Feb. 19, 2011
Box Score
AUSTIN, Texas -
The sixth-ranked Texas Longhorns scored five runs in the eighth inning to overcome a 4-2 deficit and beat the Maryland Terrapins Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader.
Maryland (1-2) built an early lead on the strength of a splendid effort by starting pitcher Eric Potter, who gave up just one run on four hits in six innings, and a balanced offensive attack. The Terps led 4-1 when Potter departed the game, but Texas (2-1) scored one run in the seventh and five in the eighth to take the lead.
The last three innings were clouded in controversy after a disputed call in the seventh.
Chuck Ghysels relieved Potter to start the seventh inning and induced Tant Shepherd into a fly-out to center field for the first out. That brought up Jordan Etier and on a 2-2 count, the second baseman took a ball and started for first base. It was unclear initially whether Etier was hit by the pitch, but the home plate umpire awarded Etier first base on a walk.
Head coach Erik Bakich came out to protest, and after the home plate umpire conversed with the rest of the crew, the walk was upheld. Bakich continued to argue the call and was eventually ejected from the game.
Texas' Mark Payton followed with a double to right field, and Charlie White's throw missed the cutoff man, allowing Etier to score from first, making it 4-2 Maryland. With Payton on third, Brandon Loy attempted a squeeze-bunt, but Ghysels made a quick play, flipping it to Cleary at home who tagged out Payton for the second out. Ghysels then struck out Jonathan Walsh to end the inning.
Maryland had a chance to pad its lead in the top of the eighth after Jake Stinnett led off with a single to center field and later advanced to third with just one out. But Texas reliever Andrew McKirahan struck out White and got Cleary to ground out to leave Stinnett stranded.
In the bottom half of the eighth Texas' first three batters reached to load the bases with no outs. Ghysels got Longhorns catcher Jacob Felts to foul out, but on the next at-bat he hit Shepherd with a pitch to force in a run and make it 4-3.
With the bases still loaded, Korey Wacker was called in from center field to the mound to replace Ghysels. Texas tied it when Paul Montalbano was hit by a pitch and took the lead on a wild pitch to Mark Payton. Payton then hit a ground-rule double down the left-field line to give the Longhorns a 7-4 lead.
McKirahan (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings of one-hit baseball and was credited with the win. Ghysels (0-1), who was charged with five runs in 1 1/3, took the loss.
The Terps had taken a 1-0 lead in the first and extended it to 2-0 in the fourth. Brandon Padula doubled down the left-field line and scored on another double down the left-field line by Stinnett.
Texas answered with a run in the bottom half of the fourth, but Michael Montville increased the Maryland lead to 3-1 in the sixth with a home run to deep left-center field. White's RBI single later in the inning gave the Terps a 4-1 lead.
"I thought out of the 16 innings we played today we dominated for 13 of those innings," said Bakich. "I was very proud of our guys, the way we played."
Maryland and Texas play the fourth and final game of the series Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern. Fans can watch live at www.TexasSports.com.
