Texas vs. TCU Game 2

[NBHorn7]

Two games to go in the season and now it's to see if we can win a conference series. Since the formation of the Big 12 no baseball team has gone the entire season without winning a series.

Peters gets his final start of the year while TCU starts Brandon Finnegan another quality starter though his record is 0-7 his era is 2.89. He should know how Texas pitchers feel about run support.

Who knows how this game will go since reaching the conference tourney is not possible. TCU said they didn't want to use pitchers too much, but they are in position to move up considerably in the standings with a couple more wins. This would give them a better seed next week and they believe they need to win the tourney to get in a regional.

Will Texas have some motivation left or not? Maybe they relax and play better or do they just play out the string thinking about where they are going to play summer ball.

The game is on Fox Southwest as is tomorrow's game.

That means no stream of the game.

 

[NBHorn7]

Stell in center tonight leads off and K's looking for the first out of the game.

Hinojosa bats second nad lines one down the line in left for a double.

Payton bats third and now Hinojosa is picked off second by two feet on a timing play by the pitcher.

Base running has been a problem most of the season and it continues to the end it seems.

Payton K's swinging to retire the side as a promising inning to take an early lead goes by the boards.

No score as TCU comes to the plate for the first time.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters out for his first inning walks the lead off hitter.

The runner steals second as the throw by Felts looked to be in time, but the runner knocked the ball loose from B. Marlow.

The batter who was attempting to bunt did so again and popped it up to Peters for the first out.

A K looking is out two.

A sharp single goes through on the left side, but the runner has to hold up at third as the ball was just hit too hard and reached Stell too quickly to score on.

Runners on the corners now and a ground out 6-4 ends the inning.

Both teams have a good scoring opportunity in the first, but neither does.

So no score after an inning of play.

 

[NBHorn7]

Weis leads off the second for Texas and walks on four pitches.

Montalbano at DH tonight botches the sac bunt too hard back to the pitcher who forces Weis at second for one away.

Felts turns on a full count fast ball up and lines it over the left fielder's head and off the wall for a double that puts runners on second and third with one out.

Ty Marlow playing first needs some contact to score a run with the infield back doesn't get any as he K's swinging.

Brother B. Marlow up with two outs now needs a key hit for Texas to score first in the game and he singles up the middle to score one run and Felts is held up which is too bad because the throw from center went over everybody at the plate. B. Marlow moves to second on the error.

Texas leads 1-0 with runners again at second and third for Johnson with two down.

He leaves them stranded as he K's looking to retire the side.

Texas leads 1-0 to the bottom of two.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters out for his second inning of work is staked to a
1-0 lead and he retires the lead off man swinging at a high fast ball for a K.

A liner to right and Payton dives and makes a sliding catch and jammed his wrist recording out two. He's shaking it, but play continues.

A foul pop down the right field line and Ty Marlow makes a running catch over the shoulder as Payton with a sore wrist just manages to side step out of his way to avoid a collision and that ends the inning.

Texas leads 1-0 after two innings.

 

[NBHorn7]

Back to the top of the order and Stell K's again looking this time on a full count pitch for out one.

Hinojosa singles to left for his second hit of the game.

Payton up and his wrist looks a little bruised as he grounds one deep in the hole at short and the shortstop is able to field and throw to second, but it's late and the second basemans can't handle the throw anyway.

It's an infield hit for Payton and puts runners on second and first with one away.

Weis who has had some problems with lefties since mid season K's swinging for out two.

Montalbano K's looking to retire the side.

Lots of traffic for Texas in this game, but only one run so far as they lead 1-0 to the bottom of the third.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters in the third and a sharp ground ball to Weis goes right under his glove as he what we use to call tried to side saddle the ball instead of getting in front of it.

It's ruled a single to put a man on.

Another failed sac bunt for TCU as it's too hard to Weis and it's a 5-4 FC and the relay to first was just latel.

Runner on first with one away and a taylor made ground ball to second goes 4-6-3 for a double play to end the inning.

Mistakes are hurting both teams as Texas leads 1-0 after three complete.

 

[NBHorn7]

Felts leads off the fourth with a K swinging for the eighth K of the game for Texas already.

Ty Marlow is K number 9 swinging for out two.

B. Marlow lines out to center to retire the side in order for the first time.

Texas leads 1-0 to the bottom of four.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters starts the fourth by giving up a single back through the box and into center field.

A grounder to short as TCU doesn't bunt this time goes for a 6-4 FC and again the relay was just late by a hair.

One away with a man on first and a K swinging is out two.

Another K swinging retires the side.

Texas leads 1-0 after four innings.

 

[NBHorn7]

Johnson leads off the fifth and K's again this time looking as the strike out counts mounts to ten for Texas.

Stell flies to shallow right for out two.

Hinojosa with two hits tonight so far this time lines one in the gap in right center for his second double of the night.

Payton has a chance to drive a two out run and a wild pitch moves Hinojosa to third.

He does just that with a line single to right field on a hanging curve ball to make it 2-0.

Weis hits a hump back liner to short that ends the inning.

Texas leads 2-0 halfway through the game.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters walks the lead off man in the fifth after having an 0-2 count to put a man on.

TCU finally gets down a sac bunt that moves the runner to second with one away.

Skip comes out for a meeting as Peters may be developing a blister as he keeps looking at his fingers.
He has one finger bandaged on his throwing hand.

A fly ball to center and Stell has no idea where it is and it falls about ten feet away from him and the run scores and it's a double on a routine out to make it 2-1.

A runner on second with one away and a ground ball to first is out two as the runner advances to third.

A seeing eye grounder up the middle ties the game at 2.
Bad things just seem to follow this team.

A foul fly to right and Payton makes a running and sliding grab to retire the side.

A fly ball lost in the lights or something like that has the game tied at two when it would be still 2-0 Texas. Peters must be shaking his head, but that's baseball and the story of this season.

 

[NBHorn7]

Montalbano leads off the sixth with yet another K swinging for out one as the pitcher Finnegan ties his career mark for strike outs at 11.

Felts makes it an even dozen K's as he goes down looking for out two.

Finnegan is over 100 pitches now, but looks stronger now than past innings.

Ty Marlow flies to center and their center fielder sees and catches it to retire the side.

This game has turned around completely momentum wise it seems tied at 2 to the bottom of six.

 

[johnnyg88]

Tv announcer says that we now have 12 Ks, so far tonight, the most for this 0-7 pitcher. So, it seems that this team has more strikeouts than any team I can remember, and I've been watching them since '69. Ned to look this up. Not a record any team should have.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters still out there starts the sixth and a fly ball to center this time goes over Stell's head to the wall for a double.

A high pitch is swung and missed and it goes off Felts mitt and they call it a wild pitch, but that's a passed ball in my book. It went in and out of Felts mitt.

So naturally a fly ball to right now is a SF to give TCU a 3-2 lead.

A single to right puts a man on with one away.

Another fly ball to right is out two.

The runner steals second on a low pitch without a throw.

A ground ball in the hole at short is fielded by C.J. and his long throw is accurate to retire the side.

But TCU takes the lead 3-2 after six innings.

 

[NBHorn7]

Finnegan is done and a right hander Mitchell takes over against B. Marlow leading off the seventh for Texas.

He grounds out to second for out one.

Johnson K's for the third time tonight looking for out two

Stell takes a pitch off the helmet to reach with two down.

Time for a steal attempt I'm thinking to get in scoring position for Hinojosa.

And even better you get a wild pick off attempt that sends Stell all the way to third on the error.

Hinojosa who is three for three with a chance to tie the game walks on a full count and it puts runners on the corners for Payton.

Out comes the TCU coach to bring in a lefty to face him.

You have a few possibilities here to steal a run or just let Payton drive him in, but with two away and good speed on the bases a double steal if they throw through is not out of the question. If they don't throw then Payton has a chance to put Texas ahead again with a single to the outfield.

A freshman named Young comes in and they say he is the closer for TCU.

Oh Payton, if we only had more like you as he singles up the middle for his third hit of the game to tie it at 3.

Weis up with runners on first and second needing to break out of this slump against lefties doesn't and it's another K this time swinging to retire the side.

To the stretch and it's tied at three. I wonder if Peters will come back out again.

 

[NBHorn7]

Peters is indeed still out there as Hall comes in to play center and Stell moves to left as Johnson leaves the game.

Peters battles back from a 3-1 count and gets a ground out to short for one away.

Here comes Skip and that's all for Peters and here comes Knebel for probably his last or next to last appearance in a Texas uniform.

Another great performance for Peters who will get no decision as that lost fly ball was a killer for him.

A fly ball to right is out two.

Skip gets tossed from the game as he was chirping about a close pitch called a ball. The ump has had an odd zone.

Knebel just blows the hitter away on a 97 mph fast ball that he swings through to retire the side.

Tied at three to the eighth and Texas without a pitching coach now.

 

[NBHorn7]

Montalbano leads off the eighth by grounding out to third.

Felts is hit in the foot to reach and lets see if that starts something like it did last inning.

Ty Marlow pops up foul to the third baseman in the coaching box for out two.

B. Marlow up and Marlow swings through a hit and run and Felts is gunned down at second to retire the side.

Tied at three to the bottom of eight.

 

[johnnyg88]

Wow, Augie is giving those umps hell. Are they blind or what? Even the announcers said they missed the call. No breaks for this team.

 

[NBHorn7]

Knebel in the eighth gets a ground ball to deep short and Hinojosa fields and guns him out with a very strong throw.

Now Augie is tossed as a check swing call is missed clearly on the replay that would have been a K.

Suddenly Nicholson has been promoted to head coach.

Instead of a K now it's a walk to put the lead run on with one away.

A hanging breaking ball is lined to left for a single to put two on.

A wild pitch over everybody to the fence on the fly moves the runners to second and third.

Now an intentional walk loads the bases to set up the force at home and the double play.

Nicholson with his first ever trip to the mound discussed defensive stratgegy no doubt and returns to the dugout.

Infield at double play depth and after some close calls Knebel walks in the lead run and gets tossed from the game.

So that means that is Knebel's last ever appearance I believe as he won't be eligible tomorrow after being thrown out of the game.

Tomorrow Texas will have no head coach, no pitching coach, and no closer.

TCU leads 4-3 and this is just icing on the cake for this unbelievably horrible season.

 

[johnnyg88]

Skip, Augie and now Knebel all tossed. Never seen anything like it . Umps not calling obvious strikes. I know they are super frustrated. Knebel walks in the leading run. Shhhhh.

 

[NBHorn7]

Urban comes in with the bases loaded and one away.

A single up the middle scores another run to make it 5-3.

Here comes Nicholson to make another change as Duke comes in.

 

[petscii]

Knebel is done for the year (if not the career...)

Augie and Skip are done for the year as well?

 

[petscii]

And TCU lays down the bunt to take a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the 8th.

 

[NBHorn7]

Duke with the bases loaded still and walks in another run on a close full count pitch makes it 6-3 and we are completely rattled.

A squeeze bunt perfectly done is another run to make it 7-3 and the wheels are off and the runner actually was safe at first too, but it doesn't really matter and bad calls abound in this game.

A single brings in two more runs to make it 9-3 now Nicholson makes another change and Hollingsworth comes in.

A fly ball to left is a merciful third out.

To the ninth and three outs till another record is set by this team for futility by losing every conference series for the first time in Big 12 history.

TCU leads 9-3.

 

[NBHorn7]

Anytime you are thrown out of a game it carries a suspension in the following game.

Knebel will be drafted and leave after this season.

Like Weis and our first base coach against K-State.

 

[NBHorn7]

B. Marlow flies out to center to lead off the ninth.

Shaw pinch hits and walks and then steals second.

Stell with a comebacker to the mound for out two as Shaw goes to third.

Hinojosa walks to put runners on the corners with two down.

Another coaching visit to the mound for some reason.

Payton grounds out to second to end the game.

TCU wins the game 9-3 and the series.

Cherry on top is all I can say.

 

[jayakris]

Gosh. What an utter waste of a year this has been... cry cry cry. R.J.

 

[dillohorn]

Sad.

 

[where_are_my_8s]

I was at the game. From my view point you couldn't get a great look at the umpire's zone. After watching the replay today, that umpire should have taken quite an earful before tossing anyone.

I was right near Augie during his conversation with the 1B umpire. He told him he wasn't arguing balls and strikes. His quote, "I said that was awful, that's not arguing that is an opinion". I need to use that next season with an umpire as well.

Knebel threw the exact same FB 2-2 and it was a strike. Understand the frustration but that was an easy call to toss him by the umpire.

By the way, a lady got hit sqaure in the head on Stell's line drive foul ball in the 5th. It was scary and happened just beyond the Texas dugout. She dropped to the ground immediately. They finally took her away on a stretcher after about 25 minutes or so.