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Baseball rides Ruffin to 9-3 win over Kansas
05.21.2009 | Baseball
May 21, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The No. 5 Texas Longhorns turned a complete-game effort by Chance Ruffin into a 9-3 win over Kansas Jayhawks in round robin action at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark on Thursday afternoon.
With the win, Texas moved to 1-1 in round robin action and Kansas fell to 0-2. Texas needs a win by Kansas State over Baylor on Thursday evening and a UT win over Kansas State on Saturday to advance to Sunday's title game.
Ruffin (9-2) threw 129 pitches for his second complete-game of the season. He yielded three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out six.
The Longhorns, who have outscored opponents 41-7 in the first inning this season, pounced on the Jayhawks for two runs in the top of the first inning. Michael Torres hit a leadoff single through the right side, moved to second base on a sacrifice by Travis Tucker and scored on a home run to rightfield by Brandon Belt to stake the Horns to the 2-0 lead.
Texas (39-13-1) added four more runs in the top of the fourth. With one out, Russell Moldenhauer singled to the gap in left centerfield and Kevin Keyes walked. Brandon Loy plated Moldenhauer with a single to right centerfield. With runners on the corners, Cameron Rupp delivered a death blow with a three-run tater over the fence in right centerfield and the Horns owned a 6-0 lead.
Kansas (37-21) broke the scoring seal with a solo home run by David Narodowski in the home half of the fourth to trim the lead to 6-1.
Texas inflated the cushion to two runs in the top of the fifth. Torres hit a leadoff double to the wall in left centerfield. After Tucker struck out looking, Belt laced a single through the right side to drive in Torres. Moldenhauer dropped a demolition-derby single between three crashing fielders in leftfield to put a pair on and a wild pitch put the duo in scoring position. Keyes walked to fill the range with Longhorns and Loy knocked Belt in with a sacrifice fly to give Texas an 8-1 advantage.
The Jayhawks mounted a final rally in the bottom of the eighth. Preston Land was issued a leadoff walk and Faunce hit a wall-banger to left centerfield for an RBI triple. Faunce scored on a passed ball to cut the lead to 8-3.
Texas completed its scoring in the ninth inning. Connor Rowe doubled off the wall in left centerfield and scored on a single up the middle by Tim Maitland. The Horns appeared to be destined for more runs when Torres drew a walk, but Tucker lined into the first triple play in the history of the Big 12 tournament to quell the rally.
Torres and Belt paced the Texas offense. Torres went 3-for-4 with two runs and one double. Belt hit 2-for-4 with two runs, one home run and three RBI.
T.J. Walz (8-2) was saddled with the loss for the Jayhawks. He allowed eight runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out six over 5.0 innings.
The Longhorns return to action on Saturday with a 12:30 p.m. contest against the No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats.
