The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Brown
Bullpen leads Baseball to 8-2 win over Brown
06.01.2007 | Baseball
ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Joseph Krebs and Randy Boone pitched five scoreless innings out of the bullpen leading No. 5 Texas to an 8-2 come-from-behind win over Brown in NCAA Regional action at The Dell Diamond.
With Texas trailing 2-1 after four innings, Krebs and Boone scattered four hits while fanning 12 Bears over the last five frames. Krebs (9-1) picked up the win, pitching 3.1 innings and logging a career-high seven strikeouts. Boone earned his 14th save of the season with five strikeouts in 1.2 innings.
The Horns were trailing 2-1 before Chais Fuller changed the momentum in the sixth inning. Bradley Suttle hit a leadoff double to leftfield. With two outs, Fuller blasted his second home run of the season over the leftfield fence, give UT a 3-2 lead. Both of Fuller's home runs this season have come at The Dell Diamond.
Texas (45-15) added an insurance run in the seventh when Russell Moldenhauer doubled down the leftfield line to plate Chance Wheeless, inflating the cushion to 4-2.
The Horns blew the game open with four runs in the eighth. The inning featured a leadoff single by Travis Tucker, his fourth hit of the game, and a two-run double by Wheeless.
Texas drew first blood when Kyle Russell hit his 28th home run of the season off the leftfield foul pole in the first inning.
Brown (27-20) claimed the lead with five consecutive two-out singles in the fourth inning. Matt Nuzzo led the rally with a single to shortstop and Bryan Tews followed with a single to leftfield. Robert Papenhause tied the game with a single to centerfield, driving in Nuzzo. Dan Shapiro laced the go-ahead single to leftfield, plating Tews.
Tucker led the Horns' offense, going 4-for-4 with one run scored. Peoples went 3-for-5. Wheeless logged his sixth consecutive game of multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Fuller and Suttle each added two hits.
Ryan Murphy, Nuzzo and Papenhause all had two hits for Brown.
Texas returns to action Saturday with a 6 p.m. contest against UC Irvine at The Dell Diamond.
NCAA Regional Tournament Game Notes
Game #2: Texas vs. Brown
Tournament Notes:
- With the win Texas advances to take on UC Irvine on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the winner's bracket.
- As a result of the loss, Brown moves into the loser's bracket and will face Wake Forest on Saturday at noon.
- Tonight's game marked the first time that Texas and Brown have met.
- Texas is making its 51st NCAA Division I postseason appearance and ninth straight.
- Brown is making its first NCAA postseason appearance.
- The attendance for the regional's second game between Texas and Brown was 9,230.
Brown (27-20):
--Team Notes:
- The crowd of 9,230 for the Brown/Texas game was almost double the largest crowd that the Bears have played in front of this season. The previous season-high was the crowd of 4,667 that witnessed Brown and South Carolina play on March 10 in Columbia, S.C.
- Brown's loss to Texas drops the Bears to 1-1 all-time against teams from the state of Texas, after having previously defeated SMU.
- Making its first NCAA postseason appearance, Brown falls to 0-1 all-time in NCAA play.
- Texas' 16 hits were the most hits that Brown has allowed since surrendering 17 hits against Kennesaw State on March 4.
--Individual Notes:
- Brown junior righthander Jeff Dietz scattered 14 hits over seven innings, marking the most hits he has allowed this season.
- The five runs that Dietz allowed against the Longhorns were the most runs that he has allowed since surrendering seven runs against Harvard on April 21.
Texas (45-15):
--Team Notes:
- The crowd of 9,230 attending the NCAA Regional game between Brown and Texas is the largest crowd ever to attend a Regional session hosted by UT. The Longhorns' previous NCAA Regional attendance record was 8,000 on May 29, 1982 at UFCU Disch Falk Field against Oklahoma.
- Texas is now 2-0 all-time against teams from the Ivy League with the other victory coming against Cornell (15-3, March 22, 1988).
- With the win, Texas is now 65-37 in NCAA Regional action.
- Texas is now 22-9 in NCAA Regional action since Augie Garrido came to Texas in 1997.
- Texas is now 6-3 at The Dell Diamond this season.
--Individual Notes:
- With his solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, sophomore rightfielder Kyle Russell increased his NCAA-best home run total to 28.
- With 184 total bases, Kyle Russell now moves to number two on the UT single-season list.
- Sophomore third baseman Bradley Suttle's leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth was his 16th double of the season, tying him with sophomore leftfielder Jordan Danks for the team lead.
- Senior shortstop Chais Fuller's two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth was his second long-ball of the season and just the second home run of his career. Fuller's only other home run was on Feb. 16 against Stanford at The Dell Diamond.
- With his two-hit effort, senior first baseman Chance Wheeless extended his current hitting streak to six games and moved him into ninth-place on Texas' career hits list. Wheeless' 238th career hit moved the senior past Texas legend Brooks Kieschnick in the UT record book.
- Senior lefthander Joseph Krebs came on in relief of starter James Russell in the fifth inning and tossed 3.1 scoreless innings, while equaling a season and career-high with seven strikeouts. Krebs extended his scoreless innings pitched streak to 14.1 innings.
- Senior closer Randy Boone fired 1.2 innings of relief for the Horns to record his 14th save of 2007, moving him into a tie with Huston Street for fourth-place in saves in the UT single-season record book.
NCAA Regional Tournament Postgame Quotes
Game #2: Texas vs. Brown
Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido
General comments: I was impressed with Brown's pitching and the way (Jeff Dietz) went after the zone and kept going and also the way they continued to rally with two strikes and two outs to take the lead. I thought both of those things were impressive efforts. They played a flawless game up until toward the end.
On the momentum change: Chais Fuller changed momentum in the game with his two-run home run and we added to that. Joseph Krebs came in and did what he has done for us all year and that is change the momentum. He gave us a chance to recover and get back on our feet and get some runs. Randy (Boone) finished off the game the way he has all year. It was a good team effort by both teams.
On tomorrow: Every day is a new day. If you look at today, we really battled through a lot of things. Their pitcher was very aggressive and very good. They put up a great rally to take the lead. You see what happens to players when they start to try too hard. It took the home run for us to separate a little bit.
Texas 2B Travis Tucker
On going 4-for-4: (Jeff Dietz) is a great pitcher. He hit his spots mostly. I was just lucky enough that he missed by a couple of inches and I got a good swing on it.
Texas SS Chais Fuller
On his home run: I didn't know it was going out. I was running full speed all the way around the bases. I didn't see the umpires waving their hands or anything. I saw the left fielder run into the wall, so I figured the ball was off the wall.
Texas LHP Joseph Krebs
On going into the rest of the weekend: I feel really good. We have (Adrian) Alaniz on the mound tomorrow, and hopefully we will get some good innings out of him. But I think we will be ready to go again tomorrow. I know I will be.
Brown Head Coach Marek Drabinski
General statements: I thought we had a real good ball game for seven innings. I thought Jeff (Dietz) pitched as tough of an outing as he has had all year. There are not many easy outs in the Texas lineup. It seemed every time he needed a big out, he did it again. He's been doing it all year, and that is why we kept going with him. I know he left everything he had on the field, and there is nobody else I'd rather have in big spots. He's been doing it since his freshman year, and he did it again tonight. The two-run homer by the shortstop (Chais Fuller) was a hanging breaking ball. He got enough of it, and it carried out. I still thought we were in the game there.
We kept battling. The Texas bullpen did a real good job. I thought that ended up being the difference. I'm extremely proud of our guys for their efforts, and hopefully we can come out tomorrow and bring that same intensity we did tonight. We know how good Texas is and I thought we had a chance for a while. We'll be ready to go tomorrow.
On taking out Texas' Joseph Krebs: I was glad to see him out of the game. He was tough, and he was locating his fastball on both sides of the plate. He had his slider going, and he did a great job of getting in front of the batter. Anytime you can do that, and control both sides of the plate, you are in good control.
Brown RHP Jeff Dietz
On Chais Fuller's two-run homer: Off the bat, I thought [Ryan Murphy] had a chance of catching it. But the longer it stayed in the air, the more I knew it was going out. I give him credit for hitting it. I should have had a bitter pitch in that situation.
On his pitching seven innings: I left that up to Coach (Drabinski). I had thrown 131 pitches and that was about all I had. They had the top of the lineup coming back through, and it seemed timely to change, so I think Coach made the right call of going to the bullpen.
Brown 3B Rob Papenhause
On being tagged out at home: I didn't know the centerfielder was up so shallow, so I thought I was going to score pretty easily because the ball was hit real hard.
Brown SS Matt Nuzzo
On playing in front of such a large crowd: It is definitely a good experience and we look forward to games like this. We played South Carolina in a similar atmosphere, and that is what baseball is all about. That is why we played hard all year, and it is a great experience for the team. At no point in the game did we feel like we were out, even if we had only 50 fans at the game compared to the thousands of Texas fans. That was great though.
I'd rather be the underdog, and we never felt like we were out of the game even in the last inning. We left it out there, so there is nothing much you can do.
