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Monday - June 6, 2011

Game 61: Texas State at Texas (Austin Regional)

With two games to recap and a morning at work before this afternoon's game, I just don't have time to do my usual full-game report with complete play-by-play. Sorry about that but...shrug.

Texas faced elimination from the Austin Regional as they played home team to Texas state in the first game of the day. Thankfully, the Horns came away with a win to survive and move on to the evening contest. The line:

The lineups:

Texas State		Texas
Tyler Sibley (2b) Bret Atwood (cf) Casey Kalenkosky (1b) Kyle Kubitza (3b) Andrew Stumph (c) Jeff McVaney (rf) Clint Vest (dh) Morgan Mickan (lf) Christian Gallegos (ss)		Tant Shepherd (1b) Mark Payton (rf) Brandon Loy (ss) Erich Weiss (3b) Paul Montalbano (cf) Kevin Lusson (dh) Jonathan Walsh (lf) Jordan Etier (2b) Jacob Felts (c)

Cole Green (rhp) started on the mound for Texas. Colton Turner (lhp) started or Texas State.

Cole Green really needed to give the Horns some innings today and he came through in a major way. He went 8 innings and gave up 2 runs (both earned). He faced 28 batters, gave up 4 hits (homerun, double, 2 singles), struck out 8, did not walk or hit any...all on 104 pitches (72 for strikes). It's a crying shame that he did not earn a win after all that. Texas sent Corey Knebel to the mound to throw the 9th. He entered the game with a 3-2 lead. Sadly, it did not hold up. He gave up an un-earned run. Texas scored a run in the bottom of the 9th, though, which gave him a win...moving his record to 3-2. He threw 1 inning, faced 4 batters, and gave up 1 unearned run, while giving up a single, and striking out 1. He threw 10 pitches (8 for strikes). I'm guessing he'll be available for long relief in Monday's game.

The offense woke up today. In summary (going down the line):

• Shepherd: K, 1b, 1b, 1b (rbi), K
• Payton: 1b, K, 1b, fly out, 1b (run scored)
• Loy: fielder's choice, 1b, sac fly (rbi), ground out, sac bunt
• Weiss: fly out, fly out, single, k, intentional walk
• Montalbano: hit by pitch, 1b, ground out, K, walk
• Lusson: sac bunt, ground into dp, pop out, ground out, 1b (rbi)
• Walsh: pop out, pop out, 1b (run scored)
• Walla (pinch-hitting for Walla): single
• Etier: fly out, pop out, walk (run scored), sac bunt
• Felts: ground out, 1b (run scored), hit by pitch, 1b

I have to admit that it would've been nice to see a few more runs scored off all those hits but...damn...it was just so good to see Texas being aggressive at the plate and getting on base.

How the teams scored their runs:

• 4th inning, Texas State
• Green on the mound.
• Atwood singled to right-center.
• Kalenkosky struck out swinging.
• With Kubitza at the plate, Atwood stole 2b.
• Kubitza homered over the rf fence...just to the left of the Wendy's sign.
• Stumph struck out swinging.
• McVaney flrew out to cf.
• Texas down 0-2.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Turner on the mound for Texas State.
• Etier popped out to cf.
• Felts lined a single over the second baseman into right-center.
• Shepherd lined a single into lf, moving Felts to 2b.
• Payton reached on a bunt single down the 3b line. Beautiful. The pitcher fielded and looked to 3b but the third baseman was charging for the ball. By the time the pitcher looked to 1b, Payton was safe. Bases loaded.
• Loy hit a sac fly to cf, scoring Felts.
• Weiss reached on an infield single to 3b...reloading the bases. The third baseman fielded the ball and then almost ran into the shortstop as he was throwing to 1b. Yikes.
• Montalbano grounded out to 2b to end the inning.
• Texas down 1-2.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Turner on the mound for Texas State.
• Lusson popped out to rf.
• Walsh singled through the left side.
• Texas State sent Travis Ballew (rhp) to the mound, replacing Turner.
• Etier drew a 4-pitch walk, moving Walsh to 2b.
• Felts watched two balls cross the plate and Texas State sent Fielding Pittman (rhp) to the mound, replacing Ballew. Yep, 6 pitches (all balls) for Ballew. Pittman threw a ball to Felts and then hit him to load the bases. Yikes!
• Shepherd singled through the right side, scoring Walsh. Bases still loaded.
• Payton flew out to cf. No chance for the runners to advance.
• With Loy at the plate, Etier scored on a passed ball as the other runners also advanced a base. The ball didn't really look like it was going to get far enough away from the catcher but Etier took off and ran to the plate without a second of hesitation. Nice job.
• Loy grounded out to ss.
• Texas up 3-2.
• 9th inning, Texas State
• Corey Knebel (rhp) entered the game in relief of Cole Green. The Horns also did their 9th-inning defensive switch-a-roo: Montalbano moved to rf, Cohl Walla (who'd pinch-hit in the 8th) went in at cf, and Tim Maitland went in at lf (replacing Payton in the lineup).
• Atwood reached on a single off Loy's glove.
• On the 2nd pitch to Kalenkosky (a ball), Atwood took off for 2b. Felts tried to throw him out but the ball skipped through to cf, allowing Atwood to reach 3b. Ouch.
• Kalenkosky grounded out to ss. Loy did a nice job of looking Atwood back to 3b before throwing to 1b.
• Kubitza hit a sac fly to rf. Atwood scored. Damn. Tie game.
• The first pitch to Stumph was a ball which prompted a visit to the mound.
• Two called strikes and a swinging strike later, Stumph was out!
• Game tied 3-3.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Jeff McVaney (lhp) on the mound for Texas State. He'd gone from rf to p in the 7th.
• Maitland, who'd gone in for defensive purposes if you'll recall, watched a strike and then reached on a lovely drag bunt past the mound...on the 1b side. The first baseman fielded the ball and raced back to 1b but Maitland beat him by a step or two. Beautiful!
• Loy moved Maitland to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Weiss was intentionally walked.
• Texas State sent Carson Smith (rhp, the starter from Friday's game) to the mound and sent McVaney back to rf.
• Montalbano drew a 5-pitch walk to load the bases.
• With one out and everyone (infield and outfield) pulled in, Lusson hit a ground-rule double to the gap in right-center to win the game! It seemed to me that he should get credit for the double and two runs but that's not the way baseball works. He was credited with a single and the run scored by Maitland is the only one that counts.
• Texas wins 4-3.

Kevin Lusson hitting left-handed in the 9th inning comes through. He did the same on Saturday night with that 3-run blast. Amazing. With the win, the Horns had to immediately start thinking about the night-cap against Kent State.

Posted by Joanna at 7:52 AM