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Friday - May 27, 2011

Game 56: Oklahoma State at Texas (Big 12 Tournament)

I listened to today's game between the Horns and Cowboys at work (Craig Way and Bill Little sharing their insights via KVET). Which means I did miss some of it. Sorry!

Cole Green started for Texas...who played home team. Cowboys went 1-2-3 in the first. Yay. Brandon Loy started things off with a double and things looked kind of exciting for a couple of minutes. Alas, the Horns left runners stranded at 2b and 3b.

The Cowboys got a 1-out runner aboard in the 2nd to no avail. In the bottom of the inning, Cohl Walla reached on a strikeout wild pitch that went to the backstop but he was erased when Jordan Etier grounded into a double play.

I missed the 3rd inning which turned out to be pretty exciting. OSU hit a 2-run homerun (1 out at the time). Happily, Texas answered with 3 in the bottom of the inning! With one run across for Texas in the bottom of the inning, the OSU shortstop made an error (booted the ball, I think) on a double play ball that kept the inning alive. With the bases loaded, Paul Montalbano singled, scoring 1 run. And, then Jonathan Walsh hit a sac fly to cf, scoring the third run of the inning.

I also missed the 4th and top of the 5th but they were apparently uneventful. There were no runs scored at any rate.

Got back to my office in time for the bottom of the 5th. Mark Payton led things off with a triple! First pitch. Tant Shepherd hit the next pitch (!) up the middle, scoring Payton. Erich Weiss sturck out swinging and Paul Montalbano was hit by a pitch. Which prompted a visit to the mound by Frank Anderson (who ended up making a pitching change). Craig and Bill then started chuckling a bit about Frank apparently being very disgusted with the job Randy Bruns was doing behind the plate. Walsh went down looking. Walla lined a single down the 3b line. Shepherd scored and Montalbano moved up to 3b. With Etier at the plate, Montalbano scored and Walla advanced to 2b on a passed ball. Etier did go on to strike out swinging. Texas up 6-2 through 5. Nice.

The Cowboys got a lead-off homer in the 6th. So glad the Horns scored 3 in the 5th! Right before the homer was hit, Craig and Bill had noted that Nathan Thornhill and Hoby Milner were up in the bullpen. A come-backer to the mound and a ground out to 2b got the next two batters down. And, a line-drive to ss ended the Cowboys' half of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Felts flew out to cf. Loy then reached on a single to lf (first pitch). I do love first-pitch hits. Payton then drew a walk. Sadly, Shepherd popped out to 1b and Weiss struck out looking. Craig commented that the last two pitches to Weiss (both called strikes) looked to be very far inside. In the post-game news conference, Coach Garrido said the first inside pitch actually hit Weiss on the elbow but the ump ruled Weiss was crowding the plate and had his elbow in the strike zone.

Texas sent Nathan Thornhill to the mound to start the 7th and he tossed a lovely 1-2-3 inning (pop-up to ss, fly out to cf, and a groundout to 3b). In the bottom of the inning, Montalbano flew out to lf. Walsh singled through the right side. Walla reached on an error by the right-fielder who lost a fly ball in the sun. It his his glove and went past him. Walsh moved up to 3b on the play and Walla to 2b. With the infield pulled in, Etier lined a single into lf, scoring Walsh and moving Walla to 3b. With runners at the corners, the infield moved to double-play depth. The first pitch to Felts went behind him. Yikes. (With Felts at the plate, Craig commented that Coach Garrido said in his pre-game remarks that he'd rather have the UT pitching staff over any other in the current situation...where they have to win 4 games in 3 days). Felts struck out swinging after fouling off a few balls. Loy then reached on a 4-pitch walk. Payton was called out on strikes. He was not happy with the call of two of the called strikes...feeling they were very far inside. Sounded like the same thing that got Weiss upset earlier in the game. If I were calling pitches, I think I'd just call for all of them to be there, wouldn't you? Texas up 7-3.

The first OSU batter of the 8th inning flew out to lf at the warning track. The next flew out to cf. And, the third hit a fly ball over Walla's head to the warning track for a double. Texas sent Hoby Milner to the mound, replacing Thornhill. Texas had said that, ideally, Thornhill would only be used for 1 or 2 innings and that Milner would only come in for very short relief in specific situations since he might be needed to start tomorrow. Two pitches later, the fourth batter of the inning popped out to ss. Nice. In the bottom of the inning, Shepherd lined a single into rf. With Weiss at the plate, Shepherd moved up to 2b on a wild pitch. Weiss (the only Texas batter without a hit today...but he did reach base on a walk and a hit-by-pitch) drew a full-count walk. Montalbano singled through the right side, scoring Shepherd and moving Weiss to 3b! Walsh plated Weiss on a sac fly to deep cf. Walla grounded out to 3b, moving Montalbano to 2b. Etier flew out to cf. Texas up 9-3. Nice.

The Horns sent Corey Knebel to the mound to pitch the 9th inning. The first batter he faced went down looking on 3 pitches. The next batter, sadly, singled past Shepherd into rf. The third? Another strikeout looking. Sweet. The final batter of the game grounded out to 1b (unassisted). Texas wins 9-3.

The line:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oklahoma State	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	7	2
Home	0	0	3	0	3	0	1	2	-	9	13	0

In the post-game comments on the radio, Coach Garrido sounded very excited by the win. He said that the team played the game today instead of the scoreboard which is what they've been wanting the team to do all season. Asked about pitching for tomorrow, he said they'd go with Sam Stafford in the first game and Hoby Milner in the second game.

The Horns will now face Missouri again tomorrow at 9 am. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 6:44 PM