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Sunday - April 25, 2010

Game 41: Oklahoma State at Texas

The Horns swept the Cowboys...winning today's game 9-3. That's four Big 12 conference sweeps and sixteen wins in-a-row. Hard to believe...especially if you think about how the team started out offensively. Leading up to conference play, the Horns were 13-4. Of those 13 wins, 8 came with a run differential of 3 or fewer. Over the last 16 games, only 5 were won with that low a run differential. The bats really do seem to have come around. I just hope it's not too soon. Yes, always the worry wart. And...no, I can't ever be satisfied! Such is life, I suppose.

So...the line for today's win:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oklahoma State	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	3	8	1
Texas	1	1	2	1	1	0	1	2	-	9	14	0

Brandon Workman started and got the win, moving his record to 8-1. He pitched into the 7th. He gave up the 3 runs (all earned) on 8 hits (including 3 doubles and a triple). By my count, he threw 96 pitches (72 strikes) while facing 28 batters. He struck out 9 and didn't walk any. Andrew McKirahan faced the final batter of the 7th and struck him out. Chance Ruffin threw the final 2 innings and went 1-2-3 in both innings with 3 strikeouts.

One other note of interest regarding Workman's outing: he struck out the side in the 5th on 9 pitches. That does not happen often. Very sweet.

Cameron Rupp was about 2 or 3 feet shy of hitting his 3rd 1st-inning homerun in as many games. So close. If the wind hadn't been blowing in hard from lf, he would've done it. Amazing. Kevin Lusson hit the only homerun of the day...a 2-out shot over the Wendy's sign onto Comal Street in the 7th. Purty.

Here's how things played out...

• 1st inning, OSU
• Brandon Workman (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Davis Duren (2b) reached on a bloop single down the lf line.
• Tom Belza (ss) struck out looking.
• Kevin David (c) doubled off the rf wall. Keyes looked like he had a shot at catching the ball but had a bit of difficulty jumping against the wall. Duren only managed to advance to 3b as he was waiting at 2b to tag and move up, expecting Keyes to catch the ball.
• Dean Green (1b) struck out looking.
• Mark Ginther (3b) grounded out to the pitcher. Workman fielded the softly hit ground ball barehanded before firing the ball to 1b for the out.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Andrew Heaney (lhp) on the mound for Oklahoma State.
• Cohl Walla (lf) grounded out to ss.
• Brandon Loy (ss) grounded out to 3b.
• Tant Shepherd (1b) was hit by a pitch (on his hip, maybe).
• Cameron Rupp (c) doubled off the wall at the 405 sign in the left alley...only 2 or 3 feet shy of hitting a homerun. Shepherd scored on the play.
• Kevin Keyes (rf) was hit by a pitch, on his foot (I think).
• Which prompted a visit to the mound for the Cowboys.
• Russell Moldenhauer (dh) grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, OSU
• Dane Phillips (dh) struck out swinging.
• Nico Rosthenhausler (lf) struck out swinging.
• Luis Uribe (rf) singled toward the cf/rf gap.
• Dusty Harvard (cf) popped out to ss.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Kevin Lusson (3b) reached on a bunt single down the 3b line!
• Connor Rowe (cf) moved Lusson to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt. He almost beat the throw to 1b.
• Jordan Etier (2b) struck out looking (2-2 count).
• Lusson stole 3b on the 4th pitch to Walla.
• Walla doubled to the lf/cf gap, scoring Lusson.
• Loy grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 2-0.
• 3rd inning, OSU
• Duren grounded out to 2b.
• Belza flew out to cf.
• David struck out swinging (9 pitches).
• Texas up 2-0.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Shepherd tripled to the lf/cf gap. The center fielder (Harvard) tried to catch the ball at the wall and hit the wall hard. The left fielder rounded the ball up and threw it in. Harvard was down for several minutes before finally getting up. I think, maybe, he got the wind knocked out of him. Not sure. He stayed in the game for a couple of innings but did end up leaving the game.
• Rupp hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Shepherd.
• Keyes singled up the middle.
• Moldenhauer moved Keyes to 2b on a 2-3 sac bunt.
• Kevin Lusson drew a full-count walk. On Ball 4, Keyes successfully stole 3b. The catcher tried to throw him out but the throw sailed down the line past the third baseman and Keyes scored easily on the throwing error. Lusson held up at 1b.
• Rowe fouled off a couple of pitches as he worked the count full. He then fouled off 4 more before he went down swinging to end the inning.
• Texas up 4-0.
• 4th inning, OSU
• Green flew out to lf. Nice run back by Walla.
• Ginther lined out to lf. Walla barely had to move an inch. Funny juxtaposition of plays. Heh.
• Phillips grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 4-0.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Etier doubled up the middle. It probably should've been a single plus an error as the outfielder misplayed the ball, allowing Etier to advance beyond 1b.
• OSU sent Ian McCarthy (rhp) to the mound, replacing Heaney,
• Walla flew out to rf in the cf/rf gap. Etier tagged up and advanced to 3b on the play.
• Loy hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Etier.
• Shepherd was hit by a pitch.
• Rupp struck out swinging (2-2 pitch).
• Texas up 5-0.
• 5th inning, OSU
• Workman struck out the side on 9 pitches.
• Rosthenhausler struck out looking.
• Uribe struck out swinging.
• And, Josh Botts (pinch-hitting for Harvard) struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the pitch and had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Texas up 5-0.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Keyes singled up the middle and then advanced to 2b on a passed ball with Moldenhauer at the plate.
• Moldenhauer reached on a single...a sky-high pop-up that the second baseman lost in the sun. Keyes moved up to 3b on the play.
• Lusson singled through the right side, scoring Keyes and moving Moldenhauer to 2b.
• Rowe popped out to 1b.
• Moldenhauer advanced to 3b and Lusson to 2b on a wild pitch with Etier at the plate.
• Etier struck out swinging (2-2 pitch).
• Walla flew out to cf.
• Texas up 6-0.
• 6th inning, OSU
• Duren singled through the right side.
• Belza grounded out to 2b. Duren was off with the pitch (hit and run or sb?...not sure) and Etier had moved toward 2b...putting him in position to field the ball that likely would've been a single. But, he had no play at 2b for the double play.
• David doubled up the middle, scoring Duren.
• Green flew out to cf.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound after Workman fell behind 2-0 to Ginther.
• Ginther flew out to rf. In a play very similar to the double in the first by David, Keyes was forced to back up all the way to the wall. This time, however, he managed to hold onto the ball as he jumped up to make the catch. Nicely done!
• Texas up 6-1.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Loy flew out to lf.
• Shepherd grounded out to 2b...on an excuse-me check swing. Oops.
• Rupp struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Only 3-up/3-down inning of the day for Texas.
• Texas up 6-1.
• 7th inning, OSU
• Phillips grounded out to 2b.
• Rosthenhausler singled through the right side.
• Uribe struck out swinging.
• Botts tripled to the left alley, scoring Phillips.
• Duren then doubled down the rf line, scoring Botts.
• Which prompted a pitching change. Andrew McKirahan (lhp) wen to the mound, replacing Workman.
• Belza struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball and had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Texas up 6-3.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Keyes struck out swinging (full count).
• Moldenhauer grounded out to ss.
• Lusson blasted a homerun over the Wendy's sign onto Comal Street (rf).
• Rowe singled into lf and was then caught stealing with Etier at the plate.
• Texas up 7-3.
• 8th inning, OSU
• Texas sent Chance Ruffin (rhp) to the mound, replacing McKirahan.
• David popped out to shallow lf.
• Green and Ginther both struck out swinging.
• Texas up 7-3.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Etier flew out to cf at the warning track.
• Walla grounded out to 2b.
• Loy reached on an infield single to ss. The shortstop made a nice stop and spinning throw to 1b but the ball got there too late. Nice effort.
• Shepherd singled into lf, moving Loy to 2b.
• Rupp drew a 4 pitch walk to load the bases.
• That prompted a visit to the mound. While the visit was going on, the first baseman and right fielder threw to each other...clearly warming up one of them to go to the mound. But, no substitution was made.
• Keyes singled toward the cf/rf gap, scoring Loy and Shepherd.
• OSU sent Kevin Chambers (lhp) from rf to the mound and sent Carlos Saade into rf (and into the DH spot in the line-up).
• Jonathan Walsh (pinch-hitting for Moldenhauer) hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice to end the inning.
• Texas up 9-3.
• 9th inning, OSU
• Texas sent Kyle Lusson into rf, replacing Keyes.
• Eric Walker (pinch-hitting for Saade) grounded out to 2b.
• Rosthenhausler lined out to cf.
• Chambers struck out swinging to end the game.
• Texas wins 9-3.

And, that's it for the Cowboys. The Horns will host UT-San Antonio on Tuesday before playing a split series with Baylor (Friday in Waco, Saturday and Sunday in Austin).

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:38 PM