The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
No. 6 Baseball tops No. 9 Stanford, 4-3, in series opener
03.04.2011 | Baseball
March 4, 2011
Box Score | Box Score 
| Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas - Junior pitcher Taylor Jungmann improved to 3-0 overall on the year and remained undefeated at home in his career as the No.6 Texas Longhorns defeated the No. 9 Stanford Cardinal, 4-3, at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday afternoon.
The first innings were highlighted by solid pitching from both Jungmann and Stanford pitched Mark Appel (0-2) as the duo combined to allow just two baserunners combined through the first four scoreless innings.
In the top of the fifth Brian Ragira got the Cardinal offense going with a triple to right center. Lonnie Kauppila knocked in Ragira for the first run of the game, and the first run allowed by Jungmann all year, with an RBI single to short centerfield.
With the Longhorns trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Cohl Walla singled into centerfield, and advanced to second with a sacrifice bunt from Kevin Lusson. Tant Shepherd was then walked to first base before junior Jordan Etier doubled into right-center scoring Walla and Shepherd to take the lead 2-1.
Brandon Loy picked up his second hit in the bottom of the eighth with a single into rightfield. Mark Payton followed with an RBI triple to rightfield scoring Loy to extend the UT lead to 3-1. The next at-bat, Erich Weiss hit a single into leftfield, scoring Payton.
Stanford mounted one last rally in the top of the ninth. Pinch-hitter Eric Smith started off with a single down the leftfield line and Jake Stewart followed with a single to advance Brett Michael Doran, who was pinch-running for Smith to second. Pinch-hitter Dave Giuliani grounded out to advance the runners to second and third. Shortstop Kenny Diekroeger singled to centerfield scoring both Stewart and Doran making the score 4-3. After Jungmann recorded the second out Stephen Piscotty singled to centerfield to put two runners on base. Cory Knebel then came in to relieve Jungmann and induced a game-ending groundout by Ragira.
Jungmann allowed three runs on six hits while recording nine strikeouts over 8.2 innings. With the win, he improved his undefeated record to 12-0 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Appel was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out two over 7.1 innings.
Loy and Walla each had two hits for the Longhorns. Loy added a walk to reach base on three of his four plate appearances.
Texas and Stanford will play their second game of a three-game series Saturday at 2 p.m.
Texas Quotes
Head Coach Augie Garrido
Opening statement: This is a result of two things. Taylor Jungmann was over a hundred pitches at that time and I think Stanford took that momentum in the last inning over the 1-2 pitch, they swung several times, fouling off foul balls, keeping their at bat alive and finding a way to keep the ball at bay and get a hit. I think that really reveals the kind of character Stanford has and that comes from their coaching staff. Stanford has won a lot of games, back-to-back national championships. The Stanford program sees themselves on the West Coast much like we see ourselves here so they expect to win and they do that all the time. It became very challenging but I'm pleased that our team continues to improve and we battled in every one of the innings.
On Corey Knebel: He was hitting 94, 96 with fast balls in Hawaii and that is something to build off of. He is a really good athlete. He gets off the mound good, he throws to bases good. He can go to the inside and then the outside with his fast ball and there's enough on it that the batters have trouble.
Junior pitcher Taylor Jungmann
On his performance: I looked good early but then I had a couple of bad pitches towards the end. I lost my feel a little bit and got a little tired towards the end.
On his pitches: The last few bullpens I have been trying to work on the over-hand breaking ball and then the slider, trying to mix them both in. They're two different pitches and I'm trying not to get them mixed up into one pitch. I've been working on hard on that the last couple of bull pens.
Freshman outfielder Mark Payton
On Stanford pitcher Mark Appel: He's a great pitcher. Some days you see the ball good and some days you don't. Today I put the lights on and got a good look from the batter's box so it was good to see.
On the close win: It's a great feeling for the team and team chemistry, knowing that someone always has our back like if Taylor [Jungmann] can't finish the game we can put Corey [Knebel] in, that we have other pitchers. Hitting those two runs in the eighth inning was great because if we didn't have that, maybe we lose 3-2 but our team is on a roll right now and hopefully we can keep it up.
Junior second baseman Jordan Etier
On getting the 2-1 lead: It was nice, we needed that. The Stanford pitcher was doing pretty good so it shifted the momentum. It was good for the team and we started rallying after that.
On not finding base hits at the beginning of the game: At the beginning I think we were just thinking too much and not getting into the game but pretty soon we started knocking them around and it was contagious.
Freshman pitcher Corey Knebel
On the close game: At the beginning it was difficult to get runs off but after a while we started to get more comfortable and we can hit pretty much anything. After we didn't score for a while I did start to get a little nervous.
On getting the win: I learned from the experience in Hawaii and I threw strikes and it paid off. I want to start getting my momentum now.
