Russell Moldenhauer (Courtesy of Texas Media Relations)
The Texas Longhorns and Southern Miss Golden Eagles faced off in the nightcap on Sunday evening. Texas entered the game with a 46-14-1 record while Southern Miss entered with a 40-24 mark. The Longhorns sent Sophomore RHP Cole Green to the hill with his 5-3 record in 18 appearances (17 starts) while compiling an ERA of 3.02. Southern Miss started Todd McInnis who won the 2009 C-USA Pitcher of the Year award. He is 9-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 18 appearances (17 starts).
Southern Miss got some good contact in the top of the first inning but could only scratch out a single by Kameron Brunty. Michael Torres led off the bottom of the first inning with a single. After Todd McInnis struck out Travis Tucker and got Brandon Belt to fly out to center fielder Bo Davis, he gave up a walk to Russell Moldenhauer to put runners on first and second. Kevin Keyes followed with a single to the right-center field gap to drive both runners home and give the Longhorns the 2-0 lead. McInnis was able to get Brandon Loy to ground out to second base for the final out of the inning.
The score would remain 2-0 until the top of the fifth inning when Joey Archer got a leadoff walk on five pitches. Michael Ewing followed with his fifth home run of the season to tie the score at 2. B.A Vollmuth would follow with a single through the hole on the right side. He would move to second on a sacrifice bunt by Travis Graves. Brandon Loy would make a diving stop on a Taylor Graves groundball and throw him out at first base. The play was an absolute webgem and will be seen for months to come. Vollmuth moved up to third on the play but Bo Davis would strike out to end the inning.
The game would remained tied until the bottom of the sixth inning when Russell Moldenhauer took a 2-0 fastball down and away out of the park for his first homer of the season. The homer gave the Longhorns the lead 3-2. The Longhorns would strike again in the bottom of the seventh when Brandon Loy got a lead off single. He moved over to second on a Cameron Rupp sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout by Preston Clark, Connor Rowe delivered with a lopping line drive over the shortstop to score the fourth run for the Longhorns and give them a 4-2 lead.
Travis Graves would lead off the top of the eighth with a double down the right field line. He would be lifted for a pinch runner in Nick Smith. Texas would decide to take out Cole Green in favor of Austin Wood. He would give up a infield hit to Taylor Walker that put runner on the corners with no outs. Wood would throw the first pitch to Bo Davis in the dirt as it got away from Cameron Rupp allowing Nick Smith to score to make it 4-3 and Taylor Walker moved up to second base. Wood would get Bo Davis to strikeout. James Ewing would work a four pitch walk to put runners on first and second with only one out. Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer would send Brian Dozier to pinch hit for Kameron Brunty in his first at bat since April 14th. Dozier would reach base when he hit Cameron Rupp’s glove on a swing for your uncommon catcher’s interference call which loaded the bases. It was the first catcher’s interference at the CWS since May 30th 1981 when when Greg Schulte of Michigan was awarded first on a interference by Mississippi State’s Terry Loe. Corey Stevens would have a tremendous at bat fouling off several pitches before getting a 3-2 walk to tie the game at 4 and keep the bases loaded. Joey Archer would follow with a groundball to third baseman Michael Torres who charged the ball and threw it home to try to force James Ewing. The throw was in the dirt though and Cameron Rupp could not handle it allowing Ewing to score the go-ahead run which gave the lead to the Golden Eagles at 5-4. Austin Wood would strike out both Michael Ewing and B.A. Vollmuth swinging to escape further damage. After a crazy bottom of the eighth inning, Southern Miss had a 5-4 lead.
Texas would start the bottom of the eighth off with a leadoff single by Travis Tucker. Brandon Belt would follow with a fly out to center fielder Bo Davis. Russell Moldenhauer would follow with a double off the left-center field wall to put runners on second and third with 1 out. Corky Palmer would make the decision to internationally walk Kevin Keyes to load up the bases. Brandon Loy would get a walk to tie the game at 5. Cameron Rupp would start his at-bat facing Colin Cowgill who threw two balls before being lifted for another reliever in Josh Fields who eventually struck him out. Preston Clark got a walk off of Josh Fields to force in another run and give the Longhorns the 6-5 lead. Connor Rowe would end the inning by flying out to center field for the final out.
Tyler Koelling got a pinch hit single to right center field to start off the ninth inning. He would move up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Walker. Texas would make the move to freshman Taylor Jungman for Austin Wood. Jungman would get Bo Davis to ground out to third base keeping Koelling at second base. James Ewing would follow with a two out single to right center field which would score Koelling with the tying run. After a wild pitch by Jungmann put Ewing on second, Kyle Maxie would get an international walk so they could face Corey Stevens. He would ground out to Brandon Loy to end the top of the ninth.
Michael Torres would lead off the ninth inning with a flyout to center field for the first out. Travis Tucker would follow by getting a hit by pitch. Brandon Belt would walk to put runner on first and second. The next batter in Tant Shepard would strikeout which was followed by a walk to Kyle Lusson who was making his first plate appearance to load up the bases. Brandon Loy would walk on four pitches to give the Longhorns the 7-6 walk off victory. Auggie Garrido said he told Loy ““That he was going to take until he got two strikes. But I told him not to ignore the pitches, I told him to watch every pitch to get his timing and rhythm because he was only going to get one pitch to swing at.”
Texas will take on Arizona State in the nightcap on Tuesday while Southern Miss will take on North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon.
MCWS GAME 4 NEWS AND NOTES
*-Following the first weekend of the MCWS, Arkansas, LSU and Arizona State are the only teams who have not lost during the NCAA Tournament, as all three have 6-0 marks. Arkansas and LSU will square off Monday night at 6 p.m.
*-The average attendance for the first four sessions is the MCWS is 24,217, which is on pace to break the MCWS record for average attendance. The current record average is 23,952 set in 2005.
*-Tonight’s win by Texas marks the 235th one-run game at the MCWS and the 72nd game won on the last at-bat. It is also the 38th game won by the home team in the bottom of the ninth.
*-Texas is making its 33rd Men’s College World Series appearance, which is the most by any program (Miami is second with 23).
*-Texas’ appearance is the first by a Big 12 school since three Big 12 teams (Baylor, Nebraska and Texas) qualified for the 2005 MCWS.
*-UT Head Coach Augie Garrido has now coached in 13 MCWS, a total which ties Arizona State’s Jim Brock and Florda State’s Mike Martin for fourth all-time among coaches.
.*-With two runs in the bottom of the first, Texas has now outscored its opponents 48-11 in the first inning and is 39-4 when scoring first this season. UT has now scored first in 28 of their last 39 contests.
*- Russell Moldenhauer’s sixth inning homer was this first of the season and first since May 18, 2008, as he has hit only two homers –including tonight – since his freshman year. Moldenhauer had just one multi-hit game all season – a 2-for-3 effort against Kansas on May 21. He was also just 2-for-9 in the NCAA Tournament before tonight.
*-The Longhorns improved to 79-53 all-time at the MCWS, as UT leads all programs in MCWS in wins (79) and games played (132), as the Longhorns have made six MCWS appearances this decade (2000-02-03-04-05-09).
*-With today’s win, the Longhorns have won their last six games at the MCWS dating back to their 2005 national championship.
*-Augie Garrido is now 35-16 (.686) in the MCWS, a winning percentage which is fifth all-time. He is now one win away from matching Arizona State’s Jim Brock and Stanford’s Mark Marquess for third place on the MCWS all-time wins list.
*-UT is now 2-0 all-time against Southern Miss. Tonight’s matchup was only the second-ever meeting between Southern Miss and Texas and both were in the NCAAs. The previous matchup took place at the 1991 NCAA Austin Regional with Texas wining 18-2.
*-Texas is now 30-1-1 when scoring six or more runs in a game this season.
*-It marked just the 11th time the Longhorns, who are second nationally in ERA, allowed six or more runs in a game, going 6-4-1 in those contests.
*-Texas now has 98 sacrifice bunts on the season, moving into sole possession of fifth place on the NCAA all-time chart and third on the Longhorns’ single-season marks. The only two times Texas has had more sacrifices were in 2000 (126, NCAA record) and 2005 (116), which were both national title seasons.
*-Austin Wood had converted all 15 of his save opportunities this season before allowing a pair of unearned runs in the top of the eighth
*-Texas is now 40-0-1 when leading after six innings despite blowing leads in both the eighth and ninth innings
*-Tuesday’s win sets up a matchup between the nation’s top two teams in ERA (Arizona State and Texas).
*-Texas is now 9-5 in one-run games, including a 2-1 mark in the NCAA Tournament.
*-Taylor Jungmann has won his last five decisions dating back to April 19 and has won each of the Longhorns’ last two contests.
*-This appearance by Southern Miss marks the fifth straight season that a Conference USA team has reached the MCWS (Tulane, 2005; Rice, 2006-08, Southern Miss, 2009)
*-With the loss, Southern Miss falls to 15-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament play. It is the school’s 10th year overall that it has made an NCAA Tournament appearance.
*-With tonight’s loss, Conference USA schools have lost five straight MCWS games dating back to 2007, with all four previous losses by Rice.
*-Southern Miss is now the 10th consecutive team to lose its MCWS opener dating back to 1997. The last team to win its MCWS debut was Georgia Tech in 1994, a 2-0 victor over Cal State Fullerton.
*-Southern Miss now falls to 5-8 in one-run games and is 11-21 when allowing at least six runs in a game.
*- Michael Ewing hit his fifth home run of the season and second of the postseason to tie the game in the fifth. Ewing went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs against Texas. He is now hitting .444 (8-for-18) with two homers in the NCAA Tournament after entering the regional with a .195 average.
*-The nine walks issued by Southern Miss – including six walks in the last 1.1 innings – was a season high. The previous high was eight against Louisiana Tech on March 14.
* Josh Fields dropped his first decision of the season, giving up the winning run in the ninth inning, as he was 2-0 with a 2.97 ERA in his seven appearances this season.
*-Brian Dozier made his first appearance since breaking his clavicle on April 14, as he reached in the eighth inning on a catcher’s interference call.
*-The catcher’s interference by Texas’ Cameron Rupp was the first in the MCWS since May 30, 1981, when Greg Schulte of Michigan was awarded first on a interference by Mississippi State’s Terry Loe.
*-The homer by Michael Ewing was the 16th of the postseason for Southern Miss, a total that leads the country.
*- The attendance of 24,142 is largest crowd ever to see a Golden Eagle baseball game.
*-Todd McInnis is tied for No. 5 on the Golden Eagle charts in career starts with 37 with Jeff Pickich (1991-93) and Damon Pollard (1989-90)
*-Southern Miss grounded into a pair of double plays, totaling 63 for the year, tops in Conference USA in that category.
*-The double play turned by the Golden Eagles in the fifth inning was the 81st double play turned by USM, setting the school single-season record and a total that leads the country.
*-Southern Miss fanned 11 times in the game, posting double digits strikeouts for only the fourth time this season.
*-Nick Smith made first appearance since May 9 as a pinch runner in the eighth inning. He later scored on a wild pitch by Austin Wood.
*-Jonathan Johnston made his 81st career appearance out of the bullpen in the ninth inning, fourth most appearances in school history and seventh appearance during the postseason.
