and 3b before Rowe, backing Walla up, could get the ball back to the infield. I would've scored it as a single and E7 because if Walla had fielded cleanly, the runners would've stopped at 1b and 2b. In fact, they basically were stopped before they saw the ball go past Walla. But, anyway...
• Smith doubled into the cf/rf gap, to tie things up. Kyle Lusson had a tough time picking the ball up off at the base of the wall but it didn't seem to have any affect on the base-running.
• Collazo tried to bunt Smith over but ended up drawing a 5-pitch walk.
• Arthur then tried the bunt thing. He bunted down the 3b line but Ruffin made a great play to field the ball and throw to 3b for the force. It was a really great effort to field that ball. Cool.
• Greene lined out to lf.
• Shofner struck out swinging.
• Game tied 2-2.
• 9th inning, Horns
• The Aggies sent Gregg Alcazar in at behind the plate, replacing Juengel in the line-up.
• Moldenhauer struck out swinging.
• Kyle Lusson was hit by a pitch.
• Kevin Lusson struck out swinging.
• Paul Montalbano (lefty, pinch-hitting for Rowe) went to the plate. Kyle Lusson stole 2b and then 3b with Montalbano at the plate. The third baseman didn't cover the bag on the second sb so it was almost defensive indifference. The catcher did jump up, ready to throw to 3b...he just didnt have anyone to throw to.
• Jordan Weymouth (lefty, pinch-hitting for Etier) went to the plate. Montalbano advanced to 2b on the 2nd pitch to Weymouth...defensive indifference for sure in this instance. Weymouth went on to draw a full-count walk.
• Tim Maitland (lefty, pinch-hitting for Walla) grounded out to ss. Sigh...
• Game tied 3-3.
• 10th inning, Aggies
• Montalbano, Weymouth, and Maitland all stayed in the game...in lf, at 2b, and in cf, respectively.
• Hinojosa singled into cf.
• Texas sent Hoby Milner (lhp) to the mound, replacing Ruffin.
• Jackson struck out swinging on 3 pitches. Jackson, by the way, was trying to bunt Hinojosa over to 2b and fouled off the 3rd pitch for the strikeout.
• The Aggies announced Brandon Wood (righty) to pinch-hit in the dh position.
• Texas sent Stayton Thomas (rhp) to the mound, replacing Milner.
• The Aggies sent Brett Parsons (lefty) to the plate, pinch-hitting for Wood.
• Parsons struck out swinging.
• Alcazar reached on an infield single to 3b, moving Hinojosa to 2b.
• Smith flew out to rf. Whew.
• Game tied 2-2.
• 10th inning, Horns
• Second 1-2-3 inning of the day for Texas.
• Loy struck out looking (full count).
• Shepherd grounded out to 3b.
• Stilson apparently did something to injure his throwing arm and was replaced by Shane Minks (rhp) on the mound.
• Rupp struck out swinging (full-count). Ouch. Fourth strikeout on the day for the Texas catcher.
• Game tied 2-2.
• 11th inning, Aggies
• Aggies down in order: Collazo grounded out to 1b (p covered), Arthur grounded out to the pitcher, and Greene grounded out to ss.
• On the ground out to 1b, by the way, Shepherd ranged way over to his right to make the play. He should've covered 1b and let Weymouth make the play. Dunno if that's one of those things he's still adjusting to as a first baseman or if he was worried that Weymouth might be nervous and not make the play. Shrug.
• Game tied 3-3.
• 11th inning, Horns
• Moldenhauer singled into rf.
• Texas sent Sam Stafford in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
• Kyle Lusson also singled into rf after not getting the bunt down, moving Stafford to 2b. It was a beautiful hit. With the infield pulled in, he squared to bunt with 2 strikes and then pulled the bat back and hit a slap bunt past the first baseman into rf. Stafford stumbled as he rounded 2b and had no chance to advance to 3b. I'm not sure he would've made it, though, as the right-fielder fielded the ball quickly and cleanly and might've had a play at 3b.
• A&M sent Estevan Uriegas (lhp) to the mound, replacing Minks.
• Kevin Lusson drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Montalbano flew out to shallow cf...fielded by the right fielder.
• Weymouth popped out to ss. Ouch. The Aggie defense moved back to their regular depth.
• Jonathan Walsh (pinch-hitting for Maitland) watched a called strike and then hit a relatively routine ground ball to 3b...which was mishandled by Shofner. Stafford scored and the game was over on the E5. Wow. Wow. Wow.
• Texas wins 4-3. Wow.

That was a long and unnecessarily tense game. And, it only seemed fair that the Horns win on an error after the Aggies managed to tie things up due to two errors (one official and one not). Both teams meet again...in College Station this time. I think the weather's gonna hold up and we should get the game in on time. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:41 PM