40 Acres Sports

Baseball team runs away with Big 12 postseason awards. Kyle Russell was voted Player of the Year, Adrian Alaniz was voted Pitcher of the Year, and Coach Garrido was voted Co-Coach of the Year.

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.

The Texas A&M sweep puts the Horns on track for a long run to Omaha and the Aggies aren’t ready for primetime.

Texas beat the Aggies one more time, 9-1, to complete the sweep. Five of the Texas runs were scored on 2 home runs in the 4th: a 2-run shot over the left field fence by Preston Clark (his 7th of the year) and a 3-run shot over the right field fence by Jordan Danks (his 4th of the year). The Horns came close to run-ruling the Aggies but couldn’t quite do it. And, frankly, we were kinda hoping they wouldn’t so we could see just a little more baseball. It was Senior Day, after all. Today was the last time we’d get to see any of the seniors (and a few of the juniors, I’m sure) playing in Burnt Orange at Disch-Falk Field.

Austin Wood got the win for the Horns. He pitched the first 8 innings and gave up one earned run on 5 hits with 2 strikeouts, 1 walk, 2 hit batters, and 1 wild pitch. Pat McCrory went in for the 9th, faced the minimum, and threw 2 strikeouts.

The Horns now head to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament. They will likely be a National seed for the playoffs leading to the CWS. Regardless, they will host a Regional at the Dell Diamond the first weekend in June. Should they win the Regional, they will then (assuming they get a National seed, and there’s absolutely no reason to think they won’t) host a Super Regional at Whataburger Field, home to the Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros AA affiliate), the following weekend. Here’s hoping!

By the way, more details available in the game report on my page.

Texas beat the Aggies 3-2 last night to clinch the Texas A&M Series, the Lone Star Showdown, and the Big 12 Regular Season Title. All in one game. Cool.

Just like Friday night, the Horns came from behind to tie things up late in the game. And, very much like Friday night, an error by an Aggie player led to the winning run being scored by the Horns. In the 8th, with the game tied at 2, Chais Fuller hit a ball to ss that could’ve gone for a double play. The lead runner (Nick Peoples, who’d reached on a single) was thrown out (ss to 2b) but the relay throw to 1b was high. Chais dug hard for 2b and barely beat a nice throw by the Aggie catcher (who’d backed up the play at 1b). With Chais at 2b, Josh Prince (dh) singled to cf (rbi). The excitement in the stands was unbelievable.

In the top of the 9th, Randy Boone struck out the side. It was a beautiful thing to behold. Adrian Alaniz got the start for Texas but struggled. As Augie commented in his post-game interview with Keith Moorland, it looked like Adrian was just trying too hard. After giving up 2 runs in 3.2 innings, Joseph Krebs replaced him on the mound. And, held the Aggies scoreless through the 8th, giving up 2 hits with 4 strikeouts and no walks. He got the win and Randy got his 12th save of the year.

I love watching this team.

I haven’t done an in-depth report on my page yet (and may not have time to do one) so please check out the TexasSports.com story and the article in the Statesman for more info. And, photos.

Texas rallies as Aggies melt under pressure. How are they #9 with their mediocre Big 12 record?

The Longhorns beat the Aggies in College Station today…6-4. The heroes of the game were the Aggie battery in the top of the 9th. Between the wild pitches and throwing errors (and, okay, 1 hit by Nick Peoples), the Horns scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th to break a 4-4 tie and win the opening game of the series.

Kyle Russell started things off nicely this evening. He hit the first pitch he saw way over the rf fence for his his 27th home run of the year. The Horns gave up 2 in the bottom of the 1st and 2 more in the 3rd to make things somewhat interesting. Hold on. I suppose “nerve-racking” may be the more appropriate term, there. But, they fought back. They scored a single run in the 6th and 2 in the 7th to tie the game up. All while holding the Aggies scoreless after the 3rd.

I was very happy to see the Horns fight their way past their struggles early in the game. We haven’t seen this team do much of that this year. For the most part, they haven’t had to do much of that this year. As I mull over how tonight’s game played out, I can’t help but be excited about the 2007 squad’s post-season prospects.

For more of the nitty-gritty (and a wee bit of a rant about FSN) check out the game report on my page.

By the way, the series moves back to Austin for the final two games. If you’re in Austin and don’t already have tickets, I feel for ya!

Texas ended up with a hole in their schedule and had to wait until last Monday to find an opponent that was under the NCAA-mandated 56-game limit to fill it. The Golden Lions of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ended up being that team. The Horns beat UAPB 10-4. For the most part, the pitchers were very much on their game. James Russell, Adrian Alaniz, Austin Wood, Joseph Krebs, and Randy Boone combined for 8.1 innings of shut-out pitching. Josh Prince started the 7th and struggled, giving up 4 runs on 3 walks and 3 singles before being replaced. The starting line-up combined for 9 hits and also reached base an additional 5 times on walks and 2 times by getting hit by pitches (ouch). [tag]Russell Moldenhauer[/tag] was the offensive hero of the day, going 3-for-3 with a home run (his 5th of the year) and 4 runs batted in.

Happily, Kyle Russell and Jordan Danks both started today. Last week it looked like they both might have to miss today’s game (Danks with an injury to his shoulder and Russell with a jammed wrist). But, they were both in the line-up and seemed to be just fine.

I think today’s “tune-up” served them well and they look to be in good shape for the upcoming series against the Aggies.

For more in-depth coverage of today’s game, see the game report on my baseball page.

Big 12 Regular Season Championship watch: OU and Mizzou split their first two games this weekend. OSU is up 2 at Tech.

Texas filled the hole in Saturday’s schedule. The U. of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions from the SWAC will come to town on Saturday and play a single game at 2pm at Disch-Falk Field. Note the time change (season tickets list the opponent as “TBA” at 6:05pm).

Sadly, the Horns lost their first Big 12 series of the year. They played two very uncharacteristic games this weekend. It was almost like watching a team I’d never seen before. Jeckyll and Hyde. The team on Saturday? That was the team we’ve been watching all year long. But yesterday? Almost all of the things that went wrong on Friday night went wrong again yesterday afternoon as they lost 4-5. Coming away from the weekend, all I can hope is that the team got it out of their system.

I also hope [tag]Missouri[/tag] comes earlier in the season next year!

Two notes: [tag]Jordan Danks[/tag] jammed his shoulder and had to leave the game early on Saturday. [tag]Kyle Russell[/tag] jammed his wrist and had to leave the game early on Sunday. In the post-game interview, Coach Garrido said he didn’t think either injury was very bad (Jordan Danks actually went in as a pinch runner in Sunday’s game) and that they’d both be back for the A&M game. Here’s hoping.

I also hope they Horns manage to schedule a game for the 12th. I don’t think they need the game. But, it certainly couldn’t hurt to get a game in. I don’t know that letting the team “stew” on the Missouri series for 11 days without facing another team would be the best thing to happen right now. Too much time to second-guess, m’thinks.

Anyway, for more specifics on how things went this yesterday:

• my full report
• the Statesman’s article
• the Daily Texan’s article
• the TexasSports.com recap

Check out the Daily Texan article for a great action photo of Travis Tucker. And, note that the TexasSports.com recap has an error (it states that the Missouri’s fifth run was scored on a balk…it wasn’t).

Hopefully, I’ll have better news to report next time. Hook ’em!