It was game #2 in the PB (post-basketball) era on Wednesday night versus Texas Southern, and it turned into a nice win after a rough night on Tuesday. Texas (20-9) fell behind 2-1 early and 3-2 after five. Kyle Russell had his biggest hit in as long as we can remember, a 6th inning triple which tied it at 3. He then scored the go-ahead run on a Cameron Rupp sac fly.
The error monster struck the Horns in the top of the 7th, leading to a bases loaded hit batsman and a 4-4 score. But Texas took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out two-run Russell Moldenhauer double. Finally, Stayton Thomas showed he was not shaken by the recent Ryan Perrilloux incident by shuting the door on the Tigers for the 7-4 win.
We're not sure if Augie saw it the same way, but we're starting to feel like Preston Clark may be the answer at 3B. His two defensive plays to end the game were almost Maroul-esque.
The best part of this game had to be this mound conversation captured by a TexasSports.tv hidden microphone in the top of the 5th.
Augie: Excuse me, but what the hell's going on out here?
Preston Clark: Well, Whitmer's scared because his eyelids are jammed and his old man's here. We need a live... is it a live rooster? We need a live rooster to take the curse off Torres's glove and nobody seems to know what to get Aaron Ross or Sanya Richards for their wedding present.
[to the players]
Preston Clark: Is that about right?
[the players nod]
Preston Clark: We're dealing with a lot of (stuff).
Augie: Okay, well, uh... candlesticks always make a nice gift, and uh, maybe you could find out where she's registered and maybe a place-setting or maybe a silverware pattern. Okay, let's get two! Go get 'em.
Hitter of the midweek games: Russell Moldenhauer was one of the few Horns with a real nice two game set. Russell went 2-2 against Rice with a run scored then went 1-2 against Texas Southern with 2 walks and the game's biggest hit in his two-RBI double in the bottom of the 7th.
Pitcher of the midweek games: You pitch 4 innings, you strike out 6 batters, you only give up 2 hits and 1 earned run. Your reward is you get saddled with the loss. Chance Ruffin had a nice night against Rice, which he badly needed after a number of poor performances in recent games. He may not have gotten the win, but getting good experience during the midweek games is big for the youngsters.
Kiddie Corpsman of the midweek games: Once again it was not the Kiddie Corps' finest performance. Stayton Thomas gets the nod for his 2.1 perfect innings. Thomas struck out 3 of the 7 batters he faced, retiring all 7 for the win. Nobody else that hasn't already been mentioned really stood out.
Next Up: The Longhorns leave the state of Texas for the first time this season on Friday. And If you thought that was bad, it gets worse: they have to travel to Norman, Oklahoma. At 5-4 in conference, Texas finds itself a game behind both Missouri and Texas A&M for fourth place. Dropping 2 of 3 against Nebraska means the Horns are unlikely to win the conference outright, but taking this series against Oklahoma (2-3-1 in conference play) would be a big step in the right direction. At 20-9, Texas has 27 games left to make a postseason impression.