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Sunday - June 6, 2010

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