Texas Deals Cardinal Another Loss

The 14th ranked Longhorns dealt Stanford their second straight loss in a 5-2 affair on Saturday afternoon. Two Texas pitchers combined on a six-hitter and ten more strikeouts as the Longhorns clinched the series win. With the loss, the Cardinal fall to 0-5 on the road this young season. Stanford must now win on Sunday to avoid getting swept for the second time this year.

It was more of the same for the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday afternoon in Round Rock.  After striking out 16 times Friday in a 5-3 loss, the Cardinal hitters went down ten more times in the second game of the series falling by a 5-2 score.  The Longhorns, who clinched the series win with the victory, received an outstanding starting pitching performance from Adrian Alaniz.  The experienced junior went seven-plus innings on the mound yielding just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts. 

Stanford scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings Saturday, but it wasn't nearly enough to complete the comeback against the hometown Longhorns.  Trailing 5-0, the Cardinal loaded the bases with none out in the eighth on an Adam Gaylord single, a Sean Ratliff walk, and a hit by pitch of Toby Gerhart.  Closer Randy Boone though, who entered the contest after the Ratliff at-bat, managed to put out the fire with little damage.  Boone retired the struggling Michael Taylor on an RBI groundout before back-to-back strikeouts of Jason Castro and Austin Yount.

In the ninth, pinch-hitter Randy Molina led off with a single and eventually scored on Gaylord's two-out single.  But Ratliff grounded out back to the pitcher's mound ending the game and leaving the potential tying run in the on-deck circle.  With the loss, Stanford falls to 2-5 on the season.

Starter Jeff Inman probably deserved better than what his final pitching line indicated.  The bottom of the second was a key inning on Saturday as the Longhorns scored two runs for an early 2-0 lead.  Bradley Suttle led off with a single up the middle before Kyle Russell popped a ball up on the left side that neither shortstop Adam Gaylord nor third baseman Cord Phelps caught.  The wind wreaked havoc all afternoon and that led to Russell's single in this case.

Unfortunately, Gaylord compounded the problem by picking up the baseball and making a throw to second base that sailed into right field.  By the time Michael Taylor got the ball back into the infield, Suttle had scored and Russell had moved over to third. 

But the inning was far from over as Chance Wheeless was up next and the UT first baseman lofted a high fly ball to center field.  It was a ball that certainly should have been caught, but Ratliff also had difficulties with the wind and his last-ditch diving attempt was not enough as Wheeless raced into second base with an RBI double. 

Inman did manage to pitch out of a runners at second and third jam to limit the damage retiring Nick Peoples on a ground out retiring the side.

Texas added to their lead with two well-earned runs in the bottom of the third inning against Inman for a 4-0 lead.  Jordan Danks led off with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored when Suttle connected for a triple to right field.  Suttle would then score when the next hitter, Russell, flied out to center field.

Inman did settle down putting zeros up on the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth innings before leaving the contest.  All total, the freshman allowed eight hits and four runs (all earned) in his five innings.  Inman walked two and struck out four.

Tom Stilson and Yount combined to pitch the final three innings out of the bullpen for the Cardinal.  Stilson surrendered a single run in the sixth before a scoreless bottom of the seventh.  Yount did not allow a hit in a scoreless eighth inning.

The Stanford offense mustered very little against Alaniz in the first seven innings of the contest.  Four times the Cardinal went down 1-2-3 in an inning.  Their biggest opportunities to score came in the second (two walks) and the sixth (two singles), but each time Alaniz was able to pitch out of trouble.



BOXSCORE

Stanford   0 0 0  0 0 0  0 1 1   -   2   6   1
Texas      0 2 2  0 0 1  0 0 X   -   5  11   0

Stanford          POS  AB   R   H  RBI  BB  SO   AVG
Sean Ratliff       CF   4   0   1   0    1   0  .290
Toby Gerhart       LF   3   0   1   0    0   0  .273
 Jeff Whitlow    PR/LF  0   0   0   0    0   0  .667
Michael Taylor     RF   4   0   0   1    0   2  .179
Jason Castro       1B   3   0   1   0    1   1  .200
Austin Yount      2B/P  4   0   0   0    0   2  .250
Nolan Gallagher    DH   0   0   0   0    0   0   ---
 Adam Sorgi      PH/DH  1   0   0   0    1   1  .200
 Joey August       PH   1   0   0   0    0   0  .273
 J.J. Jelmini      2B   0   0   0   0    0   0  .000
 Randy Molina      PH   1   1   1   0    0   0  .286
Brian Juhl          C   2   0   0   0    0   2  .333
 Brent Milleville   C   1   0   0   0    0   1  .273
 Grant Escue       PH   1   0   0   0    0   0  .182
Cord Phelps        3B   4   0   0   0    0   1  .273
Adam Gaylord       SS   4   1   2   1    0   0  .360

E: Gaylord
HBP: Gerhart

                      IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO   ERA
Jeff Inman (L)       5.0   8   4   4   2   4  6.14
Tom Stilson          2.0   3   1   1   0   1  9.00
Austin Yount         1.0   0   0   0   0   0 18.00



Texas             POS  AB   R   H  RBI  BB  SO
Nick Peoples       CF   5   0   2   0    0   0
Jordan Danks       LF   4   1   2   0    0   2
Preston Clark       C   3   0   0   0    0   0
Bradley Suttle     3B   4   2   2   1    0   0
Kyle Russell       RF   3   1   1   1    0   1
Chance Wheeless    1B   4   0   2   1    0   0
Travis Tucker      2B   2   1   1   0    2   0
Brett Lewis        DH   2   0   0   0    0   1
 Michael Demperio  PR   0   0   0   0    0   0
Chais Fuller       SS   4   0   1   1    0   1

2B: Wheeless 2, Danks
3B: Suttle
HBP: Lewis
SB: Peoples, Demperio

                      IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Adrian Alaniz (W)    7.0   4   1   1   3   8
Randy Boone          2.0   2   1   1   0   2


WP: Adrian Alaniz (3-1)
LP: Jeff Inman (1-1)

Records: Texas (6-4), Stanford (2-5)


NOTES
* With the loss, the Cardinal fall to 0-5 on the road this season.  All five losses have come to ranked teams (Cal State Fullerton and Texas).

* Stanford hitters have now struck out a whopping 26 times in the first two games of this series. 

* Toby Gerhart was hit on the arm with a pitch in the eighth inning and was lifted from the game in favor of Jeff Whitlow.

* The struggles of Michael Taylor and Austin Yount continued as both players went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts today.  In the series, both Taylor and Yount are 0-for-8 with five strikeouts.

* Adam Gaylord had the lone multi-hit game of the afternoon for the Cardinal finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Gaylord leads the Cardinal in batting average at .360 (9-for-25).


ON DECK
The Cardinal will try to avoid getting swept for the second time this season when they take on the Longhorns in the series finale on Sunday.  First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 A.M. (PST).  Jeremy Bleich (0-1, 6.10 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for Stanford while Texas has yet to officially announce a starting pitcher.