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Friday - March 2, 2012

Game 9: Texas at Rice (Houston College Classic)

I listened to this evening's game on the radio. This report is based on that broadcast. The Horns fell behind early, tied things up, and then took the lead for good with a great 6-run 5th inning. Nathan Thornhill struggled early on the mound but buckled down and got the win as he ended up pitching into the 7th inning. Parker French took over for Thornhill and got his first career save. Offensively, the team seemed much more confident at the plate for most of the game. Alex Silver got the hit of the game when he hit a pinch-hit double into the lf corner, giving the Horns the lead for good in the 5th. Jordan Etier got his first hit of the season when he tripled to left-center 3 batters later. Jonathan Walsh hit a couple of doubles tonight and Brooks Marlow hit 3 singles.

Here's the line (from GameTracker):

The lineups:

Texas		Rice
Mark Payton (rf) Tim Maitland (cf) Erich Weiss (3b) Jonathan Walsh (lf) Christian Summers (dh) Jacob Felts (c) Kevin Lusson (1b) Jordan Etier (ss) Brooks Marlow (2b)		Christian Stringer (2b) Michael Fuda (cf) J.T. Chargois (1b) Jeremy Rathjen (rf) Michael Ratterree (lf) Craig Manuel (c) Shane Hoelscher (3b) Ryan Lewis (dh) Derek Hamilton (ss)

And, here's how things played out:

• 1st inning, Texas
• Austin Kubitza (rhp) on the mound for Rice.
• Payton grounded out to 2b. The second baseman bobbled the ball but got the throw off in time to 1b for the out.
• Maitland grounded out to the pitcher.
• Weiss reached on an infield single off the pitcher toward 2b.
• Walsh flew out to rf.
• 1st inning, Rice
• Nathan Thornhill (rhp) on the mound for Texas.
• Stringer flew out to lf at the warning track (1st pitch).
• Fuda struck out swinging.
• Chargois drew a full-count walk.
• Rathjen singled off the third baseman's glove into lf, moving Chargois to 2b.
• After the first pitch to Ratterree (ball), Felts went to the mound to talk to Thornhill. After the 2nd pitch (another ball), Coach Johnson made a visit to the mound.
• (Dave Yeast, who is universally disliked for his calling of the strike zone, is the home plate umpire tonight. Ugh. So glad I don't have to watch him in person.)
• Ratterree went on to draw a 5-pitch walk to load the bases. Ouch.
• Manuel reached on an infield single to 2b. Marlow's throw to 1b was off-line and a bit late. Lusson could not dig the ball out of the dirt, E4. Chargois scored on the single. Rathjen scored on the error. Ratterree moved up to 3b and Manuel to 2b on the error.
• Hoelscher started out with 3 balls, fouled off a pitch, watched a strike, fouled off another pitch, and then drew a full-count walk to load the bases.
• (John Curtiss up in the bullpen for Texas.)
• Lewis struck out swinging.
• 37 pitches (17 for strikes), 2 runs (1 unearned).
• Texas down 0-2.
• 2nd inning, Texas
• Summers drew a full-count walk.
• Felts squared to bunt and as he was trying to get out of the way of an inside pitch, he ended up bunting down the 1b line, moving Summers to 2b. 3-4 sac bunt.
• Lusson drew a 4-pitch walk. Summers took off on the 4th pitch and stole 3b on the play! Nice.
• Etier drew a full-count walk to load the bases!
• (Owls had a pitcher warming up in their bullpen at this point.)
• Marlow grounded out to 2b (p covered 1b bag, I think), scoring Summers, while moving Lusson to 3b and Etier to 2b.
• Payton worked the count full and then drew a 7-pitch walk to re-load the bases.
• Maitland drew a 4-pitch walk. Lusson scored. Bases still loaded.
• Wayne Graham to the mound for a chat. Uh-oh.
• Rice sent Taylor Wall (lhp) to the mound, replacing Kubitza.
• Weiss grounded out to ss. The shortstop bobbled the ball momentarily but got the throw off in time to make the out.
• Game tied 2-2.
• 2nd inning, Rice
• Hamilton flew out to rf (1st pitch).
• Stringer lined a single into cf.
• Fuda reached on a 4-6 fielder's choice.
• With Chargois at the plate, Fuda took off on a 1-1 pitch and was caught stealing 2-6. Texas guessed he'd be on the run and pitched out. Yes!
• 11 pitches (8 for strikes).
• Game tied 2-2.
• 3rd inning, Texas
• Walsh reached on a double off the lf wall!
• Summers failed to get the bunt down and then struck out swinging. The catcher could not hold onto the ball so had to throw down to 1b to complete the out.
• On the first pitch (a ball) to Felts, Walsh stole 3b. The low ball got away from the catcher (flustered by the baserunner?) and it sounded like he reached 3b easily.
• Felts grounded out to the ss, scoring Walsh.
• Lusson struck out looking.
• Texas up 3-2.
• 3rd inning, Rice
• Chargois reached on a (non) error by ss. The replay showed it was a bad call. Lusson had to go up to make the catch on a high throw and came down on the bag (before the runner got there). Damn. Error charged to Etier at ss. Coach Garrido argued the call to no avail (of course).
• Rathjen flew out to lf.
• With Ratterree at the plate, Chargois was almost picked off at 1b but just managed to get back to the bag.
• Ratterree grounded out to 3b, moving Chargois to 2b.
• Manuel singled into right-center, scoring Chargois.
• Hoelscher lined out to cf (sliding catch by Maitland).
• 21 pitches (12 for strikes), 1 run (unearned).
• Game tied 3-3.
• 4th inning, Texas
• Etier struck out looking.
• Marlow singled up the middle!
• Payton reached on a 2-6 fielder's choice (tried to bunt his way aboard). Nice play by the Rice catcher to field and get the lead runner.
• Payton was then picked off (1-3-6) before the first pitch to Maitland. Sigh...
• Game tied 3-3.
• 4th inning, Rice
• Lewis flew out to cf.
• Hamilton grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Stringer popped out to shallow cf.
• Nice 3-up/3-down inning! 4 pitches (all strikes).
• Game tied 3-3.
• 5th inning, Texas
• Maitland reached on a bunt single down the 1b line!
• Weiss did not bunt! He lined a sharp single into rf (1st pitch), moving Maitland to 2b.
• Walsh advanced the batters on a 2-4 sac bunt down the 3b line. Another nice play by the Rice catcher.
• Alex Silver (righty, pinch-hitting for lefty Summers) doubled down the left field line, scoring Maitland and Weiss!
• By the way, Coach Graham made a trip to the mound after the count went to 1-2 against Silver. Coach Garrido took advantage of the mound visit to have a talk with Silver.
• Graham made another trip to the mound after the double and Rice sent John Simms (rhp) to the mound, replacing Wall.
• Felts worked the count full and then drew an 8-pitch walk.
• Lusson flew out to cf. No chance for Silver to advance.
• Etier hit a stand-up triple to the left-center gap, scoring Silver and Felts!!!
• Marlow hit a sinking line drive single into cf, scoring Etier.
• Payton singled up the middle, moving Marlow to 2b.
• Maitland (with his second at-bat of the inning) singled into rf, scoring Marlow and moving Payton to 3b.
• With Weiss at the plate, a throw from the catcher to the pitcher got away from the pitcher and Payton took off from 3b. He was called out at the plate (4-2, I believe) much to the chagrin of Payton and Coach Garrido. Wow. Replays were not definitive on the call being bad, according to the guys on the radio. (According to the folks in my Twitter stream, it was another bad call by the umps.)
• Texas up 9-3.
• 5th inning, Rice
• Fuda grounded out to ss.
• Chargois flew out to cf.
• Rathjen struck out swinging!
• 10 pitches (7 for strikes).
• Texas up 9-3.
• 6th inning, Texas
• Rice sent Brad Kottman (lhp) to the mound, replacing Simms.
• Weiss drew a 4-pitch walk.
• Walsh doubled into the lf corner, scoring Weiss!
• Rice sent Zech Lemond (rhp) to the mound, replacing Kottman.
• Silver grounded out to 1b, moving Walsh to 3b.
• Felts lined out to 3b.
• Lusson drew a full-count walk, putting runners at the corners.
• Etier grounded out to the pitcher.
• Texas up 10-3.
• 6th inning, Rice
• Ratterree grounded out to the pitcher (on the 3b side of the mound).
• (Thornhill, after having that shaky start, settled down and has now topped how longest career outing!)
• Manuel popped out to c (foul, in front of the Texas dugout).
• Hoelscher grounded out to ss.
• 6 pitches (all strikes).
• Texas up 10-3.
• 7th inning, Texas
• Rice sent Ford Stainback in at ss, replacing Hamilton.
• Marlow grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Payton struck out looking.
• Maitland popped out to c (foul on the 1b side).
• Texas up 10-3.
• 7th inning, Rice
• (John Curtiss back up in the bullpen for Texas.)
• Lewis was hit by a pitch.
• Stainback drew a 4-pitch walk. Ouch.
• Coach Johnson made a trip to the mound but left Thornhill in the game. (Parker French also up in the bullpen, now.)
• Stringer doubled to left-center, scoring Lewis and moving Stainback to 3b.
• Texas sent Parker French (rhp) to the mound, replacing Thornhill.
• Fuda hit a sac fly to rf, scoring Stainback and moving Stringer to 3b.
• Chargois doubled down the rf line, scoring Stringer.
• Rathjen flew out to cf (in right-center).
• Ratterree drew a full-count walk.
• Manuel grounded out to ss. Etier bobbled the ball a bit but made the throw in time.
• By my count, Thornhill went 6+ innings, faced 28, threw 97 pitches (56 for strikes), gave up 6 runs (4 unearned), gave up 5 hits (4 singles, 1 double), struck out 3, walked 4, and hit 1.
• 18 pitches (12 for strikes) for French.
• Texas up 10-6.
• 8th inning, Texas
• Weiss flew out to lf.
• Walsh grounded out to 2b.
• Silver struck out swinging.
• Texas up 10-6.
• 8th inning, Rice
• Hoelscher was hit by the first pitch from French. Sigh...
• Lewis flew out to lf (in left-center).
• Stainback reached on a fielder's choice. French fielded and tried to get the lead runner at 2b but Etier did not make he catch (E6).
• Stringer singled (into cf, I think), scoring Hoelscher and moving Stainback to 2b.
• Fuda grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Whew!
• 9 pitches (7 for strikes) and 1 run (unearned).
• Texas up 10-7.
• 9th inning, Texas
• Rice sent Chase McDowell (rhp) to the mound, replacing Kottman.
• Felts lined a single into cf.
• Lusson moved Felts to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
• Etier struck out swinging.
• Marlow singled off the mound up the middle, scoring Felts!
• Payton grounded out to 1b (unassisted).
• Texas up 11-7.
• 9th inning, Rice
• Chargois struck out looking!
• Rathjen homered over the lf wall.
• Ratterree flew out to lf.
• Manuel doubled to right-center.
• Rice sent Daniel Gonzalez Luna in to pinch-run for Manuel.
• Hoelscher struck out looking!
• 19 pitches (13 for strikes).
• Texas wins 11-8.

Hoelscher, upset at the called strike, exchanged words with and started to get into it a bit with Felts, and the home plate umpire threw him out of the game. It seems like Hoelscher will likely be missing tomorrow's game...at a minimum.

Thornhill got the win to improve his record to 2-1. French recorded his first career save. Nice.

What a great win for the Horns. I have to say that after the way things went last weekend at Stanford, I did not expect the Horns to win tonight. I'm so glad I was wrong! Next up? Tennessee. Scheduled start time is 3:30. Hook 'em, Horns!

Posted by Joanna at 11:55 PM