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Feb. 16, 2013

Box Score

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AUSTIN, Texas - Brennan Leitao threw seven strong innings Saturday as the Sacramento State Hornets evened its non-conference series with the 5-3 win over the NR/No. 24 Texas Longhorns in front of 5,778 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Leitao scattered six hits while allowing just two runs. Rhys Hoskins, David Del Grande and Justin Higley produced an RBI in three straight at-bats, as part of a three-run third for the Hornets.

Matt Moynihan and Madison Carter had two hits each for the Longhorns (1-1). Nathan Thornhill (0-1) took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits in 3 2/3 innings with one walk and one strikeout.

Sutter McLoughlin earned the save for the Hornets (1-1) with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing a hit with one strikeout.

The Longhorns were the first to jump on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first as Mark Payton drove in Taylor Stell, who singled and stole second.

The Hornets quickly tied the game, driving in an unearned run at top of the second on a throwing error by freshman shortstop C.J Hinojosa. After forcing a 1-2-3 by the Horns in the bottom half of the inning, Sacramento State posted three insurance runs in the top of the third for the 4-1 lead.

Cameron Cox relieved Thornhill and pitched three scoreless innings before allowing a run from right fielder Nathan Lukes on a single to center field from Andrew Ayers in the seventh.

UT pushed across a run in the fifth when Moynihan's RBI single brought home sophomore first baseman Codey McElroy. Texas tightened the Hornets' lead in the eighth after Carter singled up the middle, driving in junior second baseman Erich Weiss.

Texas and Sacramento State return to action for the series finale on Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The game will be broadcast live on The Longhorn Network with audio on TexasSports.com.

Notes: Texas has five stolen bases through two games after having only four through the first eight games last season...Travis Duke threw 20 pitches today, 18 of them for strikes...C.J Hinojosa is 4-for-7 this weekend (.571) while Mark Payton is 5-for-9 (.556)...Dillon Peters will start tomorrow for the Longhorns.

SAC	 013-000-100---5-10-1
TEXAS	 100-010-010---3-9-2 

WP - Leitao (1-0)  LP - Thornhill (0-1)  S - McLoughlin (1)
T - 2:22   ATT - 5,778 

Leitao, Greenwood (8), McLoughin (8) and Fujinaka.
Thornhill, Cox (4), Duke (8), Hollingworth (9) and Felts. 

Post-Game Quotes

Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On Sacramento State's performance so far in this series: I think that they were a team that won a championship last year and had the best team in the history of their school. Seven of the nine players returned. You can see why they were good and why they played well. They were the absolutely surprise of the western United States in how they performed. They're a well-structured team defensively and offensively and there really wasn't a whole lot of separation between the two teams except in the third inning. Their pitcher had a little better command than our pitcher. He kept the ball it the bottom of the strike-zone more consistently than (starting pitcher junior) Nate (Thornhill) did. Also, they played better defense. You put those things together and that was pretty much the margin of separation. They had 10 hits and we had eight. We had a lot of hard-hit balls that were outs. They hit a lot of balls that were outs. They were very similar. The number of bases that both teams advanced, either by stealing or productive outs, was just about the same. We're not supposed to be the same as everyone; we're supposed to be a lot better than everyone else. But when you practice for 18 days and play one game, it isn't exactly a mature, experienced team at this point. It's not an excuse, it's just a reality. What I really liked about our side of it was the way (sophomore Cameron) Cox and (freshman Travis) Duke performed. (I liked) the fact that they came in having never played on this mound or in front of this crowd before, and they pitched their game. That's huge for us.

On his team's offensive lull in the middle of the game: I think what happened was when we got behind 4-1, it shocked us and stunned us a little bit and then we started getting a little more conservative. We got away from our aggressive plan at the plate. We didn't hit the first pitch very much and we didn't go after the first pitch very much. He was throwing it for a strike and he continued. It added to his confidence because we didn't do anything to him to take him out of his game at that point.

Junior RHP Nathan Thornhill
On whether it was balls over the plate that got him hits today: I think it was more so balls up, not as much balls over the plate. Two or three inches on some of my fast balls, and those guys aren't getting base hits--they're pounding it into the ground. I think if I work on getting the ball down a little bit more there won't be some of those hits.

On where he goes from here to prepare for his next start: I just need to keep pitching. It's not the end of the world. It's definitely not what I wanted, but I know I have better stuff than what I showed today. I'm going to maintain my confidence in that and keep preparing for the next outing.

Junior OF Mark Payton
On whether he saw more bad than good from his team today: We battled. We scored off some balls. In their left field, they were playing pretty shallow. (Junior) Jacob (Felts) hit a couple of balls. (Sophomore) Codey (McElroy) hit a good ball. It was just placed perfectly. That's baseball.

On what he says to newcomers after the game: It's definitely our second game of the year and it's not about where you start, but where you finish. It's all about getting hot at the right time. Tomorrow is a new opportunity and a new day.

On why he thought Sacramento State's starting pitcher was so effective: He stayed down in the zone. Pitchers, when they work down in the zone, are going to be very effective. They're going to get a lot of ground ball-outs and that's what Parker did yesterday. Hat's off to Sacramento State's pitcher today.

Freshman IF C.J Hinojosa
On what went wrong to cause his errors today: On one, I just came up early and tried to get rid of it like I did yesterday. It just kind of got away from me. On the other one, I just was trying to be too quick turning it over for a double play. I should have just tried to get one.