The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
No. 15/6 Stanford records 2-1 walk-off win over NR/No. 22 Baseball
03.03.2013 | Baseball
March 3, 2013
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Lonnie Kauppila hit a one-out, RBI double to right center in the bottom of the ninth Sunday as the No. 15/6 Stanford Cardinal completed a three-game series sweep with the 2-1 victory over the NR/No. 22 Texas Longhorns. Kauppila scored Alex Blandino, who hit a single off Texas closer Corey Knebel (0-1).
Texas (6-5) dropped its fourth straight game and was swept at Stanford for the second straight year.
Garrett Hughes (2-0) got the win for Stanford (9-2) with one scoreless inning in relief. Nathan Thornhill had another solid effort for the Longhorns with six innings, allowing a run on seven hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Bobby Zarubin pitched eight innings for the Cardinal, giving up one run on two hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Zarubin retired 13 straight batters before exiting in the ninth.
Austin Slater opened the Stanford half of the first with an infield single. Brian Ragira then drilled a double to left, sending Slater to third. Cardinal designated hitter Justin Ringo then hit an RBI groundout to plate Slater for the first run of the game for Stanford.
The Longhorns tied the game in the third, drawing three walks against Zarubin to load the bases. Erich Weiss hit a grounder to first to score Alex Silver from third.
Texas opens an eight-game homestand on Tuesday (March 5) against UT Pan American at 4:30 p.m. Central. Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on Longhorn Network with radio on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: With a single and walk today, Weston Hall reached base safely in six straight at-bats in two games for the Longhorns...Nathan Thornhill now has a 2.16 ERA in three starts for the Longhorns...despite being swept in the series, Texas was only out-scored by an 11-3 margin (eight runs) after being out-scored 28-5 in last year's series.
TEXAS 001-000-000---1-2-0 STAN 100-000-001----2-10-1
Note: 1 out, 1 runner LOB when game ended.
Records: Texas (6-5), Stanford (9-2) WP - Hughes (2-0) LP - Knebel (0-1) T - 2:02 ATT - 2,280
Thornhill, Knebel (7) and Montalbano, Felts (8). Zarubin, Hughes (9) and Taylor.
Post-Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On team's performance today against Stanford: It was completely different from yesterday, we played hard. We played a good game, they made some great defensive plays to keep us from getting the momentum. (Stanford) is a fine college team at this point. I believe we are a team that will get much better as we go down the road. I was really impressed with the attitude of our team...the way they came back from yesterday and battled, they really put forth a team effort today and that is really encouraging. A loss is always stinging and stunning, but some losses, you gain confidence from and you earn respect.
On the Longhorns' starting pitching: Our pitching is going to be fine. We are trying too hard in key situations because we have been struggling so we are pressing at the plate with runners in scoring position. We are going to get a lot better.
Junior pitcher Nathan Thornhill
On what worked for him today: I was just trying to pound the strike zone today. (Stanford) has really good hitters and will make you work every pitch. I gave up more hits than I wanted to today by leaving it up in the zone.
On what the team will focus on with upcoming eight-game home stand: I think getting this one off our minds and getting back on the diamond to compete again. Today was a lot different than yesterday like (Augie Garrido) said. We have a great group of guys and just have to get back to being ourselves and not trying too hard.
