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March 12, 2010

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

AUSTIN, Texas -- Tant Shepherd's walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning helped the No. 3 Texas Longhorns post their third consecutive come-from-behind triumph in a 2-1 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Shepherd delivered a first pitch offering, from Iowa reliever Nick Brown, into the Longhorns' bullpen down the rightfield line for the game-ender.

Jordan Etier offered up similar heroics two innings earlier to help send the game to extra innings. With Texas trailing 1-0 with one out in the bottom of the eighth, Etier also deposited the first pitch he saw into the Texas bullpen to knot the game at 1-1.

The Hawkeyes pounced on the Longhorns early with a run in the top of the first. With two outs, Ryan Durant singled through the right side of the infield, stole second base and scored when Dallas Burke cued a ball down the leftfield line for a double.

After giving up the run in the first inning, Taylor Jungmann settled down to pitch a gem. He fanned 17 of the 29 batters he faced. The 17 strikeouts was a career-high and fell just two short of the school record set by Burt Hooton in a 13-inning game against Texas Tech in 1971 and tied by Eric Stone in a nine inning game against Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) in 1998. Jungmann worked 7.1 innings, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk.

Stayton Thomas threw just two pitches to record two outs with a double play ball to get out of the eighth inning.

Chance Ruffin (2-1) worked the ninth and 10th innings to pick up the win. He retired all six batters he faced, with three strikeouts.

Longhorns' pitchers kayed 20 batters in the game, two short of the school record of 22 set in last year's 25-inning marathon against Boston College. UT pitchers had 19 strikeouts through nine innings, which tied the school record for nine innings set in the 1988 game against Southwestern Louisiana.

Iowa starter Jarred Hippen was equally impressive on the mound. He allowed just one run on five hits and three walks while striking out eight over 8.1 innings. Brown (0-1) was saddled with the loss. He allowed one run on one hit while striking out three over 1.0 inning.

Texas (10-3) and Iowa (4-6) return to action for a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game will be a seven-inning affair with first pitch at 12:30 p.m. The second game will be a nine-inning game starting 30 minutes after completion of game one.

TEXAS QUOTES

Coach Augie Garrido
On Taylor Jungmann's pitching performance: Taylor Jungmann was brilliant. He dominated the game and he was brilliant. He is an extremely mature pitcher. He pitches around guys when he should. He goes right at guys when he should. He pitches inside the strike zone when he should.  If he strikes two guys out and they end up on first base, he still continues to complete. That's pretty hard to do. His team doesn't get him a run and that never rattles him one bit. He keeps on competing.

On Texas' hitting: I think it was a competitive game between two pitches who pitched extremely well. Taylor (Jungmann) struck out 17 and Chance (Ruffin) struck out three, so you had 20 strikeouts on their side and 11 for our team. It's an on-going process, hitting comes and goes. Hitting is the toughest skill in all of sports according to Sports Illustrated. We are trying and failing, but we are winning.

Pitcher Taylor Jungmann
On the run he gave up in the first inning: I don't think it's because I wasn't settled in the first inning. I think it was just I threw one pitch I shouldn't have to the left-handed batter down the line. I shouldn't have thrown that pitch. I was thinking more of the slider and I threw the fastball out and he was diving for it. I don't think I wasn't settled, I think it was just a bad pitch."

On the Texas hitters: All in all I am not worried about what the hitters are doing. They know their job, they know my job and I just go out there and do what I need to do.

First baseman Tant Shepherd
On what it was like being greeted at home plate by his team after the walk-off home run: I was too excited and I just wanted to get around the bases as quick as I could with the adrenaline flowing. That's something you dream about - running home with your whole team waiting for you. It was a real cool experience.

Second baseman Jordan Etier
On Texas' hitting:  I feel like we are putting a little too much pressure on ourselves. As soon as we start to relax everything is going to start working out for us better. And that's the kind of approach we need to take. You know we need to get in there with the mentality that we know we are going to get a hit and everything is going our way but it's going to start coming around."

On his game-tying home run: He [Iowa starter Jarred Hippen] dominated. Connor had got out and I was just trying to get on first and get something going and I was putting a good swing on the ball. I knew it had a chance, I put a good swing on it.