Texas had a tough time of things last night as they lost the series opener to Missouri. Missouri has proven to be a thorn in the Longhorns’ side for the last three years. Coming into the series, Mizzou had taken 6 of the last 9 games. The Tigers had also worked their way into 2nd place in the Big 12 as they came to town. So, the Horns couldn’t really afford to take things for granted.
Things started out nicely last night as Texas took the lead 4-2, helped along by two home runs by Kyle Russell. But, the Tigers took the lead in the 6th when they put 4 on the board as the Texas bullpen showed a crack or two. The Horns rallied, though, and tied things up in the 9th. Sadly, they gave up an unearned run in the top of the 11th as Preston Clark made a very rare error on a toss back to Randy Boone that sailed over Boone’s glove. The Missouri runner at third base made a great decision and broke for home, scoring the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, with two out, Texas rallied but the tying run was thrown out at the plate. Tommy Harmon made the decision to send the runner home and said afterward that he didn’t want to end the game with the tying run stranded at third base. He was hoping Missouri would make a mistake on the play. But, Missouri didn’t make a mistake. They won the game 7-6.
The Horns bounced back today, though. In fine fashion. They got a great game out of Adrian Alaniz who went 8.1 innings. He gave up one run on three hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. And, the bullpen did not let him down. Joseph Krebs went in and struck out the final two batters of the game. The Horns scored 2 runs in the 4th and 3 in the 6th to cruise to victory. Preston Clark went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two runs scored. Chais Fuller went 3-for-4 with a run scored and 3 runs batted in. Kyle Russell failed to hit any home runs today (”only” going 1-for-4) but that 1 hit pushed the final two runs across for the Horns.
So, the series is even. Here’s hoping the Horns finish it off tomorrow. Austin Wood is expected to get the start. He’s done well lately and seems to be improving. This should be fun.
For more details, you can check out the game reports I posted to my page. See yesterday’s game report or today’s game report.
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