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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