Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page: June 2010 Archives

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Monday - June 21, 2010

MLB Draft signing news

I decided to collect all the news of UT signings in this one post. You can check it periodically for updates since this is where I'll collect all the info as it comes in (most recent news at the top of the list):

Chance Ruffin signed with the Tigers (Detroit News story)
Brandon Workman signed with the Red Sox (boston.com story)
Kevin Keyes signed with the Nationals (seen on July 5th on Twitter, and then on the Nationals' transactions page)
Russell Moldenhauer signed with the Nationals (seen on June 24th on Nationals' transactions page)
Cameron Rupp signed with the Phillies (seen on Twitter on June 21st; News8 story; Statesman blog post)
Connor Rowe signed with the Nationals (reported on June 20th, KEYE story)
Mike Foltynewicz (Texas signee from Illinois) signed with the Astros (reported on June 19th, mlb.com story)
Kyle Lusson (who was not drafted) signed with the Rays (seen on Twitter on June 16th)

And, I'm still updating my MBL Draft Summary page as I come across info on signings if you're interested in news on selected non-UT players.

Posted by Joanna at 7:50 PM | Permalink

Friday - June 18, 2010

MLB Draft Update

As predicted, Mike Foltynewicz (Texas signee from Illinois) will not play at Texas next year. He officially signed with the Astros today and reports to his new Rookie team in Tennessee tomorrow. Lots of info available in this mlb.com story by Steve Gartner.

No news on other Texas players or signees as of yet. I have been updating my MBL Draft Summary page as I get info on signings. Things are happening fast and furious for other non-Texas players. So, check it out.

UPDATE. That thing about not having news about Texas players isn't quite true. While there's no news about players selected in the draft, there is news. Kyle Lusson (who went undrafted) signed with Tampa Bay a few days ago. Cool.

UPDATE #2 (June 20): Connor Rowe signed and will not be coming back for his senior year. See an interview on KEYE regarding his decision. (H/T: Donald Boyles)

Posted by Joanna at 10:45 PM | Permalink

Saturday - June 12, 2010

Game 63: Texas at TCU (Austin Super Regional)

Yep...it's another quick iPhone post. More when I get home to my computer.

TCU again played home team to Texas in Game 3 of the Austin Super Regional. Texas, alas, could not get much of anything going offensively today and ended up losing 1-4. That's the end of the 2010 season for Texas.

Texas lost only two 3-game series this year...the opening one against UNM and this last one in the Super Regional. That somehow makes it sadder for me. TCU played awfully well...particularly on the mound. So, no knock on them.

More when I get home...

UPDATE. I'm back. And, still sad. I'll post some thoughts about the end of the season soon. But, before I get to that, I have one more game report to post. So, here goes. First, the line...

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

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

1st inning, Texas

Kyle Winkler (rhp) on the mound for TCU.
Cohl Walla (lf) drew a 5-pitch walk.
Brandon Loy (ss) moved Walla to 2b on a sac bunt to 1b (unassisted). He bunted the ball down the 1b line. It was fielded by the first baseman who fielded and tagged Loy out.
Tant Shepherd drew a full-count walk.
Which prompted a visit to the mound for TCU.
Russell Moldenhauer (dh) grounded out to 1b (unassisted), moving Walla to 3b and Shepherd to 2b. The first baseman made a great play to field the ball headed down the line for a likely double. He saved at least one run if not two with that play.
Cameron Rupp (c) struck out looking (1-2 count).

1st inning, TCU

Brandon Workman (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
Jerome Pena (2b) flew out to lf at the warning track.
Bryan Holaday lined a single into lf.
Matt Curry struck out swinging.
Joe Weik (dh) also struck out swinging.

2nd inning, Texas

Kevin Keyes (rf) lined out to rf...almost right at the right fielder.
Kevin Lusson (3b) lined a double down the rf line to the wall.
Jordan Etier (2b) flew out to rf. Lusson tagged up and advanced to 3b on the play.
Connor Rowe (cf) flew out to rf. Anther batter left in scoring position.

2nd inning, TCU

Jantzen Witte (3b) popped out to 2b.
Taylor Featherston (ss) grounded out to 3b. Nice play by Lusson to field the ball and then nice scoop by Shepherd at the end of the play.
Jason Coats lined out to 2b...nice leap by Etier!

3rd inning, Texas

Walla popped out to 1b (foul, in front of the 1b dugout).
Loy struck out swinging (2-2 count).
Shepherd reached on a bloop single to the lf/cf gap.
Moldenhauer flew out to lf (again toward the lf/cf gap).

3rd inning, TCU

Aaron Schultz (cf) flew out to rf.
Brance Rivera (rf) lined out to cf.
Pena grounded out to 2b.

4th inning, Texas

Rupp flew out to rf.
Keyes singled up the middle.
Lusson drew a full-count walk, moving Keyes to 2b.
Etier flew out to lf just shy of the warning track. Keyes tagged up and advanced to 3b on the play.
Rowe struck out swinging (1-2 count).

4th inning, TCU

Holaday popped out to shallow lf.
Curry grounded out to 1b (3-1, p covered bag).
Weik lined a single up the middle.
Witte struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.

5th inning, Texas

Walla lined out to rf. Nice running catch to his left by the right fielder.
Loy popped out to 1b in front of the mound. All of the infield gathered at the mound on the pop-up and the first baseman made the nice play.
Shepherd reached on a throwing error by ss. I'd been waiting all series for him to make a throwing error. A lot of his throws to 1b were high all weekend long. Finally, one of them was way too high. Shepherd moved to 2b on the error when the ball went out of play.
Moldenhauer struck out looking (2-2 count).

5th inning, TCU

Featherston lined a double into the cf/rf gap. Keyes threw the ball in quickly, hoping to gun the runner down at 2b. It would've been a close play if the throw was on target but it was off-line...toward the 1b side. Neither the pitcher nor the catcher were lined up with the throw and the ball got all the way to the backstop allowing Featherston to reach 3b. E9. Sigh.
Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
Coats singled through the right side, scoring Featherston.
Schultz moved Coats to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
River grounded out to the pitcher. Workman did a great job to look the runner back at 2b before throwing the batter out at 1b.
Pena struck out swinging. The ball got past Rupp and went all the way to the backstop. He did a great job to go get it and throw the batter out at 1b.
Texas down 0-1.

6th inning, Texas

Rupp struck out swinging.
Keyes grounded out to 3b.
Lusson flew out to cf.
Texas down 0-1.

6th inning, TCU

Texas sent Chance Ruffin (rhp) to the mound, replacing Workman.
Holaday popped out to lf in shallow lf.
Curry popped out to ss in shallow lf.
Weik popped out to 1b foul (near the camera well down the 1b line).
Texas down 0-1.

7th inning, Texas

Etier struck out swinging (0-2 count).
Rowe grounded out to ss. Another high throw but the first baseman, as he's done on most of the high throws from Featherston, came down on the bag after having to jump up to catch the ball.
Walla singled up the middle.
Shepherd hit into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
Texas down 0-1.

7th inning, TCU

Witte popped out to rf in shallow rf.
Featherston drew a full-count 8-pitch walk.
Coats struck out swinging.
Schultz (0-for-5 with a sac fly and 2 sac bunts in the Super Regional to this point) hit a homerun that went waaaaay over the lf fence. The crowd was furious with the home plate ump. The pitch sequence prior to the hr ball: strike (looking), strike (looking), ball, ball (that pretty much everyone thought should have been strike 3), foul ball...and then the homerun.
Rivera flew out to rf.
Texas down 0-3.

8th inning, Texas

Shepherd flew out to cf. The center fielder (who'd just hit the homerun) made a fantastic over-the-shoulder catch in the deepest part of the field in the cf/rf gap as he was running hard toward the wall. Wow. Suppose he was a little pumped?
Moldenhauer reached on an infield single up the middle...first hit of the Super Regional for Muldenhauer. Really nice hustle by Moldenhauer to beat out the throw.
Texas sent Sam Stafford in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
Rupp lined out right to cf.
TCU sent Tyler Lockwood (rhp) to the mound, replacing Winkler.
Keyes grounded into a 5-4 fielder's choice.
Texas down 1-3.

8th inning, TCU

Pena grounded out to the pitcher.
Holaday hit another bomb for TCU to lf...this one over the lf bullpen.
Curry singled up the middle.
Weik lined out to cf.
After the first pitch to Witte (a ball), Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound.
Witte popped out to ss at 2b.

9th inning, Texas

Lusson grounded out to 2b.
Paul Montalbano (lefty, pinch-hitting for Etier) lined a single into cf.
Jonathan Walsh (switch-hitter hitting from the left, pinch-hitting for Rowe) popped out to cf in shallow cf.
Walla reached on a throwing error by 2b...who threw wide of the bag. Montalbano scored and Walla moved up to 2b.
Which prompted a visit to the mound for TCU.
Jordan Weymouth (lefty, pinch-hitting for Loy) grounded out to 2b to end the game.
Texas loses 1-4.

It looked like Winkler was a bit nervous at the start of the game. If that hard grounder by Moldenhauer had gotten through and down the line in the first inning, I think things would've totally turned around. At least one run would've scored and Texas would've had runners at 2b and 3b (if not two runs in and a runner at 2b) with 1 out. But, it didn't get through. The first baseman made a great play. And, Winkler settled down and that was pretty much the game after that point. And, as in Friday's game, the Horns were 0-fer in chances with runners in scoring position. There weren't many of those chances but they few they had were not seized.

It was a good season. It just didn't end well. More later.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 6:20 PM | Permalink

Game 62: Texas at TCU (Austin Super Regional)

Another quick iPhone post. More when I get home to my computer.

Texas played visitor (TCU played home) in Game 2 of the Austin Super Regional and won 14-1! Taylor Jungmann pitched into the 9th...really nice game for him. More in a couple of hours...

UPDATE. Or more than a couple of hours. This took longer than I expected. I kept getting side-tracked watching other games. Anyway, I'm back and have lots to report. Whew. One thing to note before I get started, the Horns had Cohl Walla in cf and Jonathan Walsh in lf to start today.

First, as usual, the line...

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

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

1st inning, Texas

Steven Maxwell (rhp) on the mound for the Horned Frogs. He had 20+ scoreless innings going into today's game.
Cohl Walla (cf) grounded out to ss. He had a foul ball early (2nd pitch) that went a long way down the lf line...but foul.
Brandon Loy (ss) popped out to rf down the line.
Tant Shepherd (1b) lined a single into 1b. Mysteriously, the center fielder threw the ball back in to 1b...and a bit off-line. The catcher backed up the throw, though, so Shepherd could not advance to 2b.
Russell Moldenhauer (dh) grounded out to 2b.

1st inning, TCU

Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
Taylor Featherston (ss) grounded out to the pitcher...a full-swing hit that rolled slowly down the 1b line.
Bryan Holaday (c) lined a double down the lf line into the corner. Walsh dove and made a play at the ball but missed the ball. It would've been 2 bases even if he'd stayed on his feet.
Jason Coats (lf) struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out. Holaday advanced to 3b on the play (wild pitch). Rupp did look down to 3b before throwing to 1b but decided against pushing things and went for the sure out.
Matt Curry (1b) grounded out to the pitcher.

2nd inning, Texas

Cameron Rupp (c) grounded out to 2b.
Kevin Keyes (rf) lined a single into rf.
Kevin Lusson (3b) singled through the right side, moving Keyes to 2b.
Jonathan Walsh (lf) struck out looking (full count, 8 pitches).
Jordan Etier (2b) flew out to rf.

2nd inning, TCU

Josh Elander (dh) struck out swinging.
Jantzen Witte (3b) singled into the cf/rf gap.
With Aaron Schultz (cf) at the plate, Witte was caught stealing (2-6) on the 2nd pitch.
Schultz struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.

3rd inning, Texas

Walla flew out to cf.
Loy drew a 5-pitch walk.
Shepherd drew a full-count walk, moving Loy to 2b.
Moldenhauer was hit by a pitch to . 'Looked like maybe it just grazed his sleeve.
Rupp lined out to 2b. Shepherd just barely beat the ss back to the bag as the second baseman tossed the ball to the ss.
Keyes reached on a throwing error by 3b. He hit a dribbler down the 3b line. The third baseman charged and threw wide of the bag. Loy and Shepherd scored. Moldenhauer moved up to 3b and Keyes advanced to 2b. TCU tried to argue that Keyes interfered with the throw from 3b but the first baseman was lunging across the running lane to catch the errant throw from 3b and it looked to me like Keyes was just trying to stay upright and avoid a worse collision with the first baseman than they had.
Lusson lined a double into right-center, clearing the bases! That's only the 2nd extra-base hit for the Horns this series (Keyes hit that homerun yesterday).
Jonathan Walsh struck out swinging (2-2 count).
4 unearned runs.
Texas up 4-0.

3rd inning, TCU

Quote from Augie Garrido in the post-game press conference (not verbatim...but pretty close): "The best thing that can happen to a pitcher's curve ball is a 4- or 5-run lead." I've heard him say this sort of thing before, by the way.
Jerome Pena (2b) grounded out on a slow roller to 2b.
Brance Rivera (rf) struck out swinging. Rivera tried to check his swing but was wrung up by the 1b ump.
Featherston flew out to rf.
Texas up 4-0.

4th inning, Texas

Etier grounded out to ss. The throw was a bit high and pulled the first baseman off the bag but it looked like he just managed to get back down before Etier crossed the bag.
Walla also grounded out to ss. A nice play by the shortstop who was ranging behind 2b when he snagged the ball. Better throw this time too.
Loy drew a 5-pitch walk.
TCU sent Trent Appleby (rhp) to the mound, replacing Maxwell.
Before even throwing a pitch to Shepherd, Appleby made a toss over to 1b to check the runner. Alas, the throw was a bit high and skipped off the first baseman's glove, allowing Loy to move up to 2b. E3...on the lack of effort to stop the ball.
Shepherd lined a single into right-center, scoring Loy.
Moldenhauer struck out looking (full-count, 7 pitches).
Texas up 5-0.

4th inning, TCU

Holaday popped out to 2b in shallow rf.
Coats struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
Curry flew out to cf.
Texas up 5-0.

5th inning, Texas

Wherein Texas sends 10 batters to the plate.
Rupp lined a lovely single up the middle into cf. First pitch!
With Keyes at the plate, Rupp advanced to 2b on a wild pitch.
Keyes lined a double into the lf/cf gap, scoring Rupp. Keyes just beat the throw in from cf. Nice.
Lusson singled through the right side, moving Keyes to 3b.
Which prompted a visit to the mound for TCU.
Walsh popped out to ss in shallow cf.
Etier went for the squeeze play...bunt down 1b line. The pitcher fielded but the first baseman, backing up after initially making a move toward the ball was not able to find and get his foot on the bag when he took the throw from the pitcher (E3). Wow. Bases loaded.
Walla tripled to the the lf/cf gap, clearing the bases!!!
Loy singled through the left side past a diving ss, scoring Walla.
Shepherd homered over the lf bullpen!!
Moldenhauer flew out to lf at the warning track in front of the scoreboard.
Rupp grounded out to 2b.
Whew.
Texas up 12-0.

5th inning, TCU

Texas moved Cohl Walla to lf and sent Connor Rowe in to cf (replacing Walsh in the lineup).
Elander grounded out to 2b. Nice dig by Shepherd at 1b on low throw.
Witte lined a double into the cf/rf gap.
Schultz struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
Pena lined out to cf. Fantastic running catch by new center fielder Connor Rowe who ran hard to his right before diving for the ball!
Texas up 12-0.

6th inning, Texas

Greg Holle (rhp) went to the mound, replacing Appleby.
Kevin Keyes flew out to rf.
Kevin Lusson flew out to cf.
Connor rowe struck out swinging (2-2 count, 6 pitches). He tried to check his swing but was unsuccessful.
Texas up 12-0.

6th inning, TCU

Kyle Von Tungeln (pinch-hitting for Rivera) struck out swinging.
Featherston grounded out to 1b (p covered the bag).
Holaday was hit by a pitch. It must've grazed his jersey.
Zac Jordan (pinch-hitting for Coats) grounded out to the pitcher. Nice play by Jungmann who jumped off the mound and fielded the high-bouncer headed down the 3b line barehanded and then made a perfect throw to 1b.
Texas up 12-0.

7th inning, Texas

Schultz moved from cf to rf. Jordan stayed in the game in lf and Von Tungeln stayed in the game in cf.
Etier flew out to rf just shy of the warning track down the line (full count, 10 pitches...wow).
Walla grounded out to ss.
Loy struck out looking.
Texas up 12-0.

7th inning, TCU

Curry grounded out to 2b.
Elander struck out looking.
Witte struck out swinging.
8 pitches.
Texas up 12-0.

8th inning, Texas

TCU sent Davy Wright in at 2b, replacing Pena.
Shepherd lined a single into lf.
Moldenhauer grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Shucks.
Rupp grounded out to 3b.
Texas up 12-0.

8th inning, TCU

Jimmie Pharr (pinch-hitting for Schultz) grounded out to 2b.
Wright grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
Von Tungeln lined a triple into the cf/rf gap.
Fetherston lined a single into rf, scoring Von Tungeln. And, there went the shut-out.
With Holaday at the plate, Featherstpn stole 2b as the count went full on a strike. It was essentially defensive indifference as Rupp just tossed the ball back to Jungmann without making any move at all to 2b...but I'm guessing they gave him a stolen base. Maybe not.
Holaday drew a full-count walk.
Jordan flew out to rf...at the line. Nice play by Keyes.
Texas up 12-1.

9th inning, Texas

Pharr stayed in the game for TCU, going in at lf and Jordan moved over to rf.
Keyes drew a 5-pitch walk.
Texas sent Kyle Lusson in to pinch-run for Keyes.
Kevin Lusson hit a double to the wall in lf. The left fielder kept chasing after a ball that just kept carrying and ended up crashing into the wall as he tracked the ball. He was unable to hold onto it. Kyle Lusson scored on the play.
Rowe flew out to cf.
With Etier at the plate, Kevin Lusson advanced to 3b on a wild pitch.
Etier lined a single into rf, scoring Kevin Lusson.
Walla struck out looking (1-2 count).
Loy drew a full-count walk (10 pitches), moving Etier to 2b.
Shepherd popped out to rf.
Texas up 14-1.

9th inning, TCU

Kyle Lusson stayed in the game in rf.
Relly Mercurio (pinch-hitting for Curry) grounded out to ss.
Elander drew a 5-pitch walk.
Witte singled off Jungmann and into shallow lf, moving Elander to 2b. It looked like the ball went off Jungmann's hip or thigh and then ricocheted into lf.
Texas sent Kendal Carrillo (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann (who got a curtain call from the crowd).
Pharr flew out to cf.
Wright grounded out to 3b.
5 pitches for Carrillo. Nice.
Texas wins 14-1.

By my count, Jungmann threw 121 pitches (75 strikes) in 8.1 innings. He faced 33 batters, threw 1 wild pitch, hit a batter, walked 2, struck out 9 (!), gave up 6 hits, and allowed an earned run. Very purty.

Offensive numbers, going down the line:

Walla: 1-for-6 with a 3-run triple, a run scored, 1 strikeout
Loy: 1-for-3 with an rbi single, 3 runs scored, 4 walks, 1 strikeout
Shepherd: 4-for-5 with a homerun and 3 singles, 3 runs batted in, 2 runs scored, 1 walk
Moldenhauer: 0-for-4 with a run scored (after reaching on an hbp), 1 strikeout
Rupp: 1-for-5 with a run scored
Keyes: 2-for-4 with an rbi double, 2 runs scored
Kyle Lusson: 1 run scored (pinch runner, no plate appearances)
Kevin Lusson: 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, 3 runs batted in
Walsh: 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts
Rowe: 0-for-2 with 1 strikeout
Etier: 1-for-5 with 1 runs scored, 1 run batted in

'Have to say that today's game was so much better than yesterday's game. Here's hoping for another good one tomorrow!

In the post-game press conference, Coach Garrido said Brandon Workman will start tomorrow and Chance Ruffin will obviously be available for long relief. And, as I posted earlier, TCU will be the home team in Game 3 (Texas lost the toss).

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 3:31 PM | Permalink

Friday - June 11, 2010

Game 61: TCU at Texas (Austin Super Regional)

Quick iPhone post. More when I get home to my computer.

Texas hosted TCU in Game 1 of the Austin Super Regional and, sadly, lost 1-3. The Horns only managed 3 hits...including a solo homerun by Kevin Keyes. So sad.

I blame it all on Tweeter @formerlyanon who joked about pulling a Baylor when Texas was trying to intentionally walk a batter. Next pitch? Wild and at the batter's feet. Runner from 3b scored second TCU run.

Full, sad game report when I get home.

UPDATE. I went to dinner with a friend and am now home...ready to post my report. First, a couple of observations. The wind was blowing pretty hard out to lf and I thought we'd see 4 or 5 homeruns hit out that way. But we only saw one...and it was the only one that was close. Matt Purke pitched a great game for TCU. No getting around that fact. I was very happy to see Kevin Lusson looking like his old self at 3b today. He made several nice plays and throws out there today. Stayton Thomas looked great in relief. I so wish it could've been in a winning effort.

Also...while I'm thinking about it, Texas will be the visitor team for the final two games. They lost the toss for Game 3. And, with that...here's the full report.

The line...

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

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

1st inning, TCU

Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
Taylor Featherston (ss) struck out swinging.
Bryan Holaday (c) grounded out to 2b.
Jason Coats (lf) struck out swinging.

1st inning, Texas

Matt Purke (lhp) on the mound for TCU.
Cohl Walla (lf) struck out swinging (0-2 count). The catcher couldn't hang onto the ball so had to tag Walla to complete the out.
Brandon Loy (ss) struck out swinging (2-2 count).
Tant Shepherd (1b) also, very sadly, struck out swinging (full count).

2nd inning, TCU

Matt Curry (1b) reached on a single up the middle past a diving second baseman.
Joe Welk (dh) singled through the left side, moving Curry to 2b.
Jantzen Witte (3b) advanced the runners on a nice 1-4 sac bunt down the 3b line.
Aaron Schultz (cf) flew out to rf, scoring Curry (sac fly). The ball was hit to the cf/rf gap. Rowe (cf) and Keyes (rf) both went for the ball. Keyes made the play and quickly threw to ss as Welk had tagged up and was making a move to 3b. Welk tried to turn back to 2b but was thrown out (9-6-4). Very nice bang-bang play. Rowe, by the way, tripped over Keyes' foot and fell to the turf. He seemed to be a bit hurt as he got up. Initially, he was limping and holding onto his side as he headed for the dugout. But, he stayed in the game and didn't seem to be in any pain as the game went on.
Texas down 0-1.

2nd inning, Texas

Cameron Rupp (c) flew out to rf at the warning track. Why couldn't that ball have been hit to lf?
Kevin Keyes (rf) struck out looking (2-2 count).
Russell Moldenhauer (dh) grounded out to ss.
Texas down 0-1.

3rd inning, TCU

Jerome Pena (2b) drew a 5-pitch walk and was then caught stealing (2-6) on the second pitch to Rivera. Rivera, by the way, had squared to bunt and then drew the bat back and took a very bad swing at the pitch on which Pena was caught stealing. Really nice throw by Rupp.
Brance Rivera (rf) singled through the left side. The ball skipped under Lusson's glove. Damn.
Featherston struck out looking.
Holaday hit a seeing-eye ground ball single through the left side, moving Rivera to 2b.
Coats hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice, ending the top of the 3rd.
Texas down 0-1.

3rd inning, Texas

Kevin Lusson (3b) grounded out to ss.
Connor Rowe (cf) struck out swinging (1-2 count).
Jordan Etier (2b) singled up the middle.
on the 2nd pitch to Walla, Etier stole 2b. The throw from the catcher was a bit wide and got through into cf. Etier moved up to 3b on the throwing error.
Sadly, after working the count full, Walla grounded out to 2b to end the inning.
Texas down 0-1.

4th inning, TCU

Curry grounded out to 1b (3-1, p covered bag).
Welk grounded out to 3b.
Witte struck out swinging.
Texas down 0-1.

4th inning, Texas

Loy flew out to cf...almost to the warning track.
Shepherd grounded out to ss.
Rupp struck out looking.
Texas down 0-1.

5th inning, TCU

Schultz grounded out to 3b. Really nice play by Lusson who had to backhand the ball headed down the line and then make a long throw across the diamond. Nice scoop by Shepherd scooping the ball at the other end of the throw off the turf.
Pena flew out to shallow rf. Keyes made a nice long run to make the out.
Rivera grounded out to 3b. Lusson made the play in front of Loy. Very nicely done. That's the kind of play he was letting go to Loy in the A&M series. Pretty.

5th inning, Texas

Keyes singled up the middle. First lead-off batter (of only two, sadly) aboard for the Horns.
Moldenhauer squared to bunt and watched a couple of balls which prompted a visit to the mound. Then, still squared to bunt, he watched a strike and bunted one foul. After another foul ball, he struck out looking.
Lusson struck out looking. Keyes stole 2b on the stirke out.
Rowe grounded out to 3b.
Texas down 0-1.

6th inning, TCU

Featherston was hit by a 2-2 pitch (on the hip I think).
Holaday drew a 5-pitch walk, moving Featherston to 2b. Skip Anderson did make a visit to the mound when the count went 2-0.
Coats advanced the batters on a 1-3 sac bunt. Wait? Which team is it that sac bunts all the time? Actually, I checked and, going into today's game, Texas was 85-for-109 on sac bunt attempts and TCU was 71-for-102. So, while not quite as successful, the Horned Frogs also put the sac bunt down a lot.
With runners at 2b and 3b, Texas decided to intentionally walk Curry. Alas, Green threw the 2nd pitch way inside (almost hit the batter) and to the wall. Featherston scored on the wild pitch and Holaday moved up to 3b.
The Horns decided to continue with the IBB on Curry, putting runners at the corners.
Welk hit a sac fly to rf, scoring Holaday.
Witte singled through the right side, moving Curry to 2b.
Texas sent Stayton Thomas (rhp) to the mound, replacing Green.
Schultz popped out to 2b.
Texas down 0-3.

6th inning, Texas

Etier lined out to rf.
Walla lined out to ss.
Loy struck out swinging (0-2).
Texas down 0-3.

7th inning, TCU

Pena grounded out to the pitcher.
Rivera popped out to the catcher...about 10 feet in front of the plate.
Featherston grounded out to the pitcher.
Texas down 0-3.

7th inning, Texas

Shepherd grounded out to 3b.
Rupp struck out swinging.
Keyes homered into the TCU bullpen. The ball just cleared the fence but it was nice.
Moldenhauer grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
Texas down 1-3.

8th inning, TCU

Holaday grounded out to 3b.
Coats singled up the middle.
Curry grounded out to 2b, moving Coats to 2b. Slow high-bouncing ground ball...only play was to 1b for Etier.
Welk struck out looking.
Texas down 1-3.

8th inning, Texas

Lusson drew a full-count walk.
Which prompted a visit to the mound for TCU.
Rowe struck out swinging (2-2 count).
Etier moved Lusson to 2b on a 2-3 sac bunt. Etier, by the way, did not square to bunt until he'd watched a ball and a strike cross the plate. Nice bunt and very nice play by the catcher.
Walla was hit by a pitch (on the knee I think).
TCU sent Tyler Lockwood (rhp) to the mound, replacing Purke. Purke threw 110 pitches by my count and struck out 11. Sigh...
Loy grounded out to the pitcher.
Texas down 1-3.

9th inning, TCU

Witte reached on a single into rf off the first baseman's glove.
Schultz moved Witte to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt down the 1b line.
Pena flew out to lf. Walla made a nice long run to track the ball down at the berm wall down the lf line (foul).
Rivera grounded out to 3b.
Texas down 1-3.

9th inning, Texas

Shepherd flew out to rf.
Rupp lined out to lf.
Keyes struck out looking (1-2 count).
Texas loses 1-3.

Purke threw a really good game and Texas just couldn't hit the ball. And, that made more than enough difference in the game. The teams now meet for Game 2 tomorrow at noon.

Despite my firm belief that Tweeter @formerlyanon was responsible for the Texas loss, I still had fun meeting him and am glad he was able to join us for the game.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 4:49 PM | Permalink

Wednesday - June 9, 2010

MLB Draft, Day 3

I had plans to update this post (like I did the one yesterday) as Texas players and signees got picked in the MLB Draft. Not much happened on the Texas side of things in the late rounds of the draft, though, so I decided to just wait for it all to end. These are the Texas players and signees that were drafted on the final day of the draft...

Ryan Hornback (Texas signee from San Jacinto JC), c, 43rd round (1301st overall), drafted by Tampa Bay [Note: I reported yesterday that he was drafted by Baltimore in the 12th. 'Turns out that was his brother Riley. The draft tracker was wrong. And, is supposedly being fixed as I type.]
Tant Shepherd, 1b, 47th round (1417th overall), drafted by Cincinnati
Dex Kjerstad (Texas signee from Randall HS in Canyon), cf, 50th round (1507th overall), drafted by Cincinnati
Trevor Teykl (Texas signee from Kempner HS in Fort Bend), rhp, 50th round (1516th overall), drafted by Texas

Don't forget to check out my 2010 Draft Summary Page with news on other players that might be of interest.

And, that's it for the draft. If I missed anyone, please drop me a line. Thanks.

Posted by Joanna at 3:56 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - June 8, 2010

MBL Draft, Day 2

I'll update this post as I can with notes on Texas players (or signees) who get picked in the MLB Draft today. And, you can watch my 2010 Draft Summary Page for news on other (non-Texas) players that might be of interest (ie. players from other Big 12 schools).

Brandon Workman, rhp, 2nd round (57th overall), drafted by Boston; Brandon was also picked in the 2007 MBL Draft (3rd round, 107th overall, by Philadelphia)
Cameron Rupp, c, 3rd round (108th overall), drafted by Philadelphia; Cameron was also picked in the 2007 MLB Draft (43rd round, 1273rd overall, by Pittsburgh)
Cole Green, rhp, 4th round (133rd overall), drafted by Detroit (who also took Chance Ruffin yesterday)
Kevin Keyes, rf, 7th round (206th overall), drafted by Washington; Kevin was also drafted in the 2007 MLB Draft (26th round, 800th overall, by Texas)
Ryan Hornback (Texas signee from San Jacinto JC), c, 12th round (358th overall), drafted by Baltimore
[UPDATE (Wednesday): This was reported in error on the MLB Draft Tracker yesterday. It was actually Ryan's brother Riley who was drafted in the 12th. Ryan was drafted in the 43rd on Day 3 of the draft. Sorry for the confusion...happily, not my fault!]
Connor Rowe, cf, 21st round (626th overall), drafted by Washington
Russell Moldenhauer, 1b, 24th round (716th overall), drafted by Washington; Russell was also drafted in the 2006 MLB Draft (3rd round, 102nd pick overall, Angels)
Kirby Bellow (Texas signee from Nederland HS), lhp, 29th round (870th overall), drafted by Cleveland

And, that's it for today. They got through rounds 2 through 30 today and will continue with Round 31 tomorrow. If I missed anyone, please drop me a line. Thanks.

Posted by Joanna at 11:48 AM | Permalink

Monday - June 7, 2010

Elsewhere, Day 4

Selected results from around the rest of the country that are of interest to me (if nobody else):

Coral Gables Regional: Today's deciding Game 7 was called due to rain. They've really had bad luck with respect to the weather in Coral Gables. The game will resume tomorrow at 1 o'clock (eastern). The Aggies are trailing the Hurricanes 2-3 in the bottom of the 2nd (Aggies are home team) with 2 out and a runner at 1b.
Fullerton Regional: As I type, CS-Fullerton just went ahead of Minnesota 6-4 in the top of the 5th. Minnesota is the home team.
With two Regionals still to be decided, 11 were won by the #1 seed and 3 by the #2 seed. In the two still being played, the #1 seeds are still in the picture...along with a #2 seed and a #4 seed.

UPDATE. The Titans went on to win 9-5. Titans travel to UCLA. Golden Gophers go home. Good show by the #4 seed.

UPDATE #2. The Aggies went on to lose 3-10 on Tuesday. There was, by the way, yet another rain delay during the game on Tuesday.

Posted by Joanna at 11:28 PM | Permalink

MLB Draft, Day 1

The MLB Draft got underway this evening. Oddly, they only got through the first round plus the first supplemental round. Of primary interest to Texas fans:

Chance Ruffin (Junior, rhp) was drafted in the supplemental round, 48th overall, by Detroit. No doubt at all that he will sign. I'll certainly miss seeing him on the mound next year...and truly wish him the best of luck.
Mike Foltynewicz, rhp from Minooka High School in Minooka, IL, was drafted 19th overall. He'd signed with the Horns to play next year. No way he will step foot on campus. Sorry, folks.

The only other note of interest to Big 12 teams is that Barret Loux (rhp, A&M) was drafted 6th overall. Good for him.

I'll try to follow things tomorrow and post updates as I can but may not be able to get anything up 'til the evening.

Oh, and I will be updating my 2010 MLB Draft Summary Page as often as I can. I've already linked to it on the sidebar of the main page in case you lose track of this post and want to followup somewhere down the line.

Posted by Joanna at 10:44 PM | Permalink

Super Regional game times announced

Game times for the Austin Super Regional have been announced:

Game 1: Friday, 2 p.m. (will air on ESPN2)
Game 2: Saturday, Noon (will air on ESPN)
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday, 3 p.m. (will air on ESPN)

Hook 'em, Horns! Beat the hell out of TCU!

PS: Like last year, they've scheduled the 1-4-5-8 side of the CWS bracket to play on Sunday through Monday and the 2-3-6-7 side to play on Friday through Sunday.

Posted by Joanna at 10:17 PM | Permalink

Sunday - June 6, 2010

Elsewhere, Day 3

Selected results from around the rest of the country that are of interest to me (if nobody else):

Fort Worth Regional: Baylor beat Arizona 4-2 in the elimination game but then lost to TCU 0-9, giving the Horned Frogs the tournament championship. TCU will now come to Austin to play in the Super Regionals.
Coral Gables Regional: Texas A&M beat Dartmouth 4-3 to earn their way into the championship game and then beat Miami 11-7 to force a deciding Game 7 in the Coral Gables Regional. They're scheduled to start the game at 7pm (eastern time).
Fayetteville Regional: Kansas State lost 6-9 to Washington State who went on to defeat Arkansas. They (WSU and Arkansas) will also be playing a Game 7 tomorrow.
Norman Regional: Oklahoma beat North Carolina again to move on to the Super Regional round. Their opponent has not yet been determined.
Fullerton Regional: CS-Fullerton beat New Mexico (11-3) and then Minnesota (7-0) to force a deciding 7th game in Fullerton.
Half of the Regional Tournaments are going on to 7th games to determine the winners. Interesting. The #1 seeds are still in the picture in all of those tournaments. There is one #3 seed still in the hunt (St. Johns in the Charlottesville Regional) and one #4 seed still alive (Minnesota in the Fullerton Regional). The tournaments that have been decided to this point were all won by the #1 seeds: Arizona State, Texas, Florida, UCLA, Florida State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and TCU. Four of those teams are National Seeds (the first four on the list).

Texas and Oklahoma move on. Texas A&M still has another game to win. And, K-State and Baylor are headed home for the year.

UPDATE (about 30 minutes later). I just noticed that I jumped the gun. The CSF/Minnesota game is still underway. But, CSF has a 7-0 lead in the 7th. So, they probably will win it but...it's not over yet.

UPDATE #2. Okay. It's official. CSF won 7-2.

Posted by Joanna at 11:58 PM | Permalink

Game 60: Texas at Rice (Austin Regional)

Quick iPhone post. More when I get home to my computer.

Rice played home team to the Horns in tonight's championship game. And Texas won 4-1! What a great game! Taylor Jungmann went into the 8th inning before giving way to Chance Ruffin. Jungmann threw only 85 pitches, struck out 7, walked 2, and gave up only 2 hits. Russell Moldenhauer crushed a homerun way over the rf fence to add a couple of insurance runs in the 8th. Jordan Etier made a fantastic defensive play at one point that clearly saved a hit. Full game report coming when I get home...

UPDATE. I'm home. And, still about as happy as can be. Tonight's game was just great. Quick note: Rice, as I mentioned, played home team but they chose to stay in the visitor dugout. They'd played the earlier game as the visitor so I suspect they just didn't want to deal with the hassle of moving their stuff over to the other dugout and/or locker room. So, even though the Horns were the visiting team for the game, they got to play out of their usual dugout. And, without further ado, on to the full game report.

First, the line...

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

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

1st inning, Texas

Boogie Anagnostou (rhp) on the mound for Rice.
Cohl Walla (lf) struck out looking (0-2 count, 4th pitch).
Brandon Loy (ss) grounded out 5-3. The shortstop charged and short-hopped a high bouncer to make a nice play. Grrr...
Tant Shepherd (1b) lined out to rf.

1st inning, Rice

Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
Chad Mozingo (rf) grounded out to 3b.
Rick Hague (ss) struck out swinging.
Jeremy Rathjen (cf) also struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hang onto the ball so had to tag Rathjen to complete the out.

2nd inning, Texas

Russell Moldenhauer (dh) grounded out to the pitcher. He took a full swing and just barely caught the ball which went dribbling toward the mound.
Kevin Keyes popped out to the catcher in foul territory. Nice job by the catcher to stay with the ball and make the play.
Cameron Rupp (c) hit a hard ground ball past the diving second baseman into rf for a single
Kevin Lusson (3b) drew a 5-pitch walk.
Connor Rowe (cf) watched a couple of walks which prompted Wayne Graham to take a stroll out to the mound. Rowe lined out on the next pitch to 2b.

2nd inning, Rice

Anthony Rendon (3b) lined a single into lf.
Diego Seastrunk (dh) ground out into a lovely 4-6-3 double play. Although, I rather doubt that he thought it was lovely. Too bad for him.
Michael Ratterree struck out swinging.

3rd inning, Texas

Jordan Etier (2b) grounded out to ss.
Walla struck out looking (2-2 count).
Loy grounded out to 3b.

3rd inning, Rice

Michael Fuda (lf) struck out swinging. Rupp couldn't hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
Craig Manuel (1b) lined a single into the cf/rf gap. 9-pitch at-bat.
Jimmy Comerota (1b) grounded out to 2b, moving Manuel to 2b. The ball was a slow high-bouncer and there was no chance for a play at 2b. Nice play by Etier to get one out.
Mozingo grounded out to 1b (unassisted).

4th inning, Texas

Shepherd hit a hard line drive into lf for a double.
Moldenhauer struck out swinging (full count). I don't believe he squared to bunt at all during his at-bat.
Keyes flew out to the warning track in cf. Shepherd was about 15 feet or so off 2b when the ball was caught but still managed to scramble back and tag up in time to move up to 3b. Whew.
Rupp lined into lf for a single, scoring Shepherd.
Lusson flew out to cf.
Texas up 1-0.

4th inning, Rice

Hague popped out to 1b in foul territory just in front of the 1b dugout.
Rathjen drew a 5-pitch walk.
Rendon popped out to ss in shallow cf. Nice play by Loy.
With Seastrunk at the plate, Rathjen was caught stealing (2-6). Very nice.
Texas up 1-0.

5th inning, Texas

Rowe flew out to lf.
Etier drew a full-count walk and then stole 2b with Walla at the plate (on the 3rd pitch to Walla).
Walla struck out swinging (1-2 count).
With Loy at the plate, Etier was picked off (1-4). Sigh...they caught him leaning and he was very, very out. Ah well...
Texas up 1-0.

5th inning, Rice

Seastrunk flew out to cf at the warning track.
Ratterree flew out to lf...again at the warning track. This one was closer to leaving the park.
Fuda grounded out to ss. Lusson dove for the ball but couldn't get to it. Loy made a great stop and throw behind Lusson to make the out. Wow.
Texas up 1-0.

6th inning, Texas

Loy drew a 5-pitch walk.
Which prompted another casual stroll out to the mound by Coach Graham.
Shepherd grounded out to ss. On the play, Loy took off and beat the throw from ss to 2b. The relay throw from 2b to 1b was a bit off-line and the first baseman had to tag Shepherd to make the out. I thought it was a hit-and-run but Coach Garrido said (I think in his post-game chat with Keith Moreland...not in the post-game press conference) that it was a stolen base attempt. At any rate, if Loy hadn't been on the run and only about 5 feet from 2b when Hague fielded the ball, it would've been a very routine double play. Coach Graham argued the call (that the throw at 2b was on time) to no avail. Loy was safe all the way.
Moldenhauer lined a double into the cf/rf gap, scoring Loy!
Rice sent Tyler Duffey (rhp) to the mound, replacing Anagnostou.
Keyes grounded out to ss, moving Moldenhauer to 3b. It looked like the shortstop actually had a play at 3b but he didn't go for it.
Rupp struck out looking (full count).
Texas up 2-0.

6th inning, Rice

Manuel grounded out to ss.
Comerota struck out looking.
Mozingo grounded out to 3b.
Texas up 2-0.

7th inning, Texas

Lusson popped out to 2b. The ball was in the air forever!
Rowe struck out swinging (0-2 count).
Etier struck out looking (2-2 count).
Texas up 2-0.

7th inning, Rice

Hague grounded out to ss.
Rathjen struck out looking.
Rendon flew out to cf.
Texas up 2-0.

8th inning, Texas

Walla (who'd struck out in all three of his previous at-bats) flew out to the wall in lf. Heartbreaker.
Loy flew out to rf.
Shepherd drew a 4-pitch walk.
Moldenhauer crushed the first pitch he saw waaaaaaaaayyyyy over the rf fence. It landed on the far side of Comal. Wow.
Keyes struck out looking.
Texas up 4-0.

8th inning, Rice

Seastrunk struck out looking...and was none too pleased with the home plate umpire.
Ratterree grounded out to 1b.
Fuda drew a full-count walk.
Texas sent Chance Ruffin (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann.
Manuel doubled to right-center, scoring Fuda.
Rice sent Daniel Gonzales-Luna in to pinch-run for Manuel.
Comerota grounded out to 2b. Etier made one of the best stops I've ever seen at 2b. He dove to his right behind 2b and somehow managed to stop the ball that was headed into cf. Then, he jumped up and hurled the ball to 1b. Shepherd did a great job of digging the throw out of the dirt (well, off the turf) to get the force. Fantastic bang-bang play. It definitely saved a run. Defensive play of the tournament...moving the catch by the ULL center fielder (Kyle Olasin) to rob Ratterree of a hit in the first game of the tournament into second place.
Texas up 4-1.

9th inning, Texas

Rice sent Geoff Perrott in at catcher (replacing Gonzales-Luna).
Rupp flew out to lf.
Rice sent Abe Gonzalez (lhp) to the mound, replacing Duffey.
Lusson grounded out to 3b.
Rowe struck out swinging (2-2 count).
Texas up 4-1.

9th inning, Rice

Texas sent Paul Montalbano into rf, replacing Keyes.
Mozingo struck out swinging.
Hague also struck out swinging. However, he had a full count and struck out on the 12th (!) pitch of the at-bat. Pretty sure that was the longest at-bat of the tournament. Whew.
Rathjen grounded out to the pitcher.
Fifth 1-2-3 inning for Texas on defense! Nice.
Texas wins 4-1!

What a great game. Really...just fantastic all around. I don't think I could've been any happier when the crowd started singing The Eyes of Texas. Wow.

And, with that, the Horns win the tournament and will now host the TCU Horned Frogs in the Super Regional round.

Posted by Joanna at 9:23 PM | Permalink

Austin Regional Tournament, Day 3

Another quick post from my iPhone. As before I'll update as news warrants and then come back and update this post more thoroughly when I get home at the end of the day.

In the first game of the day (fifth game of the tournament), Louisiana-Lafayette played home team to Rice. And, Rice played a great game, winning 9-1. Well, offensively, they played a great 4th, plating 7 runs in said 4th. They got a complete game performance out of Mike Ojala who threw 111 pitches by my count. Rice really needed that if they hope to win tonight and tomorrow.

And, Texas beat Rice 4-1 in the night cap to win the Austin Regional. It was really a great game. Performance of the game has to go to Taylor Jungmann who went 7.2 innings, threw 85 pitches (!), struck out 7, walked 2, and only gave up 1 run on 2 hits. Amazing. He had some great defense backing him up and enough offense to give him some breathing room this evening. Full game report coming soon.

The Horns will now host TCU (who beat Baylor this evening to win their Regional) in the Super Regional Tournament this coming weekend...specific dates and times yet to be determined. Hook 'em, Horns!

Oh. One more thing. The All-Tournament Team for the Austin Regional:

Pitchers: Zach Osborne (ULL) and Taylor Jungmann (Texas)
Catcher: Cameron Rupp (Texas)
First base: Justin Robichaux (ULL)
Second base: A.J. Albee (Rider)
Third base: Anthony Rendon (Rice)
Shortstop: Brandon Loy (Texas)
Outfielders: Michael Fuda (Rice), Kevin Keyes (Texas), and Chad Mozingo (Rice)
Designated hitter: Russell Moldenhauer (Texas)
Most Outstanding Player: Anthony Rendon (Rice)

Posted by Joanna at 3:55 PM | Permalink

Elsewhere, Day 2

Selected results from around the rest of the country that are of interest to me (if nobody else):

Fort Worth Regional: TCU beat Arizona 11-5 and Baylor beat Lamar 6-4. Baylor and Arizona now play an elimination game...winner plays TCU for Championship.
Coral Gables Regional: Texas A&M lost big time to Miami, 1-14. FIU was eliminated by Dartmouth but Wittels got his hit (3 hits in fact) to keep his hitting streak alive. He'll have to wait 'til next season, though, to see how far he can go with it. A&M meets Dartmouth in an elimination game...winner goes on to face Miami for the championship.
Fayetteville Regional: Kansas State beat Grambling 9-8 to stay alive.
Norman Regional: Oklahoma beat North Carolina and are in the driver's seat in their regional.
Fullerton Regional: Minnesota (#4 seed) beat New Mexico in 10 innings to take control of the Fullerton Regional. Fullerton eliminated Stanford in the other game so New Mexico and Fullerton now play to see who will face Minnesota again for a chance at the championship. Both teams have now lost to Minnesota and will have to beat Minnesota twice to win the regional. Wow.
Most of the #1 seeds moved on to the Championship games. The ones that were upset on Day 2: Auburn (lost to Clemson) and Coastal Carolina (lost to College of Charleston).

All of the Big 12 schools are still alive. Texas and Oklahoma are undefeated and in good shape in their tournaments. The others have a lot more work to do if they want to move on to the Super Regional round.

Posted by Joanna at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Saturday - June 5, 2010

Game 59: Texas at Louisiana-Lafayette (Austin Regional)

Quick iPhone post. More when I get home to my computer.

Louisiana-Lafayette played home team to Texas in the night cap and Texas won 4-2! Cole Green gets the win and Chance Ruffin earns his 14th save of the year (he closed out the game with 5 strike outs). Kevin Keyes and Kevin Lusson each hit their 14th homeruns of the year in the 4th. Nice. More later.

UPDATE. Sorry to say, I'm really tired this evening...long day at DFF. I hope y'all will indulge me and not get too upset about me putting off posting a full game report until tomorrow morning some time...after I've gotten some sleep. Hook 'em!

UPDATE #2 (Sunday). I'm back. Was just looking at my scoresheet. One of the things I really miss about having it all on paper when I'm at the game (reminder, I'm using an app called iScore on my iPhone to score the game these days) is that I don't see the whole scoresheet until I get home so I don't tend to notice things like 3 of the Texas runs were scored by the player in the #5 spot in the lineup. Kevin Keyes scored in the 2nd and 4th...and then Paul Montalbano (pinch-running for Keyes) scored in the 9th. Anyway...on to the business at hand...the full game report.

First, the line...

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	4	8	0
Louisiana-Lafayette	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	7	0

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

1st inning, Texas

T.J. Geith (lhp) on the mound for ULL.
Cohl Walla (lf) popped out to 2b.
Brandon Loy (ss) flew out to lf.
Tant Shepherd (1b) drew a 5-pitch walk.
Cameron Rupp (c) struck out swinging (2-2 count, 7 pitches).

1st inning, ULL

Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
Kyle Olasin (cf) grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
Matt Goulas (rf) grounded out to 2b.
Jordan Poirrire (2b) lined a double down the rf line.
Chad Keefer (c) struck out looking.

2nd inning, Texas

Kevin Keyes (rf) lined a single to left-center.
Russell Moldenhauer (dh) squared to bunt and watched a strike and a couple of balls go by before Keyes stole 2b. Moldenhauer went on to ground out to 2b, moving Keyes to 3b.
Kevin Lusson tried to get a squeeze bunt down but after watching a ball, bunting the ball just foul down the 1b line, and watching another ball, he lined a ball over the second baseman into cf, scoring Keyes.
Connor Rowe (cf) popped out to ss.
Jordan Etier (2b) tried to reach on a bunt single but hit the ball too hard right of the mound and grounded out, 1-3.
Texas up 1-0.

2nd inning, ULL

Alex Fuseller (lf) struck out looking.
Tyler Frederick (3b) struck out swinging.
Dillon Guillory (dh) lined a single into rf.
Justin Ribochaux (1b) lined another single into rf, moving Gullory to 3b. The ball was hit hard at Tant Shepherd. He got his glove up and almost made a great play. Alas, the ball went off the end of his glove into rf.
Greg Fontenot (ss) hit a soft liner into cf, scoring Guillory and moving Ribochaux to 2b.
Olasin grounded out to 1b (p covered bag). Shepherd made a really nice play to field the grounder as the runner from 1b tried his best to stay between the ball and Shepherd as long as possible. Shepherd still fielded the ball cleanly after it went through the runner's legs and made a nice toss to Green for the out.
Game tied 1-1.

3rd inning, Texas

Walla grounded out to ss. The throw from the shortstop appeared to pull the first baseman off and away from the bag toward the rf corner. Coach Garrido argued the call (it looked really wrong to me) to no avail.
Loy flew out to lf.
Shepherd flew out to rf.
Game tied 1-1.

3rd inning, ULL

Goulas grounded out to 2b.
Poirrire grounded out to 1b (p covered bag).
Keefer lined out to cf. Rowe made a fantastic running catch to his right to rob Keefer of extra bases. Beautiful!
Game tied 1-1.

4th inning, Texas

Rupp popped out to c, foul on the 1b side. Nice play by the catcher
Keyes hit a homerun to left-center...at the scoreboard
Moldenhauer lined out to ss.
Lusson (not content to let Keyes keep the team lead in homeruns for long at all) also hit a homerun...this one about 20 or 30 feet left of the one Keyes hit. Now they're still tied for the lead with 14.
Rowe struck out swinging (1-2 count).
Texas up 3-1.

4th inning, ULL

Fuseller grounded out to the pitcher. Nice play by Green on the high bouncer.
Frederick popped out to 1b.
Guillory struck out swinging.
Texas up 3-1.

5th inning, Texas

Etier flew out to rf.
Walla flew out to cf.
Loy flew out to cf.
Texas up 3-1.

5th inning, ULL

Ribochaux lined a single into rf.
Fontenot hit into a 6-4-3 double play!
Olasin struck out looking.
Texas up 3-1.

6th inning, Texas

Shepherd struck out looking (full count) and was not happy with the call.
Rupp lined a single into cf.
Keyes hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Nice backhand toss by the shortstop to the second baseman as he was ranging toward rf as he fielded the ball very close to 2b.
Texas up 3-1.

6th inning, ULL

Goulas popped out to 1b (foul). Shepherd made a nice catch as he had to reach over the tarp along the rf wall.
Poirrire grounded out to 1b (p covered bag).
Keefer lined out to rf. Very nice charge and catch by Keyes.
Texas up 3-1.

7th inning, Texas

Moldenhauer grounded out to ss.
Lusson flew out to lf.
Rowe lined out to lf. The left fielder made a nice running catch and crashed into the bullpen fence as he made the catch and held onto the ball.
Texas up 3-1.

7th inning, ULL

Fuseller grounded out to ss.
Frederick flew out to rf. Keyes had to go a long way to his left to make the catch. Nice.
Guillory grounded out to 2b.
Texas up 3-1.

8th inning, Texas

Etier lined a full-count pitch to the cf/rf gap for a double. Pretty!
Walla could not get the bunt down and ended up popping out to ss. By the way, the first pitch was bunted foul. Garrido argued that Walla was hit by the pitch but the home plate ump was having none of it. He said Walla swung through the pitch. It did look like he was trying to get away from it but my view was blocked by Walla's body.
Loy popped out to 1b.
Shepherd struck out swinging (1-2 count).
So sad to waste that beautiful double by Etier.
Texas up 3-1.

8th inning, ULL

Ribochaux reached on a single off the ss. Loy almost made a fantastic diving stop on the hard-hit ground ball. Alas, the ball went off his glove into shallow cf.
Fontenot reached on a 5-pitch walk, moving Ribochaux to 2b.
Texas sent Chance Ruffin (rhp) to the mound, replacing Green.
Olasin reached on a bunt down the 3b line. Ruffin jumped off the mound and fielded the ball. He looked to 3b but Lusson had also charged so he turned and fired a throw to 1b. Alas, too late by then. Bases loaded, nobody out. Yikes!
Goulas hit a sac fly to lf, scoring Ribochaux. Texas appealed that the runner left 3b early but lost the appeal.
Poirrire struck out looking after fouling off a few pitches.
Keefer also struck out looking. Keefer had been playing games throughout the at-bat...taking his time getting to the box between pitches and calling time...trying to get Ruffin off his timing. The home plate ump even granted time after the first pitch as Ruffin (who does not spend a lot of time between pitches even with runners on the basepads) was in his windup. Anyway, Keefer was really mad about the strikeout call and slammed his bat on home plate after the call. He and the ump exchanged words but he did not get tossed.
Texas up 3-2.

9th inning, Texas

ULL sent Dayton Marze (rhp) to the mound, replacing Geith.
Rupp flew out to rf.
Keyes singled up the middle. He took a monster swing on the first pitch and appeared to hurt his leg. He limped out of the box and back in and then did not look good running to 1b on the single. In the post-game press conference he said he'd actually gotten a cramp in his calf and it was fine now.
Texas sent Paul Montalbano in to pinch-run for Keyes.
Moldenhauer lined a double into the cf/rf gap, scoring Montalbano!
Texas sent Sam Stafford in to pinch-run for Moldenhauer.
Lusson flew out to cf. Stafford did not tag and advance. He was about half-way to 3b when the ball was caught.
Rowe flew out to rf.
Texas up 4-2.

9th inning, ULL

Montalbano stayed in the game for Texas in rf.
Fuseller, Fredereick, and Guillory all struck out swinging to end the game!
Texas wins 4-2.

Wow. Really nice game. Texas will now play the winner of the ULL-Rice game for the Championship. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 9:19 PM | Permalink

Austin Regional Tournament, Day 2

Just a quick post from my iPhone. Like yesterday I'll update as news warrants and then come back and update this post more thoroughly when I get home at the end of the day.

In the first game of the day (third game of the tournament), Rider played host to Rice. Rice went up early and stayed that way, winning the game 19-1. Rider did not score their lone run until the bottom of the 9th. It was a very long and rather tedious game, sadly. The highlight of the day were the three homeruns hit by Anthony Rendon which sets a new Disch-Falk Field record (most homeruns hit by one player in one game at DFF). Rider now heads back to New Jersey and Rice will face the loser of tonight's game tomorrow at 1 o'clock. By the way, Rice pulled starter Taylor Wall in the 4th. Wall was throwing a perfect game to that point and had tossed 43 pitches by my count. 'Guess they're hoping to use him again if they can win tomorrow.

UPDATE. And, Texas pulled off another nice win this evening, beating Louisiana-Lafayette 4-2, which moved ULL to the loser's bracket game tomorrow where they'll face Rice. The winner of that game will have to turn around and play Texas at 6:30. If Texas wins that game, they win the Tournament. If Texas loses, the same two teams will have to play each other again in a deciding game on Monday afternoon at 1 o'clock.

Posted by Joanna at 4:19 PM | Permalink

Friday - June 4, 2010

Elsewhere, Day 1

Selected results from around the rest of the country that are of interest to me (if nobody else):

Fort Worth Regional: Arizona beat Baylor 10-9. Baylor was down 10-4 going into the bottom of the 9th and scored 5 but just couldn't quite get there. TCU stomped all over Lamar, winning 16-3.
Coral Gables Regional: Texas A&M beat Florida International 17-3 and will play Miami in the winner's bracket tomorrow. FIU's Garrett Wittels kept his hitting streak alive with a double in his 3rd plate appearance. He's now hit safely in 55 games.
Fayetteville Regional: Kansas State lost to Washington State 6-8 and will face Grambling tomorrow in the loser's bracket.
Norman Regional: Oral Roberts gave host Oklahoma a bit of a scare but the Sooners managed to win 7-6 in 10 innings. OU will face North Carolina in the winner's bracket tomorrow.
As I type, 14 of the 16 #1 seeds won their games. UCLA is well on their way to a win over Kent State but, interestingly, Cal State Fullerton is trailing Minnesota 0-3 (the Bruins gave up a 3-spot in the 1st).
UPDATE: UCLA did win but CSF lost 1-3 so the #1 seeds went 15-1 on the day.
The #2/#3 match-ups came up even on the day with 8 #2 seeds winning their first game and 8 #3 seeds winning theirs. Hmmm...

The Big 12 did well today, going 4-1 . Gotta keep it up tomorrow and go 5-0. Seems like a good plan to me, at any rate.

UPDATE (Saturday). Sigh...my math skills apparently went AWOL last night. Big 12 went 3-2. Still rooting for 5-0 today!

Posted by Joanna at 11:55 PM | Permalink

Game 58: Rider at Texas (Austin Regional)

Quick iPhone post. More when I get home to my computer.

Texas played home team to the Rider Broncs this evening in the 2nd game of the 2010 Austin Regional and won 11-0. A complete game shutout for Brandon Workman backed by homers by Cameron Rupp, Jordan Etier (!), and Russell Moldenhauer. More when I get home. Hook 'em!

UPDATE. 'Got home. Here's the story. By the way, Workman threw 130 pitches by my count in his 6-hit shutout win. That's 6 pitches fewer than Osborne threw in the first game of the day. Wow...to both performances.

The line...

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rider	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Texas	0	0	4	2	0	0	5	0	-	11	10	0

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

1st inning, Rider

Brandon Workman (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
Brandon Cotten (cf) drew a 4-pitch walk.
Karl Johnston (rf) grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. By the way, the first two pitches to Johnston were balls (which made 6 balls in-a-row to start the game for Workman) which prompted a quick trip to the mound by Skip Johnson. In the post-game press conference when asked what Coach Johnson had to say in that visit, Workman said he told him to throw strikes. Everyone laughed and he joked that it was good advice. Heh.
A.J. Albee (2b) grounded out to ss. Loy made a very nice back-handed stop deep in the hole and then a great throw to 1b for the out. Yes, everyone, he's back!

1st inning, Texas

Mike Thomas (lhp) on the mound for Rider.
Cohl Walla (lf) grounded out to ss.
Brandon Loy (ss) singled up the middle. Purty.
Tant Shepherd (1b) grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Hmmm...4-6-3 double plays for both teams in the 1st.

2nd inning, Rider

Mason Heyne (1b) reached on a 5-pitch walk.
Nick Wojnowski (lf) struck out swinging.
Adam Wayman (3b) hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

2nd inning, Texas

Cameron Rupp (c) reached on a 4-pitch walk.
Kevin Keyes (rf) moved Rupp to 2b on a 1-4 sac bunt.
Russell MOldenhauer (dh) lined out to cf.
Kevin Lusson (3b) grounded out to 3b.

3rd inning, Rider

John Ralston (ss) lined a single into cf.
Eric Woodrow (c) advanced Ralston to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
Steve Galella (dh) grounded out to 3b.
Cotten grounded out to 1b (unassisted).

3rd inning, Texas

Connor Rowe (cf) struck out swinging (2-2 count) at a very high pitch. Not pretty.
Jordan Etier (2b) also struck out swinging (1-2 count).
Walla singled through the left side. Nice.
Loy tripled off the bullpen wall in lf, scoring Walla. I thought the ball was going to be a fairly lazy fly out to lf...about 20 feet shy of the wall or so. But, it just kept going and going and hit the wall. Wow. It ended up being about 4 feet shy of going over the fence.
Shepherd singled through the right side, scoring Loy.
Rupp homered off the HEB sign on the scoreboard in left-center. Very nice.
Keyes flew out to cf, toward left-center.
Texas up 4-0.

4th inning, Rider

Johnston grounded out to 2b.
Albee hit a line-drive double over Walla's head in lf. It looked like Walla misjudged the ball and had to scramble after it. Very unusual for him.
Heyne lined out to lf after fouling off a few pitches.
Wojnowski grounded out to 2b.
Texas up 4-0.

4th inning, Texas

Moldenhauer was hit by a pitch (1-1 count).
Lusson moved Moldenhauer to 2b o a 3-4 sac bunt.
Rowe flew out to lf.
Etier homered over the lf fence! So nice after how much he's struggled offensively of late. Yes!
Walla grounded out to 3b. Nice play by the Rider third baseman.
Texas up 6-0.

5th inning, Rider

1-2-3: Wayman grounded out to ss; Ralston struck out looking; and Woodrow struck out swinging.
Texas up 6-0.

5th inning, Texas

Loy lined a single into cf. 'Looked like he was having fun making up for the time he sat on the bench at the Big 12 Tournament.
Shepherd moved Loy to 2b on a 5-3 sac bunt.
Rupp grounded out to 3b.
Keyes grounded out to 3b.
Looky there. All three outs turned by the third baseman.
Texas up 6-0.

6th inning, Rider

Another 1-2-3 inning: Galella struck out swinging; Cotten grounded out to ss; and Johnston grounded out to the pitcher.
Texas up 6-0.

6th inning, Texas

Also 1-2-3: Moldenhauer struck out looking (and was a very unhappy camper about it); Lusson grounded out to 3b; and Rowe grounded out to ss.
Texas up 6-0.

7th inning, Rider

Albee reached on a 4-pitch walk.
Heyne grounded out to the catcher, moving Albee to 2b. It was a weird play. Heyne swung away but the ball only got about 10 or 15 feet from the plate. Rupp jumped up and fielded then threw to 1b. The throw was a bit low but Shepherd made a nice play to catch the ball and record the out.
Wojnowski flew out to cf. Albee tagged up and advanced to 3b.
Wayman grounded out to the pitcher.
Texas up 6-0.

7th inning, Texas

Another big inning for the Horns.
Etier grounded out to ss.
Walla singled through the right side.
Walla stole 2b (delayed steal) with Loy at the plate. After the steal (on the second pitch...both balls...to Loy), a Rider coach made a visit to the mound.
Loy went on to draw a 5-pitch walk.
Walla and Loy completed a double steal on the first pitch to Shepherd. Loy caught his foot it the turf as he was about to slide feet-first into 2b and ended up stumbling and landing on 2b as the throw went into 2b a bit high and off-line. Loy got up limping and in pain. Ouch. In the post-game news conference, he said he tweaked his ankle but he felt just fine by the time they were sitting there in the news conference.
Shepherd struck out swinging (2-2 count).
Rupp drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
Rider sent Nate Eppley (rhp) to the mound, replacing Thomas.
Keyes singled through the left side, scoring Walla and Loy and moving Rupp to 2b.
Moldenhauer hit a monster homerun way over the buses in rf. Very very nice.
Lusson flew out to lf.
Texas up 11-0. This might be a good time to note that all of the Texas runs were scored with 2 outs. Sweet.

8th inning, Rider

Texas sent Paul Montalbano into lf, replacing Keyes.
Workman struck out the side but also made things a little interesting.
Ralston struck out looking.
Ryan Murphy (pinch-hitting for Woodrow) struck out swinging.
Ian Lindsay (pinch-hitting for Galella) singled up the middle.
Cotten lined a single up the middle off Workman's glove, moving Lindsay to 2b.
Johnston struck out looking.

Texas up 11-0.

8th inning, Texas

Rider sent Mike O'Reilly in at c (replacing Murphy in the lineup) and sent Ryan Miller (rhp) to the mound, replacing Eppley.
Rowe flew out to rf.
Etier flew out to lf at the wall.
Walla popped out to ss behind 2b.
So sad. 1-2-3.
Texas up 11-0, though, so I wasn't crying any tears over that 1-2-3 inning. The only one of the day for the Horns, by the way.

9th inning, Rider

Albee grounded out to 3b.
Heyne lined a single to left-center. Rowe made a really nice play to cut the ball off and limit Heyne to a single.
Wojnowski lined a single into cf, moving Heyne to 3b.
Wayman reached on a fielder's choice to 2b. On the play, Wojnowski ran into Etier trying to field the ball so was called out on runner's interference. Which meant that Heyne was sent back to 3b. Runners cannot advance after runner's interference. So, runners still at the corners...but 2 outs now.
Ralston grounded out to 3b to end the game.
Texas wins 11-0!

One quick note. When it looked like Workman might be getting into a bit of trouble in the 8th, the Horns got Josh Urban warmed up in the bullpen.

All-in-all, a great game for the Horns. They really did look like the Horns we've grown accustomed to...not that band of players that went to the Big 12 Tournament. I was very happy to see the "old" Horns back in action.

Teams are limited to 25 players on their rosters for post-season play. Best I can remember as they introduced the team this evening, the 25-man roster for the Horns consists of the following players (in alphabetical order):

Riley Boening (lhp)
Kendal Carrillo (rhp)
Jordan Etier (if)
Cole Green (rhp)
Taylor Jungmann (rhp)
Kevin Keyes (rf)
Brandon Loy (ss)
Kevin Lusson (3b)
Kyle Lusson (of)
Tim Maitland (of)
Hoby Milner (lhp)
Russell MOldenhauer (dh)
Paul Montalbano (of)
Keifer Nuncio (rhp)
Connor Rowe (cf)
Chance Ruffin (rhp)
Cameron Rupp (c)
Tant Shepherd (1b)
Sam Stafford (lhp)
Stayton Thomas (rhp)
Josh Urban (rhp)
Cohl Walla (of)
Jonathan Walsh (c)
Jordan Weymouth (if)
Brandon Workman (rhp)

I was happy to see Riley Boening (who's only contribution on the field this year was a pinch-running appearance in the Big 12 Tournament) get a roster spot, which I'm guessing was a reward for all the work he's done trying to come back from his various injuries over the last few years. It seems that he must be a crucial cog in the "team chemistry" wheel...or something along those lines. But, that meant Austin Dicharry and Andrew McKirahan (who've pitched 27.1 and 22.2 innings, respectively, this season) were left off. The only other player with any playing time this year not on the tournament roster is Nick DeSantiago (who appeared in only one game this year). I wonder why Boening got the roster spot instead of Dicharry or McKirahan. Dicharry hasn't actually appeared in a game in quite some time and I've been wondering about him for awhile now. Things that make me go hmmmm...
UPDATE (Sunday). I saw Andrew McKirahan suited up in Saturday's game. Things that really make me go hmmmm...
UPDATE (Sunday evening). They re-introduced the teams before this evening's championship game and listed 27 players for Texas, including the 25 above along with Andrew McKirahan and Hunter Wilcox. FYI...

Anyway. With the win, the Horns are in the winner's bracket and face Louisiana-Lafayette tomorrow at 6:30. The winner of that game clearly has a huge advantage going into Sunday's action.

Hook 'em!

UPDATE #2: I noted an entertaining exchange from the post-game press conference on my Twitter feed but forgot to note it here when I first posted the full game report. When Coach Garrido was asked to explain Texas' bounce back from their showing at the Big 12 Tournament, he jokingly answered, "Good coaching." He then went on to talk about the team getting back to their fundamentals, etc. It was a funny moment.

Posted by Joanna at 8:55 PM | Permalink

Austin Regional Tournament, Day 1

Just a quick post from my iPhone. I'll update as news warrants and then come back and update this post more thoroughly when I get home tonight.

In the first game of the day, Rice played host to Louisiana-Lafayette. ULL won 1-0 on a great complete game pitching performance by Zach Osborne. By my count he threw 136 pitches and gave up just 5 hits. More later.

UPDATE. It's now later (10:30 pm). The first game of the day really was quite good. There was a very large and very vocal bunch of U. Louisiana-Lafayette fans at the game. They had something to say after nearly every pitch. I can't remember the last time I was around such a vocal group of baseball fans. They wore lots of red, made a lot of noise, and were impossible to ignore. And, their team put on a great show. Their center fielder (Kyle Olasin) made a fantastic running catch at the wall in the bottom of the third to rob Michael Ratterree of extra bases. The story of the day, though, was Osborne's pitching performance. The Ragin' Cajuns shut out the Owls and, in fact, limited them to just 2 hits through the first 6.2 innings of the game.

In the 2nd game of the day, the Longhorns shut out Rider 11-0...behind yet another stellar complete-game pitching performance. Brandon Workman earned his 12th victory of the year while throwing, by my count, 130 pitches. The Horns were back to their old selves today. Big 12 Tournament? What Big 12 Tournament? Today's game was a thing of beauty for Texas baseball fans. More info in today's full game report...to be posted shortly.

So, tomorrow. Rice and Rider meet at 1 o'clock in the elimination game. Texas and ULL meet at 6:30 in the winner's bracket. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 3:36 PM | Permalink

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