Texas vs. Cal Game 4

[NBHorn7]

Trying to split the four game set Texas looks to the Senior Nathan Thornhill for another quality start.

Of course that is expected from Texas pitching. It's still finding some consistent hitting from somebody other than Payton and Hinojosa that will make or break this Longhorn squad.

The fielding needs to come around after a shaky start and maybe we could also break out a running game if we could hit better.

The Cal Bears will start junior lefty Michael Theofanopoulos, I don't know anything about him other than how tiring it is to type his name. It sounds all Greek to me.

 

[NBHorn7]

B. Marlow leads off and grounds to first sharply, but is out 3-1.

Payton grounds out to second and quickly two down.

Hinojosa up and flies out to center and before you can type Theofanoupolos Texas is retired in order.

Texas fails to score and Cal comes to bat in the bottom of the first.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

That felt like the longest inning ever considering no runs were scored.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill takes the hill for Texas in the first to face the Cal lead off man.

Barrera is catching today as Campbell for Cal checks swings a comebacker back to the mound for a 1-3 put out.

Bruno batting second second loops a hit to left to put one on with one away.

Pearson batting third for the Bears grounds one into the hole as the runner at first was on the move on the pitch. C.J. makes a strong throw and the stretch by Clemons nips him for the second out.

DH Rodriguez is up with a runner in scoring position at second for Cal with now two away.

A four pitch walk puts him on first and two on now for Cal.


Halamandaris is up now for Cal as the long names continue, but his at bat is short as grounds out to short to retire the side.

Through an inning in Berkley all 0's in the run collumn.

 

[NBHorn7]

Theo, can we please just call him Theo, out for his second inning of work for Cal.

Clemens leads off for the Horns in the second and he lines one to right for a single.

McGuire is next in the box for Texas and bunts successfully for a sac that moves Clemens into scoring position.

That brings DH for the first time this season Jeremy Montalbano to the plate who fouls out to right field on a running catch for the second out.

Johnson up to try not to strand Clemens at second, but he K's swinging on three pitches to do just that.

To the bottom of the second with nada for a score.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill takes his place again on the bump and faces the Cal batter Farney a lefty.

A fly ball to right is out one.

Tenerowitz comes to bat now for Cal and grounds out for two away.

Freshman catcher Kay, why can't more Cal players have a name like this, easy to type. He grounds to McGuire and an accurate throw to first retires the side in order.

Two innings completed with bagels on the board for each team still.

 

[NBHorn7]

Theo faces Barrera to lead off the Texas third and he flies deep to left, but the catch is made against the wall for out one.

Gurwitz back in left again pops out to record out two.

B. Marlow up again as we go back to the top of the order.
Marlow K's swinging in the dirt and is retired 2-3 on the put out to retire the side in order again.

Two and a half in the books so far with neither team with a tally yet.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill faces shortstop Reuvekamp who grounds to second for a 4-3 first out.

Back to the top of the order for Cal with Campbell up again.
He K's swinging for the second out and Thornhill's for K of the game.

Bruno up once more for Cal bats left and pops out foul to McGuire to retire the Bears in order.

Three innings gone in this game now without anybody crossing the plate.

 

[NBHorn7]

Theo pitches to Payton to start the fourth for Texas and for the second time today he grounds out to second for one away.

Hinojosa comes to the plate pops one into shallow left for the second out.

Clemens with a fly to left also retires the side again in order.

Heading to the bottom of four and noone has scored.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill back for his turn again on the mound faces Pearson in the three hole for Cal.

He bunts, but back to Thornhill and its an easy 1-3 put out for one away.

DH Rodriguez back again for another turn K's swinging again for out two.

Halmandaris tries to extend the inning and he walks on four pitches to put a runner aboard.

Farney up with two away and a runner on first lines a single to left over Hinojosa to put two on at second and first.

Tenerowicz up trying to break up the double shutout going works the count full to allow the runners a running start.

Ball four loads the bases with two down as three straight Bears have reached since the first two were retired.

Skip out for a meeting now with the Texas battery and infield.
He returns to the dugout and Kay the catcher comes up with a chance to do some serious damage.

A chopper back to Thornhill goes 1-3 to get out of the big jam and retire the side.

Through four inning now with still not a straight or crooked number in the run collumn.

 

[FWHORN]

Why does this feel like so many games from last year. The Horns have a great pitching staff again and a Sunday starter who will dominate with just about any run support. Now about that run support!

 

[NBHorn7]

The lefty Theo for short is still huring for Cal as McGuire leads off the fifth frame for Texas.

He sends a soft fly ball to left for the first out.

Montalbano up grounds one through the hole between first and second for a one out single.

Johnson up with Texas's second runner of the game on first.
He works the count full and walks to put runners on first and second for the first time today for the Horns.

Barrera up with a chance to give Texas the lead but grounds into a 6-4-3 double play to retire the side.

Halfway through the game and nothing 0's on the scoreboard for each team.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill out again for Texas and the nine hole hitter shortstop Reuvakamp grounds to short for out one.

The top of the order Campbell back up fouls out on a pop up to Hinojosa behind third for out two.

Thornhill going for the quick inning faces Bruno who grounds to Marlow for a 4-3 put out to retire the side in order.

Five innings into the game now with still no movement in the run department.

 

[NBHorn7]

Theofanoupolos has thrown 52 pitches so far stays on for a sixth inning of work faces Gurwitz to lead off for Texas.

Gurwitz gets all of one and sends a fly ball over the left field fence for an actual homer that gives Texas a 1-0 lead!

 

[NBHorn7]

B. Marlow the top of the order back once more to the plate.
Marlow works the count full and finally walks to put another runner on.

Payton who has reached base in 42 consecutive games is 0-2 today.

Cal head coach comes to the mound and pulls Theofanoupolus as my fingers rejoice with the news.

Soimpkin who started the first game Friday comes back to pitch today sort of unusual.

 

[NBHorn7]

Payton drives one into the gap in right center to the wall.
Marlow scores and and Payton stands at third extending his consecutive streak to 43 games.

Texas leads now 2-0.

Hinojosa up lines one to right that goes as a SF and makes the Texas lead grow to 3-0 with one away.

 

[NBHorn7]

Clemens up now draws a walk to put another runner on first.

This bring another pitching change for Cal.

 

[NBHorn7]

Trevor Hildenburger a righty comes in to pitch now to McGuire.

He inherets a 2-1 count on the Texas third baseman and two pitches later he K's him for the second out.

Montalbano ends the inning with a ground ball to second.

Bottom of the sixth coming with an actual score on the board that reads Texas 3 and Cal 0.

 

[NBHorn7]

During the excitement I see I have reached 3,000 post now.

So OU sucks yada, yada, yada. Someday if I live to be 100 I will approach loop's post total. I bet over half have come on baseball game threads.


Back to baseball Thornhill with a lead now gets the lead off hitter in the sixth on a hot shot to Marlow that goes 4-3 for out one.

Rodriguez without a hit today still won't have on as he also grounds out 4-3 for the second out.

Halmandaris up as Thornhill tries to back the three run inning by Texas with a perfect inning on the mound.

Yet another ground ball to Marlow makes the score sheet read all 4-3 put outs to retire the side in order.

After six innings of play Texas leads 3-0.

 

[NBHorn7]

Top of the seventh finds Ben Johnson up leading off for Texas.
He grounds out 6-3 on a nice play by the Cal shortstop in the hole.

Barrera up loops a single to center to reach with one away.

Zane Gurwitz who broke the scoring ice with his first homer at Texas in his last at bat strides into the box again.

He grounds one sharply into the hole on the left side for another hit and puts runners on first and second with one away.

B. Marlow rips a single to right and Texas leads now 4-0 as Gurwitz goes around to third.

 

[NBHorn7]

Payton the hitting machine lines a single to center for a 5-0 lead as the bats have come to life.

Runners on first and second for Hinojosa who pops up with the infield fly rule in order for out two.

Clemens up with two aboard and two down now ends the inning with a fly ball to left.

To the bottom of the seventh now with our new score Texas leading 5-0.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill back to the mound having thrown 91 pitches on the day has what must feel like a gigantic 5-0 lead.

The fifth consecutive ground ball to Marlow is out one.

Tenerowicz at bat now and K's looking for out two as he barks some at the home plate umps on his trip back to the pine or whatever they have for a bench there.

Thornhill has the sinker working today as has recorded 14 ground ball outs so far.

Jacob Wark up now grounds a slow roller to third and McGuire seemed to hold the ball too long and he beats the throw. It's ruled a hit.

A fly ball to right though retires the side. Might be time to get Thornhill out of the game now after another quality start for Texas pitchers.

Anyway after seven complete Texas leads 5-0.

 

[NBHorn7]

Cal has a new pitcher for the eigthth and catcher.

McGuire leads off and grounds out to third for out one.

Montalbano up now against freshman right hander Lukas Erceg for Cal.

He grounds back to the mound for the second out.

Johnson walks for a two out base runner.

Barrera is out on a long fly ball to left to retire the side.

Texas in the lead 5-0 to the bottom of the eighth.

 

[NBHorn7]

Thornhill over 100 pitches for the day is back to the mound in the bottom of the 8th which is kind of surprising to me.

Top of the order back up for Cal with Campbell at bat.

A ground ball in the hole at short and Hinojosa makes a good play for the out.

One away has left fielder Bruno up and he lines one to center for a single.

Pearson up now with one on and one away and a ground ball to short goes 6-4-3 for a double play to retire the side.

Eight innings gone now and Texas leads still 5-0.

Got to believe Thornhill will exit after this.

 

[NBHorn7]

Top of the ninth has rolled around with Gurwitz up who has had a nice day at the plate with a homer and a single.

Gurwitz was retired somehow as my sound went out for a bit.

B. Marlow pops out to the second baseman for out two.

Payton grounds out to second to retire the side.

Bottom of the ninth coming Texas leads 5-0.

 

[NBHorn7]

As expected Thornhill exits and Cooper who closed last night is back again today in the ninth to shut the door on Cal.

Shaw goes into right for Gurwitz.

The DH Rodriguez still hitless on the day comes up and a fly ball to Payton in center is out one.

Halamandaris is up lines one to deep center but Payton is able to flag it down for out two.

Farney is the last hope for Cal, but he flies one to left for the third out to end the game.

Texas wins 5-0 to split the series.

 

[FWHORN]

Outstanding job NB thanks for the updates on a busy Sunday afternoon. Hard to get a read on this team 4 games in. There are some signs i like but way too many reminders of last year still. All that said, isnt it awesome to have baseball back.

 

[NBHorn7]

It's a mixed bag for sure after the first series of the year.

The pitching is what it is and was expected to be. One of the top five or so pitching staffs in the nation. If there is a better four man rotation on any team I would like to see it.

The fielding was shaky the first two days. Three of those were throwing errors on French that skews it some. Coming home to the Disch should help straighten that out some I hope.

The hitting was nonexistent for the first two days in the losses. The third game we get six hits and eight more today.

We certainly won't remind anybody of the gorrila balls teams of the early 90's like LSU was, but we don't have to be to win with this pitching staff.

Just adequate hitting will give this team a chance to win most games. This Cal team is mediocre at best and was 23-33 last season. Still it's a better series to open with than a small school at home. The flip side is you have to win some of these type games. If Texas had lost today they would be in a hole right off the bat.

So we got a split, the news is not all bad or all good. As I said the jury is still out on this team as a whole, but they also have the oppotunity make a great case for their success. Let's hope the young guys and the veterans can do just that in the future.

Yes, FW it's always good to have baseball back.

 

[zork]

THanks for the updates.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

NB, thanks for the posts.

It's nice to be able to read the thread and get more color than what the box score offers.