The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
No. 2 Baseball beats Missouri, 6-1, to stay alive at Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
05.28.2011 | Baseball
May 28, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Senior Kendal Carrillo retired the first 11 batters he faced in a relief appearance and helped the No. 2 Texas Longhorns register a 6-1 win over the Missouri Tigers in Saturday morning action at the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at RedHawks Field.
With the win, the Longhorns stayed alive in the tournament and will face Missouri again on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.) with the victor headed to Sunday's title game against either Kansas State or Texas A&M.
Carrillo's longest outing had been 2.0 innings on two separate occasions this season, but he entered the game with bases loaded and one out and Texas leading 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning and prospered over 3.2 innings. The northpaw had not struck out more than three hitters in an appearance this year, but fanned six of the first eight batters he faced and set down 11 in a row before yielding a single to start the eighth inning.
Carrillo gave way to Andrew McKirahan who induced a double play and fanned a batter to keep the eighth inning scoreless and Corey Knebel ended the game by retiring all three batters he faced as the bullpen worked 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
Texas (43-14) drew first blood in the top of the third inning. With one out, Jacob Felts laced a single into the gap in right centerfield and Brandon Loy followed by rattling a hit into the leftfield line corner for an RBI double.
The Longhorns added to the lead in the fourth inning. Erich Weiss singled through the left side of the infield to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Paul Montalbano. Jonathan Walsh singled up the middle past the glove of a lunging second baseman to bring Weiss home for the 2-0 lead.
Missouri (26-31) broke the scoring seal in the home half of the fourth inning. Jonah Schmidt sparked the rally with a double down the leftfield line. After Blake Brown stuck out swinging, Ben Turner singled through the left side of the infield to put runners at the corners. Jesse Santo drew a walk to load the bases. With a 1-0 count on C.J. Jarvis, Texas starter Sam Stafford was relieved on the mound b Carrillo. Jarvis plated a run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to cut the lead to 2-1 before Carrillo fanned Andrew Thigpen to end the inning.
Texas continued to build a picket fence on the scoreboard with a single run in the fifth. With one out, Loy singled to right field. Two batters later, Tant Shepherd was issued a two-out walk and a double steal by Loy and Shepherd put a pair of runners in scoring position. Weiss appeared to bounce into an inning ending ground out to shortstop, but Santo bobbled the ball for an error, allowing Loy to score, staking the Longhorns to a 3-1 lead.
The Longhorns extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh. With two outs, Montalbano doubled down the leftfield line and scored when Walsh doubled over the head of the Tigers' rightfielder.
The cavalcade of runs continued for the Longhorns with two in the eighth inning. Jordan Etier was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Felts moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Loy lashed a double down the rightfield line to drive in Etier. With two outs, Tant Shepherd drew a walk and Loy moved to third to put runners on the corners. Weiss bounced a single through the right side of the infield, bringing Loy home for the 6-1 advantage.
Loy led the Texas offense and extended his career-long hit streak to 13 games. He went 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, one stolen base and two RBI. In the last three contests, he has combined to go 9-for-13 with four doubles, five runs and four RBI. Walsh went 2-for-4 with one double and two RBI. Weiss went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.
Matt Stites (6-3) was saddled with the loss for Missouri. He yielded four runs, three earned, on eight hits and four walks while striking out five over 6.2 innings.
