Baseball Team Has Big XII Right Where It Wants Them After Historic Weekend

by 40AS on Apr 13, 2008 6:28 PM CDT in Baseball

We went to our first Texas-OU football game as sophomores in 2003. We don't need to remind you how much of a slaughter that game was, but we took two positives away as we left the game.

A freshman named Vince Young had the craziest run we'd ever seen.

We got to leave in the 3rd quarter.

This weekend in Missouri, the Texas baseball team put up the two worst performances we can recall a Texas team putting up. The Friday and Saturday performances were so bad that we're too humiliated to post anything but the 9-2 victory on Sunday. Being the eternal optimists that we are, we found three positives coming from this weekend:

A freshman named Chance Ruffin could be a very good Sunday starter this season.

Kyle Russell is back (4 HR this weekend, 7 on the season).

We didn't have to watch. One of us had a work retreat and the other had a bike ride event.

The win on Sunday meant all is not lost, but we're hanging on by a thread here. At 8-7 Texas must now fight for 3rd in the conference. At 23-12 and 17 games left, we're guessing the Horns need to go on a serious tear to even have a chance of hosting a regional series. The schedule doesn't get any easier from here on out, with a huge weekend series against Okie State next weekend in Austin. A series win would be great, a sweep could be huge.

The only Texas team to win fewer than 19 conference games since 2002 won a national title (2005 went 16-10). We've been saying all year that this team is capable of great things, but we won't really know until June if that's true. As with the rest of you that follow Texas baseball, this weekend has us questioning the wisdom of that belief.

Austin Wood continues to alternate between brilliance and badness (for lack of a better word), Kenn Kasparek has been bypassed in the rotation, Kyle Walker hasn't gotten a meaningful inning since Stanford, Stayton Thomas has struggled of late, Michael Torres continues to swing a hot bat but looks like Chuck Knoblauch trying to field 2B, and the team now has one pitcher (1) out of the nine (9) that have thrown 10+ innings with an ERA below 3.

We love baseball because statistics usually tell a large part of a team's story, so does that sound like the story of an elite team?

We still remain confident that this team has the talent to make an Omaha run, but we'll be the first to admit that talent alone does not a champion make.

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Just smile and shake your head

at the emotional roller coaster that is Texas Baseball 2008.

My boy Sherrod says, "What's with all the Chiles love? Y'all forgettin' that it was #17 with the 70 yarder in the spring game..."

by Sweed4Heisman on Apr 13, 2008 8:41 PM CDT 0 recs

Augie doesn't seem worried

I've been tempted for a while to compare this team to 2005, in terms of the less than stellar conference performance and the fact that that team didn't get a top 8 national seed and had to go on the road for the super regionals.

But I don't feel the same sense of intensity that I felt watching the 2005 team. Not to mention that that team had better pitching and more reliable defense than this one.

With all that said, Augie keeps saying every weekend that this team, like any other, has lots to work on but that he feels they could be a very dangerous postseason team. We'll see. I think Texas gets by on their name in some seasons when it comes to seeding teams (although I firmly believe they deserved a top 8 seed in '05 and was proven correct when they went to Omaha and anhilated everyone in their path), but I think even to take advantage of that this year, they need to finish with no worse than a 9-3 record over the 12 remaining conference games. This is doable, however, considering that Nebraska, Missouri, and OU are out of the way. A&M is the only remaining opponent that I don't think Texas is fully capable of sweeping. But I don't think A&M has really even been tested yet, so the jury is probably still out on that.

by bassale47 on Apr 13, 2008 9:00 PM CDT 0 recs

your first texas-ou game ever

and you left in the 3rd quarter?

what did you do instead?

by the other Andrew on Apr 13, 2008 11:30 PM CDT 0 recs

Cried

It was like 44-13 when we left. I believe there was an inordinate amount of tequila involved too.

by 40AS on Apr 14, 2008 6:21 AM CDT up 0 recs

crying and drinking

those are the only two acceptable answers.

by the other Andrew on Apr 14, 2008 8:30 AM CDT up 0 recs

How?

In 40 years of slowpitch softball, I never saw a 31-12 score. How does this happen?

by Caradoc on Apr 14, 2008 12:30 AM CDT 0 recs

Weather

The wind was incredible. Balls that would have died just beyond the infield were carrying all the way over the fence. Texas just couldn't take advantage of it the way that Missouri did. They rocked Aaron Crow for something like 9 runs before he was removed from the game, but Missouri just refused to quit, obviously.

by bassale47 on Apr 14, 2008 6:42 AM CDT up 0 recs

Tour de Lis

Hey! Who was in attendance at the Tour de Lis? I was supposed to be there, but my stupid car broke down in Houston! I understand it was rained out anyway, so maybe it was a wash (pun intended).

I work for Planet Cancer, one of the fundraising recipients of the ride. Hope you had fun!

-Tom

by Broccoli on Apr 14, 2008 9:20 AM CDT 0 recs

TDL

That was me (Jeff). My family are the ones who started it to honor my cousin Josh, who has ties to your organization. It was extremely disappointing to have the ride cancelled, but we raised over $160,000 and had 500 riders signed up. We'll figure things out for next year and hopefully have 1000 riders and raise half-a-million dollars for Tour de Lis 2009

by 40AS on Apr 14, 2008 3:08 PM CDT up 0 recs

RE: TDL

Oh, OK! Josh and Abby came to Planet Cancer's first couples' retreat last year. I haven't met them, but I'm sure to. My understanding is that the Tour is going to go national, probably starting in DC next year (in addition to the ongoing NO ride).

And now a BON tie. Obviously good people.

Are you in Austin? Are you going to Planet Cancer's Flamingo-a-Go-Go?
http://flamingoagogo.com/

-Tom

by Broccoli on Apr 15, 2008 10:08 AM CDT up 0 recs

My first Texas vs OU

Ok, kids, gather round. My first game was in 1958. I had just turned 10 and my folks took us to Dallas for the State Fair. My Dad was a UH grad, but he had attended UT his freshman year so we sat in the Texas section. My main impression was the size of the Cottonbowl and number of people that were there. I had never been in a crowd that large or heard that many people yelling.

As to the game itself, I don't remember much but Texas won by one point, taking advantage of the new "go for two" rule, which had an even greater impact on our sandlot games since we didn't have goal posts anyway.

by Caradoc on Apr 14, 2008 9:56 AM CDT 0 recs