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Omaha, imo.

Posted by HenryJames on June 8th, 2009 under Baseball

After last season’s regional exit, Augie Garrido said, “It needs to be fixed. I know how to fix it.”

And he did. Texas is going back to the College World Series for the first time since winning the title in 2005. Seems so long ago, which is how it’s supposed to feel at a school like Texas. We have certain, uh, expectations.

Freshman Taylor Jungmann said in today’s Austin American Statesman, “I don’t get nervous.” Apparently not. He was brilliant tonight. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, and he only allowed four baserunners in six innings.

The one and only time TCU was able to threaten him was the sixth inning. A single and hit batter put the first two runners on with no one out. Jungmann then got the next hitter to ground weakly to him, and he got the lead runner at third. He then got Taylor Featherston to again ground to him for a 1-6-3 double play.

Austin Wood was not sharp tonight. I don’t know if it was not pitching for a week or the fact that TCU has only two lefties in their lineup, but he got hit hard. He gave up five hits in a little over two innings and had to give way to Chance Ruffin to close it out.

TCU’s 2-3-4 hitters were not a factor tonight. They combined to go 1-11 with three strikeouts and an inning ending double play. Their sole hit was a one out triple in the ninth.

The Texas hitters were much more aggressive tonight. Disciplined, but aggressive. They didn’t chase the outside pitches off the plate they did yesterday, and it didn’t appear that they took as many called strikes.

Michael Torres set the tone when he hit the first TCU pitch up the middle for a single. Texas then used their only sacrifice of the game to move him to second. Brandon Belt then tripled off the wall in center and scored on Russell Moldenhauer’s ground out. Kevin Keyes then battled back from a 1-2 count and homered to right. Texas never looked back.

Texas scored two more in the fifth to go up 5-0. Kevin Keyes again battled back from being down 0-2 and doubled off the wall in right. He advanced to third on a passed ball, but Brandon Loy and Preston Clark were retired without scoring him. Cameron Rupp then hit a clutch double to left, and Connor Rowe followed with another clutch hit to score him.

And after the game, there was no dogpiling. No running onto the field. The players walked out of the dugout and congratulated each other. Expectations.

Texas is really playing well right now, winning 17 out of their last 20 games. We’ve got a good draw in the CWS. We get to play unseeded Southern Mississippi in the first game and then (hopefully) the winner of the North Carolina-Arizona State game in the winner’s bracket. That gives us the option of changing up our pitching rotation like we did in the regional.

Thoughts?

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25 Responses

  1. Steve Nebraska said:

    June 8th, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    Whoever was behind home plate heckling the TCU players had some good stuff. Glad the ESPN2 audio picked it up.

  2. Vasherized said:

    June 8th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    Jungmann was dealing tonight and the Texas batters were swinging at everything. it worked out more often than not and we forced TCU to their bullpen early before Eddie Rabbitt, feathered bleach perm and all, came out in the seventh to try and neutralize the Texas bats.

    It didn’t matter. The 3 spot in the bottom of the first effectively won the game. We chased TCU’s former ace off the mound early and the game was never really in doubt.

    Great crowd on hand and it was one of those games that Texas played like they expected to win. Right on schedule.

    UNC didn’t get much of a test against ECU and I’d love to see Texas get a shot against the Tar Heels.

    Southern Miss stepped up against Florida but lets see how they fare in their first CWS appearance against a team that is finally back home in Omaha and favored to win it all for good reason.

    This is a sick pitching rotation, small ball be-damned. The single/bunt/double/homer in the bottom of the first was Augie ball at it’s finest.

    I’m guessing Ruffin gets the start on Sunday.

  3. Black Scholes said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 12:56 am

    Steve – I’m going to guess Scott Wilson by default. It sounded like him to me. I’ve got a good friend from school who’s also an anchor of whatever is left of the Wild Bunch, but didn’t hear his very distinctive voice tonight. It was funny that it was picked up by the mike.

  4. Woodrow Call said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 3:26 am

    Good summary….

    Aggressive hitters can disrupt a pitchers rhythm, although that first TCU pitcher really had no chance. He was throwing meatballs. The second guy was significantly better.

    Texas will need to continue to be aggressive if it’s going to be successful in Omaha.

    Wood didn’t seem to have enough movement on his pitches and had trouble locating. About every four pitches he’d throw a jem, but you could tell he just didn’t have it tonight. Happens to everyone from time to time, so no need to worry about him. They’ll need his experience and leadership in the Series.

    Good to see Moldenhauer in the lineup, although I was a little disappointed he went 0-4. Did have one RBI, but the ball wasn’t hit well. Hope that’s not the last chance he gets, because he can hit once he gets his head straight and timing back.

  5. Nordberg said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 5:55 am

    “I’m guessing Ruffin gets the start on Sunday.”

    I’m not sure it really matters at this point, between Ruffin and Green, although if you start Ruffin on Sunday then he’d have plenty of rest to start game one of the championship series.

    Is Tant Shephard injured? I’m not sure what we do in left at this point.

  6. Spider said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:23 am

    The truly devastating thing about last night’s unfortunate Texas win is that Bill Little will have to write about it.

  7. maninblack said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:32 am

    I don’t think it was Scott but I could be wrong.

  8. The General said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:32 am

    “The truly devastating thing about last night’s unfortunate Texas win is that Bill Little will have to write about it.”

    That is only bad if Fake Ken Tremendous doesn’t get to parse all up in Bill Little’s shiznit.

  9. Spatenator said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:42 am

    The Longhorns played with their hearts on their sleeves.

  10. Spatenator said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:42 am

    I was channeling Bill there.

  11. Bartoncreek said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:47 am

    Our rotation is unusual for a college team. I mean, really, who is our ace? All three starters are capable of throwing shutout baseball, all are capable of giving up 3-4 over 6-7 too. They can all pitch.

    Usually you have one guy that is your clear ace and if we did then we’d probably save hime for the 2nd game with the draw we have. As it is, who knows? We probably go Green, Ruffin, Jungman if I had to guess. That would probably be 2,1,3 if Augie had to rank them.

    The one thing is, with ASU and UNC in our bracket, losing to S. Miss means almost no chance for us. It is a hell of a quandry. This is one area that I have complete faith in Augie to make the right call.

  12. Steve Nebraska said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:48 am

    I thought it might be one of the Wild Bunch or something as well. At one point, the guy said “It’s time to open the proverbial flood gates.”

  13. Vasherized said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:53 am

    The truly devastating thing about last night’s unfortunate Texas win is that Bill Little will have to write about it.

    Devastating? I’m downright giddy. This is becoming a rite of, dare is say, passage? A portal to another linguistic world where dangling participles clash with parallelism in Strunk & White’s padded 8 x 8 cell. Why not beat him to the punch?

    Best entry wins an all expenses paid trip to Nuevo Laredo on BC’s dime.*

    Suspended for a moment, were thoughts, of a half moon rising over Rosenblatt Stadium and a trip to Omaha. And other thoughts, too, about Chance Ruffin’s rightful place in Texas lore as the 72nd pitcher to win a super regional since Lefty Frizzell first played slide guitar with a baseball on his front porch in Abilene in 1947. He would never touch a baseball again.

    Under the bright lights of UFCU Disch Faulk Field with a capacity crowd cheering on their beloved Horns, Chance Ruffin made the most of his chance, closing out another series with a scintillating fastball that put the nail on the proverbial coffin for TCU fans. They showed up early, they cheered loud, and they stayed late.

    Unfortunately, they weren’t wearing burnt orange.

    See you in Omaha. And pack an extra bag for some hardware.

    *free coffin included!

  14. dasmithjones said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am

    Did anyone at the game happen to catch what the TCU third baseman said to Kevin that got him barking back after he plated on his HR? What was Kevin saying to him?

  15. HenryJames said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 9:07 am

    I think he said, ‘Loved you on Scrubs.’ But that guy was talking shit the whole series. I think Keyes just gave some back when he rounded third. The Texas fans booed him the rest of the game when he came up to bat.

  16. Spider said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 9:25 am

    In Bill Little’s defense [checks into psych ward for quickie evaluation, returns to complete post], his live commentary from the games was as technical and useful as his post-prandial football hagiography is quaaludinous and thanatos-enhancing.

  17. Art Vandelay said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am

    Vasherized, you forgot to mention the cool breeze that put a chill in the unseasonably muggy June Austin night.

  18. Bill "Harlequin" Little said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 11:35 am

    On a hot, sweaty June afternoon, a light breeze flirted with Taylor Jungmann’s golden locks. TJ, as the lady folk call him, fondled the rosin bag agressively, then took a deep breath to steady himself.

    The women swooned as this fearsome Fabio of the diamond reared back and unleashed a hellstorm of rawhide upon the Horny Toads of Forth Worth.

  19. Vasherized said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    You’re in the running, Harlequino.

    Waiting for Fake Ken Tremendous and Doperbo, which could take months so be patient.

  20. Truck's Son said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    I’d be shocked if Ruffin doesn’t get the Sunday start.

  21. Joe Dirt said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    Surprise! Wood was ineffective after throwing 169 against BC. Who’da thunk it?
    And Ruffin comes in two days after throwing 126? tsk, tsk.
    Note to pitching prospects. Come to UT. Go to Omaha. Spend the rest of your life bouncing around the minors or telling coulda, woulda stories down at the bank.

  22. HenryJames said:

    June 9th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

    Or spend less than a year in the minors like Huston Street and J.P. Howell.

    Or pitch 15 years in the majors like Burt Hooten. Or 24 like Roger Clemens. Or 17 like Greg Swindell. Or 12 like Bruce Ruffin. Or 15 like Dennis Cook.

    It’s really up to you.

  23. Houstonearlers said:

    June 10th, 2009 at 6:53 am

    Augie has never had a rep of burning up pitchers.

    Ruffin pitching was no big deal. Basically it served as his bullpen session between starts

  24. Joe Dirt said:

    June 10th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    “Or pitch 15 years in the majors like Burt Hooten. Or 24 like Roger Clemens. Or 17 like Greg Swindell. Or 12 like Bruce Ruffin. Or 15 like Dennis Cook.”

    All pre-Augie. Garrido isn’t fit to wash Coach Gus’ jock strap.

  25. Spring Branch Horn said:

    June 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    How many national champions does each coach have?

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