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Feb. 19, 2010

Postgame quotes

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Longhorns earned a 6-2 victory over the New Mexico Lobos on Friday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field to open the 2010 campaign.

The Longhorns pounced early and relied on a strong pitching performance by Taylor Jungmann and quality efforts out of the bullpen by Stayton Thomas and Chance Ruffin to coast to the win.

Jungmann allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits and one walk, while striking out eight. Thomas and Ruffin had identical pitching lines in scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Texas drew first blood in the bottom half of the third inning. Brandon Loy hit a leadoff single to centerfield. After being granted a reprieve on a dropped foul pop, Jordan Etier pushed a bunt passed the Lobos pitcher for a single. With one out, Russell Moldenhauer drew a walk to saturate the basepaths. Kevin Keyes broke the scoring seal, pushing Loy across with a groundout to third base. Connor Rowe capped off the rally with a double down the leftfield line to drive in Moldenhauer and Etier for the 3-0 lead.

The Longhorns inflated the cushion to 4-0 with a leadoff solo home run by Kyle Lusson.  It was the first career tater for the senior.

The Texas lead ballooned to 6-0 with a pair of runs in the fourth. Tant Shepherd was hit by a pitch to start the frame and Lusson reached on a bunt single down the third base line. Shepherd was retired at third on a fielder’s choice bunt by Loy. Runners moved to second and third when Lusson and Loy stole base on a strikeout by Etier. Cameron Rupp plated both runners with a single up the middle and the Horns led by a half-dozen.

The Lobos trimmed a run off the lead in the top half of the fifth. Alex Albrittion hit a leadoff single to a diving shortstop and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Gonzalez and a groundout by Ben Woodchick and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

New Mexico scored one more run in the sixth. With two outs, Chris Juarez reached on a fielding error by Kevin Lusson at third base. Max Willett singled to leftfield and Juarez stole third base to put runners at the corners and Kenny Held plated Juarez with a single up the middle to cut the lead to 6-2.

Rowe led the Texas offensive assault, going 3-for-4 with one double and two RBI. Cameron Rupp went 2-for-4 with two ribbies. Kyle Lusson batted 2-for-3 with two runs, one home run and one RBI. Tant Shepherd went 2-for-3 with one double.

Neda and Willet each had two hits for New Mexico.

Texas and New Mexico return to action on Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Augie Garrido
Opening Statement: I think that for a first game, we played well.  We were very aggressive and very effective.  We jumped out to an early lead which took a lot of pressure off the team.  We swung the bats well, we got our bunts done in the early innings, we capitalized with productive out and runs.  Taylor Jungmann had them under control from beginning to end and they are a very good hitting team.  They pitched well too.  I think that one of the things that we did extremely well offensively was swing the ball.  We swung at very few bad pitches.  We squared the ball up a lot of the outs were hard hit outs.  The thing we have to challenge ourselves to do better in and that we can’t control is getting our bunts down and advancing our runners with productive outs.  Had we done that, we would’ve scored three more runs.  On the defensive side, we gave away 90 feet a couple of times and let them have feet that we could have prevented.  We could improve on that and that led to their two runs.  But they are a very good hitting team.  They are very well coached; they’ve got a good presence on the field.  I think our team attitude was excellent and it has been every day during practice.  We have a long way to go and lots of stuff out in front of us, but I think it’s a good start.

On handling two out situations: I think Jungmann pitched his best baseball when he is in a position to fail and give up runs and that’s the sign of a competitor.  That’s what we’re looking for- How are we seeing the ball?  What is the rhythm of the offensive players? How do the pitchers compete when they get into situations?  He didn’t back down one pitch, so it was a good first day.  It was probably the best first day against a high quality pitching staff that we’ve had since I’ve been here.

On how it feels to see Kyle Lusson’s home run: What you hope that every player takes from a game like this is confidence because that is what the battle is for.  The game tries to tear your confidence down and it will if you let it.  What you hope for is that the guys have a good day because it really builds their confidence and helps them absorb the blows when they have bad days.

Taylor Jungmann
On his pitching: I wasn’t happy with the seven hits in seven innings, so that’s something I’m going to need to work on.  But I thought I pitched alright.  I pitched well enough to win and that’s what we are going for.

On whether this is a good start to the season: Yeah.  A win is always good.

Connor Rowe
On getting off to a good start: It feels great. Every season getting off on a good foot is a really good start and getting the ball rolling. 

On his three hits: It feels really good.  Starting off the season better than worse is a really good feeling because you get off on a good foot, like I said.  I’m going forwards, not backwards so that’s a great feeling.

Kyle Lusson
On his homerun: I got to the plate and I told myself to have fun like I was a little kid again enjoying the game and to just relax and see the ball.  I got a pitch in the open zone and I was able to drive it to the deep left center gap.  It was a great experience.  It’s taken me awhile to hit one out of the park, but once it was off my bat, it felt great.  The rest of the day I was just in a really relaxed and happy mood.  The team was playing well, so everything was working out fine.