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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