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Wednesday - May 25, 2011
Game 54: Missouri at Texas (Big 12 Tournament)
I was at lunch when the game started and got back to my office to find the game tied 1-1 in the 3rd. Based on the video stream, I'd guess there were fewer than 1,000 folks in the stands; the seats looked pretty empty at any rate. At some point Bill Little commented that the crowd for the first game of the day (Baylor/OSU) was even smaller. Anyway...
Nathan Thornhill (who started today's game for Texas) got into trouble in the 4th. He struck out the first batter he saw but then a single, a walk, and another single loaded the bases. Texas sent Hoby Milner to the mound at that point. And, he promptly hit a batter (1-3 count) to score the go-ahead run. Ouch. A pop-up and fielder's choice ended the threat. Erich Weiss led off the bottom of the inning with a solo-shot over the rf fence to tie the game again at 2-2.
The Tigers retook the lead in the 5th on a single, sac bunt, a fly out that did not advance the runner), a walk, and a single up the middle. Texas then sent Kendal Carrillo to the mound, replacing Milner, with runners at 1b and 2b and 2 out. A groundout to the ss ended the top half of the inning. With one out, Brandon Loy reached on an infield single to 2b and Mark Payton drew a full-count walk, putting runners at 1b and 2b. Tant Shepherd flew out to cf; Loy tagged up on the play and moved up to 3b. With runners at the corners and 2 out, Weiss singled into rf, scoring Loy (to tie the game up 3-3) and moving Payton to 2b. Paul Montablano, sadly, grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning. Through the first 5 innings of the game, Missouri scored single runs in the 1st, 4th, and 5th. Texas responded with single runs in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th to tie the game up each time.
With 2 out in the 6th, Missouri loaded the bases on 2 infield singles to 2b sandwiched around a walk. A double to the gap in left-center cleared tbe bases, giving Missouri a 6-3 lead. Oh my. Another infield single off Carrillo's glove put runners at the corners. A ground out to 2b (which sounded like it was almost another infield single!) finally ended the top of 6th. (By the way, I tried to watch the Internet stream of the game but had too much going on so just ended up listening to Craig Way and Bill Little on the radio.) Texas got a runner to 2b in the bottom of the inning but he was stranded there. No answer in the 6th, alas.
I missed the 7th inning but, according to the LiveStats page, not much happened. Andrew McKirahan did go to the mound for Texas and threw a 3-up/3-down inning. Shepherd reached on a 2-out single in the bottom of the inning but was stranded at 1b.
After getting two quick outs to start the 8th, McKirahan walked a batter, prompting Texas to send Corey Knebel to the mound to face Jonah Schmidt (who hit the bases-clearing double in the 6th). Interesting. This was not a save situation...not even close. Apparently, the Horns were just getting Knebel a bit of work after his struggles in the final game of the Aggie series. Knebel (ahead in the count against Schmidt) actually picked off the runner at 1b for the 3rd out. In the bottom of the inning, Missouri went to their bullpen, sending Phil McCormick (Missouri closer) to the mound replacing starter Eric Anderson. Montalbano promptly doubled to right-center. Jonathan Walsh grounded out (to 2b, I think), moving Montalbano to 3b. Kevin Lusson struck out looking (2-2 pitch). Sad. Jordan Etier doubled down the rf line, scoring Montalbano. Yes! Cohl Walla (pinch-hitting for Jacob Felts) drew a 4-pitch walk. Loy grounded out to ss. Shucks. Little had commented that the Mizzou center fielder had shifted to right-center opening up a big-time gap in left-center big-time. Loy did pull the ball in that direction but on the ground. Texas down 4-6.
In the 9th inning, Texas moved Kevin Lusson from dh to catch which put Knebel into the line-up (taking Walla's pinch-hitting spot). No more DH for Texas today. The Tigers went down in order. Nice. In the bottom of the inning, the Horns had their 2-3-4 batters (Payton, Shepherd, and Weiss) due up. Sadly, Payton struck out swinging on three pitches. Shepherd blooped a full-count pitch into rf! Weiss grounded out to the pitcher, moving Shepherd to 2b. Montalbano fouled off several pitches and managed to work the count full, before he was called out looking. Sigh. Texas ended up losing 4-6. Carrillo was saddled with the loss, dropping his record to 4-1. The line:
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| Texas | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
In the post-game conference, Coach Garrido said he thought Missouri really wanted to win the game and you could tell. He said the Horns played well but didn't get the breaks they needed. He added that the Horns have won the tournament from the loser's bracket before and they can do it again. He said he didn't get the sense that the players feel any undo pressure. He said he thinks they're ready to compete and they just haven't bought into the inning-by-inning concept yet. He said they were in the game in the 8th and 9th but needed to be more aggressive earlier in the game. He said the team is letting the other team set the tone...and it's not the first time they've done this. He said it's hard to get the team to commit to the killer instinct. You can't wait until the other team does something and then strike back. He said they're not fighting to gain the momentum...they're playing to win the game and those habits are hard to break. Loy and Weiss seemed to agree with the assessment. They said they're good enough to win the National Championship...they just need to figure out how to do it.
My response: umm...okay. I'm frustrated that the team has not yet figured these things out. I'm having flashbacks to 2008. I don't like it but there you have it.
Texas will now face Baylor (in an elimination game) in the first game of the day tomorrow morning. I believe Texas will be the visiting team. Start time will be 9 o'clock. Sigh. I hate to say it but wonder if the Horns will go out in two and lose their National seed in the Regionals? I'm guessing they pretty much have to start Jungmann tomorrow, right? Maybe they go with Green? Dunno. Coach Garrido did not say who would be starting in the post-game conference (I don't think anyone asked him who the starter would be, though.)
UPDATE (5:30pm). Direct quotes from the post-game news conference (taken from the PDF file posted on the Big 12's site):
- Coach Augie Garrido
- On the game: "They did a much better job with two outs in their battles. They got the results with two outs. The three runs on the extra-base hit with two outs. We missed the third out on a very tough play that set up the opportunity and the guy capitalized on the opportunity."
- On Missouri's hitting: "Their two strike hitting was very good. They had hits with 0-2 and with 1-2 counts. They battled. As they battled they got more victories inning-by-inning than we did."
- On relief pitcher Kendal Carrillo: "I think it was rough. It was rough for all of us. He just happened to be the pitcher. It's never about one guy. Kendal didn't lose the game. We batted nine times, and scored four runs. You don't have to lose when the other team has six (runs). There are ways to overcome that."
- On Texas' individual play: "I think our guys played okay; I think they battled. I don't question that part of it. It was just a tough game. We had two of those high-hoppers but they never got to the second bounce."
- Brandon Loy, on playing more aggressively late in games: "You see in a lot of the games we play we're down you will see a little bit more competitiveness in the eighth and ninth inning. It's just something that we have to work on, getting runs early and staying ahead early. You see how we can play when we're down in the eighth and ninth. It's just one of those things where we have to keep fighting and just come out tomorrow and strap it up and get ready to go."
- Erich Weiss, on Missouri: "I thought that they were (ready) at the beginning of the game, they came out early and they were ready to play. They saw the ball pretty well and were hitting it. At the end of the game we were needing to be more aggressive and I thought that we kind of came out more aggressive but it didn't turn out too well."
Posted by Joanna at 3:52 PM