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Thursday - March 31, 2011

What do the numbers say?

Ready for an interesting read? Good. Here you go: Obi Wan says. Matt Cotcher looks at the numbers a little more closely and finds some interesting trends.

Posted by Joanna at 10:52 AM | Permalink

Wednesday - March 30, 2011

Game 25: Oral Roberts at Texas

The Horns managed to score 2 runs on 3 hits against Oral Roberts to win 2-1 last night. I sure wish they'd start hitting the ball more. I guess everyone's got that same wish, eh?

One note of concern before I get down to details: Cohl Walla (cf) fouled a ball off his foot in the 3rd. He immediately collapsed to the ground. He tried to walk it off but was not able to stay in the game and ended up limping off the field. Tim Maitland went in for him at the plate and then stayed in the game at cf. After the game, Coach Garrido said the injury, thankfully, looked like it was a bad bruise and that Walla probably won't miss much playing time.

The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oral Roberts	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	0
Texas	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	2	3	0

Okay...so how did Texas score their two runs in the 2nd? Like so...

• Lucas Kephart (dh) reached on a full-count 1-out walk.
• Tant Shepherd (1b) lined a double over the left-fielder to the warning track, moving Kephart to 3b.
• Kevin Lusson (c) doubled down the rf line, scoring Kephart and Shepherd!
• Lusson was stranded at 2b when Jonathan Walsh (lf) struck out swinging and Jordan Etier (2b) grounded out to ss.

The Horns did not get many more opportunities. Brandon Loy (ss) reached on a 1-out walk in the 3rd, moved to 2b on a balk, and to 3b on a ground out. Alas, he was stranded there when Erich Weiss lined out to 3b. Shepherd singled (his 2nd hit of the game, the team's final hit) in the 7th but was erased on the basepads when Lusson grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. The Horns actually had another chance to score in the 8th when Walla and Loy reached on consecutive 2-out walks. But, Mark Payton (rf) went down swinging to end the inning.

The Horns used 5 pitchers:

• Sam Stafford started and went 4+ innings. He started with a 1-2-3 first inning and managed to avoid allowing any runs during the next three innings but did keep getting into scrapes before working his way out of jams. He was replaced after giving up a lead-off walk in the 5th. That runner did go on to score before the inning was over. His final numbers: 4 innings (plus 1 batter in the 5th), 19 batters faced, 1 run (earned), 3 hits (all singles), 4 strikeouts, 4 walks, 90 pitches thrown (56 for strikes). As usual these numbers are all by my count and are unofficial.
• Andrew McKirahan took over in the 5th and got the win, his 3rd of the year. He gave up a single, a sac bunt, a ground out (that scored the sole run for ORU), and a fly out. He struck out the first batter of the 6th before being relieved. His final numbers: 1.1 innings, 5 batters faced, 0 runs, 1 hit (single), 1 strikeout, 17 pitches thrown (12 for strikes).
• Kendal Carrillo went in next. He faced three batters. Two grounded out to ss and the third wend down on a soft liner to ss. His final numbers: 1 inning, 3 batters faced, 0 runs, 0 hits, 8 pitches thrown (4 for strikes).
• Playing the righty-lefty game, Texas then sent Kirby Bellow to the mound. The first batter he faced grounded out to 3b on a bunt attempt (really nice play by Weiss at 3b to charge, scoop the ball, and throw the batter out at 1b). Back-to-back singles (a line drive into rf and a bloop single over 3b into lf) prompted another pitching change. Bellow's final numbers: 0.1 innings, 3 batters faced, 0 runs, 2 hits (singles), 9 pitches thrown (5 for strikes).
• With 2 out and the tying run at 3b, Texas sent Corey Knebel to the mound. He got the first batter he faced to pop out to shallow lf to end the threat. His final numbers: 2.1 innings, 9 batters faced, 0 runs, 1 hit (single), 3 strikeouts, 1 walk, 43 pitches thrown (27 for strikes). He earned his 6th save of the season.

Missouri's coming to town this weekend. Their home game last night was canceled due to bad weather. They're scheduled to play at Texas State tonight before coming to Austin on Friday. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 7:42 AM | Permalink

Sunday - March 27, 2011

Game 24: Texas at Oklahoma State

I watched the OSU video stream via CBS Sports while listening to Craig Way and some other guy (sorry, I cannot remember his name) via KVET today. This game report is based on that broadcast. The line (from GameTracker):

It was even colder in Stillwater for today's game than it was yesterday...37 degrees F at the start of the game. Brrr...

Things did not go well for the Horns. They started out just fine. Cole Green started and had a good start. He struck out 5 of the first 9 batters he faced through the first 2 innings and then went 3-up/3-down in the 3rd and 4th (with 2 more strike outs). With a 3-0 lead going into the 5th, he gave up a lead-off single follwed by a homerun over the lf fence. He got into a bit more trouble later in the inning but worked his way out of the jam. After giving up another lead-off single in the 6th, though, Texas decided to switch gears and sent Kendal Carrillo to the mound. After striking out the first batter he faced, Carrillo gave up back-to-back singles (one of them driving in the tying run) and a ground out before intentionally walking a batter to load the bases. Texas sent Kirby Bellow in and a fly out to lf (first pitch from Bellow) shut down OSU's rally. And, then? Well...things just fell apart in the 7th. Texas gave up 7 runs as the Cowboys sent 13 batters to the plate. The Horns ended up losing 3-10. See the game report below for details...

Starting line-ups:

Texas		Oklahoma State
Mark Payton (rf) Brandon Loy (ss) Erich Weiss (3b) Lucas Kephart (dh) Tant Shepherd (1b) Cohl Walla (cf) Jacob Felts (c) Jordan Etier (2b) Tim Maitland (lf)		Gabe Weidenaar (cf) Dane Phillips (c) Zach Johnson (1b) Jared Womack (lf) Davis Duren (2b) Graham Saiko (dh) Devin Shines (lf) Mark Ginther (3b) Hunter Bailey (ss)

Play by play:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Andrew Heaney (lhp) on the mound for OSU.
• Payton doubled into the lf corner!
• Loy singled off the third baseman, moving Payton to 3b.
• Weiss struck out swinging.
• Kephart reached on a 1-6 fielder's choice. The double-play relay throw from 2b to 1b was low and got away from the first baseman. Kephart reached 2b on the error. Payton scored.
• Shepherd popped out to ss (foul).
• 14 pitches (10 for strikes).
• 1st inning, Oklahoma State
• Cole Green (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Weidenaar struck out swinging.
• Phillips struck out looking (2-2 count, 8 pitches).
• Johnson singled to right center.
• Womack flew out to lf.
• 17 pitches (12 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Walla popped out to ss in shallow lf.
• Felts flew out to shallow cf.
• Etier singled through the left side.
• Maitland flew out to lf.
• 9 pitches (6 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 2nd inning, Oklahoma State
• Duren struck out looking!
• Saiko also struck out looking!
• Shines was hit by a pitch (full count).
• Ginther singled past the third baseman, moving Shines to 3b.
• Bailey struck out looking!
• 24 pitches (16 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Payton flew out to rf.
• Loy lined a single into cf.
• Weiss singled past 1b ito rf, moving Loy to 2b.
• Frank Anderson made a trip to the mound.
• Kephart struck out looking (2-2 count).
• Shepherd, sadly, also struck out looking (full count).
• 24 pitches (14 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 3rd inning, Oklahoma State
• Weidenaar flew out to lf.
• Phillips struck out swinging...after Felts dropped a pop-up on the 2nd pitch. Whew.
• Johnson flew out to rf.
• 7 pitches (6 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Walla lined out to cf.
• Felts struck out looking (2-2 count).
• Etier drew a 5-pitch walk.
• With Maitland at the plate, Etier stole 2b.
• Maitland struck out swinging. The catcher dropped the ball and had to tag Maitland to complete the out.
• 15 pitches (9 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 4th inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack grounded out to 2b. Etier bobbled the ball and it got a few feet away from him but he still managed to get to the ball and throw to 1b in time for the out.
• Duren struck out looking after fouling off a few pitches.
• Saiko grounded out to the pitcher.
• 10 pitches (8 for strikes).
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Payton singled past the second baseman into cf.
• Loy lined a single into cf, moving Payton to 2b.
• Weiss advanced the runners to 2b and 3b on a 1-6 sac bunt.
• With the infield pulled in, Kephart lined a sigle into rf, scoring Payton and moving Loy up to 3b!
• Frank Anderson made a visit to the mound. He called the 1b ump over and spoke to him before calling for a replacement pitcher. Then the 1b ump had a conversation with the home plate umpire. Weird.
• OSU sent Randy McCurry (rhp) to the mound, replacing Heaney (who finished with 69 pitches, 44 for strikes).
• Shepherd hit a sac bunt down the 1b line (3-unassisted), scoring Loy and moving Kephart to 2b.
• Walla grounded out to 3b.
• 8 pitches (5 for strikes) for McCurry.
• Texas leads 3-0.
• 5th inning, Oklahoma State
• Shines lined a single up the middle.
• Ginther homered over the lf fence.
• Bailey lined out to a diving Walla in right center. Great catch!!!
• Weidenaar struck out swinging.
• Phillips singled up the middle.
• The home plate umpire gave a warning to the OSU dugout during Phillips' at-bat. They didn't seem happy with his strike zone.
• Johnson drew a 10-pitch full-count walk. Wow.
• Insert mound visit by Skip Johnson.
• Womack popped out to ss behind 2b. Whew.
• 27 pitches (18 for strikes).
• Texas leads 3-2.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Felts grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Etier popped out to 2b in shallow rf.
• Maitland was hit on his right thigh by a pitch.
• With Payton at the plate, Maitland stole 2b. Frank Anderson went out to argue the call. To no avail, of course.
• Payton struck out looking.
• 19 pitches (12 for strikes).
• Texas leads 3-2.
• 6th inning, Oklahoma State
• Duren singled up the middle.
• Texas sent Kendal Carrillo (rhp) to the mound, replacing Green. Green's final numbers: 5+ innings, 23 batters faced, 3 runs (all earned), 6 hits (including 1 homerun, 8 strike outs, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, 90 pitches (63 for strikes).
• McCurry (the pitcher), pinch-hitting for DH Saiko (huh?), struck out looking. I wonder if that takes the DH out of the game? The DH had not pitched since McCurry went to the mound. Hmmm...
• Shines reached on an infield single to ss. Loy managed to stop a ball that took a bad hop but could not gather the ball up to make a throw.
• Ginther singled through the right side, scoring Duren and moving Shines to 2b.
• Bailey grounded out to ss, advancing both base runners.
• Weidenaar was intentionally walked to laod the bases. Sigh...
• Texas sent Kirby Bellow (lhp) to the mound, replacing Carrillo. Final numbers for Carrillo: .2 innings, 5 batters, 0 runs, 2 singles, 1 strike out, 1 walk, 14 pitches (6 for strikes).
• Phillips flew out to lf (1st pitch).
• Game tied 3-3.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Loy flew out to rf (down the line).
• Weiss drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Kephart flew out to 2b (foul).
• Shepherd flew out down the lf line at the warning track.
• 12 pitches (6 for strikes).
• Game tied 3-3.
• 7th inning, Oklahoma State
• Johnson reached on a 4-pitch walk. Ouch.
• After Bellow threw 2 more balls (ouch...6 balls to start the 7th), Texas sent Andrew McKirahan (lhp) to the mound, replacing Bellow. Bellow's final numbers: .1 innings, 1 run (earned), 2 batters, no hits, 1 walk, 7 pitches (1 for a strike).
• Womack hit a bloop singled over the third baseman, moving Johnson to 2b.
• Duren, unable to get the bunt down, worked the count full and then drew a 6-pitch walk. Bases loaded. Ouch.
• Texas sent Stayton Thomas (rhp) to the mound, replacing McKirahan. McKirahan's final numbers: 0 innings, 2 runs (both earned), 2 batters, 1 hit, 1 walk, 10 pitches (5 for strikes).
• McCurry singled to rf, scoring Johnson and keeping the bases loaded.
• With Shines at the plate, a wild pitch scored Womack and moved Duren to 3b and McCurry to 2b.
• On the next pitch, Felts made a high pick-off throw to 3b that sailed past the third baseman into lf. Duren scored and McCurry advanced to 3b. E2.
• Shines ended up drawing a full-count 8-pitch walk.
• Ginther singled into rf, scoring McCurry and moving Shines to 2b.
• Texas sent Josh Urban (rhp) to the mound, replacing Thomas. Thomas' final numbers: .1 innings, 1 run (earned), 4 batters, 2 singles, 1 strikeout, 1 walk, 19 pitches (11 for strikes).
• Weidenaar tripled into the rf corner, scoring Shines and Bailey.
• Phillips reached on an infield single to 3b. High chopper. Wow. Runners at the corners, 1 out.
• Texas sent Nathan Thornhill (rhp) to the mound, replacing Urban. Urban's final numbers: 0 innings, 1 run (earned), 2 batters, 2 hits (1 triple), 11 pitches (6 for strikes).
• Johnson reached on a fielder's choice on a ball that went to 3b. Weiss fielded and looked to the runner at 3b, trying to see if he could get him out. After looking the runner back, he threw to 1b but the throw was late.
• Womack drew a full-count 7-pitch walk to score Weidenaar.
• Duren struck out swinging.
• McCurry popped out to 1b (foul).
• Ugh...inning finally over.
• 14 piches (10 for strikes) for Thornhill.
• Texas down 3-10.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Walla reached on an infield single to 2b. The second baseman stopped the ball but couldn't get hold of it to make a throw to 1b.
• Felts hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Ouch.
• Etier singled into cf.
• Maitland flew out to lf.
• 13 pitches (8 for strikes).
• Texas down 3-10.
• 8th inning, Oklahoma State
• Shines grounded out to 2b.
• Ginther flew out to cf in right center.
• Bailey struck out swinging.
• 13 pitches (8 for strikes).
• Texas down 3-10.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Payton grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Weiss drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Kephart flew out to rf.
• Thornhill's final numbers: 1.2 innings, 0 runs, 7 batters, 0 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk, 26 pitches (18 for strikes).
• Texas loses 3-10.

What a miserable 7th inning. Ugh. I don't even really know what else to say about today's game. I sincerely thought the Horns would come out with a purpose today and win the game. Early on, it looked like that would be the case. But, then things fell apart. McCurry ended up getting the win for OSU and Bellow was saddled with the loss for the Horns.

Oral Roberts with a record of 8-9 will be here in Austin on Tuesday. Texas then hosts Big 12 opponent Missouri who ended up splitting two games with Oklahoma on Friday. Snow was expected in Missouri this weekend so the teams decided to play two games on Friday...good thing as the snow did fall and the third game of their series was cancelled (and will not be rescheduled). The Tigers have a record of 12-12 (1-1 in Big 12) coming out of this weekend's action. They're scheduled to play Illinois on Tuesday (at home) and Texas State (in San Marcos) on Wednesday before coming to Austin.

Here's hoping the Horns get things turned around this week. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 5:51 PM | Permalink

Saturday - March 26, 2011

Game 23: Texas at Oklahoma State

I watched the OSU Internet stream via CBS Sports today and this game report is based on that broadcast. The line (from GameTracker):

It was cold in Stillwater for today's game...in the 40s. Brrr...

Not much offense for the Horns today. Again. Another case of the Saturday blahs? The starting pitcher for the Cowboys threw a great game (nearly a shut-out) and I can't take anything away from him. But, the Horns really do need to figure out how to get some timely hits. Sigh...

I fully expect the Horns to bounce back, like they have all season, and win tomorrow's game. I really do. But, I don't have much else to say about today's game. See below for game details.

Starting line-ups:

Texas		Oklahoma State
Tim Maitland (lf) Brandon Loy (ss) Mark Payton (rf) Erich Weiss (3b) Lucas Kephart (dh) Jordan Etier (2b) Tant Shepherd (1b) Cohl Walla (cf) Jacob Felts (c)		Gabe Weidenaar (cf) Dane Phillips (dh) Zach Johnson (1b) Jared Womack (c) Davis Duren (2b) Mark Ginther (3b) Luis Uribe (rf) Devin Shines (lf) Hunter Bailey (ss)

Play by play:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Brad Propst (rhp) on the mound for OSU.
• Maitland flew out to lf.
• Loy grounded out to 3b.
• Payton grounded out to 2b.
• 11 pitches (7 for strikes).
• 1st inning, Oklahoma State
• Hoby Milner (lhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Weidenaar flew out to cf.
• Phillips lined out to cf.
• Johnson flew out to shallow rf.
• 10 pitches (6 for strikes).
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Weiss grounded out to 1b.
• Kephart reached on an infield single to 2b. I'm surprised it was not ruled an error. The second baseman ranged to his left and stopped the ball. He went to throw to 1b from his knees but lost his grip on the ball. If he'd made a clean throw, Kephart would've been out. Shrug.
• Etier flew out to shallow lf.
• Shepherd struck out swinging after working the count full.
• 19 pitches (11 for strikes).
• 2nd inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack doubled on a ball that fell between lf, cf, and ss into shallow left center. It looked like Walla called Maitland off the ball too early.
• Duren singled past 2b into cf, scoring Womack.
• Ginther tried to bunt Duren over. The bunt went up the middle. Milner fielded it in front of the mound and threw to Loy covering 2b. Duren was ruled safe but he looked out. Yikes.
• After the first pitch to Uribe was called a ball, Skip Johnson made a trip to the mound.
• Uribe hit into a 1-5 fielder's choice on a bunt attempt. The ball went down the 3b line. Milner fielded and threw the lead runner out easily at 3b.
• Shines lined out to 1b. Shepherd easily beat Uribe back to the bag for an unassisted double play!
• 21 pitches (14 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Walla struck out swinging (9-pitch at-bat).
• Felts singled through the left side.
• Maitland flew out to cf in the cf/rf gap.
• Loy struck out looking (1-2 count).
• 17 pitches (12 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 3rd inning, Oklahoma State
• Bailey flew out to shallow cf.
• Weidenaar lined a single into rf.
• Phillips flew out to cf.
• Johnson grounded out to 3b.
• 17 pitches (10 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Payton flew out to lf.
• Weiss lined a double into left center.
• Kephart flew out to shallow cf.
• Etier grounded out to ss.
• 8 pitches (7 for strikes). Ouch.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 4th inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack tripled down the rf line. Dang.
• Duren (with the infield pulled in) grounded out to ss. No chance for Womack to advance. Whew.
• Ginther popped out to ss in foul territory. Double whew.
• Uribe flew out to cf. Yes!
• 11 pitches (7 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Shepherd flew out to cf.
• Walla lined out to lf.
• Felts lined out to left center.
• 9 pitches (7 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 5th inning, Oklahoma State
• Shines struck out swinging. First K of the day for Milner.
• Bailey grounded out to 3b.
• Weidenaar lined out to cf (in the lf/cf gap).
• 8 pitches (5 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Maitland grounded out to the pitcher.
• Loy flew out to cf.
Payton flew out to lf (foul). Sigh...
• 10 pitches (7 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 6th inning, Oklahoma State
• Phillips reached on an infield single to 3b. Again, it probably should've been a throwing error. Weiss made a great diving play to stop the ball from getting into the outfield but his throw to 1b was low. It looked like it was in time, though.
• Phillips moved up to 2b on a wild pitch with Johnson at the plate. The ball bounced in the dirt, off Felts, and away from him down the 1b line. He could not find the ball.
• Johnson drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Skip Johnson made a visit to the mound for a visit with the entire infield.
• Womack, unable to get the bunt down, worked the count full, fouled off a couple of pitches, and then flew out to cf. Runners stayed at 1b and 2b.
• Duren struck out looking!
• Ginther popped out to ss!
• 22 pitches (13 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Weiss singled into lf!
• Kephart moved Weiss to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Etier struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Shepherd struck out looking (1-2 count). Ouch.
• 12 pitches (10 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-1.
• 7th inning, Oklahoma State
• Josh Urban (rhp) went to the mound for Texas, replacing Milner.
• Milner's final numbers: 6 innings, 24 batters faced, 1 run (earned), 5 hits (including a double and a triple), 2 strikes, 1 walk, 89 pitches (55 for strikes).
• Uribe reached on an infield single to ss deep in the hole.
• Shines drew a full-count 7-pitch walk, moving Uribe to 2b.
• Bailey bunted down the 3b line. Felts fielded and threw off-line to 2b covering the bag. Uribe scored on the error and Shines advanced to 3b. Bailey held up at 1b.
• Texas sent Andrew McKirahan (lhp) to the mound, replacing Urban.
• Urban's final numbers: 0 innings, 3 batters faced, 2 runs (both unearned), 1 hit, 11 pitches (8 for strikes).
• Weidenaar hit a 1-3 sac bunt down the 1b line, scoring Shines and moving Bailey to 2b.
• Phillips popped out to ss (foul).
• Johnson grounded out to 2b.
• 6 pitches (5 for strikes) for McKirahan.
• Texas down 0-3.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Walla struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Felts lined out to rf.
• Maitland grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• 13 pitches (9 for strikes).
• Texas down 0-3.
• 8th inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack flew out to rf.
• Duren singled up the middle.
• The Horns sent Stayton Thomas (rhp) to the mound, replacing McKirahan.
• McKirahan's final numbers: 1.1 innings, 5 batters, 0 runs, 1 hit, 13 pitches (10 for strikes.
• Ginther grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Nice.
• 6 pitches (3 for strikes) for Thomas.
• Texas down 0-3.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Loy reached on an error by the ss who fielded the ball but then dropped it as he went to throw to 1b.
• Payton hit into a 5-4-3 double play. So sad.
• Weiss singled through the right side.
• Weiss moved to 2b on the 4th pitch to Kephart...defensive indifference, I think.
• Kephart lined a single into cf, scoring Weiss!
• Texas sent Dex Kjerstad in to pinch run for Kephart.
• Etier flew out to lf to end the game.
• Propst threw a complete game for the victory and ended up throwing 116 pitches (84 for strikes) by my count. Nice game for him.
• Texas loses 1-3.

Rubber match tomorrow at 1. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 4:24 PM | Permalink

Friday - March 25, 2011

Game 22: Texas at Oklahoma State

I listened to Craig Way on the radio and this game report is based on that broadcast. The line (from GameTracker):

Yep. Fifteen (15!!!) innings. Again. The Horns have played four conference games...three have gone extra innings. They're killing me. In all, they've played five extra-inning games so far this year...two went 15 innings. Yikes

Anyway...

The game lasted just over four hours. It felt a lot more like six or seven. I'm exhausted. I don't know how Craig Way did it. He called the entire game on his own...no breaks...no broadcast partner. Well done, Mr. Way.

Taylor Jungmann started and pitched 9 innings. He faced 33 batters, gave up 4 hits (including 1 double), struck out 7, and walked 1. By my count, he threw 113 pitches, 76 for strikes. (I kept score as I listened on the radio so my numbers may be a bit off.) Corey Knebel went in for the Horns at the start of the home half of the 10th. He threw 4 innings, faced 13, gave up 2 singles, and struck out 3. He did not give up a walk. By my count, he threw 52 pitches (35 for strikes). Kirby Bellow went in for the Horns in the 14th and did not have a very good outing. He faced 4, gave up a single, and walked 2 (1 intentionally). He threw 15 pitches (7 for strikes). With the bases loaded and 1 out, Kendal Carrillo then went in for the Horns. He managed to induce a pop-out to 2b and a line out to lf to end the inning. Fantastic! He then threw a 1-2-3 15th to snag his 2nd win of the year. He faced 5 and struck out 2 while throwing 16 pitches (13 for strikes). For the most part, phenomenal pitching all around.

I also have to give mad props to the OSU staff. Mike Strong started for the Cowboys and went 8.1 innings. He faced 32 batters, gave up 5 singles, struck out 9, walked 2, hit 2, and threw 1 wild pitch. He threw 120 pitches (83 for strikes). Chris Marlowe threw the final 6.2 innings. He faced 28 batters, gave up 2 singles, struck out 12, walked 5, and hit 1. He threw 113 pitches (73 for strikes). He did give up an earned run to take the loss. Again, all these numbers are my counts based on what I heard on the radio broadcast.

The Horns had a few chances before the 15th to score a run and just could not get a timely hit. They struck out 21 times. Ugh. Not pretty. The amazing thing is that they scored that winning run when Mark Payton stole home. YES, THAT'S RIGHT. HE STOLE HOME. Stunning. He drew a 5-pitch walk to start the 15th and moved to 2b on a sac bunt. He then moved up to 3b on a ground out to the pitcher. And, then...with Etier at the plate...he STOLE home. Craig Way said he never hesitated for a second. Amazing. Stunning. Completely unexpected. And, unbelievable. Wow.

As is usual when I listen to the game from home, I did my play-by-play as I scored the game. You get more of a feeling about how I was feeling as things played out. I was tempted not to post this but...what the heck? Read on...

Starting line-ups:

Texas		Oklahoma State
Tim Maitland (lf) Brandon Loy (ss) Mark Payton (rf) Erich Weiss (3b) Lucas Kephart (dh) Jordan Etier (2b) Cohl Walla (cf) Tant Shepherd (1b) Jacob Felts (c)		Gabe Weidenaar (cf) Dane Phillips (dh) Zach Johnson (1b) Jared Womack (c) Davis Duren (2b) Mark Ginther (3b) Luis Uribe (rf) Devin Shines (lf) Hunter Bailey (ss)

Play by play:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Mike Strong (lhp) on the mound for OSU.
• Maitland struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Loy grounded out to 3b.
• Payton flew out to rf.
• 13 pitches (10 for strikes).
• 1st inning, Oklahoma State
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Weidenaar grounded out to 2b after working the count full.
• Phillips struck out looking.
• Johnson grounded out to ss.
• 12 pitches (7 for strikes).
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Weiss grounded out to ss. Nice scoop and throw by the ss.
• Kephart struck out looking (1-2 count).
• Etier struck out looking (1-2 count). Way mentioned that the home plate ump seemed to be calling low strikes and the Texas players would have to adjust to it.
• 13 pitches (11 for strikes). Wow.
• 2nd inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack popped out to ss (soft liner, I think).
• Duren grounded out to 2b. The sharply hit ball bounced off Etier's chest but he stayed with it and got the out!
• Ginther doubled down the rf line and into the corner.
• Uribe flew out to shallow lf. Whew.
• 8 pitches (6 for strikes). Nice.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Walla struck out swinging (1-2 count).
• Shepherd worked the count full, fouled off a couple of pitches, and ended up drawing an 8-pitch walk.
• With Felts at the plate, Shepherd moved up to 2b on a wild pitch (2nd pitch of the at-bat).
• Felts struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Maitland grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• 21 pitches (13 for strikes).
• 3rd inning, Oklahoma State
• Shines reached on a 4-pitch walk. Wow. That really happened. Jungmann walked a lead-off batter on 4 pitches.
• Bailey bunted a ball in front of the plate. Felts fielded and tried to get the lead runner at 2b but the throw was a little low. Bailey safe at 1b on the fielder's choice.
• Weidenaar laid a bunt down the 3b line. Jungmann fielded and threw to 3b in time to get the lead runner. Bailey safe at 2b. Weidenaar safe at 1b on the fielder's choice. Frank Anderson argued the call at 3b. Craig Way said it was a good call based on TV replay.
• Phillips reached on an error...ground ball off the first baseman's glove. Bases loaded. Way said Shepherd (1b) probably should've let Etier (2b) field the ball but he was (maybe) hoping to get a 3-6-1 double play.
• Johnson hit a hard ground ball into a 1-6-3 double play! Whew!
• 13 pitches (8 for strikes).
• 4th inning, Texas
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Payton was hit by a pitch.
• Weiss singled through the right side, moving Payton to 2b.
• Kephart also singled through the right side to load the bases!
• Etier (ugh!) hit a ground ball that went off the pitcher's glove but right at the ss who stepped on 2b and threw to 1b for a 1-6-3 double play. Oh, the agony.
• 14 pitches (7 for strikes).
• 4th inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack grounded out (high chopper) to 1b (unassisted).
• Duren also grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Ginther grounded out to 2b. Another ball that Etier struggled with a bit but he still got the out.
• 8 pitches (6 for strikes). Jungmann's throwing a really a good game.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Walla struck out swinging (0-2 count).
• Shepherd flew out to rf.
• Felts struck out swinging.
• 11 pitches (8 for strikes). Strong also throwing a good game...7 strike outs through 5.
• 5th inning, Oklahoma State
• Uribe fouled out to 2b in foul territory.
• Shines grounded out to 3b.
• Bailey flew out to lf. A great play by Tim Maitland in lf to catch a ball at the warning track that was falling fast into the corner!!
• 14 pitches (7 for strikes).
• 6th inning, Texas
• Maitland grounded out to 2b.
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Payton flew out to cf.
• 7 pitches (6 for strikes). Ouch.
• 6th inning, Oklahoma State
• Weidenaar tried to check his swing but struck out swinging. Felts dropped the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• Phillips struck out swinging.
• Johnson lined a single into lf.
• Womack grounded out to the catcher. The ball off the end of the bat just got a couple of feet off the plate and Felts had a pretty easy throw to 1b for the out.
• 20 pitches (14 for strikes).
• 7th inning, Texas
• Weiss flew out to cf on a sinking liner.
• Kephart grounded out to 2b.
• Etier flew out to rf.
• 13 pitches (9 for strikes).
• 7th inning, Oklahoma State
• Duren reached on a slow rolling infield single to 2b. Etier tried to make a barehanded scoop and throw but the throw was too late.
• Ginther struck out swinging (foul tip).
• Uribe reached on a 6-4 fielder's choice. Very close to a 6-4-3 double play but Uribe just beat out the relay throw.
• Shines struck out looking. Whew.
• 16 pitches (13 for strikes).
• 8th inning, Texas
• Walla struck out swinging (1-2 count) for the 3rd time tonight, each time as the lead-off batter. Sad.
• Shepherd reached on a surprise bunt single down the 3b line!
• On the 3rd pitch to Felts, Shepherd stole 2b and moved up to 3b on a bad throw from the catcher that got into cf. Yes!
• Felts struck out swinging (1-2 count) for the 3rd time tonight. Ouch!
• Maitland was hit by a full-count pitch.
• Insert visit to the mound by Frank Anderson.
• Loy flew out to cf. So sad.
• 17 pitches (11 for strikes).
• 8th inning, Oklahoma State
• Bailey singled up the middle off the pitcher's glove.
• Weidenaar moved Bailey to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Insert mound visit by Skip Johnson.
• Phillips lined out to 3b. Bailey just beat the throw from 3b to 2b to avoid the double play. Too bad.
• Johnson struck out swinging!
• 12 pitches (8 for strikes).
• 9th inning, Texas
• Payton singled past 2b into cf.
• Weiss could not get the bunt down but then grounded out to the pitcher anyway...moving Payton to 2b.
• Kephart drew a full-count walk, putting runners at 1b and 2b.
• Insert another visit to the mound by Frank Anderson. Strong with 120 pitches by my count (83 for strikes) at this point...and his first walk of the game. Eventually, a pitching change was called. Nice job by Strong.
• OSU sent Chris Marlowe (rhp) to the mound, replacing Strong.
• Etier watched 3 straight balls from the OSU closer, then 2 called strikes, before seeing a 4th ball to walk and load the bases.
• Paul Montalbano was announced as pinch-hitting for Walla and Frank Anderson made another visit to the mound.
• Montalbano was called out on strikes (0-2 count).
• Shepherd, very very sadly, hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice. So sad.
• 13 pitches (7 for strikes) for Marlowe.
• 9th inning, Oklahoma State
• Ack! Lost the radio signal!
• Montalbano stayed in the game in lf. Maitland moved to cf.
• Womack struck out swinging on 3 pitches. We got the radio signal back just as he struck out.
• Duren flew out on a sinking liner to rf.
• Ginther flew out to rf.
• 10 pitches (7 for strikes).
• 10th inning, Texas
• Felts walked on 4 pitches!
• Maitland struck out swinging (3 pitches) after failing to get the bunt down.
• Loy struck out looking. Sigh...
• Felts stole 2b on the 4th pitch to Payton (taking the count to 2-2). The catcher did not make a throw to 2b.
• Payton struck out swinging 2 pitches later.
• 17 pitches (10 for strikes).
• 10th inning, Oklahoma State
• Texas sent Corey Knebel (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann. By my count, Jungmann threw 113 pitches (76 for strikes). Really nice night. Sigh...too bad he gets no decision.
• Uribe hit a hard ground ball up the middle for a single.
• Andrew Heck went in to pinch run for Uribe.
• Ryan Doeppel (pinch-hitting for Shines) bunted into a 1-6 fielder's choice! (Heck out on the play.)
• With Bailey at the plate, the Horns picked Doeppel off (1-3)!
• Bailey flew out to cf.
• 11 pitches (8 for strikes).
• 11th inning, Texas
• Doeppel stayed in the game in lf; Weidenaar moved to rf; and Saxon went in at cf (filling the 7th spot in the line-up).
• Weiss struck out swinging.
• Kevin Lusson (pinch-hitting for Kephart) grounded out to 2b.
• Etier struck out swinging.
• 13 pitches (11 for strikes).
• 11th inning, Oklahoma State
• Weidenaar struck out swinging.
• Phillips grounded out to 2b. Nice play by Etier!
• Johnson flew out to cf.
• 12 pitches (8 for strikes).
• 12th inning, Texas
• Montalbano struck out looking. Oh, my.
• Shepherd grounded out to the pitcher.
• Felts reached on a single that went off the mound and then off the 2b bag into rf. Wow.
• Maitland was hit by a pitch (0-2 count), moving Felts to 2b.
• Insert visit to the mound by Frank Anderson.
• Loy drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Payton struck out swinging. O. M. G.
• 19 pitches (14 for strikes).
• 12th inning, Oklahoma State
• Womack struck out swinging.
• Duren struck out looking.
• Ginther singled up the middle.
• Saxon hit into a 5-4 fielder's choice to end the inning.
• 18 pitches (12 for strikes).
• 13th inning, Texas
• Weiss struck out swinging. Ugh.
• Lusson struck out swinging. (2-3 on the putout after the dropped 3rd strike.)
• Etier also struck out swinging. To nobody's surprise. So sad.
• 14 pitches (9 for strikes).
• 13th inning, Oklahoma State
• Doeppel grounded out to ss.
• Bailey grounded out to 3b.
• Weidenaar grounded out to 2b.
• 11 pitches (7 for strikes).
• 14th inning, Texas
• Montalbano singled to right-center. First time of the night that the #7 batter did not strike out for Texas!
• Montalbano moved to 2b on a wild pitch with Shepherd squared to bunt!
• Shepherd drew a walk on the next pitch.
• Insert another visit to the mound by Frank Anderson.
• Felts hit a 1-3 sac bunt to move the runners to 2b and 3b.
• Maitland bunted down the 1b line...a little too hard...and Montalbano was tagged out at the plate (3-2 on the out). Ack!
• With Loy at the plate, Maitland moved up to 2b...defensive indifference?
• Loy grounded out to 1b and was just beat to the bag by the pitcher (3-1 on the out). Killing me. The Horns are killing me.
• 21 pitches (12 for strikes).
• 14th inning, Oklahoma State
• Texas sent Kirby Bellow (lhp) to the mound, replacing Knebel.
• Phillips singled to cf. Maitland appeared to lose the ball in the lights.
• Johnson drew a full-count 7-pitch walk, moving Phillips to 2b.
• Frank Anderson took an offensive timeout to talk to his hitters.
• Womack advanced the batters on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Duren was intentionally walked by the Horns.
• Texas sent Kendal Carrillo (rhp) to the mound, replacing Bellow (who threw 15 pitches, 7 for strikes).
• Ginther popped out to 2b!!!
• Saxon lined out to lf!!
• Wow.
• 5 pitches (4 for strikes) for Carrillo.
• 15th inning, Texas
• Payton drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Weiss moved Payton to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Lusson grounded out to the pitcher, moving Payton to 3b.
• Payton STOLE HOME!!!! with Etier at the plate. OMG!!!!
• Etier struck out swinging.
• 16 pitches (10 for strikes). Totals: 113 pitches (73 for strikes). Wow.
• Texas leads 1-0.
• 15th inning, Oklahoma State
• Randy McCurry (pinch-hitting for Doeppel) popped out to 2b on a flair that was headed into shallow rf. Great diving catch by Etier!
• Bailey struck out looking on 3 pitches.
• Weidenaar struck out swinging.
• 11 pitches (9 for strikes). Carrillo gets the win!
• Texas wins 1-0.

Game 2 tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Hope the Horns avoid the Saturday blahs that they've experienced form time to time this season. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 11:34 PM | Permalink

Thursday - March 24, 2011

Game 21: Houston Baptist at Texas

Houston Baptist came to town last night. They only had one win under their belt. It was a big win, though. They'd gone into Ft. Worth and beat an undefeated (at the time) TCU. But, not just TCU...they also handed Matt Purke his first collegiate loss. So, yeah...the Huskies had it in 'em to beat the Horns. But, the team that beat the Horned Frogs 10 days ago is not the same team that showed up in Austin. Texas run-ruled Houston Baptist 12-0 in 7 innings. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Houston Baptist	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
Texas	2	3	6	0	0	1	-	12	8	x

Sam Stafford pitched the first 4 innings for the victory. By my count, he faced 13 batters (1 over the minimum) and threw 46 pitches (32 for strikes). He struck out 6, walked 1, gave up 2 singles, and picked off 1 runner. He got help from a double play in the 3rd to get out of the only trouble he really faced. Josh Urban threw the 5th and 6th; he faced 6 batters and threw 20 pitches (15 for strikes). He struck out 2 and gave up a single. Stayton Thomas threw the 7th and went 1-2-3 with one strike out. All around, a nice job by the pitching staff.

The Huskies pitching staff was not really up to the challenge today. They combined to walk 7 Texas batters and hit 2 (both with bases loaded...in the same inning). With 12 runs scored, you'd expect quite a few hits but all those walks and hit batters kinda limited the number of hits. The Horns sent 12 batters to the plate in the 3rd. It was an ugly game. Offensive summaries:

• Brandon Loy (ss): 0-for-3, 2 runs scored, 2 rbi, 1 walk
• Tim Maitland (cf): 1-for-3 (single), 2 runs scored, 1 rbi, 1 walk
• Mark Payton (rf): 2-for-3 (2 singles), 1 rbi, 1 sac bunt, 1 strike out
• Erick Weiss (3b): 0-for-2, 1 rbi, 1 sac fly, 1 walk, 1 strike out
• Lucas Kephart (dh): 1-for-2 (double), 1 run scored, 1 rbi, 2 walks
• Jordan Etier (2b): 2-for-3 (single, double), 2 runs scored, 1 rbi, 1 hit by pitch
• Tant Shepherd (1b): 1-for-2 (ground-rule double), 2 runs scored, 1 walk
• Jacob Felts (c): 1-for-2 (single), 2 runs scored, 1 rbi, 1 hit by pitch
• Jonathan Walsh (lf): 0-for-2, 1 run scored, 1 rbi, 1 walk, 1 strike out

Ryan Ford saw his first action as a Longhorn. He pinch hit for Shepherd in the 6th and flew out to rf. He played 1b for the 7th and got credit for a putout on a 4-3 ground out. Kevin Lusson and Paul Montalbano also pinch-hit in the 6th and played defense in the 7th.

It was a tough game to watch...especially the 3rd inning, in which we were all wishing for the 10-run rule. Things picked up, though, and when the 7th inning rolled around, we were wishing the 10-run rule would crawl back away. But, you can't have it both ways. Ah well...

The Horns now travel to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are 16-5 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 play (they lost their series at Kansas last weekend). It should be a good series. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 6:59 AM | Permalink

Wednesday - March 23, 2011

Game 20: Kansas State at Texas

Insert apology for taking a long time to get this up. SXSW and long baseball games (along with whatever it is that's floating in the air attacking my sinuses) got me a bit worn out and I just couldn't face this. But...I finally got my act together. And, so...

Two days...two extra-inning games. Luckily, the Horns won both of them. Whew. The line for Game 3 of the KSU series:

(Yes, I cobbled that together from a couple of photos.)

Cole Green got the start and had an up-and-down kind of day. The first two innings were really nice 3-up/3-down affairs. He gave up a single in the third but got the next batter to ground into a double play. So, he faced the minimum through the first 3 innings. Sweet. Alas, the 4th did not go so well. The first batter for KSU popped out on a bunt attempt to the pitcher. A single and a walk put runners at 1b and 2b. Another single to cf went awry when the throw in missed the cut-off man. The runner from 2b scored on the single but the errant throw allowed the other runners to advance to 2b and 3b. Ugh. A wild pitch (looked like maybe the pitcher and catcher got their signs mixed up) scored the second run of the inning. And, a perfect suicide squeeze scored one final run. One thing goes wrong and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. In the 5th, after a single, a pop-out, a hit batter, and a fly-out to cf that put runners at the corners, Texas sent Andrew McKirahan to the mound, replacing Green. Alas, McKirahan gave up an rbi-single and then got the next batter to pop out to 2b. Yep...another run across. In the 6th, KSU hit a 1-out double followed by a 1-out single to score their final run of the game. McKirahan threw a 1-2-3 7th. Kirby Bellow went to the mound to start the 8th and also went 1-2-3. After giving up a single and sac bunt, the Horns sent Corey Knebel to the mound. A ground out to 1b (unassisted) moved the runner to 3b. He was stranded there, though. The Wildcats did get two additional men on but were never really much of a threat to score again. Knebel stayed in the game through the 12th inning. Kendal Carrillo relieved him at the top of the 13 and threw the final 2 innings of the game to earn his first win of the year.

Offensively, things looked pretty bleak for much of the game. Sorry to say. But, they did pick up eventually. To wit...a few highlights:

• 3rd inning
• Jordan Etier reached on a 1-out single to lf.
• Paul Montalbano flew out to lf (foul).
• With Brandon Loy at the plate, KSU had Etier caught stealing. However, the shortstop was playing deep in the hole and was late getting to the bag for the throw from 1b. Amazingly, Etier made it safely to 2b. Whew.
• Loy then tripled to the lf/cf gap, scoring Etier.
• Mark Payton struck out looking to end the inning. Tommy Harmon was not happy with the way the home plate ump was calling the game and had words for him as he walked back to the dugout. I was surprised that he did not get ejected. But, of course, I couldn't tell what was actually said...maybe they were just discussing the weather. But, it sure did not look that way!
• Horns up 1-0 at this point.
• 5th inning
• Tant Shepherd led things off with a double down the lf line. Purty.
• After Etier lined out, Montalbano moved Shepherd to 3b on a ground out to 2b.
• Sadly, Loy struck out swinging, stranding Shepherd.
• Horns down 1-4 at this point.
• 6th inning
• Payton singled up the middle and stole 2b. Again, KSU had him dead to rights but the first baseman dropped the throw from the pitcher and then the throw to 2b was also dropped. Stunning.
• Erich Weiss ended up walking.
• Lucas Kephart (dh) grounded out to 1b (p covered bag), advancing the runners to 2b and 3b. The first baseman almost didn't get anyone out as he thought about trying to make a play at 2b and then barely ended up getting the ball to the pitcher at 1b before Kephart reached the bag.
• Cohl Walla hit a hard ground ball right to the third baseman who had a pretty easy throw home to get Payton out. Runners at the corners on the fielder's choice.
• Jacob Felts then grounded out to 2b.
• Sigh...Texas down 1-5.
• 7th inning
• Shepherd led things off with a triple to the cf/rf gap. Beautiful!
• Etier lined a single over the ss, scoring Shepherd.
• Montalbano popped out to 1b on a bunt attempt. Ouch.
• Loy hit a bloop single into rf, moving Etier to 2b.
• With Payton at the plate, a double-steal attempt by the Horns went all kinds of wrong. Well, we think it was a double-steal attempt. Both runners broke but Etier stopped and headed back to 2b. Loy was two-third's of the way to 2b and seemed stunned to see Etier headed back. He held up his hands in a "what are you doing?" gesture and Etier started back to 3b and was caught up in a run-down. Loy started back to 1b then back to 2b...then went back to 1b for good. Etier, meanwhile ran into the ss (who did not have the ball) as he was headed back to 2b and was awarded 3b for defensive interference! No, really! It was chaos on the basepads.
• After all that, Payton ended up walking to load the bases. And, all we could think about were the bases-loaded walks from Saturday's game.
• And...Weiss drew a full-count walk to push a run across.
• Kephart struck out looking (also full-count).
• Walla singled through the left side scoring Loy and Payton. Weiss advanced to 2b.
• Felts grounded out to ss to end the inning. Whew.
• Game tied at 5-5.
• 8th inning
• Etier reached on a 1-out liner to lf and moved to 2b when Tim Maitland (pinch-hitting for Montalbano) was hit by a pitch.
• After a pitching change, Etier moved to 3b on a 6-4 fielder's choice.
• Payton flew out to cf to end the inning.
• Ummm...yeah, runner stranded at 3b. Game still tied.
• 9th inning
• Weiss was walked on 5 pitches and moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Kephart.
• Walla was intentionally walked.
• Kevin Lusson (pinch-hitting for Felts) struck out looking. Ouch.
• Shepherd reached on a throwing error by ss. The shortstop fielded the ground ball and thought about trying to get the lead runner at 3b then decided he should go for the easier throw to 2b. But, his throw was off-line.
• Bases loaded.
• Etier lined out to 3b. Damn. Game still tied.
• 10th inning
• Loy reached on a full-count 1-out walk and moved to 2b on a ground out to 3b by Payton.
• Weiss was intentionally walked.
• Jonathan Walsh (pinch-hitting for Kephart) popped out to 1b. Sigh...
• 11th inning: 3-up/3-down.
• 12th inning: runners stranded at 1b and 2b.
• 13th inning: 3-up/3-down.
• 14th inning
• Shepherd struck out swinging.
• Etier flew out to rf.
• Maitland lined a single into the lf/cf gap.
• Loy hit a high fly ball that landed just fair down the rf line. And, by "just fair" I mean that it hit the line...the inside of the line, but the line. We all held our breath as it fell to the ground. Except for the people down the rf line who, I hope, were blowing their hearts out! The right fielder was playing off the line and had a long way to run to get to the ball. Maitland ran like the wind and slid home...safe. The right fielder saw Loy going for a double and thought he had a better chance of throwing him out at 2b instead of going for the play at home. Loy slid in safely. Run counted. Game over.
• Texas wins 6-5. In 14 innings.

It was a long day at Disch-Falk. The Horns now face Houston Baptist coming to town with only 1 win under their belt. That win, though? They beat TCU. More interestingly, they handed Matt Purke his first career loss. The Horns then travel to Oklahoma State for the weekend. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 7:32 AM | Permalink

Sunday - March 20, 2011

Game 19: Kansas State at Texas

Oh, my...what a strange game. Texas beat Kansas State 4-3 in 10 innings. Sorry I didn't get this report up last night. It was a long day. The line:

Hoby Milner started for the Horns and had a pretty good game. He went 7 innings, gave up the 3 runs (all earned) on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 6. He faced 28 batters, was also called for a balk, and hit a batter. By my count, he threw 102 pitches (75 for strikes). He also had four 1-2-3 innings (the 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th). After giving up a 1-out single in the 4th, he did not allow another KSU baserunner. Really nice. Kirby Bellow went to the mound at the start of the 8th and threw a lovely 1-2-3 inning. His numbers: 1.1 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 5 batters faced, no walks or strikeouts. He threw 14 pitches (12 for strikes). After giving up a 1-out single in the 9th, Bellow was replaced by Kendal Carrillo who finished off the inning by inducing a couple of fly outs to left field. Carrillo faced 2 and threw 10 pitches (5 for strikes). With the game tied 3-3, Texas sent Corey Knebel to the mound for the 10th. He went 3-up/3-down (ground out to p, fly outs to rf and cf) for the win. Knebel threw 12 pitches (8 for strikes).

So, how did Texas score their runs, you ask? Like so...

• 2nd inning
• Lucas Kephart (dh) hit a beauty of a double over the center fielder.
• Cohl Walla (cf) reached on a throwing error by 3b. Kephart scored on the play.
• Walla was moved to 2b on an error by the pitcher (bad pick-off throw) but was stranded there.
• 6th inning (trailing 1-3 going into the inning)
• Mark Payton (rf) reached on a 1-out infield single to ss.
• Erich Weiss (3b) drew a 4-pitch walk. Boy...teams really don't want to pitch to Weiss these days!
• Kephart doubled off he wall in rf. The runners had to hold up and wait to see if the right fielder would catch the ball so only Payton scored.
• KSU changed pitchers.
• Walla promptly drew a 4-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Sadly, Jacob Felts (c) hit a ground ball right at the third baseman near the 3b bag. He stepped on the bag to force Kephart and threw across the diamond to 1b for a double play.
• 9th inning (trailing 2-3 going into the inning)
• KSU sent their closer (James Allen, rhp) to the mound.
• Walla was hit by a pitch...on the helmet. He was trying to duck down under a high inside pitch. This is the 3rd or 4th time he's been beaned in the head this year. Weird.
• Felts moved Walla to 2b on a sac bunt to the pitcher (unassisted). The pitcher fielded the ball down the 1b line and then tagged Felts.
• Tant Shepherd (1b) drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Paul Montalbano (pinch-hitting for Jordan Etier) drew a 7-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Tim Maitland (lf) drew a 4-pitch walk (!!!) to drive in the tying run.
• Brandon Loy (ss) then struck out looking (2-2 pitch). He was not happy with the call but...
• Payton flew out to cf.
• Game tied. Here come extra innings.
• 10 inning
• After fouling off several pitches, Weiss hit a gorgeous double down the rf line. I have to say, I was very surprised that Tommy Harmon held Weiss up at 2b. The right fielder was having trouble fielding the ball and ended up making a very bad throw in. Of course, you can't predict the throw, so a rocket might have caught Weiss but. It seemed uncharacteristic of Harmon to be so conservative in this situation. Anyway...
• Kephart grounded out to 2b, moving Weiss to 3b.
• Insert long mound visit to discuss the situation.
• Walla and Felts were intentionally walked to load the bases. Huh.
• KSU changed pitchers.
• Shepherd struck out swinging. Ouch.
• Kevin Lusson (pinch-hitting for Christian Summers, who went into the game at 2b after the Montalbano pinch-hit for Etier in the 9th) drew a 5-pitch walk to end the game.
• Wow.

Again I say: wow. KSU walked in the tying run. And, then the winning run. Baseball really is a very cruel game.

A few photos. Playing catch in rf before the start of the game:

Kephart's double in the 6th:

You can just see the ball coming off the bat. Here...let's zoom in:

Ball 4 ends the game...

The Horns go for the sweep this afternoon. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 9:10 AM | Permalink

Friday - March 18, 2011

Game 18: Kansas State at Texas

Texas started off conference play tonight by beating Kansas State 3-0. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kansas State	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Texas	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-	3	5	1

Taylor Jungmann started and got the win for the Horns, taking his record to 5-0. Corey Knebel pitched the 9th for his 5th save of the year. Jungmann gave up all 5 of the Wildcats hits, walked 1, and struck out 4. By my count, he threw 106 pitches. Knebel faced 3 batters, struck out 1, and threw 19 pitches. Kyle Hunter started for Kansas State, went 6+ innings, and took the loss, moving his record to 2-1.

So, those runs scored by the Horns...

• 1st inning
• Mark Payton reached on a 1-out single to 3b. The third baseman managed to knock the hard-hit ground ball down but had no throw to 1b.
• Cohl Walla singled to ss, moving Payton to 2b. The KSU shortstop made a nice diving stop on the play but by the time he got to his feet, there was no play to be made at 1b or 2b.
• Erich Weiss drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Jonathan Walsh then reached on a 3-2 fielder's choice (Payton out at the plate). He hit a high chopper down the line right at the first baseman. The play was close at home but...shrug. Bases loaded, 2 out.
• Jacob Felts hit a beauty of a single into lf, scoring Walla and Weiss (Walsh moved up to 2b).
• Kevin Lusson flew out to rf, ending the inning.
• 7th inning
• Tant Shepherd drew a full-count 7-pitch walk.
• Jordan Etier drew a 5-pitch walk, moving Shepherd to 2b.
• Which chased the KSU starter out of the game.
• Brandon Loy drew a 4-pitch walk. Ouch.
• Payton then hit a fly ball into fairly shallow cf. Shepherd tagged up and just slid under the tag at home to score the final run of the game. Whew.
• Walla then reached on a 6-4 fielder's choice and Weiss flew out to cf to end the inning.

Kansas State threatened to score in both the 7th and 8th, getting 4 of their hits in those 2 innings (2 singles in each inning). They got runners to 3b in both innings but failed to capitalize.

All-in-all, a very nice game for the Horns. Jungmann didn't seem to have his best stuff but he and his defense got the job done. There was a nice crowd on hand...to wit, a photo I took with my phone during the 7th inning stretch:

It was really a lovely night for baseball.

There are a couple of fun things scheduled for the weekend games. Before Saturday's game, five members of the Navy Leap Frogs Parachute Team will jump into Disch-Falk Field. I sure hope the wind cooperates. And, before Sunday's game, there will be a flyover featuring 2 Navy F/A-18C Hornets. Don't forget your cameras!

Posted by Joanna at 11:49 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - March 15, 2011

Game 17: Texas State at Texas

The Horns beat the Texas State Bobcats 3-1 tonight. Two of those three runs were unearned. They still counted, though. Yippee! The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas State	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	2
Texas	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	-	3	7	1

[UPDATE (Wednesday morning). Want some photos? Go check out Donald J. Boyles' gallery. Lots of good stuff there.]

Kirby Bellow got his first start of the year and threw first 3.1 innings. He faced 13 batters, gave up 1 hit (lead-off single to start the game!), walked 3, and struck out 3...all without giving up any runs. A nice solid start for Bellow. Josh Urban pitched the next 1.1 and gave up the lone TSTU run of the day. He faced 6, gave up 1 earned run, 1 hit (a double), walked 2, and struck out 2. Urban walked the lead-off batter in the 5th and then gave up a double to the next batter (rbi). The batter tried to stretch his double (really nice hit to the cf/rf gap) into a triple but was thrown out by a mile. I don't think he expected the Texas outfield to be able to run the ball down that quickly. After another walk and a strikeout, Andrew McKirahan went to the mound. The first two batters he faced reached on a catcher's interference and a full-count walk. The next batter went down swinging. Whew. McKirahan did allow a 1-out double in the 7th but, otherwise had a nice outing. He went 2.1 innings to get the victory. He faced 10, gave up the one hit, walked 1, and struck out 2. Kendal Carrillo threw the 8th inning. He faced 3 batters and struck out 2 of them. Corey Knebel went in for the 9th and earned his 4th save of the year as he struck out the side. I don't really have much of a feel for how hard pitchers throw but it looked to me like Knebel was just blowing the ball past the batters; he was throwing really hard.

On the offensive side of things I have to say it was very nice to see Texas grab the lead in the first inning and keep it. Brandon Loy started the game with a 5-pitch walk. He advanced to 2b on a sac bunt by Mark Payton, stole 3b with Cohl Walla at the plate, and scored on a wild pitch with Erich Weiss at the plate. The Horns went down in order only twice...in the 2nd and the 6th. They mounted a nice 2-out rally in the 4th when Jonathan Walsh doubled off the bottom of the home bullpen. Tant Shepherd reached on a throwing error by the shortstop, moving Walsh to 3b. Kevin Lusson then singled through the right side, scoring Walsh and moving Shepherd to 2b. Jordan Etier drew a 4-pitch walk to load the bases. Alas, Loy grounded out to 2b to end the rally. The Horns scored their final run of the game after mounting another 2-out rally in the 7th. Payton doubled to the lf/cf gap. Really pretty hit. He moved up to 3b on a passed ball with Walla at the plate. It was a pretty close play at 3b. The ball did not get very far from the catcher; he quickly rounded it up and threw to 3b...just barely missing the out. Whew. Walla ended up drawing a walk. Which prompted a pitching change. Erich Weiss then drew a 4-pitch walk to load the bases. After another pitching change, Jacob Felts reached on a fielding error by the third baseman, who just couldn't get a handle on a ground ball hit to 3b. Payton scored on the play. Sadly, Walsh flew out to lf, ending the rally. But, with Carrillo and Knebel and their quick 8th and 9th innings, the Horns didn't end up needing more runs.

Conference play is already upon us...amazingly enough. It starts this weekend with Kansas State coming to town. Hope to see lots of you at Disch-Falk on Friday at 6 o'clock. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:48 PM | Permalink

Monday - March 14, 2011

Game 16: Brown at Texas

Oh. Wow. It's nearly midnight on Monday night and I just realized I never posted a game report for the final game of the Brown series. Wow. I'm so sorry about that. And, now it's really too late to do much about it. Texas won 11-1 in 7 innings (10-run rule was in effect although it was not announced in the stadium until the game was over...surprising a couple of the Brown players and most of the crowd). Texas played much better on Sunday than they did on Saturday. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Brown	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	7	1
Texas	0	2	3	2	4	0	-	11	10	1

Cole Green got the complete-game victory. He struck out 10 (tying his career high) and didn't walk any. Nor did he give up any extra-base hits. All-in-all, a nicely pitched game.

Offensively, Erich Weiss continues to shine. He went 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 3 runs scored, a triple, and 2 runs batted in. Tant Shepherd showed some power again as he hit another homerun into the Brown bullpen to lead off the 2nd inning for Texas. Shepherd ended up going 1-for-2 with the homerun, 2 walks, and 2 runs scored. And, Cohl Walla went 3-for-4 with a run scored, 3 batted in, and a double. Every batter for Texas scored at least one run or batted at least one run in. The team combined for 10 walks and only 2 strikeouts.

My personal highlight of the day was when I noticed Brooks Keischnick sitting above us after the game. He was with a cute little boy (I'm guessing it was his son). They were getting their photo taken next to his retired-number sign. Very cool. He's looking good for an old guy. Ha! I have mentioned once or twice that he's my favorite ex-player. Right? And, that I think it's really cool they put his number above the section I sit in? Seeing him after such a good game was icing on the cake!

Posted by Joanna at 11:49 PM | Permalink

Saturday - March 12, 2011

Game 15: Brown at Texas

The Horns lost the second game of today's double header against Brown by a score of 3-7. It was Brown's first win of the year. And, they deserved the win. For Texas fans, it was ugly. Just plain ugly. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brown	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	1	0	7	10	2
Texas	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	6	3

Remember yesterday's game and how Texas kept capitalizing on the mistakes Brown made and won handily? Not so much in this afternoon's game. The Brown starter really pitched a miserable game. He threw 2 innings (and faced 1 batter in the 3rd) and gave up 2 runs (1 unearned)...without giving up a single hit. He walked 4, hit 1, struck out 1, and threw 2 wild pitches. He was all over the place. He threw at least 4 pitches that went BEHIND the batter. He'd throw something completely off-target and would come right back with a strike. It was bizarre. Despite all that, Texas only managed to score 2 runs against him before he was replaced by the eventual game winner. I really don't know what to say about the game. Texas just did not play well.

Sam Stafford started. He threw 6 innings and gave up 3 runs (2 unearned). He walked 5 and struck out 7. Not a bad game really. Keifer Nuncio relieved Stafford at the start of the 7th and only lasted a third of an inning. He gave up a single, a sac bunt, and a walk...and ended up with the loss as the two batters he allowed on base went on to score. Kirby Bellow, Kendal Carrillo, and Andrew McKirahan each pitched a third of an inning before Stayton Thomas went in for the final 1.2 innings of the game. Bellow and McKirahan were each charged with single earned runs. Defensively, the Horns failed to turn a couple of double plays and made a couple of sloppy errors. Coach Garrido was thrown out of the game for arguing a close play at 1b. That's the 2nd time this year he's been tossed. Both times were parts of double headers. I'm thinking maybe Texas should consider not scheduling double-headers in the future. Just a thought.

Offensively, Brandon Loy and Paul Montalbano had pretty good days, going 2-for-3 and 2-for-2 respectively; each hit a double. The Horns got the lead-off man aboard in each of the first 7 innings but only scored him 3 times. And, then, as if to add insult to injury, the 1, 2, and 3 batters struck out back-to-back-to-back to end the game. Ugh. I'm really hoping things get better tomorrow. Frankly, it would be hard to do worse. It was a very frustrating day. Especially when you consider how well they played on Friday. Ah well...tomorrow is another day. Again I say: hopefully a better one. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 10:27 PM | Permalink

Game 14: Brown at Texas

So...short updates tonight, folks. I'm sleepy and tired. And, I heard a rumor that I'm losing an hour of sleep tonight so...shrug. That's life. You get what you pay for.

Texas beat Brown, 4-3, in the first game of the double-header this afternoon. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Brown	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	6	1
Texas	0	0	0	0	4	0	-	4	6	1

If it weren't for freshman phenom Erich Weiss, I'm not sure what would've happened in today's first game. After stranding a runner at 2b in the 3rd, leaving them loaded in the 4th, and falling behind 0-3, we were all a bit flummoxed. I have to say, the Horns looked a bit flat and out-of-sorts today. But, things picked up quite a bit in the 5th inning. Jordan Etier singled to cf to lead off the inning. He moved to 2b on a single by Paul Montalbano. And, Brandon Loy loaded the bases on a bunt attempt bobbled by the pitcher. Mark Payton then hit into a 3-2 fielder's choice, keeping the bases loaded while also keeping Etier from scoring. With the infield pulled in, Payton hit a ground ball right at the 1st baseman. Terrible luck. Weiss was up next, though, and he worked the count to 3-1 and then hit a monster shot over the rf fence, at the 375 mark...almost to the folks on one of the buses parked on Comal Street. It was purty. Purty. Purty. It turns out that was the first grand slam he's ever hit. Very cool!

Hoby Milner started for the Horns and pitched the first 5 innings to earn his 2nd win of the year. Corey Knebel threw the final two innings (facing the minimum) to earn his 3rd save of the year.

All-in-all, kind of a shaky win. But, a win. We were all happy to accept it! Especially in light of how things went in the second game of the day. That story is coming up next.

Posted by Joanna at 9:45 PM | Permalink

Friday - March 11, 2011

Game 13: Brown at Texas

I listened to the first half of the game as I drove out to Bastrop this evening. Which really made me miss KLBJ's strong AM signal. In years gone by, I could drive all the way to Waco and maybe even a bit past there and listen to a game the whole way. Now I can't even make it all the way to Bastrop. So sad. Anyway, once I got to Bastrop, I tuned in online and watched the rest of the stream from TexasSports.com. Texas won in easy fashion, beating Brown 8-0. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
Texas	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	-	8	14	1

Taylor Jungmann started for Texas, went 8 innings, and did not give up a run (obviously). He did walk a couple of batters...his 2nd and 3rd of the year in 34+ innings. He hit one batter (the first batter of the game) and also gave up 3 hits but they were scattered and Brown never really did threaten much. The Bears did get a runner to 3b in the 3rd. Matt Colantonio (c) reached on a 2-out full-count walk and then stole 2b. On the play, Jacob Felts threw to 2b but neither Brandon Loy (ss) nore Jordan Etier (2b) moved to cover the bag. The ball sailed into cf and Colantonio made it easily to 3b. Bill Little speculated that the Texas middle-infielders had both thought the pitch was the third strike...and end of the top-half of the inning.

Jungmann threw 88 pitches to finish out the 8th inning. In his post-game interview, Coach Garrido said they're being very aware of not over-using Jungmann and that he was on a 90-pitch limit for tonight's game. Keifer Nuncio threw the final inning of the game. He faced 4 batters, walked one and struck out one.

The Horns jumped out to an early lead, scoring 4 quick runs in the bottom of the 1st as the entire line-up made it to the plate. Paul Montalbano started things off with a single and then moved all the way to 3b on a bunt single by Brandon Loy down the 3b line. He then scored and Loy moved to 2b on another bunt single by Mark Payton. Erich Weiss moved the runners to 2b and 3b on a sac bunt. Walsh then reached on a fielder's choice (3-2)...Loy was thrown out at home and Payton moved up to 3b. Walsh made it all the way to 2b on the play. (Sounded like the Bears weren't really on their game in the early going.) Cohl Walla then reached on an error by the shortstop that scored Payton and moved Walsh to 3b. Walla then stole 2b and Tant Shepherd drew a full-count walk to load the bases. Jacob Felts singled through the left side, scoring Walsh and Walla. Jordan Etier then flew out to lf to end the inning.

Walsh led off the 3rd with an infield single to 2b. After Walla struck out, Shepherd tripled to the cf/rf gap, scoring Walsh. A squeeze attempt by Felts was not successful...he was thrown out at 1b and Shepherd was unable to score. But, Etier singled through the left side, scoring Shepherd, but was shortly caught stealing to end the inning.

Texas scored a single run in the 7th. Weiss reached on a lead-off single, moved to 2b on a throwing error by the pitcher (bad pick-off throw) and then advanced to 3b on a wild pitch. He scored on another bad pick-off throw by the pitcher to 1b. Reminiscent of the first inning, eh?

The Horns scored their final run of the game in the 8th. Etier reached on a double to cf and then scored on a Montalbano single through the right side.

The Horns did a good job of capitalizing on mistakes made by Brown this evening. Here's hoping for more wins...but cleaner ball...this weekend. They're scheduled for a double-header starting at noon tomorrow. The first game is set to go 7 innings and the second to go 9. If the first game goes extra innings, the second one will be shortened to 7 innings. Then they play a single game on Sunday, also scheduled for a 12 o'clock start.

Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 9:22 PM | Permalink

Tuesday - March 8, 2011

Game 12: UT-San Antonio at Texas

Oh, my goodness...what a game! It was oh-so-very good. And, then oh-so-very aggravating. And, then oh-so-very exciting. Whew. I'm exhausted. Oh, and the Horns won 8-5 in 11 innings. Game-winning shot? 2-out 3-run walk-off home run by Tant Shepherd into the UTSA bullpen. Sweet. The box:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
UT-San Antonio	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	5	6	2
Texas	0	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	8	3

For some reason I seem to be really sleepy tonight. So, I'm gonna sign off for the moment. I'll be back with a complete game report either later tonight or sometime tomorrow. Zzzzzz...

CONTINUED (late on March 10th...sorry it took so long to get back to this)...

Cole Green started for the Horns. I think they were hoping to just get him to relax and play ball without the pressure of a series weighing on him. It worked. He went 4 innings and really had a stellar outing. He faced one batter above the minimum (which adds up to 13). He struck out 9 of those guys...including 8 of the last 9 he faced. He struck out the side in the 3rd and 4th innings. It was truly beautiful.

And, then they reverted to pitch-by-committee for the rest of the game. I really don't like them doing this in midweek games. I know the goal is to get everyone some work...or see how people are doing...or...shrug...something that must make sense to the coaches (otherwise, why do it?)...but, it just doesn't seem to work. Things went to hell in the 8th when the Horns, ahead 5-0, gave up 5 unearned runs. It was brutal. And, it meant that the team had to resort to letting Corey Knebel (who's really starting to show some closer fire for the Horns) throw 30-40 more pitches than I imagine they would've liked so they wouldn't end up with another mid-week loss. So frustrating.

Oh, well.

I already mentioned Tant Shepherd's homer. But, it was Jordan Etier who got the first homer of the year for the Horns. He led off the 3rd with a lovely shot just over the lf fence near the 375 sign. It was cool. Here's how the Horns scored their runs:

• 2nd inning: With 1 out, Jonathan Walsh reached on an infield single that bounced over the pitcher's head. He moved to 2b when Jacob Felts drew a full-count walk. With Shepherd at the plate, Walsh and Felts executed a lovely double steal. Sadly, Shepherd struck out a couple of pitches later. But (!), Kevin Lusson then singled through the left side, scoring both runners. Felts actually missed the plate as he tried to slide in and beat the throw from lf. The catcher didn't realize it, though, because he saw that Lusson was trying to stretch his single into a double and gunned a throw to 2b that easily caught Lusson for the final out. But, not before Felts managed to tag home plate and score. Whew.
• 3rd inning: Etier led things off with that homerun I mentioned. Brandon Loy and Mark Payton then reached on back-to-back throwing errors by the UTSA pitcher. Both players bunted balls fielded by the pitcher. Both throws to 1b sailed way over the first baseman's head. Loy moved to 2b on the first error and scored on the 2nd. Payton ended up at 2b on the second error. He tagged and moved up to 3b on a Cohl Walla fly-out to cf. Erich Weiss then reached on a 5-pitch walk. Walsh did the same to load the bases. Felts grounded out to 1b (unassisted), scoring Payton. And, Shepherd ended the inning with his second strikeout of the day.
• 11th inning: Walsh reached on an 2-out single through the right side. He stole 2b and then Felts drew a 4-pitch walk. The last pitch of the walk was wild (!) and Walsh advanced to 3b on the wild pitch. With Shepherd at the plate, Felts stole 2b. Two pitches later, Shepherd hit his game-winning 3-run homerun into the visitor bullpen down the lf line. Purty, purty, purty.

Prior to that game-winning homerun, Shepherd had gone 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch. The pitch sequence on his final at-bat: swinging strike, foul ball, foul ball, foul ball, foul ball, ball, ball, homerun!!! A very, very nice at-bat...especially considering how much he'd struggled at the plate earlier in the game.

Check out the highlights from the game for video of both homeruns and a few other things that went down.

Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 10:13 PM | Permalink

Sunday - March 6, 2011

Game 11: Stanford at Texas

Signing off last night's post, I wrote that I hoped that the weather and the outcome would both be better today. I'm happy to report that they were. The temperature was about the same but without that stiff wind blowing in from lf that we had yesterday, it was a lot easier to be sitting in the stands today. And, more importantly, the Horns won! They beat Stanford 4-2 to take the series 2 games to 1. The box:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Stanford	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	8	0
Texas	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	x	4	7	1

Sam Stafford started for the Horns, went 5.1 innings, and got the win. Kendal Carrillo and Stayton Thomas combined for 2.1 innings in relief, and Corey Knebel closed out the final 2 innings of the game to get his 2nd save of the weekend. The two runs scored by Stanford were charged to Thomas who, after a great start early in the season, seems to have had a bit of bad luck in his last couple of appearances. Thomas started the 7th and faced four batters who went: strike out, ground out, single, and ground out. In the 8th, he gave up a lead-off walk followed by a single putting runners at 1b and 2b. Which prompted a pitching change. Knebel gave up back-to-back singles before getting the 5th batter of the inning to ground into a double play. Those lead-off runners scored on the 2nd single and on the double play. The final batter of the inning struck out swinging.

Texas scored 4 runs spread across 3 innings:

• 2nd inning: Erich Weiss reached on an infield single to ss. Cohl Walla then hit into a fielder's choice...erasing Weiss. Jonathan Walsh followed that up with a 5-pitch walk. Tant Shepherd also drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases. Kevin Lusson struck out swinging. And, with Jordan Etier at the plate, Walla scored on a wild pitch. Etier than grounded out to end the inning.
• 5th inning: Shepherd led the inning off with a double to the lf-cf gap. Purty. Lusson then singled through the right side, moving Shepherd to 3b. Etier grounded out to 1b (unassisted, sac bunt) scoring Shepherd and moving Lusson to 2b. Lusson moved to 3b on a ground out to ss by Paul Montalbano and scored on a single by Brandon Loy through the right side. After a pitching change, Mark Payton struck out to end the inning.
• 6th inning: Walla reached on a 1-out triple. The center fielder seemed to have a bead on the ball but lost it in the sun. By the time the right-fielder managed to round up the ball, Walla was standing happily at 3b. Nice. He then scored on a passed ball with Walsh at the plate.

All-in-all, it was a nice game for the Horns...a very marked improvement over the disaster that was Saturday's game. The team seemed much more focused and energetic.

Next up is UT-San Antonio on Tuesday. They're coming to Austin after losing 3-of-4 on the road to New Mexico. And then it's a 4-game series (including a double-header on Saturday) against Brown who have only played 3 games so far this year..all at Vanderbilt (all losses).

Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 8:04 PM | Permalink

Saturday - March 5, 2011

Game 10: Stanford at Texas

The Horns did not play well today and lost 2-9 to Stanford. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Stanford	2	1	0	0	3	0	1	2	0	9	11	0
Texas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	9	5

Yep...5 errors. And, really, that number could've been upped by one. It was a very, very, very windy day at Disch-Falk. The wind was mostly blowing in from lf but also came in from cf from time to time. All balls hit high in the air caused problems for fielders. I don't think the wind was a contributing factor in any of the Texas errors, though. At least, not that I can remember. I kept score but don't really have time for a full game report today. Lucky you...not having to read through the misery of the loss, eh?

Cole Green started for the Horns and gave up 3 runs (2 unearned), threw only 2 innings, and took the loss. Hoby Milner threw the next 2.1 innings and also gave up 3 runs (again, 2 unearned). Keifer Nuncio, Kendal Carrillo, Kirby Bellow, and Nathan Thornhill also pitched.

Despite the 9 hits, the Horns did not have many scoring opportunity. And when they did get someone into scoring position, they just didn't seem able to get that much-needed hit to push the runner across. They scored their first run in the 8th when Cohl Walla reached on a 2-out double. He scored when Jonathan Walsh (who started in lf today) hit a ground-rule double that bounced out-of-bounds over the retaining fence down the rf line. Jacob Felts and Christian Summers reached on back-to-back singles to start off the 9th (I think that was Summers first hit as a Longhorn). Felts did score but a pop-out, and two ground outs by the 1-2-3 hitters ended the game.

Rubber match tomorrow at 1 o'clock. I hope the weather and, more importantly, the outcome are better.

Posted by Joanna at 9:21 PM | Permalink

Friday - March 4, 2011

Game 9: Stanford at Texas

I didn't get to go to the game but listened to most of it. Texas beat Stanford 4-3. The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Stanford	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	6	1
Texas	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	x	4	9	0

Taylor Jungmann was on the mound for Texas and faced the minimum through the first 4.2 innings. The first hit of the game was a triple by Brian Ragira to the gap in right center. The next batter hit a bloop single over the ss, scoring the first run of the game...and first run of the year given up by Jungmann.

The first 6 batters for Texas went down in order. Tant Shepherd started the 3rd off with a double to the gap in right center. Jacob Felts moved him to 3b on a ground out ot 1b. Sadly, Jordan Etier grouded out to 3b and Shepherd had no chance to advance...a really nice play by the third baseman who was pulled in a bit with only one out. Paul Montalbano struck out looking...on a pitch that Craig Way thought was low out of the zone. Texas got the leadoff guy on again in the 4th but to no avail. After Texas gave up a run in the top of the 5th, Cohl Walla singled to start things off in the bottom of the inning. Kevin Lusson moved Walla to 2b with a sac bunt down the 1b line. Shepherd walked. Felts flew out to cf. Etier doubled to the cf-rf gap, scoring Walla and Shepherd. He moved up to 3b on the relay throw home which was wide and went past the catcher. Sadly, he was stranded at 3b. So...Horns with a 1-run lead.

Jungmann got back to form for the 6th, 7th, and 8th going 1-2-3 in all three innings.

Brandon Loy hit a 1-out single through the right side in the bottom of the 8th. Mark Payton tripled over the right fielder's head, scoring Loy! Erich Weiss followed that up with a single to lf, scoring Payton...which prompted a pitching change for Stanford. Walla singled through the left side, moving Weiss to 2b. Lusson grounded out to 2b, moving the runners to 2b and 3b. Sheperd flew out to lf to end the inning. Texas added to their lead, though, moving the score to 4-1.

Stanford got a couple aboard on back-to-back singles in the top of the 9th. A ground out to the pitcher moved the runners to 2b and 3b. And, a single up the middle scored both runners moving the Cardinal to within 1 run of the Horns. The next batter reached on a 5-4 fielder's choice...almost a double play but the relay throw was a bit late and low. Another single put runners at 1b and 2b...with the tying run at 2b. Which prompted Texas to send Corey Knebel (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann. Ragira, who got the first hit of the game, grounded out to Knebel to end the game!

Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 5:45 PM | Permalink

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