« Keith Moreland moving on | Main | Game 2: Maryland at Texas »

Friday - February 18, 2011

Game 1: Maryland at Texas

It was a gorgeous day for baseball at Disch-Falk Field this afternoon. Perfect opening day weather. Mostly sunny with a few scattered clouds. High of 80. Here's the first pitch...

See? Gorgeous. That first pitch was a strike, by the way. Set the tone of the day!

And, the Horns won...

Starting lineups...

• Maryland: (1) Alfredo Rodriguez, ss; (2) Korey Wacker, cf; (3) Tomo Delp, 3b; (4) Tim Kiene, dh; (5) Ryan Holland, 2b; (6) Gary Schneider, rf; (7) Curtis Lazar, 1b; (8) Charlie White, lf; (9) Jack Cleary, c. Sander Beck (rhp) on the mound.
• Texas: (1) Tim Maitland, lf; (2) Brandon Loy, ss; (3) Mark Payton, rf; (4) Jonathan Walsh, dh; (5) Cohl Walla, cf; (6) Erich Weiss, 3b; (7) Tant Shepherd, 1b; (8) Jacob Felts, c; (9) Jordan Etier, 2b. Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound.

Outstanding performances of the day went to Taylor Jungmann and Erich Weiss. Jungmann threw a complete-game shutout. By my count, he faced 32 batters. He threw 95 pitches (70 for strikes), struck out 9 batters, walked 1, and gave up 5 hits. It was a thing of beauty. On opening day. Usually, I start getting nervous on opening day if the starter is kept in for much past 5 innings. But, the weather was perfect, the pace was quick (the game went just over 2 hours and 20 minutes), and Jungmann looked completely at ease the whole time. What a great start to his Junior season. Weiss (freshman from Brenham) went 3-for-3 with a triple, 2 singles, a walk, a run scored, and 3 runs batted in. And, he made a couple of stellar plays at 3b. What a great debut for him. I truly look forward to seeing more.

Here's Jungmann, about to throw a warm-up pitch:

All of my photos were pretty washed out today. Not sure why. But, it's too much work to get them into decent shape so that's it for photos today.

Another couple of random observations. The Horns made a couple of base-running mistakes. I'm hoping that's just early-season jitters that will quickly work themselves out of the players' systems. Defensively, the Horns were being very aggressive. Which I liked a lot. The aggressiveness did lead to a couple of errant throws but they managed to keep them from resulting in any runs for Maryland so...no harm, no foul. That works for me at any rate. Heh. But, really...it was nice to see the whole team really hustling on defense.

Anyway...here's how things played out...

• 1st inning, Maryland
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound.
• Alfredo Rodriguez (ss) reached on a bloop single over the ss.
• Korey Wacker (cf) struck out swinging. Rodriguez broke for 2b on the strikeout pitch. The catcher could not hang onto the ball and had to throw down to 1b to complete the out (2-3). And, Rodriguez stole 2b.
• Tomo Delp (3b) flew out to rf. Rodriguez tagged and moved up to 3b.
• Tim Kiene (dh) lined out (hard) to the pitcher. One of those "yikes!" plays.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Sander Beck (rhp) on the mound.
• Tim Maitland (lf) grounded out to 3b. The throw almost pulled the first baseman off the bag but the umps ruled he maintained contact.
• Brandon Loy (ss) also grounded out to 3b. More routine play this time.
• Mark Payton (rf) flew out to lf. Nice running catch by White in lf.
• 2nd inning, Maryland
• Ryan Holland (2b) reached on a singled that went off the first baseman's glove and careened toward 2b.
• With Schneider at the plate, Holland advanced to 2b on an error by the catcher (bad pick-off throw that went into shallow rf).
• Gary Schneider (rf) flew out to deep in the lf/cf gap. Holland tagged and moved up to 3b.
• Curtis Lazar reached on a 6-2 fielder's choice. Loy fielded the sharply-hit ground ball and threw home without hesitation to beat Holland running from 3b. Holland tried to jump over Felts and was tagged in the air.
• Charlie White (lf) lined a singled into rf, moving Lazar to 2b.
• Jack Cleary struck out swinging (3 pitches).
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Jonathan Walsh (dh) doubled to the warning track in the cf/rf gap.
• Cohl Walla struck out swinging. Nice long at-bat. He watched two strikes and a ball before fouling off 5 and then striking out.
• Erich Weiss (3b) tripled to the cf/rf gap, scoring Walsh. Nice! RBI triple in his first Texas at-bat.
• Tant Shepherd (1b) drew a full-count walk. And, then...sadly...was picked off (1-3-4) with Etier at the plate.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Maryland
• Rodriguez grounded out to 2b.
• Wacker grounded out to ss. Nice hustle by Loy.
• Delp lined into rf for a single.
• Kiene grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Jordan Etier (2b) flew out to cf.
• Maitland popped out to 2b behind the 2b bag.
• Loy lined out to the pitcher. Pay back for the 3rd out in the 1st inning, I suppose.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 4th inning, Maryland
• Holland grounded out to 2b. Etier made a really nice charge on a slow bouncer to nab Holland at 1b.
• Schneider struck out looking (3 pitches).
• Lazar drew the only walk of the day by Jungmann (full count, 7 pitches).
• White grounded out to 3b.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Payton flew out to lf.
• Walsh drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Walla popped out to 2b.
• Weiss lined a single into cf, moving Walsh to 2b. Another nice hit.
• With Shepherd at the plate, the pitcher picked Walsh off at 2b (1-4). Ouch.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 5th inning, Maryland
• Cleary grounded out to 3b.
• Rodriguez grounded out to 2b. A really nice play by Etier. He was charging hard, fielded just in front of 2b and then had to twist and throw across his body to 1b. Really pretty.
• Wacker flew out to lf.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Shepherd drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Felts moved Shepherd to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Etier struck out looking.
• Sadly, Maitland also struck out looking.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 6th inning, Maryland
• Delp grounded out to ss.
• Kiene struck out swinging. Felts dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Holland struck out swinging.
• Texas up 1-0.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Things got ugly rather quickly in the 6th for Maryland.
• Payton drew a full-count 8-pitch walk.
• Walsh doubled off the rf bullpen, moving Payton to 3b.
• Maryland sent Michael Boyden (rhp) to the mound, replacing Beck.
• Walla reached on a beautiful squeeze bunt down the 1b line. Payton scored and Walsh moved up to 3b. The new pitcher charged the ball but couldn't quite get a handle on it.
• With runners at the corners, Weiss got his 3rd hit of the day on a hard grounder hit through the right side. Walsh scored and Walla moved up to 3b. On the throw to 3b, Weiss moved up to 2b. Luckily for him, the third baseman did not field the throw from rf cleanly or he likely would've been caught in no-man's land and possibly been caught in a run-down.
• Shepherd struck out swinging. Or so ruled the home plate ump.
• Felts singled up the middle, scoring Walla and Weiss.
• Felts moved up to 2b on a passed ball with Etier at the plate.
• Etier grounded out to the pitcher. Close play at 1b.
• Texas up 5-0.
• 7th inning, Maryland
• Schneider grounded out to ss. Yet another nice play by Loy who makes tough plays look so very effortless and routine.
• Lazar struck out looking.
• White struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Texas up 5-0.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Maryland sent Creighton Hoke (rhp) to the mound, replacing Boyden.
• Maitland was hit by the second pitch...down near his right ankle.
• Loy reached on a bunt single down the 3b line, moving Maitland to 2b.
• Payton also reached on a bunt single down the 3b line to load the bases!
• Walsh struck out swinging.
• Walla also struck out swinging.
• Weiss then drew a full-count 7-pitch walk to score Maitland.
• Shepherd drew a full-count 6-pitch walk to score Loy.
• The next three pitches were 3 more balls and Maryland elected to send Charlie Haslup (rhp) to the mound, replacing Hoke.
• Felts (after seeing a strike from Haslup) drew the 3rd RBI walk in-a-row.
• Etier then flew out down the lf line.
• Texas up 8-0.
• 8th inning, Maryland
• Cleary grounded out to ss.
• Rodriguez struck out looking.
• Wacker also struck out looking.
• Texas up 8-0.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Maitland grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Loy popped out to 2b...behind 1b down the line. Nice play by Holland.
• Payton grounded out to 1b (p covered bag).
• Texas up 8-0.
• 9th inning, Maryland
• Delp singled into lf, past a diving ss. First hit of the game allowed by the Horns since the 3rd inning.
• Then, I called for a double play and got it! Kiene grounded into a nice 4-6-3 double play. Yes! The Etier/Loy combination still working just fine.
• Holland lined out to lf to end the game.
• Texas wins 8-0!

What a great opening day. 'Hope the rest of the weekend goes as smoothly. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:23 PM