(05-05-2013 03:17 PM)smackdaddy Wrote: (05-05-2013 02:52 PM)Almadenmike Wrote: (05-05-2013 02:36 PM)MemOwl Wrote: So do we control our own destiny or do we need help to win cusa regular season?
It looks like the top 3 in conference are:
USM - 14-7
UCF - 11-7
Rice - 11-7
We have the tie-breaker over USM, but not UCF. So we'll need to win at least as many as the Eagles and one more than the Knights.
Remaining conference series:
Next weekend: Tulane@UCF; Memphis@Rice
After that: UCF@ECU; Marshall@Rice; USM@UH
We're Greenie, Pirate and Cougar fans, now!
Actually, the way that CUSA does it, we do now control our own destiny. I think we're all bummed that we lost one to UAB, but as far as achieving one of our main goals--winning a conference championship--we got exactly what we needed this weekend: one more USM loss than Rice loss. Equal records have always been ruled a co-championship; there is no tiebreaker except for seeding in the CUSA tournament. If UCF, Rice, and USM all win out, there will be 3 co-champs. Of course that's not what we hoped at season's start, but it's better than the alternative. So yes, we control our own destiny. 6 wins over Marshall and Memphis, and we're champs again. Get 'er done, Owls.
+1000...and the way the conference determines things, a one or two-way tie for the conference championship awards co-champions to all. The tie-breakers only come into play in seeding for the conference tournament. It was not a pretty weekend, but the overall results came just as we had hoped (albeit with a bit of a hit on RPI, but we had very little chance of hosting regardless).
I really wish Coach would stop with the pitching of Simms in middle relief on Friday. We need him at his strongest and freshest if he's going to be our regular weekend starter heading into the post-season. Let Fox and Lemond anchor the bullpen (and both can throw 2 - 3 times per week for a combined total of 5 - 6 innings each) and hope that at least one from amongst Ditman, Rutter or McCanna can show some consistency down the stretch and into the post-season. I'm assuming McDowell is going to be our #4 starter from here on out, but I could be wrong and it could yet be McCanna. Fox needs to stay in the pen to give us a second quality and reliable reliever.
Game ball #1: Blake Fox (W, 6-0, 4.1 IP, 2 singles, 0 runs, 2 BBs, 3 Ks)-- was no less than a game-saver, series-saver and, arguably, season-saver today. Picked up his second win of the week, and should have earned CUSA Pitcher of the week in the process, as all he did was toss 9.1 shutout innings.
Game ball #2: Michael Aquino (3-4, HR#6, BB, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI)-- in the middle of every rally we had today, and finally got the monkey off his back by hitting his first HR in over a month. Looks like his several games of struggling after foul tipping that ball off his foot (in the Tx Tech game) are over.
Game ball #3: Could have gone to any number of players-- including Christian Stringer (who though he only had one hit, that 2-run, 2-out double might very well have been the biggest hit in the game, as it gave Blake a couple insurance runs to work with), but I'm again giving it to Geoff Perrott (3-4, triple, RBI) for both his offensive and defensive (and game-calling) contributions....not to mention becoming an iron-man back there (in the mold of Lehmann and Zornes).
Other notes of interest...
- Rat has now hit 7 HR in his last 9 games, and has now hit 30 HRs in his Rice career. Not sure even Anthony Rendon ever had a hot streak like that (power-wise). Keep it up, big boy!
- We are now batting .280 as a team, with 3 batters hitting over .325 (Aquino, Hoelscher, Perrott) and only 2 regulars batting under .280 (with Byrd still having an OBP above .400). 6 regulars now have OBPs at or above .399 (Perrott, Hoelscher, Byrd, Rat, Stringer, Aquino).
We need to complete our season sweep over LaTech on Wednesday (our last road game of the regular season), take at least two of three from a very solid Memphis team next weekend, and then sweep Marshall to end the regular season. Do that and we should have our 18th consecutive conference championship, and an RPI in the high 20s heading into the conference tournament (where we could then assure ourselves another 40-win season). Let's achieve our goals! Go Owls!
