Rice-Texas Recap

Texas played #2 Rice last night in their 2nd out of 3 games of the Houston College Classic. Rice was undefeated before this game while Texas had a losing record of 2-3.

The game was scoreless until the 3rd inning. After the Horns cut down Bobby Bramhall trying to stretch a double into a triple to start the top of the third, the Owls used a hit batter and consecutive base hits from Greg Buchanan and Luna to grab a 1-0 advantage.  Responding immediately in the bottom half of the frame, UT received a one-out double inside the right-field line from Clay Van Hook, who moved to third on an ensuing groundout by Nick Peoples and tied the game on a wild pitch. Following a scoreless fourth for both sides, the Horns put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fifth via two singles and a sacrifice bunt. Shortstop Chais Fuller then came up with a single through the right side to bring in both runs and give UT a 3-1 lead. While Rice's offense would place at least one runner on between the third and seventh innings, including a two-on, two-out situation in the seventh, Texas starter Kyle McCulloch managed to pitch out of each jam and registered strikeouts to end the fifth, sixth and seventh frames. Kyle McCulloch pitched great, he recorded a Career-High 9 Strikeouts.
In the top of the eighth with two down and McCulloch out of the game, the Owls rallied. Using two singles around a walk, Rice cut the Texas lead to 3-2. A throwing error then let the tying run score before another walk loaded the bases to bring the go-ahead run 90 feet away. At that point, freshman Kyle Walker came on in relief and fanned the first batter he faced on a 3-2 pitch to keep the game knotted at 3-3. After the Horns went in order in the bottom of the eighth, consecutive hit batters with one out in the top of the ninth put the lead run in scoring position for Rice. Following a strikeout, another throwing error allowed the runner from second to score and staked the Owls to a 4-3 lead.
It looked like Texas would lose another heartbreaker, but not tonight. Texas had to add an exciting finish to an already close game. In the bottom of the 9th, Texas received a one-out walk to Suttle, and, following a strikeout, Russell was called on to pinch hit for Van Hook. After taking a called strike, Russell connected on an opposite-field home run to hand the Longhorns a come-from-behind 5-4 victory.

The Longhorns are 2-0 so far in the Houston College Classic. Since starting the season with 3 losses the team has won 3 straight and now has a 3-3 record. The Longhorns look to get back to their winning ways today vs Tulane. I will post a preview of that game later.
Taylor
GO HORNS BASEBALL!