The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
VCU
Kasparek makes return to mound in Baseball's 10-2 win over VCU
02.24.2008 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Junior right-hander Kenn Kasparek earned a victory in his first collegiate pitching performance since June 2, 2006, helping Texas earn a 10-2 win and a three-game series sweep over VCU in collegiate baseball action at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Sunday afternoon.
Kasparek allowed just one unearned run on two hits and two walks while striking out five over five innings to move his career record to 14-2. Riley Boening, who also missed the entire 2006 season, pitched two innings of relief, allowing one unearned run on two hits while striking out three. Newcomers Stayton Thomas and Marcus Tackett each pitched one shutout inning.
The Longhorns pounced on the Rams early with six runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Michael Torres walked and Jordan Danks doubled down the leftfield line, plating Torres for the game's first run. Kyle Russell singled to centerfield driving in Danks. A pair of wild pitches and a walk drawn by Brandon Belt put runners at the corners. Russell Moldenhauer singled up the middle pushing Russell across for a 3-0 lead. The inning was capped off by an RBI walk by Kyle Lusson, a run-scoring fielder's choice by David Hernandez and a passed ball allowing Rupp to score.
Texas scored two runs in the second and tacked on single runs in the fourth and seventh to close out its scoring.
VCU did its damage with single runs in the third and sixth frames.
Kyle Russell paced the Longhorns going 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Jordan Danks was also 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
With Sunday's attendance of 6,331, the Longhorns drew 18,887 for the three-game weekend, a total which ranks 15th all-time for a three-game series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field and rates fourth for a February series.
Texas returns to action on Tuesday when the Longhorns host UT Pan American for a 3:15 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Augie Garrido
On Kenn Kasparek: Kasparek was better than expected. For being out that long, the consistency of his performance was pretty terrific and he kept the ball down in the strike zone, got his breaking ball over and held up energy wise the entire time he was on the mound. We wanted to get him out; he was at 68 pitches when we took him out. We wanted him to leave with a great feeling of success and I think he had that.
On what he was expecting coming into the season out of Kasparek: I hoped that he would be one of our three starters but I didn't know how long it would take for him to regain his confidence after being out for so long. He pitched today like he's pitched many times before, he pitched like a veteran. He gave us everything we wanted.
On Riley Boening: I thought Riley (Boening) did remarkably well too. I'm glad we had the runs so that we could use him and get him in there; he was a little bit nervous. He's another one that can really pitch.
PITCHING COACH Skip Johnson
On Kenn Kasparek and Riley Boening: I thought they executed pitch to pitch and did well with that. They stayed with the process of not trying to do too much and stay within themselves and it was a pretty good sight to see. It's exciting to see them back, when a guy comes off an arm injury and keeps working and gets better the rewards are there.
LHP Riley Boening
On pitching in today's victory: It was really exciting today; it was awesome being out there again. I actually asked the guys in the bull pen which way I needed to run to the mound because I forgot where it was. It was really exciting.
RHP Kenn Kasparek
On pitching in today's victory: It felt great to finally be out here with my teammates and back in the lineup. The most important thing that I wanted to do today was throw strikes and I thought I did a pretty good job of that. I let them knock the ball around a little bit and let the defense play and it worked out well.
On if this was the kind of start he was hoping the team would get: Absolutely, I mean we couldn't expect a better weekend than this. The fan support was great, we scored a lot of runs and from a pitchers standpoint that is exactly what you want.
RF Kyle Russell
On the teams having trouble in the outfield today: The sun is always a factor out there, but we learn in practice what routes you need to take and how we need to avoid the sun. We're in college and that's what coach Garrido works on, how to get the sun out of your eyes and stuff like that. It's something you work on and hopefully the ball won't get in the sun all the time.
On this opening weekend: We looked pretty strong and the fans were amazing, they came out here and showed their support a hundred percent; you have to tip your hats to the fans because they were in it the whole time, innings one through nine. As far as the team goes the freshman really stepped up and did a great job. I think Kenn (Kasparek) came in and did an awesome job as did Riley (Boening); it was great to see them on the mound again. These guys are really stepping up and showing that we really can win. It was a great sweep for us.
