Kansas University’s baseball team suffered a bittersweet loss to Texas on Saturday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark.
Several Jayhawks hit off of Texas’ strong pitcher, but the Jayhawks weren’t able to mount a serious offensive threat.
Texas 6 – Kansas 2
EMoss (5); Gremminger (2); Spanish (10). LOBTexas 8; Kansas 9. 2BRosenberg (7); Brooks (8). HRAnderson (1); Ontiveros (3). SBHubele (7); Moss (4). SHRosenberg (9); Del Chiaro (6).
WPWilcher. HBPby Montes (Spanish, Farmer). T2:01. A310. |
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Albert Montes was formidable on the mound for the Longhorns in a 6-2 Big 12 victory. The right-handed junior struck out 13 batters, walked only one and scattered eight hits in a complete-game victory.
“He’s pretty deceptive,” KU coach Bobby Randall said. “I don’t think that’s any secret. But we got two runs off him, and that’s more than his ERA. His ERA is under two. It wasn’t that we were taken by him, we just couldn’t see the ball well because he’s so deceptive.”
The Jayhawks (14-17, 2-12 Big 12) had a hard time catching up to Montes’ sinking fastball, slider and changeup. After KU leadoff hitter John Nelson reached on an error in the bottom of the first inning, Montes (6-2) retired 12 straight batters including five consecutive strikeouts in the third and fourth innings.
“He was a great pitcher,” KU first baseman Kevin Wheeler said. “He was hitting the outside corner, changing speeds. He was changing it up and it looked like everyone was pretty off-balance against him.”
Wheeler and left fielder Matt Tribble were the only Jayhawks to have multi-hit games. Wheeler has more than one hit in three consecutive games.
“I’ve just been waiting back a lot better,” Wheeler said. “After I got a few hits against Arkansas, I gained a lot of confidence. Those guys were good pitchers and if I could hit them, then I knew I could hit (Montes).”
Meanwhile, KU left-hander Justin Wilcher (1-5) sat down the first seven batters he faced before UT (23-12, 11-3) got on the board in the top of the third. Jeff Ontiveros walked and later scored on Omar Quintanilla’s two-out single. Ontiveros made it 2-0 when he led off the fifth with a home run to left field.
It looked as if the Jayhawks might stage a comeback in their half of the inning. Wheeler and Tribble both singled to right, but the next three batters failed to bring them home. In the seventh, Wheeler and Tribble hit back-to-back singles again but were stranded once more.
UT’s Ben King led off the top of the eighth with a walk and scored on Ryan Brook’s double, which chased Wilcher. Sam Anderson, the first batter to face reliever Jeff Davis, homered to left center to make it 5-0.
Kansas finally scored in the bottom of the inning when Jesse Gremminger singled to right field and scored on John Nelson’s single.
Texas scored again in the ninth, but Casey Spanish scored for Kansas in its part of the ninth after being hit by a Montes pitch. He was driven in on a Nelson single through the left side.
“I didn’t see any quit in us,” Randall said. “We didn’t lay down. We played hard. We fought against a pretty hard pitcher, and he just didn’t let us score or get many hits. So give him credit for that. I was not displeased with what we did, I’m just displeased that we didn’t win.
“We’re slumping as a team. And I think Montes had a lot to do with that today.”
Kansas and the Longhorns will face off again at 1:00 p.m. today at Hoglund Ballpark.
