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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