The still-top-ranked Longhorns went to Houston for a midweek clash with No. 7 Rice and allowed a four-spot to the Owls in the fifth inning en route to a three run loss. TexasSports has your recap. A few thoughts:
- Playing Rice on a Tuesday is a weird thing, because it's a relatively meaningful game in a slot usually reserved for tune-ups. It happens at least twice a year (Rice comes to Austin on April 21 this year) and it's one of the two or three best non-conference rivalries in baseball. We are big believers that mid-week losses shouldn't get anyone too riled up, as the other team normally wants the win much more than Texas--and that difference is reflected in the picthing matchup. Against Rice, though, you have two of the nation's elite teams battling for bragging rights, so in a very strange way losing to a great team stings worse than losing to a UT-Arlington.
- The major cause for concern at this point in the season seems to clearly be the ebb of offensive pop. Texas managed only four base hits on Tuesday night after a decent-not-great weekend at the plate against Mizzou. Longhorn fans don't need to be too worried at this point--Rice can always be counted on for solid pitching and no team can knock the cover off the ball every night. Still, it's something to keep an eye on.
- It is nice to see the freshman pitchers getting some innings. Taylor Jungmann has appeared out of the bullpen in both the last two games, throwing four innings of no-hit ball on Sunday to keep the 'Horns hanging around long enough to make the exciting three-run ninth decisive. He started out very shaky last night in the fifth (see next bullet point), but settled down and threw well for the rest of his brief outing. Austin Dicharry, the other big-time freshman arm, got the start in Houston and was solid through four frames before the rough fifth inning.
- And speaking of that fifth inning...wow. It's a part of the game in college baseball much more than it is at the major league level, but it is still a bit disconcerting when pitchers give runs away. The first pair of runs came innocently enough, with Dicharry giving up a single and a two-run homer. That wasn't the issue. Andrew McKirahan relieved Dicharry but provided very little relief, facing three batters, getting nobody out, and allowing three base hits. Next came Jungmann, who got the last two hitters via strikeout--but in the process allowed the fourth run to score courtesy of two wild pitches. It was a tough inning, but every staff is entitled to one of those every now and then.
Texas continues navigating a nasty Big XII with a trip to Lawrence this weekend to face the Jayhawks.
Do you think there's a chance...
that there will be consequences for what happened in the game? Meaning that an ump might get suspended or something? I’m not saying that UT would have or should have won the game, I’m just wondering if there’s going to be some sort of NCAA reaction to one of the worst calls by a baseball official ever. It seems like if this happened in a football game, they would at least look into it and give a statement, like that one OU/Oregon football game.
Thoughts?
hornbone - March 18, 2009
The Call
For those of you who are wondering what we’re talking about, the play is explained here. The Texas Sports recap is a bit too sanitized to mention any controversy.
The answer is, there’s no question Texas got screwed and if they had scored two more runs they’d have a true gripe. But, unlike the example you’re citing, this game won’t hurt the losing squad’s chances at a national championship. That, coupled with the lack of major media coverage of college baseball, means that it’s unfortunate but not an absolutely huge deal. As for sanctions for the umpire, I’m not sure how that works. I know that umps work for specific conferences just like in football and basketball, so the fact that this was not a conference game may mean that there won’t be an inquiry. However, if the crew chief and the ump who made the call are not at least warned and reprimanded, I will be shocked.
40AS - March 18, 2009
That's about what I expected
But I’m just curious. It’s one of those bizarre plays that, if it was football, would be talked about endlessly and meticulously examined.
hornbone - March 18, 2009
Craig Way and Keith Moreland ...
were speechless. Moreland said it was the worst call he has seen in 15 years of calling games. Craig said it could have an impact on scheduling next year, and Keith said at very least Augie will demand a 4-man umpiring crew (Texas provides one in Austin for non-conference games, but Rice does not) and have some input as to where the umpires come from. Both seemed pretty adamant that it was a blatant rip-off and not just a confusion about the rules.
bassale47 - March 18, 2009
Kansas
As for this weekend’s series, I think Kansas is underrated. They actually remind me a lot of Texas … good pitching staff, not many errors, and an offense that has been lacking at times. This is also their first conference series, so they should be pumped up about it. The Big XII as a whole is going to be really tough this season, so I hope the Horns can bounce back from last night’s debacle. A lot of tough series on the back end of the schedule, so getting a series sweep early would be really nice.
bassale47 - March 18, 2009
What the KU baseball guy has to say.
It’s true that Kansas might have been a bit underrated, but they certainly are not a very good team at this point. They came into the season picked to finish last in the conference, and right now they look better than that, but there certainly are a lot of unanswered questions remaining.
Here is the Kansas batting update I published today at Rock Chalk Talk. I think it speaks for itself.
The KU starting pitching has been very good. Shaeffer Hall will go Friday and he has been very solid. Saturday will be T. J. Walz, who is less consistent but capable of shutting down good teams when he has his curveball. It looks like Sunday will go to Lee Ridenhour. Ridenhour is a freshman who has not started a weekend game yet. He has been lights out. He pitched 8 shut out innings vs. Wichita State last week, and seven innings of one run ball at San Diego State on Tuesday.
The bullpen is full of good raw arms. Who knows how they will pitch. So far it has been a crap shoot. Fortunately for Kansas Price has confidence in five bodies down there so if one falters he can just move down the line and keep pushing fresh arms onto the mound.
The KU defense has been surprisingly average so far this year, especially in the outfield. This is not common for a KU team. The infield defense should be excellent, and for the most part it has been.
I’ll post a short series preview at Rock Chalk Talk on Friday (and cross post it at Big-12 Hardball as well). I’ll be at all three games so I’ll post recaps after each game provided I have time. You can pop over to see what brilliant droppings I leave on the blog this weekend. RCT is a friendly place so don’t worry about visiting hostile territory. Well, there is some riff raff, but it’s not like visiting Missouri.
James Quinn - March 19, 2009
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