The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Pan-American
Three newcomers combine for shutout in Baseball's 5-0 win over UT Pan American
02.27.2008 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas had three newcomers combine to allow just three hits as the Longhorns posted a 5-0 shutout against UTPA in collegiate baseball action Wednesday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Chance Ruffin (1-0) earned the victory as the designated starter, yielding three hits and one walk while striking out four over three innings. Casey Whitmer posted five strikeouts as he retired all nine batters he faced over three innings. Marcus Tackett needed just 11 pitches to close out the game with a scoreless seventh inning.
Russell Moldenhauer went 2-for-3 with one triple and three RBI to lead the Texas offense. Brandon Belt was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored and David Hernandez went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Roly Gonzalez logged two of UTPA's three hits. Shane Janecka was saddled with the loss for the Broncs despite a strong pitching performance. He yielded two runs on five hits and one walk over five innings while striking out two.
Texas broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Preston Clark was hit by a pitch and moved to third on Brandon Belt's ground-rule double that bounced over the fence at the left centerfield gap. Russell Moldenhauer hit an infield single to plate Clark and Cameron Rupp delivered a single to rightfield, pushing Belt across.
After missing out on a couple of chances to inflate the cushion, the Longhorns tacked on three runs in the sixth inning. Kyle Russell drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on another ground-rule double by Belt. Moldenhauer tripled off the wall in leftfield to drive in a pair and scored on a single through the middle by Hernandez.
Texas returns to action on Friday with the Longhorns traveling to Minute Maid Park to play Tennessee in the first day of action at the Houston College Classic presented by the Houston Chronicle. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Augie Garrido
On upcoming weekend at Minute Maid Park in Houston: The environment plays a bigger role than most people would think in the performances. It will be interesting to see how everyone responds. Our pitchers are very familiar with this mound (at UFCU Disch-Falk Field). They have pitched a lot here and it's kind of like a basketball arena shooting free throws. It's a lot easier to do it on your own home court than it is in another environment and that is what this weekend will be about. Can we be competitive? Will we be confident or will the things that we are unfamiliar with create fear and anxiety?
On if he is satisfied with what he has seen so far from the team: I don't look at it that way. I'm not asking the players to play to satisfy me. I'm looking at the game and asking how can we get this out or how can we get this base or what can we do with their timing to make them more effective as a hitter? I have a weird perspective from that standpoint. Am I happy we won? Yes and the reason is because learning takes place more effectively in a winning environment than it does in a losing one. That is the biggest reward that the team gets from the winning.
On the young pitchers: I think that they are doing what we want pitchers to do. It's a combination of mechanical skills, timing, rhythm and mental training that Coach Johnson is giving them. They're facing our hitters everyday. Our hitters are better than the hitters that they have faced so far. It goes back to Coach Wooden's old theory. He always wanted the second best center in America on his team, not on someone else's because he wanted his big men to play everyday and practice against someone better than the people he was going to play against in a big game. It's the same principle it just applies a little differently here.
On how well settled he thinks the team is for when they get into conference play: Injury can always play a big part of that. Today's lineup was influenced by injury. Preston Clark went into the DH role because his arm is sore. The way to keep the left-handed hitter in there is do what we did today, you DH him when he can't throw. Now what does that do? Today it took Keyes out of the lineup against right-handed pitching then we made a shift back because Keyes has more range defensively than Moldenhauer does in left field. We've had this lineup in place for over a month and there has been some back and forth.
