Longhorns fall to Oral Roberts

[ORUalum]

Longhorns fall to Oral Roberts

By Michael Sherfield

AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT

(excerpt)

There was a simple, yet necessary, ingredient missing from No. 7 Texas' performance Tuesday night as lowly Oral Roberts visited: competitiveness.

"Compete or lose," said a visibly irate head coach Augie Garrido after the Longhorns seemed to choose the later, falling 3-2 to the Golden Eagles at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in one of their worst performances of the season.

"We played just awful," said junior catcher Cameron Rupp.

"It's the third time we've played (ORU) since I've been here. Every time we play them, we have no competitiveness, we've come out flat."

http://www.statesman.com/sports/longhor ... 89691.html

[theeagleman5]

LOWLY Oral Roberts???......

[tmh8286]

That was certainly a slap at a team that has been very competitive against Texas on their home field year after year, and it's taken some creative officiating to get Texas some of those wins. The man behind the plate last night got pretty creative himself, but the Longhorns didn't capitalize on the help he was offering.

Before labeling ORU as "lowly", I've got an idea - let's see the Longhorns play a series at OUR field. It's not hard to get an inflated opinion of yourself when you never have to leave the cushy confines of your home field and sympathetic crowd.

Truth is, though, this was written by some lowly sports reporter, working for some lowly newspaper in Austin. Really nothing to get upset about.

[ORUTex]

That guy is clueless. Also, that's just horrible journalism - a throwaway adjective, stated like a fact, but with no basis. Reminds me why I seldom read the Statesman. Nevertheless, I posted a comment on the article to try to straighten him out a little. We'll see if he responds.

[ORUTex]

There's a much better story in the UT student paper, the Daily Texan. It has the same negative quotes from UT players and coaches about their performance, but also includes actual details about the game and a quote from Jared Schlehuber. And no lazy insults of ORU.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/horns-struggle-mid-week-baseball-game

[Cletus]

Yea, where the humble line?

"you've got to give them credit, they played better than us today"

I could take that better than "lazy" and "lowlY"

Either bad journalism, arrogant coaching or both!

[CC822]

Here are some highlights from the game.

http://okblitz.com/Article.aspx?id=19127

[Old Titan]

That was certainly a slap at a team that has been very competitive against Texas on their home field year after year, and it's taken some creative officiating to get Texas some of those wins. The man behind the plate last night got pretty creative himself, but the Longhorns didn't capitalize on the help he was offering.

Before labeling ORU as "lowly", I've got an idea - let's see the Longhorns play a series at OUR field. It's not hard to get an inflated opinion of yourself when you never have to leave the cushy confines of your home field and sympathetic crowd.

Truth is, though, this was written by some lowly sports reporter, working for some lowly newspaper in Austin. Really nothing to get upset about.

Fat chance the Longhorns would ever lower themselves to play in Tulsa: last time that happened was the last time we beat them - 1983, when we swept them in a 2-game, late-season series.

ORU had never won before in Austin - just a great win.

Any questions now whether this program still plays to beat the big boys?

[tmh8286]

Here are some highlights from the game.

http://okblitz.com/Article.aspx?id=19127

Thanks for the clips, CC822. Near the beginning was a play that caught my attention during the game - Joey Winiecki is coming in to score, and the Longhorn catcher is guarding the plate. Winiecki gives him a slight shove as he comes across. I thought that was a bit of passive-aggression on the part of the catcher, getting in the way just a bit to establish dominance, even when he didn't have a play. Boldness, intimidation, holding his ground, but Joey would have none of it. Glad to have a chance to see that again.

[Old Titan]

That "writer" for the Austin American-Statesman article was actually a UT student intern named Michael Sherfield.

What else can we expect from a child who wasn't even born the last time we beat his beloved Longhorns, and who thinks "Wikipedia" is the only research source he needs to use?

[Bogus Smith]

Fat chance the Longhorns would ever lower themselves to play in Tulsa: last time that happened was the last time we beat them - 1983, when we swept them in a 2-game, late-season series.

It will be interesting to see if the Eagles are invited back to Austin for anything other than a NCAA Regional game. Hopefully Auggie and Rob have a good enough relationship to continue the series. Ever wonder if Rob has asked Auggie for a home-and-home series and Auggie tells Rob "not until you beat us here!"?

[theeagleman5]

Texas should be playing us every year....they have no balls....and TheEagleman isn't talking horsehide....no reason why they can't play us a couple games down there in return for a game or two up here....it's easy to win when you never leave the comfy confines of Austin....come on, Longhorns.....step up to the plate for once.....

[ORUalum]

in the last four years they have two non-conf trips out of the state (Long Beach State in '07 and Stanford in '09) i don't look for them to visit JL Johnson anytime soon.

http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-bas ... sched.html

[89rabbit]

Congrats on another big win.

[tmh8286]

Congrats on another big win.

Thanks, once again, 89rabbit, for your kind words, and your sportsmanship!!

[ORUTex]

I would be extremely surprised if we could get the Horns to come to Tulsa. They have a very long history of playing nearly all their non-conference games at home. They'll go to Houston once in a while, and the very occasional California trip, but other than that, they make everyone come here, and they never seem to have any trouble filling up their schedule.

[tmh8286]

My suggestion that the Longhorns come to Tulsa was strictly tongue in cheek. As is the case in basketball, moneyed programs have little need for leaving the coziness of their home venue during the non-conference portion of the season. Their athletes get to spend nights in their own beds, their fans get to enjoy a maximum number of games, and the home field advantage makes winning all the easier.

The point I was making was this - if the last fifteen games had been played in Tulsa, what are the chances that Texas would have won all fifteen? Somewhere between slim and none!! It's a simple fact that it's just harder to win on the road.

So, before referring to ORU as "lowly", whether because of our 0-15 record against Texas or because of our 10-10 record this season against some of the premier programs in the country, nearly all on the road, get Texas out of the friendly confines of Disch-Falk Field and on the road against the same teams and see how they fare. Or better yet, send them to Tulsa for a series against the lowly Golden Eagles.

[89rabbit]

Thanks, once again, 89rabbit, for your kind words, and your sportsmanship!!

It is always nice when someone from the Summit knocks off one of the big boys (I guess that is just you and us ). This year's ORU vs. SDSU match up should be lots of fun. I am glad you guys have to come up to our place during the reg. season.