The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
No. 6 Baseball wins series versus No. 9 Stanford with a 4-2 victory
03.06.2011 | Baseball
March 6, 2011
Box Score | Box Score 
| Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas - The No. 6 Texas Longhorns used an impressive staff pitching performance and some timely hitting on Sunday to win the weekend series against Stanford with a 4-2 win at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Stanford (6-5) had no answer for Texas' starting pitcher Sam Stafford (2-0) as he struck out seven through 5.1 scoreless innings, yielding just three hits and two walks.
The Cardinal threatened in the top of the second with runners on first and second before the Horns turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Texas (7-4) broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the second. The Horns opened up in the inning with Erich Weiss beating the throw from short for an infield single. Cohl Walla's failed sacrifice bunt attempt left him at first after a fielder's choice to second. After Jonathan Walsh and Tant Shepherd both walked to load up the bases, a wild pitch brought in Walla to give Texas a 1-0 lead.
The Longhorns extended their lead by two in the bottom of the fifth inning. Shepherd started the inning with a deep double to the left center wall. Kevin Lusson singled to right to put runners on the corners. Jordan Etier capitalized with a sacrifice bunt down the first base line that brought Shepherd home and moved Lusson to second. After Lusson advanced to third with a ground out to short, Loy knocked in another run with a sharp single to right.
After Stanford loaded the bases in the top of the sixth with one out, Kendal Carrillo came in to the game in relief of Stafford. Carrillo escaped the jam unscathed with a strike out and a ground out.
Texas kept their momentum going when Walla hit a one-out, sun-aided triple to center. During the next at-bat, a passed ball let Walla come home for his second run of the game and to extend the Longhorns' lead to 4-0.
Stanford threatened again by loading up the bases with a walk and single off Stayton Thomas and a single off Corey Knebel with no outs in the eighth. Brian Ragira brought in the first run of the game for the Cardinal with a single to right. During the next at-bat, the Longhorns turned an athletic 3-6-1 double play, trading a run for two outs. Knebel fanned the next batter to end the eighth inning with the Horns leading 4-2.
Stanford wasted no time in the ninth putting the tying run to the plate with a lead-off single. Knebel struck out the next two batters and induced a fly ball to center to seal the Longhorns' win.
Carrillo recorded one strikeout in his 0.2 innings. Knebel picked up his second save of the season, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out three over 2.0 innings.
Jordan Pries (2-1) was saddled with the loss for Stanford. He allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four over 4.2 innings.
Loy was Texas' top hitter, going 2-for-4 with one RBI. Stanford was paced by Ragira who went 3-for-4 with one RBI.
Texas is back in action on Tuesday when the UTSA Roadrunners visit UFCU Disch-Falk Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00.
TEXAS QUOTES
Freshman pitcher Corey Knebel
On how it felt to get the victory: Stanford is really good, I mean they're ranked number nine so it felt really important to go out there and shut them down. It felt really good for all of us. It's a big momentum-maker now, and hopefully we'll do the same thing next week.
Sophomore outfielder Cohl Walla
On the adjustment from the old bats to the new bats: A little bit. It's more of an adjustment playing defense than it is hitting. Some bats have more of a dull sound, you can't really tell if he squared it up well or if it's just a little blooper, but I think mainly just playing defense and adjusting to guys' powers.
Junior pitcher Sam Stafford
On if it feels good to have the bullpen perform so well: Absolutely. The pitching staff has never had any questions about our bullpen. Kendal [Carrillo] coming out and saving my runs and getting us out of that inning was pretty awesome, and the rest of the team did a great job too.
Senior pitcher Kendal Carrillo
On the team coming together: It was exciting. You just want to go out there from the bullpen and throw strikes and just try to get outs, and we did that today. We did a good job. Corey [Knebel] came in at the end and did his job and closed it out. Stayton [Thomas] did a good job as well, throwing strikes and going right at those guys.
Junior shortstop Brandon Loy
On if he was happy with how the team responded after Sunday: Absolutely. It's always good when you have a starting pitcher that comes out and has a presence about him and nothing affects him. He came out an gave us a great start, gave us some momentum a little bit with that first inning and striking out two, and then scratching off some runs. That's big for us. We have to come out and get runs early. There were definitely some opportunities we had where we could have scratched out a couple more, and that's something that we have to continue to keep working on. But then again, it was a really good win for us. We needed it big time, and we're just excited to come out and play Tuesday.
