The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Tech
No. 6 Baseball blanks Texas Tech, 4-0, in Big 12 Tournament opener
05.24.2006 | Baseball
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kenn Kasparek tossed six shutout innings and relievers Randy Boone and Austin Wood combined for three hitless frames as No. 6 Texas earned a 4-0 shutout over Texas Tech during the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament in front of 4,500 fans at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark on Wednesday, May 24.
The Longhorns' (39-18) win over the Red Raiders (31-24-1) snapped a three-game losing streak for UT and also marked the club's third shutout of the season, including its first since March 31, 2006 (at Oklahoma - 2-0). Additionally, the shutout victory was Texas' first in Big 12 Tournament play since May 26, 2005, at Kansas (9-0).
Scoreless through the first two innings, both teams put together two-out threats in the third. While Tech put two runners on with two outs via a pair of bunt base hits, Kasparek (Weimar, Texas) worked out of the jam with a flyout. Texas, meanwhile, had runners on the corners courtesy of a triple from Hunter Harris (Tulsa, Okla.) and a hit batter before Drew Stubbs (Atlanta, Texas) and Chance Wheeless (Round Rock, Texas) delivered back-to-back, RBI-singles to bring home two runs. Stubbs and Wheeless then pulled a double-steal attempt in which Wheeless was caught, but Stubbs scored before the tag to make it 3-0 in favor of the Horns. In the fifth, UT loaded the bases with no outs on a walk, a bunt base hit and a hit batter before tacking on a run with a double-play grounder, but Red Raiders starter Miles Morgan averted further trouble with a flyout that kept the lead at 4-0. Kasparek and Boone (Yoakum, Texas), meanwhile, set down 13 of the next 14 Texas Tech batters to keep the Red Raiders off the board through eight innings. Entering the ninth down to their final three outs, the Red Raiders had Matt Smith draw a leadoff walk, but Wood, who came on to start the frame, set down his next three batters to cap the four-run win. While Kasparek, who matched a season-best with six innings of work during which he scattered five hits and allowed only one walk, picked up the win to improve to 4-2 on the year, Morgan incurred the loss for Tech after turning in a six-inning effort.
Paving the way for UT's seven-hit attack on the day was Harris, who tied a career-best with three hits in three at bats while also scoring once, Nick Peoples (Round Rock, Texas), who went 1-for-1 with one run scored, and Stubbs, who drove in a run with a single and scored one of Texas' four runs. On the other side of the ledger, five different Red Raiders players accounted for Tech's five hits, including Smith, who went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Of additional note for the Horns, Stubbs and Kainer extended their current hit streaks to nine and 14 games, respectively.
Up next, the Horns take on Baylor in a 5 p.m. Central tilt on Thursday, May 25 at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark during the second round of the conference tournament. The slated starters for that contest are Riley Boening (LHP, 4-1, 4.92 ERA) for Texas and Ryan LaMotta (RHP, 6-5, 3.49 ERA) for the Bears.
