F will call. Let me just throw that out there. I had to wait 45 minutes before the game to pick up my tickets so I missed the first three innings. Texas Box Office apparently decided to have both people picking up tickets from will call and people purchasing tickets stand in the same lines. Seriously. And as usual the press credentials Sailor Ripley gave me were worthless.
Anyway, Texas beat Army 3-1 thanks to a great all around performance from pitcher Cole Green. He pitched seven innings only giving up four hits and a single run. He was able to throw his sinker for strikes, and when he does that he is tough to hit. He had the Army hitters guessing most of the night. He also went 1-1 at the plate with a sacrifice.
Austin Wood pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th, throwing 30 pitches. Hopefully he'll get a rest at some point.
Texas was even more small ball than usual with three sacrifice bunts and at least three more attempted bunts. I felt Texas had a couple of chances to break the game open, but only got two runs out of it. Only Huckleberry knows why.
Preston Clark led off the fourth with a single. Kevin Keyes tried to bunt him over but fell behind in the count 0-2. He quit trying to bunt and drew a walk. Runners on first and second with no one out. Tant Shepherd sacrificed them over, and then Connor Rowe laid down a bunt that scored a run on a suicide squeeze. Travis Tucker then grounded out to end the inning.
Clark led off the sixth with a double. Keyes doesn't have to try to bunt so he singles up the middle to score Clark. Two straight hits off the Army pitcher. Keyes is forced out at second on Shepherd's attempted bunt, and then Rowe and Tucker ground out to end the inning.
Army was a fundamentally sound team, and they didn't give Texas anything that they didn't earn. Solid defense, good starting pitcher. They just had no answer for Green.
Texas plays Boston College today at six. I don't know anything about them, but the guy who sits next to me watched their game against SWT yesterday and said they can hit but don't even make an attempt at fielding.