Cats Fall to Texas; Await NCAA Destination

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Texas scored single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings, while Longhorn starter Taylor Jungmann threw a career-high 7.2 innings, as fifth-ranked Texas defeated No. 17 Kansas State, 4-2, Saturday afternoon at Bricktown Ballpark.

With the victory, Texas won Pool 1 and will advance to Sunday’s title game to face the winner of Pool 2. The Longhorns moved to 40-13-1 overall, while the Wildcats fell to 41-16-1 overall and finished the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship with a 2-1 record. Texas, K-State and Baylor each finished pool play with 2-1 records, and after head-to-head competition did not produce a winner, the highest-seeded team (Texas) advanced to Sunday’s final.

Jungmann (7-3) scattered five hits on the afternoon and surrendered two runs while striking out four. Austin Wood recorded his 14th save of the season after tossing the final 1.1 innings. K-State’s Matt Applegate suffered the loss after facing just one batter, a walk that eventually broke a 2-2 tie.

With the game tied at two apiece in the sixth, Applegate (2-2) came out of the bullpen in relief of Todd Vogel. Applegate walked the first batter he faced in Brandon Belt and went to 2-0 to Russell Moldenhauer before being lifted in favor of Evan Marshall. Moldenhauer sacrificed Belt over to second base and, following a ground out, Loy singled up the middle to bring home the eventual winning run.

Vogel, a senior right-hander, was effective as he allowed two runs on five hits in 5.0 innings of work in the no decision.

Loy paced the Longhorns offensively as the shortstop went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Kansas State’s Adam Muenster extended his hitting streak to nine games with his 2-for-4 outing.

Kansas State stranded runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, while Texas spoiled a leadoff double from Cameron Rupp in the second inning as the two teams were scoreless through the first three and a half innings.

The Longhorns wasted little time in the fourth inning to plate the game’s first run after a leadoff double by Belt got things started. Belt then moved to third on a ground out and scored on a Preston Clark sacrifice fly to give Texas a 1-0 lead.

K-State came right back with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Dane Yelovich was hit by a one-out pitch and moved first to third on a single to left field by Muenster. Cater Jurica was next and hit a RBI ground out to short to tie the game. Nick Martini followed and hit a ground ball to Loy, who booted the ball and allowed Kansas State to take a 2-1 lead.

Texas took advantage of another leadoff double in the bottom half of the fifth when Kevin Keyes hit a ball into right-center, advanced to third on a sacrifice and then scored when Connor Rowe singled through the left side to tie the game.

UT also scratched across another run in the eighth when a bases-loaded infield single by Loy drove in another run.

Kansas State will learn its first-ever NCAA Regional destination on Monday as ESPN will announce the field of 64 live at 11:30 a.m. CT. The NCAA will also announce its 16 host regional sites on Sunday afternoon.