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Monday - February 21, 2011
Game 5: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Texas
Alas, things did not go well for the Horns this afternoon. They ended up losing to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 7-8. The line:
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islanders | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 1 |
| Longhorns | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
The Horns could not get much of anything going offensively in the early part of the game...despite 6 free passes (5 walks and 1 hit batter) given up by the Islanders' starter (Justin Meza) in the first 5 innings. Along with all those free passes, Meza also struck out 7. It was kind of weird. We could feel something start to happen...the door would open just a bit and then...nope. Never mind. Take a seat. The Horns did manage to turn a lead-off walk and a triple in the 3rd into 2 runs but didn't really get to Meza until the 6th when 3 walks and a double turned into 3 runs scored. But, by that time, the Horns had already given up 7 runs to the Islanders. It was pitch-by-committee time at Disch-Falk today. They announced before the game that we'd likely see 7 or 8 pitchers and we did.
I don't think that strategy ever really works well for the Horns. I understand that the coaches want to see what the pitchers will do in "real world" situations but to me it feels like they don't really get a chance to get into a rhythm. The only Texas pitchers who failed to give up a run today were Andrew McKirahan and Stayton Thomas. McKirahan, though, left the game with runners at the corners and only one out. Thomas came on in that tough situation and got the first batter he faced to fly out to shallow cf and the 2nd grounded into a fielder's choice. He then threw a 1-2-3 9th. Very nice nice day for Thomas once again. But, not so great for the rest of the pitching staff.
The Horns made a couple of nice defensive plays in the field. Cohl Walla made a really nice running catch on a deep fly ball in the first. Paul Montalbano also made a nice catch as he was running straight back on a line drive to end the Islanders' half of the 3rd. In the 7th, Erich Weiss almost made a bad error as he bobbled a potential double play ball. He stayed with it, though, and got one out at 1b. Later in the inning, Brandon Loy snagged a ground ball deep in the hole at ss for the third out of the inning.
Erich Weiss update. He went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks, a sac bunt, a ground out to 2b, and his first strikeout of the year. Yep, he's human. I suspected as much. He was also caught stealing 2b...by quite a bit, alas, in the third.
Offensive highlights:
- Brandon Loy went 2-for-3 with a triple (rbi), a single, a sac bunt, a walk, and 2 runs scored.
- Ummm... Huh. That's about it. Sadly.
Jordan Etier got the first hit of the year for a Texas second baseman in the 8th inning when he reached on a 2-out double smoked down the lf line. It was a gorgeous hit. Montalbano and Loy followed that with back-to-balk walks and it looked like Texas just might tie things up and maybe even go ahead. But, Mark Payton (who'd singled and scored in the 7th) couldn't quite connect and flew out to left field. Oh, the agony.
After Thomas made quick work of the Islanders in the 9th, Walla reached second base on a 2-out 2-base throwing error but was stranded there when Tant Shepherd also flew out to left to end the game.
The Horns now travel to Hawaii for a 3-game series. I've got some family stuff going on this weekend and will be out of town most of the weekend. I will likely not get to listen to the games so may not have much to post here. I'll try to at least post scores and link to whatever the TexasSports.com folks post. But, things will likely be delayed.
Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 11:57 PM