Wow. Today’s game was something else. I’m glad I got to hear most of it. The TexasSports.com story claims that the team “coasted” to the win. I’m here to tell you: that is not the case. Uh-uh. The Kansas State Wildcats jumped out to a 4-run lead in the 2nd. Texas starter Kyle Walker did not make it out of the 2nd. Thankfully, Joseph Krebs was there to pick up the slack and pitch a very solid 5 innings of no-score relief.
Down 4-0 in the bottom of the 2nd, the Horns scraped together a run and then broke things open in the bottom of the 3rd. They sent 15 men to the plate in the 3rd and scored 10 (the most in a single inning all year). Kansas State actually used 4 different pitchers in that inning. So, yeah, at that point, it did kinda look like the Horns were gonna coast to a win. Especially since the Big 12 uses the 10-run rule during the tournament (for all but the Championship Game). Texas scored 2 more in the 7th to go ahead by 9 and it looked, for all the world, like the 10-run rule would actually kick in.
However, the Wildcats would not roll over. Pat McCrory went to the mound for the Horns in the 8th and they jumped all over him. With 3 runs across, 2 outs, and runners at the corners (and a 13-7 lead!), the Horns decided to send Randy Boone to the mound to shut things down. Alas, things did not go exactly the way Texas hoped they would. The Wildcats’ left-fielder took the 2nd pitch he saw over the left field fence. His first home run of the year. Suddenly, the Horns were only ahead by 3 and those 2 runs they’d scored in the bottom of the 7th were looking mighty good. Randy did toss a strikeout to the next batter he faced, though. All Texas had to do from that point was hold the Wildcats for one more inning. But, first, the bottom of the 8th.
Chais Fuller grounded out to start the Texas half of the 8th. Nick Peoples followed that with his 4th home run of the year. And, then Travis Tucker was hit by a pitch. So, trailing by 4, Kansas State sent Daniel Edwards, their closer, to the mound. He had 11 saves on the year, a 1.30 ERA, and had not given up a home run all year. K-State had plans. They were gonna hold the Horns and then score more in the 9th. Alas, best laid plans and all…eh? Edwards walked Jordan Danks and then plonked Kyle Russell to load the bases. Chance Wheeless then singled to score two. With runners at 1b and 2b, Bradley Suttle approached the plate. Bradley has been stuck at 10 home runs for a very long time. Today was the day he’d get over that. Yep, he hit a 3-run dinger over the right field fence. Texas answered the 6 runs K-State scored in the top of the 8th with 6 of their own in the bottom of the 8th. Amazing. The Wildcats got a couple aboard in the top of the 9th but all for naught.
The Horns came away with a 19-10 win. Which, yeah, sounds kinda like maybe they coasted. But, really, that game was a lot closer than the final score makes it look. Yikes! You just gotta love baseball, doncha? Anything can happen.
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For those that aren’t familiar with the format, the Big 12 sends the top 8 teams to the tournament. They’re divided into 2 pools (#1, #4, #5, and #8 seeds in one and #2, #3, #6, and #7 in the other). The pools play separate round-robin mini-tournaments and the winner of each pool advances to a “winner take all” Championship Game. As of this posting, Nebraska and Texas are 1-0 in the 1st pool. OU won the first game in the 2nd pool. Baylor and OSU are scoreless in the 5th in the final game of the day.
For more details about today’s Texas game, please see the game report on my page.
Update. Baylor beat OSU. So, Texas, Nebraska, OU, and Baylor are 1-0. KSU, TAMU, Mizzou, and OSU are 0-1.
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