When the Cardinal made contact at the plate on Friday
afternoon, they generally had some success. Unfortunately, the
Stanford hitters couldn't put the bat on the ball nearly enough times
striking out a whopping 16 times in a 5-3 series-opening loss.
Texas starting pitcher James Russell set the tone by fanning nine
Cardinal hitters during the first five innings of the contest.
Reliever Joseph Krebs followed by striking out seven in 3 2/3 dominant
innings before closer Randy Boone retired Toby Gerhart, who was
representing the potential tying run, on a ground out in the ninth
inning to seal the Longhorn victory. With the loss, Stanford
falls to 2-4 on the young season.
In addition to the impressive strikeout totals of Russell and Krebs,
another theme this afternoon was the home run - especially on the Texas
side. The Longhorns connected for four solo home runs including
two off the bat of Kyle Russell (no relation to the starting
pitcher). Russell, one of the top power hitters in the country,
took Nolan Gallagher deep with one out in the bottom of the second and
then again leading off the bottom of the fourth inning. The
second home run tied the score at 2-2. Russell has now hit five
home runs in Texas' first nine games.
Texas took their first lead of the afternoon in that fourth inning
adding another run - their only tally not via a home run. After
the Russell home run, Chance Wheeless singled, advanced to second on a
sacrifice bunt, moved to third on another sacrifice bunt, and then
scored on Nick Peoples' infield single to deep shortstop. After
that hit, the Cardinal wouldn't see the lead for the remainder of the
contest.
Gallagher went the first six innings on the mound for Stanford yielding
four runs (all earned) on five hits. The junior right-hander also
allowed a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth - a blast off the bat
of Travis Tucker. Gallagher walked three, hit three batters, and
struck out four.
Stanford initially took a 2-0 lead this afternoon with single runs in
the first and second innings against the lefty Russell. In the
first, Sean Ratliff drew a one-out walk, stole second, and then scored
on Brent Milleville's clutch two-out single. In the second, Ryan Seawell led off with a home run giving the Cardinal a two-run cushion.
Stanford had chances in the middle innings against Russell picking up
two singles in both the fourth and fifth innings, but each time was
unable to push across any runs. Krebs entered the contest at the
start of the sixth and completely handcuffed the Cardinal bats until
the ninth. In his first three innings, Krebs allowed just one hit
- an infield single off the bat of Toby Gerhart with two outs in the
seventh. He struck out four batters in a row to end the eighth
and begin the ninth before Jeff Whitlow kept Stanford alive with a
two-out double down the right field line. Frosh shortstop Adam Gaylord followed with a single through the middle scoring Whitlow to
cut the Texas lead down to 5-3 and bring the tying run to the
plate. With the right-hander Gerhart up next, Texas coach Augie
Garrido took the southpaw Krebs out of the game and brought in the
right-hander Boone. Boone, an experienced senior, calmly retired
Gerhart on a fielder's choice groundout to second base ending the game.
BOXSCORE
Stanford 1
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 3
9 1
Texas 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 1
X - 5 6 0
Stanford
POS AB R H RBI BB
SO AVG
Toby Gerhart LF
5 0 1 0
0 1 .263
Sean Ratliff CF
3 1 1 0
1 2 .296
Michael Taylor RF 4
0 0 0 0 3
.208
Brent Milleville 1B 4 0
2 1 0 1 .300
Brian Juhl
C 4 0 1
0 0 2 .364
Ryan Seawell 3B
4 1 1 1
0 2 .200
Austin Yount 2B
4 0 0 0
0 3 .292
Jason Castro DH
2 0 0 0
0 1 .000
Jeff Whitlow PH/DH 2
1 1 0 0 1
.667
Adam Gaylord SS
4 0 2 1
0 0 .333
J.J. Jelmini PR
0 0 0 0
0 0 .000
E: Milleville
2B: Whitlow
HR: Seawell (1st, 2nd inning, 0 on, 0 out)
SB: Ratliff
IP H R ER BB
SO ERA
Nolan Gallagher (L) 6.0 5
4 4 3 4 7.62
Brandt Walker 0.1
0 0 0 1 1 0.00
Blake Hancock 0.1
0 0 0 1 1 6.75
Erik Davis
1.1 1 1 1 0
0 13.50
Texas
POS AB R H RBI BB SO
Nick Peoples CF
4 0 1 1
0 0
Jordan Danks LF
4 0 0 0
1 2
Preston Clark C
3 0 0 0
0 1
Bradley Suttle 3B 3
0 0 0 1 0
Kyle Russell RF
4 2 2 2
0 2
Chance Wheeless 1B 3
1 1 0 1 0
Travis Tucker 2B
2 1 1 1
1 0
Brett Lewis DH
2 0 0 0
1 1
Chais Fuller SS
3 1 1 1
0 0
HR: Russell 2 (4th, 2nd inning, 0 on, 1 out; 5th, 4th inning, 0 on, 0
out), Tucker (1st, 6th inning, 0 on, 0 out), Fuller (1st, 8th inning, 0
on, 1 out)
HBP: Peoples, Clark, Lewis
CS: Wheeless
IP H R ER BB SO
James Russell (W) 5.0
6 2 2 1 9
Joseph Krebs
3.2 3 1 1 0
7
Randy Boone (S) 0.1
0 0 0 0 0
WP: James Russell (1-1)
LP: Nolan Gallagher (0-2)
S: Randy Boone (2)
Records: Stanford (2-4), #14 Texas (5-4)
NOTES
* Friday was a significant game for both Ryan Seawell and Jason
Castro. Seawell, the lone senior on the team, made the first
appearance of his collegiate career at third base. A shortstop in
high school, Seawell has played outfield at Stanford - including
impressive work in center field during the second half of last season
as Stanford made their run to the NCAA Tournament. Seawell has
been working out at third base in practices the last two weeks and
actually started at the hot corner in last Tuesday's exhibition game
against Rikkyo University of Japan. Friday marked Seawell's first
appearance at third in an actual game and the Bay Area native handled
all four of his chances without a miscue. Seawell may still see
significant action in the outfield this season, but with the coaching
staff wanting to get a look at both Sean Ratliff and Toby Gerhart in
the outfield plus Seawell coming off a number of leg injuries, third
base may be his destination for the time being.
Meanwhile, Castro made his 2007 debut after missing the first five
games because of a hand injury (broken hamate bone). Castro, who
is expected to be one of the top hitters on the club this year, went
0-for-2 with a groundout and a strikeout on Friday. Castro came
on strong during the second half of last year and finished the campaign
with a .283 batting average. He then came through with an
impressive summer in Alaska before a torrid Fall Ball at the
plate. Once completely back in game shape, look for Castro to
play almost exclusively at first base and hit in the middle of the
order. Friday, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter (Jeff Whitlow) in
the seventh inning with the tough lefty (Krebs) on the mound.
* Seawell, who hit just two home runs last year, blasted his first of
2007 in the second inning today.
* After a solid outing last weekend against Fresno State, Gallagher
wasn't as effective versus the Longhorns. The junior hit three
batters, in addition to three walks, in his six innings.
Fortunately, the home runs he allowed were all solo shots which kept
Stanford in the game, but it's still been a less-than-stellar beginning
of the 2007 season for Gallagher. In three starts, the Montana
native is 0-2 with a 7.62 ERA (11 ER/13.0 IP).
* Adam Gaylord continues to play well both offensively and
defensively. The freshman, who has started all six games at
shortstop, picked up two more hits in four at-bats on Friday.
Gaylord is hitting .333 (7-for-21) on the season.
* It was an afternoon to forget for both Michael Taylor and Austin
Yount. Taylor struck out three times (all swinging) against
Russell before flying out in the top of the eighth. Yount also
fanned three times in four at-bats. In the ninth, Yount took
three straight pitches for strikes against Krebs for the K.
* Austin native Brandt Walker, who chose Stanford over Texas (among
others), was the first pitcher used out of the bullpen this
afternoon. Walker entered the game at the start of the bottom of
the seventh inning with the Cardinal trailing 4-2. He started
strong with a strikeout of Preston Clark before walking Bradley
Suttle. Walker then uncorked back-to-back wild pitches allowing
Suttle to advance all the way to third base. Walker has
tremendous stuff, but often has difficulties locating his
pitches. He was quickly pulled after the two wild pitches despite
a 2-2 count on the hitter, Kyle Russell. Lefty Blake Hancock was
brought in and he promptly struck out Russell with his first pitch.
* Erik Davis tries to get back on track after a rocky preseason.
Davis retired four of the five batters he faced late in the game today,
but the exception was an eighth-inning home run to Chais Fuller.
It was Fuller's first hit in 12 at-bats this season.
ON DECK
Stanford and Texas will resume this series on Saturday afternoon
in Round Rock with first pitch scheduled for 11:00 A.M. (PST).
Jeff Inman (1-0, 5.59 ERA) will get the start for the Cardinal while
the Longhorns are expected to counter with junior right-hander Adrian Alaniz (2-1, 4.91 ERA).
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