UCI vs. Texas-College World Series

Morales is done and did a good job as expected.

The new pitcher is lefty is Edwin Mararino.

He faces Payton and he has not reached today and his 101 on base streak is on the line perhaps here.
Mark goes uncharacteristically after a high pitch and flies out to center for one away and that might end the streak.
He would tell you so what if the Horns can hang on.

Barrera bats with on down.
He is hit by a pitch and goes to first.

Gillespie, the veteran coach is out for a discussion and it was close, but it looked like it missed his foot.
He must be frustrated a bit now with two missed calls against him.

Hinojosa bats with one on and one down.
The count runs full and he lines a screamer to left for a single to put two on.

The head coach to the mound and he leaves him in.

Shaw on with a perfect day going having reached all three times on two hits.
Sure could use another one here to double the lead at least.
This time he K's looking against a lefty.

The pitching coach comes out and a change is made.
 
Evan Brock is the new UCI pitcher to face the right handed hitting Carter.

He bats with two down and two one and a hit here would b e huge.
A que shot in front of the plate retires the side 2-3 as two more are stranded.

Seven now gone and Texas hangs on 1-0.
 
Thornhill comes out for the eighth and this will most likely be his last if he can make it.

Form would be Curtis in the ninth.

He faces Alacantara leading off from the right side.
He rips a single by Gurwitz and here we go again.

Castro up to bunt and does and the runner is at second.

This a dangerous spot here as the lead off hitter Sparks is up and Thornhill tiring.
And no sooner did I type it than he clobbers a double to the game in left center for a triple to tie the game at 1-1.

Now what? Do you leave Thornhill in as Skip comes out.
The change is made.
 
Longhorns could not get a strategy to move all those base runners. A few times I'd have run suicide squeeze with a man on third and one out. In each case, the batter up, and next, both were easy outs. So why not chance that with 1 out.
 
All it took was 1 clutch hit to pretty much win this game. We've had abiut 5 chances to have a 3-0 lead. They got their clutch hit. Now we're going to need one
 
We are down 3-1.
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Curtis comes in and the infield has to come in and you have to watch for the squeeze now.

Sparks has been dangerous all game and it seemed that pulling Thornhill then was the way to go, but hind sight is always 20/20.

Rebago up with one down and a man at third.
You could see a pitch out here.
A single up the middle put UCI ahead 2-1.

Spencer bats with one on and one down.
He singles to left to put two on.

McClanahan bats with one down and two on.
You have to shut it down now the way things have been going.

Skip back to the mound, but leaves him in.
A big breaker comes over for a K looking for two down.

Munoz up with two on and two away from the left side.
Big out here to get to keep it close.
An 0-2 pitch is slapped to left for another rbi single, the throw is cut and relayed to third for a 7-6-5 third out.

The damage is done though and UCI breaks through with five hits in the inning and now leads 3-1 to the bottom of the eighth.
 
Brock is back for the eighth.

Clemens leads off for the Horns.
A full is reached and a ground ball to second is one down.

Gurwitz bats with one away.
A line drive to left is caught by the left fielder in his tracks for two down.

Marlow bats with two down at the top of the order.
A ground ball to second retires the side in order solidifies the UCI big inning.

To the ninth and UCI leads 3-1.
 
Going to be tough coming out of the losers bracket. Horns had plenty of chances to take uci out early and didn't. I agree we should have tried some more squeeze plays with runners on third. I don't see any chance the horns can get 2 or 3 runs in the final inning with the lack of hitting today.
 
Curtis stays on for the ninth, but not in the situation that the Horns wanted.

Palmer leads off and smacks a soft liner over Hinojosa for another lead runner.

This looks like the Curtis we saw earlier in the season and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Paulino up to try and bunt him over.
He does and it takes a nice play by Curtis to get the out on a diving head first stop.

One on and one down for Alcantara and again you certainly can't allow any more as it is tough enough already.
A fast ball on the outside corner is a K looking for two down.

Castro bats with two away and still a runner at second.
He swings through a fast ball to retire the side.

Bottom of the ninth and Texas needs at least two to stay alive.
 
They're taking extra-base swings instead of focusing on meeting the ball and putting the ball in play.
 
Brock stays on as UCI doesn't deem it necessary to bring in their big closer.

Johnson leads off the ninth and K's looking on the same pitch location that UCI struck out on in the top half.

So Payton up with one last chance to extend his on base streak it seems.
He swings through a high fast ball for a K and it is all going downhill now it seems.

Barrera is the last hope with two away.
He K's looking at a fast ball right down Dodge Street in Omaha.

That's it and UCI comes back and wins 3-1 and it's going to be next to impossible for this short handed staff to come out of the loser's bracket.

Back in a moment to wrap it up.
 
And seems when we get to the CWS, the players on the other teams all look like grown men and big leaguers for the most part, and out guys look more like freshmen and sophs.
 
You live by the sword of style Texas plays and die by it when you can't execute.

This was like so many games that Texas was losing in 2013. Stranding runners left and right as I believe that 12 were left on base today.

What happened so often in that terrible season was present again. You had opportunities where just putting the ball in play would score a run, much less a clutch hit. The strike outs just kill you in those situations.

Thornhill put down threat after threat and that wears on you as a pitcher.
He was out of gas in the eighth and then Curtis couldn't do the job.

There really isn't really a lot more to say about it.

We have to reach deeper than any Texas team has reached in a long time to stick around in the Series. We will just have to see if they can somehow do it.
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Well, we won the first 7 innings. Just out pitched the last 2 innings. Their relief nan comes in and faces 7 horns and retires them all. Of course, with 12 runners lob, we could not buy a clutch hit. We should have easily beat this team. Gonna have to do it the hard way.......if we do it.
 
My buzz was killed. Lots of chances to get a bigger lead in the game, but none came through.
Announcers mentioned that three times in last 30 years, the a team which lost first game won the CWS. Not good odds. We will be playing a good team Monday at 2 p.m.. Maybe we can extend the stay another day or two, we'll see.
 
Unfortunately today is just this whole season in a nutshell, great pitching that can and did get Texas to Omaha but an anemic offense that has to rely on perfect pitching. Every time Texas has lost game one of the CWS under Augie it has been 2 and Q, lets hope this team can break that pattern.
 
too much bunting which does not give you a chance for an extra base hit and usually costs you an out. Let the bats loose.
 
I think only 6 teams have lost the first game and come back to win it all. Augie did it at Fullerton. It can be done, but we will need to play very well and have everybody chip in to pull this off. We do have one foot in the grave however.
 
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