Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page: Game 58: Rider at Texas (Austin Regional)

« Austin Regional Tournament, Day 1 | Main | Elsewhere, Day 1 »

Friday - June 4, 2010

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