NCAA Baseball Regional
University of Texas 11, Rider University 0
AUSTIN, TEXAS--The Broncs lost to the host Longhorns in the first game of the NCAA Austin Regional Friday night in front of 7,120 fans.
"Obviously, it is a tough loss," said Rider head coach Barry Davis, "but I am proud of my team. We were competing against a great team."
The key word was competing.
"I thought we competed," Davis said. "Our effort was there. The score probably does not reflect that but I felt they had to work for their runs. They (Texas) did a good job."
Texas (47-11), the number two seed in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field, scored all 11 runs with two outs.
"We gave up 11 runs with two outs," Davis said. "That's tough to take. You make a play here or there and it could be a different story."
Texas scored four runs in the third inning on four hits, including an RBI triple and a two-run home run, to take a 4-0 lead. "They got some momentum going in the third inning," Davis said.
The Longhorns took a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning with a two-run home run.
Texas scored five more runs in the seventh on three hits, including a three-run home run, to take an 11-0 lead. "It got away from us in the seventh," Davis said.
"The three innings they scored were big innings, and that is what you try to prevent when you are playing big games," Davis said, "and we didn't do it."
Rider (36-22) managed just six hits off of Texas starter Brandon Workman, a second team All-American this year. Workman struck out seven and walked three. "Workman is a great pitcher," Davis said, "but I think we battled him and had some good at bats against him."
Junior A.J. Albee (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area), junior John Ralston (Annandale, Va./Paul VI), sophomore Brandon Cotten (Wiconisco, Pa./Williams Valley), junior Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock), senior Nick Wojnowski (Baldwin, Md./Calvert Hall) and freshman Ian Lindsay (Oaklyn/Haddon Township) collected hits for Rider.
"I thought we had decent at bats," Davis said. "We just couldn't put two, three hits together at a time. We had opportunities; we just didn't get the big hit."
Albee, who set Rider single-season records this year for runs scored (62), RBI (60) and assists (178), doubled in the fourth inning, his 84th hit of the season, four shy of the Bronc single-season record.
"They're a good ball team," Albee said of the Longhorns. "They played really good defense."
Workman is now 12-1 and is projected to be a first round pick in the upcoming major league draft. He was selected in the third round by the Phillies in 2007. Workman pitched a no-hitter in 2009 against Penn State. 13 current Longhorns have already been drafted, including five who were drafted in 2009.
"Their defense is very good," Davis said.
The loss snapped Rider's 10-game winning streak. Rider came into the tournament having won 16 of its last 18 games.
Junior Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston), the MAAC and New Jersey Pitcher of the Year, pitched six and two thirds innings, allowing eight hits and struck out four while walking three, and left the game trailing 6-0.
"I thought Mike Thomas threw excellent," Davis said. "He was working hard all night. I thought it was very classy of the crowd the way they treated Mike when he came off the field. They know the game and they could see the effort he put in. They knew he was competing well."
"The large crowd was new to all of us," Albee said, "but it was exciting. It was pretty cool to play in front of that many people."
"I thought it was a very professional crowd," Davis said. "They know the game."
Thomas set Rider single-season records this year for strikeouts (98) and innings pitched (104.1) The loss was the first for Thomas (9-3) since March 13.
Senior Ryan Miller (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) pitched a three-up, three-down eighth inning for Rider.
Rider will now play Saturday at 1pm (2pm Eastern) against the Regional's second seed, Rice (38-22), who lost 1-0 to the third seed, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (38-20) on Friday.
Notes
Texas has won six national championships, the last in 2005....Rider got the leadoff runner on base in each of the first three innings...each team had a runner on base in the first inning and both teams turned a double play in the first...centerfielder Brandon Cotten made yet another diving catch, in the second inning with a runner in scoring position...freshman third baseman Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) had all three assists in the fifth inning and had six assists for the game...Rice, Saturday's opponent, is ranked 17th in the nation and is in the NCAA tournament for the 16th straight year.
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