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Monday - May 31, 2010

Austin Regional info

Thank you, Kyle Peterson. He just pounded the nail in UT's CWS coffin as he predicted Texas would take it all. Sigh...

'Just finished watching the selection show. Texas is the #2 overall seed and will be hosting Rice, U. of Louisiana-Lafayette, and Rider. The winner of the Austin Regional will play the winner of the Fort Worth Regional (TCU, Baylor, Arizona, and Lamar).

Rider? The Rider Broncs won the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) tournament to make their way into the tournament. Rider was the #3 seed going into the tournament. Rider's in New Jersey, by the way.

Rice? The Horns are 1-1 (oops, sorry...2-1, forgot about the game at the Astros College Classic) against Rice this year. Rice has had a very up-and-down season this year. They're very 'up' right now, though. Rice scored 56 runs in the four games they played at the C-USA tournament. Ouch.

U-LaLa? They went 0-2 in the Sun Belt Tournament but tied for 1st during the regular season. The Sun Belt conference is home to Florida International...who have Garrett Wittels and his 54-game hitting streak going for them.

As usual, I'll be keeping track of things on my 2010 Post Season page.

Oh. And, back to the Kyle Peterson curse. He predicted earlier in the show that TCU could actually finally break their way into the CWS this year...which would mean Texas didn't make it. So...which curse will take?

PS: See the NCAA site for a nice interactive bracket.

UPDATE: Just a quick note about the rest of the Big 12. Oklahoma is also hosting a Regional. Baylor, like I mentioned earlier, will be going to Ft. Worth. Kansas State is traveling to Fayetteville (hosted by Arkansas) and Texas A&M is going to Coral Gables (hosted by Miami).

Posted by Joanna at 12:09 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 30, 2010

Big 12 Tournament, Day 5

A friend I haven't seen in a few months was in town today so I set my TiVo to record the game with plans to watch it when I got home. I just got home and settled in to watch the game. And? No game. Instead FSN was showing the Astros/Reds game...already in progress in the 4th inning. Dunno why. The Big 12 Championship game was on the schedule. Sigh. I'm sure glad I wasn't really invested in the game. So, I went looking for info. Texas A&M beat Baylor 5-3 in 10 innings. Argh. Good game. I'm a little more annoyed now that I can't watch it. Anyway... Baylor scored single runs in the 2nd, 6th, and 8th. The Aggies scored a run in the 8th and tied the game in the bottom of the 9th. Then, Brodie Greene hit a 2-out homer to win the game. Wow.

And, thus ends the 2010 Big 12 Tournament. Texas did get one player on the All-Tournament Team: Connor Rowe who went 5-for-12 with 2 doubles over the course of the 3 games Texas played.

Back with more later regarding the Regional when there's more to report. All we know now is that the Horns will be hosting...and will be a National Seed.

Posted by Joanna at 6:48 PM | Permalink

Saturday - May 29, 2010

Big 12 Tournament, Day 4

Another full day of games. Alas, none of them had any impact on tomorrow's Championship Game. Texas A&M (#4 seed) and Baylor (#6 seed) had already guaranteed themselves a spot in the Sunday game before the first pitch of any of today's games. First time that's happened since the Big 12 switched to the 2-pool round-robin format.

Missouri played home to Texas Tech in the first game of the day. Last game of the year for the Tigers. With a losing record in regular season Big 12 play and a 28-28 overall record going into today's game, it's very likely the last game of the year for the Red Raiders as well. Tech had a shaky 2nd inning and gave up 2 runs without yielding a hit. Ahead 2-1, the Tigers left the bases juiced in the 4th. Tech went on to tie the game 3-3 in the 6th. And, the Tigers put a 4-spot up in the 7th...2 quick outs followed by a walk, an error, another walk, and a 3-run homer. The Red Raiders got a couple on in the 9th but could not push any runs across. Mizzou won the game 7-3. I was surprised in the post-game news conference to see Tech talking about practicing on Monday and waiting on the selection show. Do they really think they'll get in with a losing record? Or is it just wishful thinking? I don't see it. But, they stated their case. Maybe it'll make a difference. I do think they're better than a lot of the teams that'll get automatic bids but that's the way things happen some times. To my mind, their record just doesn't support a bid.

Texas played home to Texas A&M in the 2nd game of the day and lost 3-9. Sigh. The Aggies hit Cole Green and Brandon Workman really hard today. Ouch. Offensively, the Horns did not look as flat as they did on Thursday. But, like Thursday, they hit into several rally-killing double plays. The worst being a 5-2-3 double play in the 6th with bases loaded and no outs. Oh, the agony. Chance Ruffin looked nice and sharp when he went in and we got a nice 1-2-3 inning out of Josh Urban who made a surprise appearance on the mound in the 9th.

Kansas State played home to Oklahoma in the 3rd game of the day. With the game tied 2-2 in the 3rd, they (the Big 12) inserted a long interview with...I don't know who. Because I muted the sound. I hate when they talk over the action. So, I protest by refusing to listen. It was much worse than normal, though. They went to a split-screen view where they shrunk the playing view down to about 3 inches by 2 inches and just talked over the action...completely ignoring the game. 'Near as I can tell, not much happened but...REALLY??? They had to show the two guys talking? They couldn't just talk and let us at least SEE the action at a reasonable size? Amazing. I was so horrified, I had to take a screen shot for you. I measured it...239 x 143 pixels for the game image. That's tiny. Sigh... K-State kind of fell apart in the 4th as they gave up 6 runs...on 6 hits (included a couple of infield singles) and a throwing error that ended up being nullified by a homerun. With OU in the lead 9-2 in the 5th, they did it again!...split the screen and chatted with someone from OU for about 10 (!) minutes. Appalling. There is absolutely no reason in the world to show the talking heads in this situation. None. Anyway, back to the game. The Sooners pushed across 4 more in the top of the 8th to go up 13-2 and held on to run-rule the Wildcats in 8 innings.

And, Kansas played home team to Baylor in the nightcap. Baylor, mysteriously, sported ugly black jerseys. Nike in the house? Surprisingly, the game started on time. Well, with the earlier run-rule, I guess it's not that surprising. Baylor was marching along with the game well in hand (they'd scored 1 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, and 3 in the 6th) when the Jayhawks came to life with the aid of 4 hits and an error by the Baylor center fielder and scored 3 to end the shut-out. They threatened again in the 7th but the rally was squashed by a double play. Still behind 3-6, Kansas mounted a bit of a 2-out rally in the 9th...hitting back-to-back singles. But, it ended there when the next batter was called out on strikes. Baylor won 6-3.

Kind of interesting that the Aggies and the Bears won their games and are headed into tomorrow's game undefeated in the tournament. By the way, the Aggies won the toss and will be the home team.

Posted by Joanna at 10:30 PM | Permalink

Game 57: Texas A&M at Texas (Big 12 Tournament)

Texas played home team to the Aggies today. I watched the online stream. Brandon Loy still out of the lineup...alas. According to the Texas_Baseball twitter feed, Cohl Walla is wearing jersey #4 and Kevin Keyes is wearing #30. No word on why.

The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas A&M 231 110 100 9 14 1
Texas 100 020 000 3 10 1

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

I cannot believe how hard the Aggies hit Green and Workman today.

That was an ugly, ugly, ugly tournament for the Horns. I certainly hope they can get things back on track in the Regional. I'm sure Texas will still be a National Seed next week for the Regionals which means that they will host the Super Regional round if they win the Regional. And, that's what I'm looking forward to now. Big 12 Tournament over. Moving on.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 3:33 PM | Permalink

Friday - May 28, 2010

Big 12 Tournament, Day 3

Two games again today...the "other" guys this time.

I had the first game streaming while at work but missed most of it. Kansas played home team to Kansas State. The Jayhawks actually jumped out in front, scoring 2 in the first. But, K-State answered quickly, scoring 3 in the 2nd and 3 more in the 3rd. Ahead 7-2 in the 6th, the Wildcats gave up a 3-spot to make things a bit more interesting. However, K-State scored 3 insurance runs in the top of the 9th and held on to win today's opener 10-5.

Baylor played home to Oklahoma in the nightcap. I did not watch much of the game 'cause Sam LeCure (making his MLB debut) and Drew Stubbs were playing for the Reds against the Astros. LeCure went 6 innings and struck out the side in the sixth to earn his first MLB win...in his MLB debut. Cool.

Anyway...back to the Sooners and the Bears. OU jumped out in front, scoring a run in the 3rd but Baylor struck back in a big way, scoring 5 in the bottom of the 3rd. Made sure I watched the 9th with the Sooners down 3-8...just to see if the Sooners could make 5 in-a-row 9th-inning rally wins. They started off right with a triple. The next batter struck out swinging and the ball got away from the catcher but the batter was called out for runner interference (called for running into the infield area to block the throw from the catcher to 1b)...yikes. Next guy went down swinging. Last guy grounded out to ss. Baylor won the game 8-3 and earned their way into the Championship Game against the Aggies.

So, all four games tomorrow are moot...with respect to the Tournament Championship. How bizarre. It'll actually be kind of interesting to see how the Aggies and Bears approach the games. The Aggies play at 12:30. The Bears play in the final game of the day with a 7:30 scheduled start time. That fact alone might give the Aggies the edge.

Back tomorrow night...

Posted by Joanna at 10:39 PM | Permalink

Texas press conferences

Links to the post-game Texas press conferences...from the Big 12 tournament site:

Posted by Joanna at 8:42 AM | Permalink

Thursday - May 27, 2010

Big 12 Tournament, Day 2

Only two games today...on the Texas side of the bracket.

Texas lost the first game of the day 2-4 to Tech. Which means Texas will not be playing in the Championship game on Sunday...what with their two losses in the tournament. Read the linked game report for more info.

In the second game of the day, Missouri played home team to Texas A&M. With a victory, the Aggies would guarantee themselves a spot in the Championship game. The Aggies scored first and kept Mizzou scoreless through the first 5 innings. In fact, Barret Loux (the Aggie starter) had a perfect game going into the 5th and didn't give up a run until the 6th. With a 4-2 lead, the Aggies scored additional runs in the 7th and 8th to won by a final score of 7-2. So, the Aggies will face the winner of the other bracket in the Championship game on Sunday, regardless of what happens against the Horns on Saturday.

Posted by Joanna at 10:28 PM | Permalink

Game 56: Texas at Texas Tech (Big 12 Tournament)

Like yesterday, my plan was to listen to Craig Way and Keith Moreland on the radio and watch the Big 12 stream over the Internet. But, my plan did not work out. Amazingly, the video was running ahead of the radio broadcast and wasn't flaking out like yesterday so I ended up watching and listening to the not-so-great Internet guy. I'd much rather listen to Craig and Keith but it was not meant to be today.

Texas was the visiting team and Brandon Loy was still out. The Horns also had Connor Rowe starting back in cf today and played a bit with the batting order.

The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 001 000 010 2 7 2
Texas Tech 100 030 00- 4 8 1

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

Well, that pretty much sucked. I can't believe it. They just looked flat. Gotta win on Saturday against the Aggies. Sigh.

This feels kind of like the situation in 2007 when we started the Regional (played at the Dell Diamond) without Preston Clark who'd hurt his knee off the field and then Nick Peoples went down with a broken collar bone. It's different with the shortstop out instead of the catcher but making that sort of change just makes a difference to the chemistry on the field and in the line-up. And, that's not a knock on the other guys who are stepping in. It's just not the same team out there and I wonder how much the loss of Loy upsets the general balance on the field.

And, not much else to say today. Sorry 'bout that.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 6:12 PM | Permalink

Big 12 Tournament, Day 1

The Big 12 tournament format splits the 8 teams up into two 4-team pools that each play a round-robin tournament. The winners of the two mini-tournaments then face each other on Sunday in a Championship winner-take-all game. The first pool is made up of the #1, #4, #5, and #8 seeds...Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Missouri. The second pool pits the #2, #3, #6, and #7 seeds (Oklahoma, Kansas State, Baylor, and Kansas) against each other. Nebraska and Oklahoma State failed to make the tournament this year.

Texas A&M took care of business in the first game of the day, beating Texas Tech 9-2. The Aggie starter (Michael Wacha) had a perfect game going into the 6th when he gave up a solo shot to Bonham Hough. The Raiders scored another run in the 7th but that was all she wrote as the Aggies scored runs in the 1st, 4th, 6th, and 7th.

Texas, alas, did not take care of business, losing to Mizzou 3-7. It's hard to beat a team 5 times in a season. Very hard. And, as I said in my game report, the Tigers are fighting for their post-season lives. They have to win the tournament to go on. The first step on that road was a win over Texas. Now the Horns have to win their next two and hope Mizzou loses one in order to move on to the Championship game on Sunday.

The 2nd pool of games were supposed to be played at 4 and 7:30. I think the Baylor/K-State game started pretty much on time but was called in the 2nd inning due to heavy rain. The rain delay lasted about 3 hours. I went out to listen to some music this evening so missed most of the Baylor game...including the rain delay. Baylor was ahead 5-1 when play was stopped. After they delay, they scored another quick 3 runs but then let K-State tie the game, giving up a run in the 4th and a 6-spot in the 5th. But the Bears scored single runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th to go on to win the game 11-8.

The final game of the day between OU and Kansas didn't get started until about 10:40 pm. Wow. I watched most of the game. The picture seemed better than it had been earlier but the audio was awful. Worse than old-time AM radio broadcasts. Kansas struck first with a run in the second scored off a lead-off walk, a wild pitch, and a throwing error. The Sooners tied things up in the bottom of the 5th...also with the aid of a wild pitch and error. Things that make you go hmmm... Midnight struck just as the 6th inning started. The Jayhawks answered that 5th-inning OU run in the 6th (OU hit the first batter and he went on to score). The lead-off batter for K-State hit a double in the top of the 9th but the Sooners got out of trouble with a double play keeping the difference to 1 run going into the bottom of the 9th...at 1 am. Lead-off batter for the Sooners singled. Oh my. A sac bunt moved the tying run (pinch runner) to 2b...and then the runner stole 3b on ball 4 to the next batter. Runners at the corners. 1 out. A double to cf ends the game as both runners score. The ball went over the center fielder and he had a tough time picking the ball up at the bottom of the wall. Sooners win 2-1 at 1:15 am. I think they said that OU won all four of their games against K-State this season on come-from-behind 9th-inning rallies. If that's so? Wow.

What a long day. 'Reminds me of the time I went to the Big 12 Tourney held at the Ballpark...'think it was the first time it was held there. The first day of play lasted 'til well past midnight...without any rain delays. 'Seems like the first game went 13 innings and then the next 10 or 11. 'Just kept pushing everything back. Whew.

Pool 1 plays two games tomorrow. Texas plays in the early game...first pitch at 3 o'clock.

Posted by Joanna at 1:22 AM | Permalink

Wednesday - May 26, 2010

Game 55: Missouri at Texas (Big 12 Tournament)

I took the afternoon off to watch the game stream on the Internet but the stream was very shaky so I mostly listened on the radio (Craig Way and Keith Moreland with the call). The radio signal was at least 2 pitches ahead (sometimes 3 or 4) all the way. Kind of frustrating. I kept the internet video stream on but had to keep refreshing it so listened to the game but watched "replays" to give additional detail in the game report.

The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Missouri 003 110 020 7 10 1
Texas 010 010 001 3 10 2

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

Not pretty. Missouri, of course, is playing for their post-season lives. They absolutely had to win today. And, they have to win tomorrow and Saturday...and then on Sunday. I doubt it'll happen. But, they played a lot more like a team that had to win than the Horns did. The big thing to me, as I look through the score sheet are the three double plays turned by the Tigers. Every time the Horns got something going, poof. All over. Never mind. I fully expect Texas to beat the Aggies and the Red Raiders and show up in the Championship game on Sunday. I honestly doubt Missouri can keep it up and win out. If Texas is 2-1 on Saturday and Missouri has a loss, the Horns will move on to the Championship game. Seems like a very likely outcome.

Ah well. I guess we'll see soon enough. The Horns will face Texas Tech tomorrow at 3.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 3:43 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - May 25, 2010

All-Big 12 team honors

Not surprisingly, Texas did pretty well when it came 'round to placing members on the All-Big 12 Team (voted on by Big 12 coaches)...

Cole Green took Pitcher of the Year honors and Augie Garrido was named Coach of the Year.

The full list of honorees can be found on the Big12sports.com page.

Congrats to all of our Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Monday - May 24, 2010

Brandon Loy injury update

According to a blog posting by Alan Trubow, Brandon Loy's suffering from a contusion on his scapula and may...stress, may...miss the Big 12 Tournament. The coaches want to make sure he's healthy for Regional play. More info at the provided blog post link.

Posted by Joanna at 4:15 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 23, 2010

Getting ready for post season play

I just finished setting up my 2010 Post Season Info page. It's perma-linked in the side-bar on the main page for easy access. Texas really needs to figure out a way to get OU in the same pool so they can play some evening games one of these years. The advantage of playing early in the day, though, is that they get to play pretty much on time. It's very rare that the late games start anywhere near on time.

Anyway, Texas is the #1 seed, of course, and will be pooled with Texas A&M (#4), Texas Tech (#5), and Missouri (#8). The Horns are scheduled to play Mizzou on Wednesday at 12:30, Tech on Thursday at 3:00, and the Aggies at 12:30 on Saturday. The winner of that round of games will then play the winner of the other pool (Oklahoma, Kansas State, Baylor, and Kansas) in a Championship Game on Sunday to be aired on FSN at 1:00.

Since the Horns are playing afternoon games on Wednesday and Thursday, I won't be able to post anything close to full-game reports. Sorry about that. I'll do my best to watch/listen and take notes during the day but don't expect much. Well...let me take that back. I'll see how things are going at work. I may be able to get away early. I'll have to see. Anyway, I will post what I can and will give daily summaries of all the games. I do love it when post season rolls around. I love having so much baseball to watch.

And, speaking of watching...the Big 12 will be streaming all of the games. Check out the Big 12 Baseball page for links and updates.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:50 PM | Permalink

Game 54: Texas at Missouri

Last regular season game of the year. Texas has played so well this year. It was clear at the start of the season that this team had a lot of potential but to see it actually take seed and come to life? Pretty special. Love these guys. Anyway...on to the business at hand.

Yes, it's another game report based on the radio broadcast with Craig Way and Bill Little handling the on-air duties. Jordan Weymouth is starting at 2b again with Loy out due to his shoulder injury. And, with a righty on the mound, Jonathan Walsh is back in lf and Russell Moldenhauer is handling the dh duties. And, Tommy Harmon is still away...Tommy Nicholson coaching 3b, Travis Tucker coaching 1b when the Horns are on offense.

The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 015 620 006 20 17 1
Missouri 000 002 603 11 11 2

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

Geesh. That was exhausting. 'Glad the Horns came away with the win, of course. They broke all sorts of regular-season records. Most homeruns by a Texas team in a season. Most Big 12 conference wins by any Big 12 team. And, more.

Some rather entertaining things happened offensively. Going down the line...

Jordan Etier really did have a miserable time at the plate today but did a very good job at shortstop as he filled in for the injured Brandon Loy.

Now the Horns head off to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 tournament where they will obviously be the #1 seed. Their first game will be against Missouri. Game time not yet set. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 3:31 PM | Permalink

Saturday - May 22, 2010

Schedule note

Quick note. The start time for tomorrow's game has been moved to noon to give the Horns a bit more travel time.

Posted by Joanna at 1:55 PM | Permalink

Game 53: Texas at Missouri

Another road game. Another game report based on the radio broadcast (Craig Way and Bill Little with the call). 'Got a look at the Texas line-up early (thanks to the Texas Baseball twitter feed) and am surprised to see Brandon Loy's not starting today. Things that make you go hmmm...

I also see that Mizzou's throwing a lefty (Kelly Fick) at the Horns. It'll be interesting to see how that goes. His ERA is 3.23 and he's 2-1 on the season with 21 appearances and only 1 start. I guess we'll see.

Looking at the line-up a little more closely, I do think Texas is responding to the lefty on the mound. With Loy out, we'll see Freshman Jordan Weymouth getting his 2nd start of the year at 2b (moving Etier over to ss). Weymouth is also taking Loy's #2 spot in the line-up. Also of note, Connor Rowe is starting in cf, moving Walla back to lf. And, Kyle Lusson is in the dh spot for today's game.

Back with more after the game...

UPDATE #1. In the pre-game show, Coach Garrido said Brandon Loy is suffering from a nagging injury (in his scapula?) that makes it difficult to catch any ball that is over his shoulder. He'll be out of the lineup for a couple of days until they can get him to a doctor and find out what his rehab needs to be. They hope to have him back in time for the tournament. Coach Garrido also commented that Connor Rowe and Kyle Lusson are doing well against left-handed pitching so they're starting today. They also changed the lineup from that posted originally on the twitter feed, moving Weymouth to the #9 spot and Etier up to #2. More after the game.

UPDATE #2. And, here's the game report.

The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 010 110 012 6 11 0
Missouri 002 020 000 4 8 2

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

That was not a pretty win but I will take it! With the series win, Texas has managed to win all of their Big 12 series this year which is a first for Texas and a first for the Big 12. Excellent.

Ruffin gets the win and improves his record to 6-1. Cole Green ends the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record since he did not figure into the decision. And, hey...nice bit of relief pitching by McKirahan, eh?

Don't forget...the start time for tomorrow's game has been moved to noon. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 12:34 PM | Permalink

Friday - May 21, 2010

Game 52: Texas at Missouri

Road game. Which means I listened to the radio broadcast (Craig Way and Bill Little with the call) and this report is based on the said broadcast.

UPDATE. I did not bother to read through this and posted quickly. Mistake. Lots of typos. Sorry. I think I've now fixed most of 'em.

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 100 400 000 5 11 1
Missouri 000 101 000 2 10 0

The Horns gave up too many hits but got out of trouble by turning 3 double plays. Nice. And, then Ruffin was just lights out. Jungmann struck out 9. Ruffin struck out 6. Scary stuff. Nice game all-in-all. Same teams tomorrow at 2 o'clock.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 8:50 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 16, 2010

Game 51: Louisiana Tech at Texas, Game 2

The Horns looked much more comfortable on the mound and at the plate in the 2nd game of today's double-header as they beat Louisiana Tech 13-2. The Horns actually held the Bulldogs scoreless through the first 8 innings of the game. The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Louisiana Tech 000 000 002 2 5 1
Texas 103 020 43- 13 13 0

I wasn't going to post a full-on game report 'cause it was a long day. But I see that they didn't post a boxscore or play-by-play for today's 2nd game on the TexasSports.com site. And, a lot of stuff happened. So, I've decided to go that extra mile for you people. 'Not sure you're worth it! Heh. Here goes...

Kevin Keyes was the offensive hero of the day, hitting one homerun in each of the games and driving in 8 runs...6 of them in the 2nd game! Once the bats came back to life, things went along quite nicely for the Horns so...all-in-all, not a bad day at Disch-Falk. The Horns now head to Missouri for their final series of the regular season.

One more thing...today was Senior Day for three Texas players: Riley Boening, Kyle Lusson, and Russell Moldenhauer. I wonder what happened to Boening this year. It seems like he was back up to throwing condition in the fall and was expected to contribute quite a bit this season but he never did make an appearance on the mound. Dunno. Lusson has played in 42 games this year, starting in 13. Moldenhauer's had a great season. He's appeared in 44 games (starting 40) and is currently hitting 348 on the year with 6 homeruns. Way to go, Seniors!

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:58 PM | Permalink

Game 50: Louisiana Tech at Texas, Game 1

Texas beat Louisiana Tech 10-9 in the opener of today's double-header. Scheduled to be a 9-inning affair, it took 6 before the Horns managed to connect on their second hit of the day...despite having scored 4 runs in the first two innings. No really. It was so odd...looking up and seeing 4 runs on 1 hit through 5 innings. To that point, Louisiana Tech had 6 runs on 8 hits. Bizarro world?

Cole Green got the start and did not have his best outing of the year. By my count, he went 2.2 innings, threw 52 pitches (30 strikes), faced 15 batters, walked 2, gave up 5 hits (including a solo homerun and 2 doubles), and gave up 4 runs (all earned). With runners at the corners and 2 out in the 3rd, Andrew McKirahan went in to face a lefty and, sadly, gave up a single (2-2 count, 1 rbi). Again, with runners at the corners and 2 out, Texas sent Stayton Thomas to the mound. Thomas had one of the shortest outings in the history of pitching. He first faked a throw to 3b and looked back at the runner at 1b. Then, he managed to catch the runner at 1b trying to steal 2b...1-4-3 for the put out!! His numbers: 0.1 innings, 0 pitches, 0 batters faced, 0 everything else. Heh. Brandon Workman went in at the top of the 4th and earned his 10th win of the year, moving his record to 10-1. He went 4 innings, threw 83 pitches (53 strikes, 1 wild pitch), faced 18 batters, walked 1, struck out 7, and (like Green) gave up 4 runs (all earned) on 5 hits (including 2 doubles). Hoby Milner started the 8th and gave up a lead-off full-count homerun before striking out the next two batters he faced. So, he went 0.2 innings, threw 15 pitches (9 strikes), faced 3 batters, struck out 2, and gave up the one earned run on that solo shot. Chance Ruffin then pitched the last 1.1 innings. He threw 25 pitches (14 strikes), faced 5 batters, walked 1 and struck out 3 without giving up any hits to earn his 12th save of the year.

Here's the line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Louisiana Tech 004 021 110 9 12 2
Texas 310 005 10- 10 9 0

Yep...10 runs on 9 hits. Their first three runs were scored with the aid of 3 walks, a sac fly, and a single. The run in the 2nd came off a couple of walks, a double steal, and an error. The bats stayed silent 'til the 6th:

Whew. The Horns scored what ended up being a very-much-needed insurance run in the 7th:

And, since I've got another game report to do, I'm stopping here. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:53 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 9, 2010

Game 49: Texas at Kansas State

I listened to the game on the radio (Craig Way and Keith Moreland with the call) and this game report is based on the broadcast. I found a stats page for KSU so will fill in some holes from it (they often miss substitutions).

Here's the line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 300 001 200 6 6 0
Kansas State 100 400 000 5 9 2

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

Wow. That was a tense game. Milner gets the win, moving his record to 3-0. Ruffin earns his 11th save of the year. Very nicely done by the Horns. Texas had 6 hits today...4 of 'em were homeruns. Wow. Keyes had 3 hits...2 homers and the game-winning single. Very good day for him.

The Horns are now off for a week. They host Louisiana Tech in a double-header one week from today.

And, one more note: the Tower will be lit orange tonight in honor of the team's Big 12 regular season championship.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 3:46 PM | Permalink

Saturday - May 8, 2010

Game 48: Texas at Kansas State

For a change, I just watched today's baseball game. No score-keeping...no note-taking. I didn't expect to be able to watch it. I expected to listen to most of it. Our family celebrated Mother's Day today instead of Sunday because my father will be on the road tomorrow. He cooked a fabulous brisket on the grill for us to enjoy. I thought we'd maybe get to listen to most of the game but my folks surprised me by having added some sports package to their cable system when they saw today's game would be available via Fox College Sports. I hadn't even seen that the game was going to be televised. So, I got a Mother's Day surprise. Heh.

The game went much like I thought it would. Well, more so, really. I thought the Horns would take care of business today. I just didn't realize how well they'd do it. They beat Kansas State 17-2 and clinched the regular season Big 12 championship in the process. Nice.

Cole Green pitched his 4th complete game of the year and moved his record to 10-0. He pitched an incredibly efficient game. Since I wasn't keeping score, I wasn't real sure as the game went on but you could tell he was just coasting along. According to the boxscore, he faced 33 batters in 9 innings while throwing only 102 pitches. He gave up 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits with no walks, 4 strikeouts, and 2 wild pitches. Wow. Pretty special.

Here's the line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 020 540 060 17 19 2
Kansas State 100 020 001 2 6 1

Offensively, the Horns were on fire today. Jonathan Walsh, getting a rare start in lf (actually, he's started more than I thought he had...according to the stats on the TexasSports.com page, today's start was his 14th of the year), went 4-for-5 with 5 runs batted in and 3 runs scored. He, Cohl Walla, Brandon Loy, and Cameron Rupp all hit homeruns today. Loy's homer was the first of his Longhorn career. We'd noticed that Loy was the only regular starter without a homerun this year and had been pulling for him to hit one for the last few weeks so his was particularly sweet.

Read more about the game:

Brandon Workman will be on the mound for the Horns tomorrow. I'll be listening to the game on the radio and keeping score. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 10:14 PM | Permalink

Friday - May 7, 2010

Game 47: Texas at Kansas State

I listened to tonight's game on the radio...Keith Moreland and Craig Way with the call. This report is based on said broadcast. By the way, no GameTracker for KSU so if the radio guys missed something, I did too!

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Texas 000 001 000 1 7 1
Kansas State 000 020 00- 2 4 2

Jungmann struggled on the mound and Texas batters struggled at the plate with runners on the basepads. The Horns stranded 11 by my count...7 in scoring position. Not a pretty game.

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

And, thus ends the 21-game winning streak. Frankly, I'm happy to see the streak end here rather than in the post-season. Now they can get on another run...this one much more important!

Cole Green will get the start tomorrow. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 9:41 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - May 4, 2010

Game 46: Prairie View A&M at Texas

The Horns beat the Panthers of Prairie View A&M 6-0 this evening, improving their record to 39-7 and their winning streak to 21 games. Benjamin Blackburn, sporting an amazing head of hair, took the loss for the Panthers. He did a good job, throwing a complete game. When Cohl Walla dropped a lead-off single into lf in the first inning, I thought it was gonna be a blow-out. But, not so. The line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Prairie View A&M 000 000 000 0 3 1
Texas 001 003 02- 6 7 0

Sam Stafford started for Texas and pitched into the 5th inning. Kendal Carrillo then pitched through the 8th. He started things off by setting down 8 batters in-a-row before giving up a single. Then? Double play and ground out. Nice. Carrillo earned the win, improving his record to 3-0. And, Hoby Milner threw a perfect 9th. I sure am enjoying our pitching this year. It's pretty special.

On the offensive side of things, the guys were struggling a bit to get their bats on whatever it was that Blackburn was throwing over the plate. But, Russell Moldenhauer managed a 3-run homerun in the 6th to the opposite field and Kevin Lusson hit a line-drive 2-run shot over the rf fence in the 8th to put the game away. I didn't think Moldenhauer's ball was gonna make it over the fence...it was hit sooooooooo high. But, it did clear the fence and dropped into the PVAMU bullpen. Then, Lusson's homer? It didn't seem to get more than about 20 feet off the ground...it was a bullet! I wasn't convinced it would clear the fence either...it was hit on such a line. But, over the fence it went. Cool.

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

After the game, Coach Garrido waited until the PVAMU team meeting in the field behind 3b was over before walking over to the team and spending a few minutes talking to several of the players. For the most part, they looked genuinely happy that he took the time to talk to them. Pretty cool. In the post-game interview, Bill Little asked him what he'd said to the other team and Coach Garrido explained that the PVAMU coach had told him that four of his players had played in California at a community college he (Garrido) had played at when he was younger. He said he walked over to meet the young men and that he'd congratulated all of the players on playing a competitive game.

Tonight's game was the last mid-week game of the regular season. The Horns now travel to Kansas State. Here's hoping for another great road trip! Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:43 PM | Permalink

Sunday - May 2, 2010

Game 45: Baylor at Texas

Okay. 20 games in-a-row. 5 conference sweeps in-a-row. 7 conference series wins in-a-row. The Horns are 19-2 in conference play. The mind boggles.

Texas beat Baylor 4-1 today. And, didn't have to go into extra innings to do it. Lovely. They didn't play a perfect game. But, they did what they needed to do to win.

This team really seems to be on a roll. Obviously. We all know they're gonna lose a game down the road. But, you can just feel that they know what to they need to do to win. And, they keep doing it. And, it's not like the streak they got on last year where they kept scrambling around looking for a way to win. This year, they just do it. Uh-oh. Nike. Sorry about that. I did not mean to go all cliche on y'all. But, it's true. And, so...the line...

Team 123 456 789 RHE
Baylor 000 001 000 1 4 1
Texas 011 002 00- 4 8 2

Sorry it took so long to get this online. I had a long week at work and then a couple of long baseball games and I kinda just collapsed when I got home after eating dinner with my folks after today's game. Ah well...you get what you pay for around here.

Here's how things played out...

All-in-all, a nice game. Obviously, it would've been better if they'd managed to avoid the errors. Good thing was that they didn't let the errors get them down. They just buckled down and got the job done each time. Workman got the win to move his record to 9-1. And, Thomas earned his first save of the year. Nice.

The Horns now host Prairie View A&M on Tuesday and then travel to Manhattan, KS, for their next-to-last Big 12 series of they year.

Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:56 PM | Permalink

Game 44: Baylor at Texas

Oh. My. Goodness. What a game. Texas beat Baylor 2-1 in 14 innings! Apparently, going extra innings on Friday night was not enough. Wow. Jordan Weymouth hit a beauty of a double (well, it'll be counted as a single in the official boxscore, I'm sure, but it was a double) down the lf line to score Paul Montalbano in the 14th. Purty. And, I could not contain my grin as I watched Brandon Loy run full speed out to 2b after said hit to try and hoist Weymouth into the air. What fun.

The line...

Team 123 456 789 101112 1314 RHE
Baylor 000 000 001 000 00 1 7 0
Texas 010 000 000 000 01 2 11 2

And, I'll be back with more after I get some sleep. I started on the game report and just couldn't finish. Too much happened in the game. 'Night...

UPDATE (Sunday morning). Now that I've had some sleep, I can get back to the details. At first I thought that there were really only three highlights but that's just not so. Full game report in order. So, here's how it all played out...

Wow. Both starters did a really good job and neither deserved a loss...so it's a good thing neither was saddled with one. Milner did a spectacular job in relief to get the win. He faced 12 batters and didn't allow a single one to reach base. Very, very cool.

And, it's back to Disch-Falk in a few hours. It's Sunday...hitting day for the Horns. 'Hope they put the game away early. And, no...I'm not gonna talk about the win streak. Brandon Workman on the mound for Texas. C'mon, bats! C'mon, Horns!

Oh, and...Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 1:56 AM | Permalink

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