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Saturday - April 2, 2011

Game 26: Missouri at Texas

For awhile there last night, things did not look good for the Horns. I got a tweet at about 7 (during the 4th inning) asking how things were going in the game. My reply: "Horns down 0-2 (T4). Jungmann struggling. Bad breaks. 1 UT hit. Ugly. Slight light at end of tunnel, though: 1-2-3 T4." And, things did get better. The Horns went on to win 5-4. The line:

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

By the way...sorry for not getting this up last night. It seems that I just don't have the energy these days to stay up late doing these game reports. Not sure what's up with that. But, I actually feel like doing the full-blown play-by-play today so...is that a win for y'all? Heh. Not sure. At any rate, here are the starting lineups:

Missouri		Texas
Blake Brown (rf) Brannon Champagne (cf) Conner Mach (3b) Dane Opel (lf) Jonah Schmidt (dh) Eric Garcia (2b) Ben Turner (c) Eric Anderson (1b) Jess Santo (ss)		Brandon Loy (ss) Mark Payton (cf) Erich Weiss (lf) Lucas Kephart (dh) Tant Shepherd (1b) Kevin Lusson (3b) Jacob Felts (c) Jonathan Walsh (rf) Jordan Etier (2b)

A bit of a change for the Horns. Apparently Cohl Walla's self-inflicted injury on that foul ball in the Oral Roberts game was a bit worse than initially suspected...causing some interesting shifts in the line-up.

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Missouri
• Taylor Jungmann (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Brown lined a single into cf. Ouch.
• Champagne tried to bunt Brown over. The bunt went down the 1b line toward the mound. Jungmann jumped off the mound, scooped up the ball, and thought about trying to gun down the lead runner. He changed his mind and threw to 1b. The throw was wide on the foul side of the bag. Shepherd lunged to his left and caught the ball. He dragged his right foot across the bag as he made the catch and it looked for all the world like the runner was out but the umpire ruled him safe, saying that Shepherd was not on the bag. If he'd been at 2b, there would've been no question at all about the runner being called out. You see that all the time at 2b. Coach Garrido argued the call but you know how that went. Runners at 1b and 2b, no out, error charged to the pitcher.
• Mach struck out swinging!
• Opel was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Another interesting play. Brown broke with the pitch and kept running to 3b when the ball appeared to get away from the catcher. Felts threw down to 3b and gunned down the runner. Yay! Only not. The home plate ump ruled that the pitch hit the batter. Bases loaded. 1 out. Ouch.
• Schmidt grounded out to 1b, scoring Brown. It looked like Shepherd actually had a play at home but he looked toward 2b and then decided to just step on the 1b bag for the sure out. Bases still loaded and 2 out with a run across.
• Garcia grounded out to ss. Whew.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 1st inning, Texas
• Rob Zastryzny (lhp) on the mound for Mizzou.
• Loy flew out to cf.
• Payton grounded out to ss.
• Weiss flew out to lf.
• Ouch.
• Texas down 0-1.
• 2nd inning, Missouri
• Turner popped out to 2b in shallow rf.
• Anderson grounded out to ss.
• Santo reached on a full-count 7-pitch walk. Damn.
• Brown (who singled in the 1st) tripled to the cf/rf gap. Walsh actually just got his glove on the ball but could not make the catch as he was running full speed to his right. Santo scored.
• Champagne grounded out to 2b.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Kephart grounded out to the pitcher.
• Shepherd singled through the left side. Nice hit.
• Lusson lined into an unassisted double play at 2b. Texas actually had a hit & run on (shocker!) and Shepherd was two-thirds of the way to 2b when the second baseman caught the ball...and then easily tagged Shepherd for the DP. So sad.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 3rd inning, Missouri
• Mach grounded out to ss.
• Opel popped out to 3b.
• Schmidt reached on a soft liner to cf. Payton dove for the ball but missed it.
• Garcia reached on a full-count walk.
• Turner lined out to cf.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Felts grounded out to the pitcher (bunt attempt).
• Walsh reached on a full-count 8-pitch walk.
• Etier popped out to 3b (near home plate).
• Loy flew out to rf.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 4th inning, Missouri
• Here's where that tweet came in and things started looking a bit better for the Horns.
• Anderson grounded out to 2b.
• Santo grounded out to 2b.
• Brown grounded out to ss.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Payton grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Weiss struck out swinging.
• Kephart reached on a 5-pitch walk.
• Shepherd lined a singled through the left side, moving Kephart to 2b. Two at-bats...two singles for Shepherd!
• Lusson, sadly, hit into a 4-6 fielder's choice to end the inning.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 5th inning, Missouri
• Champagne grounded out to 2b.
• Mach went down swinging.
• Opel drew a full-count walk.
• Schmidt hit a homerun over the lf fence...just left of the scoreboard. Damn.
• Garcia grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Texas down 0-4.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Felts flew out to lf.
• Walsh hit a bloop single into cf.
• Etier lined a single past the ss into lf, moving Walsh to 2b.
• Loy lined a single over the third baseman into lf, scoring Walsh and moving Etier to 2b.
• Payton struck out swinging.
• Weiss reached on a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• Kephart lined a single into cf, scoring Etier and Loy, and moving Weiss to 3b,
• Missouri sent Jeff Emens (rhp) to the mound, replacing Zastryzny.
• Shepherd lined another single into lf (his 3rd in as many chances), scoring Weiss and moving Kephart to 2b. Game tied! Wow.
• Lusson grounded into another fielder's choice to end the inning. The ss fielded the ball and stepped on 2b for the force.
• Game tied 4-4.
• 6th inning, Missouri
• Turner was hit by a 2-2 pitch.
• Anderson grounded into a 5-4-3 double play! Nice play by Lusson on a ground ball that took a bit of an odd hop just before he fielded it.
• Santo struck out swinging.
• Game tied 4-4.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Felts grounded out on a "nubber" to the pitcher.
• Walsh drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Etier doubled down the 3b line and into the lf corner, scoring Walsh. Nice.
• Loy struck out swinging.
• Payton grounded out to 1b.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 7th inning, Missouri
• Texas sent Kendal Carrillo (rhp) to the mound, replacing Jungmann. Just as Carrillo was getting ready to throw his first pitch, the Horns made a quick change in rf, as well...sending Paul Montalbano in for Walsh.
• Brown reached on an infield single to 3b. Lusson made a diving stop and jumped up to throw to 1b but the throw was high...and maybe a little late.
• Champagne singled through the right side on a hit & run. Brown advanced to 3b. Runners at the corners...nobody out. Ack!
• Mach struck out swinging. Whew. My mom had been calling for a double play and I'd told her we needed a strikeout and then a double play. Heh.
• Texas sent Andrew McKirahan (lhp) to the mound, replacing Carrillo.
• Opel grounded into a 6-4-3 double play! Double whew!
• Texas up 5-4.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Weiss grounded out to 2b.
• Kephart reached on ground ball single up the middle that streaked past the pitcher.
• Shepherd struck out swinging.
• Lusson grounded out to 2b.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 8th inning, Missouri
• Texas sent Corey Knebel (rhp) to the mound, replacing McKirahan. They also sent Tim Maitland in defensively and shifted the outfield around. The put Maitland in at cf, moved Payton over to rf, and moved Montalbano to lf.
• Schmidt struck out looking.
• Garcia also struck out looking. Nice.
• Turner flew out to rf.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Missouri sent Phil McCormick (lhp) to the mound, replacing Emens.
• Felts grounded out to 3b.
• Montalbano grounded out to 2b.
• Etier reached on a full-count walk.
• Loy reached on a full-count 10-pitch (!!!) walk, moving Etier to 2b.
• Payton flew out to lf.
• Texas up 5-4.
• 9th inning, Missouri
• Ryan Ampleman (pinch-hitting for Anderson) reached on a full-count 7-pitch walk.
• The first pitch to Santo was a ball. Skip Anderson made a visit to the mound. And, Missouri decided, during the mound visit, to send Sal Belfonte in to pinch-run for Ampleman.
• Santo moved Belfonte to 2b on the next pitch...1-3 sac bunt.
• Brown drew a 5-pitch walk.
• Texas sent Hoby Milner (lhp, scheduled for the start today) to the mound, replacing Knebel.
• Dillon Everett (pinch-hitting for Champagne) singled up the middle to load the bases. Yikes!
• Mach struck out swinging (foul tip). Whew.
• Opel flew out to cf (first pitch). Yee-haw!!!
• Texas wins 5-4!

I have to admit that I did not like the way things started out last night. Jungmann really struggled with the strike zone...but the home plate ump did not seem very consistent at all. It was wonderful, however, to see the Horns string together so many hits in the 5th. They really did hit a nice groove there. I have not heard whether the Horns will still start Milner today or go with Green instead and use Milner tomorrow. I'm guessing it will depend on how he's feeling when he gets to the park this afternoon. He threw 15 pitches last night so it's not out of the question that he'll get the nod today. By the way, Jungmann got the win and Milner got credit for a save. Nice. Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 9:16 AM