Well, Texas has been nothing so far this weekend if not consistent. Friday night they suffered a 7-2 loss largely due to allowing Stanford to take advantage of defensive mistakes. Saturday they suffered a 6-2 loss; though this time it was only peripherally due to allowing Stanford to take advantage of defensive mistakes. Only one of Stanford's runs was unearned, allowed by a Jordan Etier error at shortstop. The Cardinal continued to impress offensively; not only do they get a lot of hits, but they also pound the ball for a lot of extra-base hits. The box score from yesterday includes this line:
2B - Stewart(4); Diekroeger,K 2(2); Kauppila(2); Smith(2); Wilson(2). HR - Wilson(1).
Note there are seven extra-base hits listed there--six doubles and a homerun--and every single name is on the Cardinal roster. That's seven out of the team's 11 hits that were non-singles. Pretty incredible. So it's not super surprising that Hoby Milner was unable to record an out in the fifth inning, giving up four runs on five hits in his four innings of work. The Longhorn offense did nothing to speak of either, tallying only three hits on the day. Stanford starter Brett Mooneyham not only won the award for funniest name on the field, but also looked sharp in going eight strong innings and holding Texas to one run and three hits. The Longhorns did manage the feat of adding another run in the ninth inning without a hit (Jordan Etier hit a sac fly after two walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases), but Erich Weiss's bid at a game-tying grand slam to center field came up short and the ballgame was over.
The victory for Stanford ties the all-tome series at 27-27-1, and the Cardinal will look to sweep Texas for the first time ever today. Meanwhile the Longhorns look to avoid a five-game losing streak. First pitch is at 3:00 Central, and this is your open thread. Hook 'em!