A Deeper Look at Texas Baseball’s Minnesota Road Trip

Though the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Texas Longhorns have enjoyed the company of one another on various baseball fields for 89 years, the Horns had never ventured north to visit the Gophers until this three game series March 22-24th.

Apparently, all it took was the Metrodome being demolished for Augie Garrido and crew to finally make the trek for one of the last sporting events to be
held there.

One of the most fascinating parts of the entire series happened an hour or two before the opening game, when the Texas players took the field for the first time. Exiting the clubhouse and walking around the tunnel towards the third base field entrance, they walked past a map detailing the guts of the Metrodome referenced by decades of college and pro eyes alike. Upon entering the field, nearly all the players looked upward, some pointing and chatting about the lights and white canopy that has tortured outfielders of all skill levels since creation.

While fly balls in the Metrodome have always…[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] been a difficulty, the legend of balls disappearing in the similarly colored canopy is one that requires clarification. After a myriad of complaints and gaffes, lights were installed that hang by cables from the rooftops to help generate contrast for fly balls, and run regardless of day or night games being played.

However, the translucent nature of the canopy actually renders the baseball a slightly darker color, more of a shadow than the white ball you’d expect amidst the white backdrop above. Incidentally, neither the Horns nor Gophers had any difficulty with fly balls over the weekend.

One of the things I went into the series hoping to see was a spark of resilience from a Texas team that has found great success when playing with a lead, or playing close games, but has struggled in 2013 when taking on early deficits.

Additionally, the match-up against Minnesota was a quality litmus test in that both teams’ strengths primarily reside in the ability to produce runs by way of small ball and pitching staffs backed by dependable bullpen arms.

Texas was tested early and often against a Minnesota arm in Junior LHP Tom Windle who proved stingy and unforgiving to horns bats, his 12 strikeouts in his third straight complete game effort stifling all offensive hopes from the Horns. As one member of the Texas staff recounted, “What can you do? [Windle] was dealing.”

Texas Freshman Toller Boardman, in his first start as a Longhorn, conceded two runs in the first inning and three unearned in the second before yielding to Junior Josh Urban after only 1 2/3 innings pitched. While Tom Windle was putting on a showcase of his off-speed pitches, Boardman struggled to find his release point as the Horns fell victim to the same type of offensive game they play on their best days. It was apparent even by the time Urban entered the game that a five run cushion was one Gophers pitcher Tom Windle would be hard pressed to give up.

Impressive in the Horns’ opening game loss were the aforementioned Josh Urban, Travis Duke and Kirby Bellow, who combined for a total of 6 1/3 innings of scoreless relief that kept Texas as much in the game as one could hope — truly a staple of this Horns club in 2013.

Texas LHP Dillon Peters, who was scratched from Friday’s opener, took the mound for Texas Saturday against fellow sophomore RHP Ben Meyer for the Gophers in what was by far the most compelling game of the series.

During batting practice, the Texas position players split their cage time between bunt drills and regular hacks as usual. However, there was a concerted effort I noticed from many of Friday’s starters to swing for the gaps, presumably having recognized or been coached about the improbability of clearing the fences in the Dome.

This pragmatism within the course of the series is an encouraging thing for a team that appears rather close to putting it all together, a strategic mindset that arguably played a large role in the middle game. Coming off the 5-1 Friday loss, Texas needed to find ways to get on base and put pressure on Gophers pitchers — a task they repeatedly fails to do against an on-point Windle the day prior.

Lefty starter Dillon Peters encountered adversity as a great deal of his first inning pitches found too much of the plate, giving up a run on three straight singles to trail 1-0 early. Now, only in college baseball or perhaps a recreational whiffleball league would what followed next transpire, as Minnesota coach John Anderson inserted Mark Tatera into the six spot as Designated Hitter.

The resounding themes of the game proved to be bunt attempts, copious substitutions (nine position players were inserted into the game for both teams combined, beginning in the first and ending in the ninth innings), and Texas leads being answered in turn by Minnesota bats. If anything, a Minnesota baseball mind would question an homage to Twins great Jack Morris, often criticized for pitching to the game when in fact many times it was just a grinder of a day.

One of the more intriguing plays came in the Texas half of the third, with Weston Hall on first after being hit by a Ben Meyer pitch to open the frame. Moynihan dropped the barrel late on a bunt attempt, and the ball fouled about 70 feet down the first base line, caught for the first out. Erich Weiss grounded a seemingly routine double play ball to the right side, fielded by Tiny Skjefte and tossed to Michael Handel who was passing over second to complete the twin killing.

However, an overly exuberant slide outside the basepath (complemented by tactfully extended arms) by Hall prevented a throw to first. Third base umpire Bill McGuire had shifted mid-play into a perfect position to call interference immediately, with no protest whatsoever from either Hall or the Texas bench.

If your thing is learning about scorekeeping “hypotheticals turned reality,” you were in for a treat as two innings later the four hundred or so in attendance witnessed an oddity with the bases loaded for Minnesota and Mark Tatera at the plate. Tatera lifted a pitch to right that Mark Payton camped under but let slip through the webbing. He promptly threw the ball into second, forcing out Ryan Abrahamson who had all but fully retreated to first in anticipation of the out, though the runner scored from third in the process.

Now, the interesting part of scoring this (which was a fun discussion to overhear in the press box) is that because of the result itself — the runner on third scoring — the means through which it was conceived become immaterial and the ruling is a sacrifice out. From there, you also tabulate an RBI for Tatera, and render the play proper a force out at second. In summation, the rare RBI fielder’s choice sacrifice out.

Collin Shaw, the third left fielder for Texas in the game, walked to lead off the tenth inning before ill-favored catcher of late Jacob Felts (who had entered the game to replace Jeremy Montalbano) and Alex Silver singled back-to-back, the latter scoring Shaw in what proved to be the game-winning run for the Horns.

Augie finally had cause to call upon the services of Corey Knebel with the game tied an inning earlier, the game stayed tied at 4-4 in the ninth.  Knebel displayed excellent command and movement on his fastball, dispatching Minnesota bats with relative ease over two innings pitched while amassing three strikeouts and getting the decision in the 5-4 win that was the first Texas played in extras in 2013.

The rubber match played on Sunday featured Junior RHP Nathan Thornhill for Texas and Junior RHP Alec Crawford for Minnesota. Thornhill pitched in a manner befitting the culmination of the weekend’s progress for the Horns, going 6+ innings before giving up three runs in the seventh and handing the ball to Ty Culbreth, Ty Marlow and Corey Knebel for an all but expected at this point scoreless back end from the pen.

Once more, Texas hitters found their stride through a deliberately patient approach to at bats that revolved around advancing runners to put up numbers on the scoreboard, and by the fifth frame found themselves guarding a 6-0 lead against the Gophers. When all was said and done, the Longhorns won the series 2-1 thanks largely in part to the in-series adjustments made by coaching staff and players after the Friday night opener, heading home to Austin with a return to conference play in the crosshairs.

Before the series, I had expressed hope that Texas would demonstrate an assembly of their assets that illustrated their complete package, perhaps in a way that would qualify their current ability and standing nationwide. Whether they were a team that could beat a Stanford on a good day; whether they could take on a budding talent in Tom Windle who was coming off a perfect game and a complete game in his last two starts; whether they could travel and play away from Disch-Falk and the thousands of supporters they’re used to, and compete in an intimidating stadium like the Metrodome.

I left placated by the resolve of the team’s comprehensive effort, and feel they graded out well on their Minnesota litmus test despite running into a wall in a hot Tom Windle — if anything showing something special about their spirit coming off a deflating loss to Windle for the remaining two games in the series. I can’t help but think Augie and his staff flew back to Austin anything but pleased with the weekend’s result.

Standout players:

Junior RF Mark Payton: 6-13, 1 R, 1 BB

Junior RHP Josh Urban: 3 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 K, 2 BB in his longest relief effort of the season

Junior RHP Corey Knebel: 4 IP, 0 R, 6 K, 1 BB. 1 W, 1 S.

Author David Schubert is connoisseur of all things college and professional baseball. More of his commentary can be found via twitter @CurseOfBenitez

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