Jan. 29, 2011
Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Baseball team unofficially kicked off the 2011 season with a 6-3 win over the UT Alumni at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Saturday afternoon.
Texas broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the fourth inning. Facing Kenn Kasparek, freshman Mark Payton drew a leadoff walk and junior Brandon Loy pushed him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Senior Paul Montalbano plated Payton with a single to leftfield to stake the Longhorns to a 1-0 lead.
The Alumni responded with two runs in the top of the fifth to claim the lead. With Kirby Bellow on the mound for Texas, major leaguers Drew Stubbs and Omar Quintanilla reached base to start the frame with a walk and single respectively. Bradley Suttle hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners at the corners. Kyle Russell blooped a single into centerfield to push Stubbs across with the equalizer. With two outs, Suttle scored a go-ahead run on a wild pitch to give the Alumni a 2-1 edge.
The Longhorns stormed back to reclaim the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman Christian Summers hit a leadoff single and freshman Dex Kjerstad drew a walk. With one out, Ben Kaplan drew a walk to load the bases. Bellow drew a walk to drive in Summers, knotting the game at 2-2. Jacob Felts gave the Horns the lead with a sacrifice fly and Cohl Walla plated Kaplan with a single to left field to give Texas a 4-2 lead.
The Alumni trimmed the lead to 4-3 in the top of the seventh. With Corey Knebel pitching for Texas, Cameron Rupp drew a leadoff walk. With one out, Russell Moldenhauer was hit by a pitch. Connor Rowe pushed runners to second and third with a groundout and Rupp scored on a wild pitch.
In the ninth, Walla singled to centerfield and an error on a fielder’s choice putout attempt at second allowed Tim Maitland to reach base. Kjerstad drove them both in with a triple to the wall in rightfield to give Texas a 6-3 advantage.
Kjerstad and Walla paced the Texas offense with two hits apiece. Kjerstad went 2-for-2 with one run, one triple and two RBI. Walla went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Summers went 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
Quintanilla, Russell, Jordan Danks, David Hernandez, Bryan Herrera and Kevin Keyes accounted for the Alumni’s six hits.
Taylor Jungmann, Hoby Milner, Andrew McKirahan and Stayton Thomas each faced the minimum three batters in their one inning of work. Milner fanned two. Sam Stafford allowed one hit, but struck out three in his shutout inning of work.
Randy Boone, Kyle McCulloch, Bryan Herrera and Chance Ruffin each faced the minimum three batters in their one inning of work for the Alumni. McCulloch recorded a pair of strikeouts.
Sophomore Josh Urban and freshman Nathan Thornhill each worked one scoreless inning for the Alumni. Urban allowed one hit but fanned three batters. Thornhill retired all three batters he faced, including one strikeout.
Texas kicks off the 2011 season on Feb. 18 when the Longhorns host the Maryland Terrapins in a 3 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
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