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Commodores Drop First Game in Super Regional, 15-3, against #1 Seed Texas 6/12/2004
Commodores Drop First Game in Super Regional, 15-3, against #1 Seed Texas 6-12-04 AUSTIN, Texas — J.P. Howell pitched seven innings and gave up three runs on six hits with 13 strikeouts leading the #1 seed Texas Longhorns to a 15-3 victory over Vanderbilt tonight in front of a crowd of 7,485 at Disch-Falk Field. vanderbilt (45-18) and Texas (54-13) will play game two of the series tomorrow at Noon CT with sophomore left-hander Ryan Mullins on the mound for the Commodores. “I thought J.P. Howell pitched a great game,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin said. “He kept us off balance and got us swinging out of the zone, which he is good about doing. Texas got some timely hits with those five runs in the second inning and really put the pressure on us.” Texas totaled 16 hits in the contest, including seven extra base hits. Vanderbilt numbered eight hits led by Warner Jones with a 3-5 performance. “Texas had some good swings off of Jeremy (Sowers) and centered the ball quite a bit,” Corbin added. “They have some young kids that don’t look like young kids. Drew Stubbs is a great player and Carson Kainer sits in the box as well as anyone. Looking at their numbers, they didn’t hit like a .284 ball club tonight; particularly against Jeremy.” The Longhorns got on the board first scoring five runs in the second inning off Sowers. With one away, shortstop Michael Holliman hit a two-RBI triple giving the Longhorns a 2-0 lead. Seth Johnston hit a single to the right side of the field scoring Holliman and then Curtis Thigpen hit a standup double down the third base line scoring Johnston and Ryan Russ who had reached on walk. The Commodores threatened in the third with bases loaded and one away, but were unable to score. Jonathan Douillard drew a walk followed by a strikeout by Ryan Klosterman. Antoan Richardson was hit by a pitch and then Warner Jones reached on an error when second baseman Johnston dropped a fly ball in shallow right field to load the bases. Howell then struck out Cesar Nicolas and Mike Baxter to retire the side stranding the three runners. Howell struck out three of the first four Commodore batters with Warner Jones getting an infield hit when he hit a chopper to third base. Texas added eight runs in the next four innings, including four in the fifth inning. Holliman led off the fourth inning with a solo home run over the left field wall and Drew Stubbs hit a two-run home run over the left field fence for an 11-2 lead in the fifth. Vanderbilt got on the board in the fifth inning when Jones hit a two-run home run over the left centerfield wall scoring Ryan Klosterman who reached on a single up the middle. UT scored three runs in the seventh inning after Ryan Russ led off the inning with a standup double off VU’s Michael Wagner. Russ scored on a wild pitch by Wagner and Taylor Teagarden took a full count and hit a homerun over the centerfield wall for a 15-2 lead. In the eigth inning, Vanderbilt had bases loaded with no outs. Cesar Nicolas led off the inning with a standup double to the left center field gap. Howell was replaced by Kyle Yates on the pitcher’s mound and Mike Baxter answered with an infield hit to shortstop and Aaron Garza drew a walk on four consecutive pitches. Mansolino hit a shot forcing Garza out at second, but Mansolino was ruled out at first because of an interference call on Garza. With pinch hitter Matt Zeller at the plate, Yates threw a wild pitch scoring Nicolas. Jeremy Sowers went 3.1 innings giving up 7 runs on eight hits striking out one and walking three. Sowers was replaced by freshman Tyler Rhoden who threw one pitch to Taylor Teagarden who grounded into a double play to end the inning. Jeff Sues, Michael Wagner and Stephen Shao all saw action for the Commodores. |
