« Game 2: Maryland at Texas | Main | A few photos »

Saturday - February 19, 2011

Game 3: Maryland at Texas

Things didn't look so good as we went into the second game of the day but they got better:

'Course...Maryland fans might not agree with my assessment of things improving. Well...frankly...they didn't really get all that much better. Texas did win but tempers flared. And, folks went away unhappy. It will be interesting to see how things play out tomorrow.

Starting lineups...

• Maryland: (1) Alfredo Rodriguez, ss; (2) Korey Wacker, cf; (3) Tomo Delp, 1b; (4) Brandon Padula, dh; (5) Michael Montville, lf; (6) Jake Stinnett, 3b; (7) Kyle Convissar, 2b; (8) Matt Marquis, rf; (9) Jack Cleary, c. Eric Potter (lhp) on the mound.
• Texas: (1) Mark Payton, rf; (2) Brandon Loy, ss; (3) Jonathan Walsh, lf; (4) Erich Weiss, dh; (5) Kevin Lusson, 3b; (6) Cohl Walla, cf; (7) Jacob Felts, c; (8) Tant Shepherd, 1b; (9) Christian Summers, 2b. Sam Stafford (lhp) on the mound.

More mixing up of things by Coach Garrido. I was a little surprised to see Christian Summers start the second game against the lefty instead of the early game against a righty. After Kevin Lusson did a very nice job behind the plate in the first game of the day (gunned down a runner trying to steal 2b in the 3rd), I was surprised to see him at 3b. I rather expected Weiss to be there (as had already become "the usual" in the first two games of the season) with Lusson at dh if the coaches wanted him in the lineup. Weiss, by the way, finally failed to reach base for the first time in his Texas career when he grounded out to ss as the lead-off batter for Texas in the 2nd. He went on to hit 2 singles (1 rbi), draw a walk, and score a run. I can't see how he won't earn Big 12 Freshman of the week honors (assuming the league hands out such things...and maybe they don't). Obviously, there's no way he can keep this up. In his 11 plate appearances on the season, he's managed 7 hits, 3 walks, has batted in 4 runs, and scored 3 runs. That's just crazy. So, we know it won't last. But, it sure is fun to watch while it does.

Mark Payton and Jacob Felts are also acquitting themselves quite nicely as starting Freshmen this season. Payton went 0-fer in today's first game but came back with a couple of doubles in the second game. Sadly he was tagged out twice at home plate after each of those...the first time on a failed squeeze and the second when he probably should've been held up on a ball that did not get deep enough into cf as he ran in from 2b. Felts has reached base twice in each of his first three games and has knocked in 3 runs.

Ah well...back to the game at hand...

On the pitching side of things, Sam Stafford got the start. He went 5.2 innings but did not figure in the decision. Keifer Nuncio pitched 1.1 innings of relief and was replaced by Andrew McKirahan who threw 1.2 for the win. Stayton Thomas went in for the final out of the game and got his first save of the season. Which made me happy. It really looks like he's finally come into his own on the 40 Acres. Nice to see it happen.

The Horns trailed for most of the game and did not manage to tie things up and then take the lead until the 8th inning...when Maryland seemed to fall apart on the mound. Trailing 2-4 going into the 8th, Weiss led things off with a full-count walk. Lusson singled, moving Weiss to 3b. Cohl Walla was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Felts then popped out to the catcher, who made a really great play on a high-flying pop-up behind the plate. Tant Shepherd was then hit by a full-count pitch to push a run across. Paul Montalbano was announced as a pinch hitter and Maryland brought Korey Wacker in from cf to pitch. Stunningly, he hit Montalbano to drive in the tying run. Walla scored on a wild pitch and then Payton hit a ground-rule double down the lf line to score Shepherd and Montalbano. (Payton's ground-rule double bounced over the retaining wall onto the berm down the line. I still don't think there's been a ground-rule double bounce over the outfield fence since the new field turf was installed at Disch-Falk.) That 8th inning was ugly for Maryland. No two ways about it.

By the way, the 8th inning "collapse" followed a rather big mess in the bottom of the 7th. Jordan Etier (who'd gone in at 2b in the top of the inning) was at the plate with a 2-2 count. The next pitch was inside and he was awarded 1b. I knew the count and thought the ump had awarded him the base because he'd been grazed by the ball. But, nope. Apparently, the ump had lost track of the count and awarded him a base on balls. When the Maryland coach appealed, he got no satisfaction. None of the other officials were sure of the count and the coach had to let it go. He wasn't happy but what can you do? There is no instant replay in college baseball. Payton then hit a double down the rf line. As he was running to 2b, he collided with the second baseman who then missed the cut-off throw from rf. Etier scored on the bad throw and Payton was awarded 3b on the fielder's interference. The Maryland coach blew his top. First, Etier shouldn't have been on base in his opinion, and second, no interference. I saw the collision at 2b, though. It was interference. The coach argued the call and argued it. He would not give it up and was eventually ejected. So, the Maryland team was not happy. That very well may have contributed to the collapse in the 8th.

At the end of the game, when Coach Garrido and the other coaches walked over to the Maryland coaches for the customary hand-shake, one of the Maryland assistant coaches said something (we don't know what...nobody's saying anything specific) but it did not go down well with the Texas volunteer assistants and some very heated words were exchanged and a bit of shoving ensued. Both teams ran to the sides of their coaches but the teams and coaches were quickly separated. Coach Garrido and Coach Bakich (I'm guessing that's who Coach Garrido was talking to) seemed to settle things between themselves quickly while the rest of the squads went their separate ways. Afterwards, a bunch of idiot Texas fans started trying to get in on the action near the Maryland dugout. Luckily, the netting kept them on "our" side of the fence and I didn't see any signs of anything further after the game.

Like I said, it'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. I suspect Texas will take care of business and win the series. No messing around tomorrow. I don't think Maryland will have much to say about it on the field when it comes down to it...no matter how much they might want to beat Texas. We'll all see soon enough.

Posted by Joanna at 11:47 PM