The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Texas State
No. 3 Baseball takes 4-3 come-from-behind win over Texas State
03.09.2010 | Baseball
March 9, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 3 Texas Longhorns found some late game heroics to edge the Texas State Bobcats 4-3 in collegiate baseball action Tuesday night.
Trailing 3-1, Texas (9-3) rallied in the bottom of the eighth to take a lead they would never relinquish. Brandon Loy and Cameron Rupp smacked back-to-back zingers up the middle to lead off the inning. With one out, Kevin Keyes walked to load the bases and Kyle Lusson grounded to short plating Rupp when Texas State was unable to complete the double play. Kevin Lusson walked to reload the bases with two outs. On a 1-1 count, Paul Montalbano sent a frozen rope to shallow center for a single scoring both pinch-runner Jonathan Walsh and Kyle Lusson to give the Longhorns the 4-3 lead.
The Bobcats leapt onto the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the fourth. Bret Atwood began the inning with a single to left field and stolen second base. With one out, Kyle Livingstone singled through the left side bringing Atwood around to score. After stealing second, Livingstone came around to score on a Jason Martinson double off of the left field wall.
The Longhorns cut the lead to one in the bottom of the seventh. Keyes started the inning by beating out a slow roller for a single, moved to second on sacrifice bunt by Kyle Lusson sacrifice bunt and came around to score when Kevin Lusson sent a shot that bounced off of the left centerfield wall for a double. In a pinch-hit appearance, Paul Montalbano chopped a ball to the pitcher and beat the throw to first to put runners on the corners. Jordan Etier laid down a bunt, but Livingstone came charging and made the play at home to end the Longhorns scoring chances that inning.
Texas State (5-6) tacked on an insurance run in the top of eighth. Daniel Neuman doubled off the right centerfield wall and advanced to third after a pair of groundouts. Neuman would then come home on a pass ball to increase the Texas State lead to 3-1.
Austin Dicharry exhibited a strong performance giving up three runs, two of which were earned, on five hits and four strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work. Stayton Thomas and Andrew McKirahan (1-0) combined to pitch a hitless eighth inning while Chance Ruffin picked up his fourth save of the year striking out one in the top of the ninth.
Texas State's Carson Smith put up equally impressive numbers in his start giving up two runs, one earned, on five hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts over 7.0 innings. Garret Carruth (1-1) was saddled with the loss, giving up two runs, one earned, on one hit and two walks in one third of an inning.
Montalbano, who went 2-for-2 with two RBIs led the Texas offense. Keyes went 2-for-3 with a run scored and the Lusson brothers each had an RBI.
Texas returns to action on Friday with a 6:05 p.m. game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Head Coach Augie Garrido
On the game: We really ran into a pitcher who pitched a great game. That is the second time is three games. The Houston pitcher did something similar and this young man was really brilliant. His team played well behind him defensively and they also performed well on the offense. Obviously, it got down to the seventh and eighth innings, but we found a way to grind it out. That's what you have to do. You're not going to walk out and play your A game all the time. You have to play well and you have to fight hard against everyone because other teams have everything to gain and not much to lose, which is a great advantage because you play so much more relaxed. I think our kids handled it well. I think they fought back and got a lot of little things to happen. The main thing is that they battled. It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty, but they battled hard. They fought against adversity the whole game and finally in the eighth inning, they were able to get the victory.
On Paul Montalbano: Paul has taken six at-bats now and every one of them have been have been a quality at-bat. I thought the ball he hit against Houston was into left center field and I thought he tied the game with that one, but their shortstop made an outstanding play. He also takes pitches. He is a competitive, but relaxed hitter. In batting practice, he scores more balls than anybody. He doesn't hit them over the fence, but he hits them to all fields, which is why I have so much confidence in him. He separates the balls from the strikes and then he puts the barrel of the bat on the ball.
Pitcher Austin Dicharry
On not having much offensive help tonight: Well you can't really worry about those kinds of things. Our guys squared the ball up a lot tonight. They didn't fall at first, but as a pitcher you just have to go up there, hit your spots and just throw to the mitt.
Third Baseman Kevin Lusson
On Texas State's starting pitcher: He was slammed pretty well. I think he hit like 93. His ball was moving a little bit, so that was a little troublesome for us. He was mixing his pitches and it was pretty frustrating in the beginning that we couldn't do anything to him.
On getting the double: That was a big momentum swing. I felt a little pressure on the first two at-bats, so for that one I told myself just to go out there and play the game like I knew how. He lit the fast ball up and I took advantage of it. I wanted to keep the inning going and give it to the next guy.
On coming from behind: It's a huge confidence booster, especially playing Texas State because they always play us pretty hard. It doesn't matter who we play, if we are down two or three runs, we will treat it like we are in Omaha and we need to come back from behind.
Outfielder Paul Montalbano
On his game-winning hit tonight: It hasn't really hit me yet, so I don't really know what I did. I guess I'm just pretty lucky.
On what was on his mind when stepping up to bat: Mostly it's not to strike out and put the ball in play. I was just trying to help the team and get a base hit. It happened this time, so I am pretty happy.
On Coach Garrido's confidence: It helps to know that he has confidence in me. I just hope that I can keep things rolling and we can keep winning.
