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The Statesman is reporting that Bradley Suttle signed with the Yankees over the weekend. I went looking for specifics but couldn’t find anything official. This alt.sports.baseball.ny-yankees post says that Kevin Goldstein is reporting a $1M deal. I’ll post more if I see it.

The Statesman post also says that Kyle Russell and Preston Clark have both indicated that they’ll be back. They still have two days to sign, though. The deadline is August 15th.

UPDATE. As of 2pm (Eastern) on Aug. 15th, the Yankees are saying that they have not signed Bradley to a deal. FYI. (Link.)

UPDATE #2. According to the Baseball America Draft Blog, Bradley and the Yankees have come to terms. Bonus: $1.3M (a record for a 4th round draft pick). Good for him. And, good luck to him. I’ll miss watching him play at Disch-Falk.

[Cross-posted to my baseball page.]

James Russell signed with the Cubs (Statesman link) for a $350K bonus. And, the Cubs will pay for 5 semesters of college. My guess is that the $350K is at least $250K more than the slot bonus guidelines set forth by Major League Baseball.

I have not heard any definitive news on Kyle Russell or Bradley Suttle. But, Bradley was drafted by the Yankees and it’s very likely they will offer him a bonus close to what he was hoping for before the draft (that is: 1st round money). The situation is not as clear regarding Kyle Russell. The fact that the Cubs went so far over the guidelines makes me rather nervous about Kyle’s chances of sticking around, though. To this point, the highest reported signing bonus for a 4th rounder is $225K. That’s $125 below James Russell’s bonus (and he was drafted in the 14th) so…

Who knows? I guess it all depends on how much the Cardinals really want him, eh?

UPDATE. I just did a little bit more research on slot signing bonus guidelines and found out that the MLB does not want anyone in post 5th-round positions to get more than an estimated $123K. All of the lower rounds (6th through 50th) fall in the same group. I thought it kept going down as you got further along but it doesn’t. So, James Russell’s bonus was about $227K over slot.

Augie Garrido appeared on KVET 1300 this morning and had plenty to say. Among the highlights:

• He agrees that Texas should be the best college baseball team in America and that, at times, this team was that this year. We did have a very good team that did a very good job. He’s not offering excuses. Accepting not getting to the CWS is very difficult. He was bitterly surprised at the role that fate played in the Regionals.
• The team GPA was 2.9 in the Fall and over 3.0 (the highest ever) in the Spring.
• He gave full credit to UCI for the series they had and noted that UCI hasn’t lost a championship game yet and he won’t be surprised to see them do well at the CWS because they are fundamentally extremely sound.
• When asked about his exit interviews with the team, he said the three comments he got most about what impacted the team going into the Regional were: (1) The players really felt the impact of losing Preston Clark behind the plate before the Regional tourney…more than Coach Garrido would’ve imagined. Brett Lewis is very capable and the players had confidence in his ability. But, Preston’s leadership and interactions with the team all year provided more of the glue that held the team’s spirit together than Coach Garrido had imagined. (2) Losing Nick Peoples was also huge. (3) He was surprised to hear that the players were disappointed that they didn’t play at Disch-Falk and that they felt they would’ve won if they’d been playing at home. He thought that since they’d played 11 games at Dell Diamond early in the year, it wouldn’t have as much of an affect as it seemed to have. He thought they were past all that so that was surprising to him.
• Regarding the draft, he thinks there’s a decent possibility that Kyle Russell will be back (he wants 1st round money but was drafted in the 4th), no clear idea about Bradley Suttle (also wanting 1st round money and drafted in the 4th; but the drafting team was the Yankees and you never know what they’ll do), and a good chance that both James Russell and Preston Clark will return.
• Asked about Coach Johnson’s contribution in his first year and as they look forward: he thinks Coach Johnson is absolutely the right man at the right time for this job. He knows Texas baseball at every level inside and out.
• He thinks we’ll have a real good team next year but added that he hesitates and stutters a little bit making that statement because he was so surprised to lose the Regional.
• Regarding the construction at Disch-Falk: they’re not on schedule but they’re not behind, either. He explained that the team doesn’t need to be back out on the field until September and they should be able to do that. Prior to the first game on February 22nd, everything’s supposed to be completely finished. So, they’re behind schedule due to the recent rains but the delay won’t cause problems because things will still be completed before the team and fans actually need access.
• He made a comment about ESPN being the only entity that has the power to force the changes that would bring a higher level of consistency and quality to college baseball. The implication, clearly, was that the best way to influence the NCAA was with money and ESPN holds the purse strings.

For more detail, please check out the report I filed on my site.

As Brian already noted in the “Quick Hits” section, Adrian Alaniz has come to terms with the Washington Nationals. Adrian will be signing a contract on Friday when he reports for his Minor League assignment and will not be back for his senior year.

The Statesman also reported that seniors Nick Peoples and Chance Wheeless had signed with their respective drafting teams (the Cardinals and Diamondbacks).

I heard Coach Garrido on the radio this morning say that undrafted seniors Brett Lewis and Chais Fuller have also been offered contracts by Major League teams; he did not say which teams, however.

A couple of quick notes. Texas signee Brandon Workman (rhp, Bowie HS) was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft. Kyle Russell and Bradley Suttle were drafted in the 4th round. They only got through the first 5 rounds of the draft yesterday; more Horns will be drafted today.

Major League Baseball has changed their “draft and follow” rule. In the past, a team could draft a player and then take up to 51 weeks to sign him…and no other team could come knockin’ on the door during those 51 weeks. So, they could draft a player, encourage him to play another year of college ball, watch his progress, and then decide. All the while safe in the knowledge that if they wanted to sign the player, they had a year to do so. The new rule states that the teams only have until August 15th to sign a player, except for college seniors. I think the change will mean more draftees from the later rounds will go ahead and sign. But, maybe not. Some people think the rule change will mean that teams will draft fewer players. The draft goes 50 rounds. In the past, 4 or 5 teams would drop out as the draft got into the later rounds. But, most would draft all the way through to the end since teams had so long to evaluate talent. The new rule may mean they won’t bother drafting some players they would’ve drafted in the past.

If I’m able, I’ll update this post as the draft progresses today.

Update (2 pm). Randy Boone was drafted in the 7th by Toronto; Adrian Alaniz in the 8th by Washington; signee Taylor Grote (cf, The Woodlands) in the 8th by the Yankees; and signee Runey Davis (cf, Georgetown) in the 11th by Pittsburgh.

Update (5 pm). James Russell was drafted in the 14th by the Cubs; Joseph Krebs in the 14th by Cincinnati; Chance Wheeless in the 17th by Arizona; Nick Peoples (as a second baseman, apparently) in the 19th by St. Louis; and signee Kevin Keyes (rf, Connally HS) in the 26th by the Rangers.

Update (6 pm). Preston Clark was drafted in the 33rd by the Cubs; Kenn Kasparek (who was recovering from Tommy John surgery and did not play this year) in the 34th by Washington; signee Garrett Clyde (rhp, San Jacinto College) in the 43rd by the Cubs; signee Cameron Rupp (c, Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano) in the 43rd by Pittsburgh; and Clay Van Hook in the 45th by Seattle.

Texas won Game 5 (link to full game report on my site) and was playing UC-Irvine in Game 6 when play was suspended due to bad weather. I sat up in the “Home Run Porch” area of the Dell Diamond for much of the evening game and enjoyed watching the lightening storm for a couple of hours before the game was called. Play resumes today at 1 pm with Texas trailing 5-6 in the bottom of the 7th. If (ahem…when) the Horns prevail, that will force a 7th game which will start approximately 50 minutes after the conclusion of Game 6.

I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post more but the long days are wearing me out. By the time I get home, I just want to sleep! And, yesterday? Geesh. It was 100 degrees (or hotter) in the sun during the afternoon game. And, we were all pretty much stuck in the sun. When the thunderstorms rolled in, it actually got rather cold. And, since we’d all been out in the 100-degree weather, we weren’t really prepared for such. It was a long day.

Texas lost to UC-Irvine this evening 1-3. There were two main factors in the loss: (1) the Horns ran up against a pitcher (Scott Gorgen) who threw a whale of a game and (2) the UCI center fielder (Ollie Linton) made two amazing catches that took extra-base hits away from the Horns (both plays, by sad coincidence, robbed Russell Moldenhauer of hits). Looking at the boxscore, you might think errors played a part in the loss as well. But, they really didn’t. Only one of the errors led to a run. Nope. The main problem was that pitcher and the fact that Texas could not string two hits together to save their lives. The only inning in which the Horns did get more than one hit was the 6th. It started off when Chance Wheeless flew out to lf. Bradley Suttle followed that up with a single. Then, Russell Moldenhauer flew out to the lf/cf gap. That was one of those hits stolen by the center fielder. Suttle would’ve definitely ended up at 3b on the play…he might well have scored. And, Moldenhauer would’ve been standing on 2b with 1 out. Instead, Suttle was still at 1b with 2 outs. Nick Peoples then singled through the left side. If runners had been standing on 2b and 3b, at least one of them would’ve scored on that single. But that’s not what happened. And, Chais Fuller followed that up with a ground out to 3b. Which should’ve been the 2nd out of the inning. But, Linton made that catch. And, Texas did not score.

Adrian Alaniz got the start and took the loss. He did not pitch one of his “wow” games but he was not bad. He went 6.2 innings and gave up 3 runs (1 unearned) on 6 hits with 2 walks, 1 hit batter, and 7 (!) strikeouts. Normally, that would be more than good enough for Texas to win a game. But not today.

So, now what? Wake Forest beat Brown 4-2 in the early game today so now Texas will face Wake Forest in an elimination game at noon tomorrow. If (ahem…when) they win that, they’ll have to turn around and beat UCI at 6. And, then they’ll have to beat UCI again at 1 o’clock on Monday afternoon.

Texas was in the same position in 2005. After losing the 2nd game of the Austin Regional that year, they turned around and won three games. They then lost the first game of the Super Regional in Oxford, Mississippi, before going on to win the Super Regional to move on to the College World Series. And, then they…you know…won the College World Series. So, it can be done. The Longhorns have done it. Here’s hoping they can do it again!

Texas beat Brown 8-2 last night. Brown put up a heck of a fight and the Bears had the lead going into the bottom of the 6th. But, they couldn’t hold the Horns’ offense off. James Russell started for the Horns but struggled so was replaced by Joseph Krebs who got the win, improving his record to 9-1. Randy Boone threw the final 1.2 innings to get his 14th save of the year. Normally, when you see a score like that (8-2) you don’t see someone get a save. But, the Horns were only up 4-2 when Boone entered the game. Kyle Russell and Chais Fuller hit home runs last night and Travis Tucker went 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

As usual, see my page for a full game report.

By the way, UC-Irvine jumped all over Wake Forest in the first game of the day, winning 13-0. So, Wake Forest and Brown play the early game at noon. Texas faces UC-Irvine in the winner’s bracket at 6.

Texas was chosen as the #4 National Seed and will host UC-Irvine, Wake Forest, and Brown. I did a quick check and UT has never played UC-Irvine or Brown. The Horns did meet Wake Forest…back in 1949. The Horns beat Wake Forest twice in the 3rd College World Series to win the Horns’ first National Championship. No meetings since then. I’m very excited to be seeing new teams come to town. Stanford and UT-Arlington came to town last year. The winner of our Regional will meet the winner of the Wichita State Regional (Arizona, Oral Roberts, and New Orleans are the other teams in that tourney).

Other Big 12 teams to make the tournament:

• Missouri (hosting Miami, Louisville, and Kent State)
• Texas A&M (hosting Louisiana-Lafayette, Ohio State, and Le Moyne)
• Baylor (#3 seed at Rice, with TCU and Prairie View)
• Nebraska (#3 seed at Arizona State, with UC-Riverside and Monmouth)
• Oklahoma State (#3 seed at Arkansas, with Creighton and Albany)

Here’s how the Big 12 stands (sorted by RPI as of May 27th):

It’s rather surprising that Oklahoma didn’t make it into the tournament. They’re the highest RPI team that did not get in. (Georgia Tech at 28 and Kansas State at 35 are the next two.) I’m very puzzled at OSU getting in over OU. Yes, OSU did better in the regular season but were swept at the tourney and their RPI is a lot lower. Very odd. And, over their last 10 games, OU went 6-4…while OSU went 4-6, losing the last 6! Is someone from OSU on the NCAA selection committee? ‘Makes you wonder.

Update. Thanks to Ruby for pointing out an error in the table above. Oops.

(Cross-posted to my page.)

Texas beat Nebraska 5-4 this afternoon. Since the Aggies had won their game earlier in the day, the Horns knew they were out of the hunt for a spot in the Championship Game. I saw some chatter on different sites saying the Horns should throw the game so the Aggies couldn’t make it, either. If you ask me, throwing a game is always a bad idea. And, there’s no way in the world Coach Garrido would allow one of his teams to do such a thing. Can you imagine? People are funny.

Anyway, the Horns played well enough. Adrian Alaniz got the nod and did not have his best outing of the year. He gave up 3 runs (1 unearned) in 3 innings on 4 hits (all singles) with 1 strikeout, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter. Austin Wood replaced Adrian on the mound at the start of the 4th and sat down the first 11 batters he saw. Wow. The 12th batter reached on an error by Chais Fuller at ss. Chais had lost a ball in the sun in the first inning and then let one roll under his glove in the 7th; rather uncharacteristic for Chais. When the 4th batter of the 7th reached on an infield single, the Horns sent Randy Boone to the mound and he got the next batter to fly out to cf to end the threat. He struggled a bit in the 8th, though. After getting a couple of quick outs, he gave up back-to-back singles. On the 2nd hit, Kyle Russell tried to scoop up the ball and throw in one motion. Sadly, he missed the ball, ran past it a bit, and could not gather it up. The runner from 2b scored and the batter reached 2b. Randy then walked the next two batters to load the bases! Ack. The next batter hit a high-bouncer right in front of the plate that Preston Clark fielded; he stepped on home plate to end the inning. Nebraska argued that the ball was foul to no avail.

Texas scored one in the 1st, one in the 2nd (a solo shot by Preston Clark, his 8th dinger of the year), and 2 in the 3rd (when Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell reached on back-to-back walks and then both scored). Luckily, they scored a 5th run in the top of the 8th when Chance Wheeless reached on a single and was driven home a few batters later on a 2-out single by Chais Fuller.

The Horns made a few mental errors and have some things they need to work on before the Regional starts on Friday. But, they also did some things very well. Austin Wood had a great outing on the mound and got the win. Chance Wheeless went 4-for-4 with 2 driven in and a run scored. Jordan Danks went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored. And Chais Fuller managed to do well at the plate, despite his fielding problems, going 2-for-4 with a run driven in.

As usual, more details are available on the game report on my page.

Texas lost (3-7) to Texas A&M this afternoon. The Aggies made an interesting decision to start Kirkland Rivers. He’s mainly been used in short relief this season. He did a great job, though, holding the Horns to 3 runs on 7 hits over 6.2 innings. When he looked like he was getting into trouble in the 4th, the Aggies made no move to replace him. And, the decision paid off. Keith Moorland was completely dumbfounded by the fact that he kept going back to the mound as the game wore on. When the Aggies finally replaced him in the 7th, they sent Kyle Nicholson to the mound. Nicholson has been the Aggies’ most reliable starter all year. He did close out some games early in the season, though, so that move wasn’t quite as unprecedented. Nicholson faced 7 Texas batters. Not a single one reached base.

Texas, meanwhile, sent James Russell to the mound. He got into trouble in the 5th when the Aggies started things off with back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases. James struck the 4th batter out looking and we all let our breath out a little bit. He hit the next on the knee, though, to score the tying run. The 5th batter fouled out to Bradley Suttle at 3b and we relaxed just a wee bit more. Sadly, Craig Stinson hit the first pitch he saw over the lf fence for a grand slam which gave the Aggies a 6-2 lead. James actually pitched a good game after that, although he did give up one more home run (a solo shot) in the 5th. Keith Shinaberry pitched a scoreless 7th and Pat McCrory did the same in the 8th.

As Coach Garrido pointed out in the post-game show, when the Horns had the bases loaded with two outs, they failed to execute. When the Aggies had the same chance, they executed in a big way. And, that made all the difference.

The Horns are concentrating their efforts on managing the pitching in an effort to have the ideal set up when the Regional comes around next weekend. They’d like to win the Big 12 Tournament but are focusing more on where they want to be next weekend. On the one hand, I like that they’re looking ahead. On the other hand, they’ve played “one inning at a time” all year long. Changing philosophies late in the season makes me a little nervous.

As usual, more details available in the game report on my page.

Baseball team runs away with Big 12 postseason awards. Kyle Russell was voted Player of the Year, Adrian Alaniz was voted Pitcher of the Year, and Coach Garrido was voted Co-Coach of the Year.

Wow. Today’s game was something else. I’m glad I got to hear most of it. The TexasSports.com story claims that the team “coasted” to the win. I’m here to tell you: that is not the case. Uh-uh. The Kansas State Wildcats jumped out to a 4-run lead in the 2nd. Texas starter Kyle Walker did not make it out of the 2nd. Thankfully, Joseph Krebs was there to pick up the slack and pitch a very solid 5 innings of no-score relief.

Down 4-0 in the bottom of the 2nd, the Horns scraped together a run and then broke things open in the bottom of the 3rd. They sent 15 men to the plate in the 3rd and scored 10 (the most in a single inning all year). Kansas State actually used 4 different pitchers in that inning. So, yeah, at that point, it did kinda look like the Horns were gonna coast to a win. Especially since the Big 12 uses the 10-run rule during the tournament (for all but the Championship Game). Texas scored 2 more in the 7th to go ahead by 9 and it looked, for all the world, like the 10-run rule would actually kick in.

However, the Wildcats would not roll over. Pat McCrory went to the mound for the Horns in the 8th and they jumped all over him. With 3 runs across, 2 outs, and runners at the corners (and a 13-7 lead!), the Horns decided to send Randy Boone to the mound to shut things down. Alas, things did not go exactly the way Texas hoped they would. The Wildcats’ left-fielder took the 2nd pitch he saw over the left field fence. His first home run of the year. Suddenly, the Horns were only ahead by 3 and those 2 runs they’d scored in the bottom of the 7th were looking mighty good. Randy did toss a strikeout to the next batter he faced, though. All Texas had to do from that point was hold the Wildcats for one more inning. But, first, the bottom of the 8th.

Chais Fuller grounded out to start the Texas half of the 8th. Nick Peoples followed that with his 4th home run of the year. And, then Travis Tucker was hit by a pitch. So, trailing by 4, Kansas State sent Daniel Edwards, their closer, to the mound. He had 11 saves on the year, a 1.30 ERA, and had not given up a home run all year. K-State had plans. They were gonna hold the Horns and then score more in the 9th. Alas, best laid plans and all…eh? Edwards walked Jordan Danks and then plonked Kyle Russell to load the bases. Chance Wheeless then singled to score two. With runners at 1b and 2b, Bradley Suttle approached the plate. Bradley has been stuck at 10 home runs for a very long time. Today was the day he’d get over that. Yep, he hit a 3-run dinger over the right field fence. Texas answered the 6 runs K-State scored in the top of the 8th with 6 of their own in the bottom of the 8th. Amazing. The Wildcats got a couple aboard in the top of the 9th but all for naught.

The Horns came away with a 19-10 win. Which, yeah, sounds kinda like maybe they coasted. But, really, that game was a lot closer than the final score makes it look. Yikes! You just gotta love baseball, doncha? Anything can happen.

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For those that aren’t familiar with the format, the Big 12 sends the top 8 teams to the tournament. They’re divided into 2 pools (#1, #4, #5, and #8 seeds in one and #2, #3, #6, and #7 in the other). The pools play separate round-robin mini-tournaments and the winner of each pool advances to a “winner take all” Championship Game. As of this posting, Nebraska and Texas are 1-0 in the 1st pool. OU won the first game in the 2nd pool. Baylor and OSU are scoreless in the 5th in the final game of the day.

For more details about today’s Texas game, please see the game report on my page.

Update. Baylor beat OSU. So, Texas, Nebraska, OU, and Baylor are 1-0. KSU, TAMU, Mizzou, and OSU are 0-1.

Texas beat the Aggies one more time, 9-1, to complete the sweep. Five of the Texas runs were scored on 2 home runs in the 4th: a 2-run shot over the left field fence by Preston Clark (his 7th of the year) and a 3-run shot over the right field fence by Jordan Danks (his 4th of the year). The Horns came close to run-ruling the Aggies but couldn’t quite do it. And, frankly, we were kinda hoping they wouldn’t so we could see just a little more baseball. It was Senior Day, after all. Today was the last time we’d get to see any of the seniors (and a few of the juniors, I’m sure) playing in Burnt Orange at Disch-Falk Field.

Austin Wood got the win for the Horns. He pitched the first 8 innings and gave up one earned run on 5 hits with 2 strikeouts, 1 walk, 2 hit batters, and 1 wild pitch. Pat McCrory went in for the 9th, faced the minimum, and threw 2 strikeouts.

The Horns now head to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament. They will likely be a National seed for the playoffs leading to the CWS. Regardless, they will host a Regional at the Dell Diamond the first weekend in June. Should they win the Regional, they will then (assuming they get a National seed, and there’s absolutely no reason to think they won’t) host a Super Regional at Whataburger Field, home to the Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros AA affiliate), the following weekend. Here’s hoping!

By the way, more details available in the game report on my page.

Texas beat the Aggies 3-2 last night to clinch the Texas A&M Series, the Lone Star Showdown, and the Big 12 Regular Season Title. All in one game. Cool.

Just like Friday night, the Horns came from behind to tie things up late in the game. And, very much like Friday night, an error by an Aggie player led to the winning run being scored by the Horns. In the 8th, with the game tied at 2, Chais Fuller hit a ball to ss that could’ve gone for a double play. The lead runner (Nick Peoples, who’d reached on a single) was thrown out (ss to 2b) but the relay throw to 1b was high. Chais dug hard for 2b and barely beat a nice throw by the Aggie catcher (who’d backed up the play at 1b). With Chais at 2b, Josh Prince (dh) singled to cf (rbi). The excitement in the stands was unbelievable.

In the top of the 9th, Randy Boone struck out the side. It was a beautiful thing to behold. Adrian Alaniz got the start for Texas but struggled. As Augie commented in his post-game interview with Keith Moorland, it looked like Adrian was just trying too hard. After giving up 2 runs in 3.2 innings, Joseph Krebs replaced him on the mound. And, held the Aggies scoreless through the 8th, giving up 2 hits with 4 strikeouts and no walks. He got the win and Randy got his 12th save of the year.

I love watching this team.

I haven’t done an in-depth report on my page yet (and may not have time to do one) so please check out the TexasSports.com story and the article in the Statesman for more info. And, photos.

The Longhorns beat the Aggies in College Station today…6-4. The heroes of the game were the Aggie battery in the top of the 9th. Between the wild pitches and throwing errors (and, okay, 1 hit by Nick Peoples), the Horns scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th to break a 4-4 tie and win the opening game of the series.

Kyle Russell started things off nicely this evening. He hit the first pitch he saw way over the rf fence for his his 27th home run of the year. The Horns gave up 2 in the bottom of the 1st and 2 more in the 3rd to make things somewhat interesting. Hold on. I suppose “nerve-racking” may be the more appropriate term, there. But, they fought back. They scored a single run in the 6th and 2 in the 7th to tie the game up. All while holding the Aggies scoreless after the 3rd.

I was very happy to see the Horns fight their way past their struggles early in the game. We haven’t seen this team do much of that this year. For the most part, they haven’t had to do much of that this year. As I mull over how tonight’s game played out, I can’t help but be excited about the 2007 squad’s post-season prospects.

For more of the nitty-gritty (and a wee bit of a rant about FSN) check out the game report on my page.

By the way, the series moves back to Austin for the final two games. If you’re in Austin and don’t already have tickets, I feel for ya!

Texas ended up with a hole in their schedule and had to wait until last Monday to find an opponent that was under the NCAA-mandated 56-game limit to fill it. The Golden Lions of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ended up being that team. The Horns beat UAPB 10-4. For the most part, the pitchers were very much on their game. James Russell, Adrian Alaniz, Austin Wood, Joseph Krebs, and Randy Boone combined for 8.1 innings of shut-out pitching. Josh Prince started the 7th and struggled, giving up 4 runs on 3 walks and 3 singles before being replaced. The starting line-up combined for 9 hits and also reached base an additional 5 times on walks and 2 times by getting hit by pitches (ouch). Russell Moldenhauer was the offensive hero of the day, going 3-for-3 with a home run (his 5th of the year) and 4 runs batted in.

Happily, Kyle Russell and Jordan Danks both started today. Last week it looked like they both might have to miss today’s game (Danks with an injury to his shoulder and Russell with a jammed wrist). But, they were both in the line-up and seemed to be just fine.

I think today’s “tune-up” served them well and they look to be in good shape for the upcoming series against the Aggies.

For more in-depth coverage of today’s game, see the game report on my baseball page.

Big 12 Regular Season Championship watch: OU and Mizzou split their first two games this weekend. OSU is up 2 at Tech.

Texas filled the hole in Saturday’s schedule. The U. of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions from the SWAC will come to town on Saturday and play a single game at 2pm at Disch-Falk Field. Note the time change (season tickets list the opponent as “TBA” at 6:05pm).

Sadly, the Horns lost their first Big 12 series of the year. They played two very uncharacteristic games this weekend. It was almost like watching a team I’d never seen before. Jeckyll and Hyde. The team on Saturday? That was the team we’ve been watching all year long. But yesterday? Almost all of the things that went wrong on Friday night went wrong again yesterday afternoon as they lost 4-5. Coming away from the weekend, all I can hope is that the team got it out of their system.

I also hope Missouri comes earlier in the season next year!

Two notes: Jordan Danks jammed his shoulder and had to leave the game early on Saturday. Kyle Russell jammed his wrist and had to leave the game early on Sunday. In the post-game interview, Coach Garrido said he didn’t think either injury was very bad (Jordan Danks actually went in as a pinch runner in Sunday’s game) and that they’d both be back for the A&M game. Here’s hoping.

I also hope they Horns manage to schedule a game for the 12th. I don’t think they need the game. But, it certainly couldn’t hurt to get a game in. I don’t know that letting the team “stew” on the Missouri series for 11 days without facing another team would be the best thing to happen right now. Too much time to second-guess, m’thinks.

Anyway, for more specifics on how things went this yesterday:

• my full report
• the Statesman’s article
• the Daily Texan’s article
• the TexasSports.com recap

Check out the Daily Texan article for a great action photo of Travis Tucker. And, note that the TexasSports.com recap has an error (it states that the Missouri’s fifth run was scored on a balk…it wasn’t).

Hopefully, I’ll have better news to report next time. Hook ‘em!

Texas had a tough time of things last night as they lost the series opener to Missouri. Missouri has proven to be a thorn in the Longhorns’ side for the last three years. Coming into the series, Mizzou had taken 6 of the last 9 games. The Tigers had also worked their way into 2nd place in the Big 12 as they came to town. So, the Horns couldn’t really afford to take things for granted.

Things started out nicely last night as Texas took the lead 4-2, helped along by two home runs by Kyle Russell. But, the Tigers took the lead in the 6th when they put 4 on the board as the Texas bullpen showed a crack or two. The Horns rallied, though, and tied things up in the 9th. Sadly, they gave up an unearned run in the top of the 11th as Preston Clark made a very rare error on a toss back to Randy Boone that sailed over Boone’s glove. The Missouri runner at third base made a great decision and broke for home, scoring the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, with two out, Texas rallied but the tying run was thrown out at the plate. Tommy Harmon made the decision to send the runner home and said afterward that he didn’t want to end the game with the tying run stranded at third base. He was hoping Missouri would make a mistake on the play. But, Missouri didn’t make a mistake. They won the game 7-6.

The Horns bounced back today, though. In fine fashion. They got a great game out of Adrian Alaniz who went 8.1 innings. He gave up one run on three hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. And, the bullpen did not let him down. Joseph Krebs went in and struck out the final two batters of the game. The Horns scored 2 runs in the 4th and 3 in the 6th to cruise to victory. Preston Clark went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two runs scored. Chais Fuller went 3-for-4 with a run scored and 3 runs batted in. Kyle Russell failed to hit any home runs today (”only” going 1-for-4) but that 1 hit pushed the final two runs across for the Horns.

So, the series is even. Here’s hoping the Horns finish it off tomorrow. Austin Wood is expected to get the start. He’s done well lately and seems to be improving. This should be fun.

For more details, you can check out the game reports I posted to my page. See yesterday’s game report or today’s game report.

Hello! My name’s Joanna Castillo and I’m happy to be joining Bevo Sports as, basically, a UT Baseball correspondent. I may post on other things from time to time but baseball will be my beat. I went to UT and graduated ’round about the time that Brian and Matt were in Kindergarden. I think. So, yes…that means I’ll be the old lady of the gang. I’ve been running a baseball page dedicated to Longhorn baseball since 1995: Joanna’s Longhorn Baseball Page. I’ll still post my long rambling stuff there. I’ll try to post short reports here, though, ’cause I know the vast majority of the folks who come here probably don’t have quite the same keen interest in the sport that I have.

Why baseball? I’m not sure. I used to listen to Dodger games on the radio with my grandmother in New Mexico when I was a wee tyke. I’ve always liked baseball as a result. So, blame her. A friend offered me his tickets for a Regional tournament here in Austin in 1988 or 1989 and I had a blast. I’d been to…oh, I dunno…10 or 15 UT baseball games before that. And, I’d watched happily on TV when they won the CWS in 1983. But, the experience of that Regional grabbed me and held on tight. I got season tickets the next year. And, I’ve kept them. I’m guessing I’ve seen roughly 90% of the games played at Disch-Falk field since then. That’s a lot of baseball. And, I love it. And, I hope I can share some of that love with you.

Report on the first two games of the Missouri series coming shortly.

Hook ‘em!