(05-28-2013 08:48 PM)owlsfan Wrote:  Doesn't Oregon play on a no dirt, all astro-turf field? No lip between where grass ends and dirt begins; no rough dirt; I bet they have less errors per game for opponents, too; it is an all-true bounce surface.

45 E's for O
Opponents 85 E's

Perhaps it's home team advantage if you are used to grass.

(05-28-2013 08:55 PM)grol Wrote:  

(05-28-2013 08:39 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  ....Oregon and Rice have the identical fielding percentage (.973)...

Oregon FD% .981
DP's turned 45
Rice FD% .973
DP's turned 67
San Fran FD% .973
DP's turned 37

Walt, you are mixing up San Fran's stats with Oregon's.

Yup, I already corrected my error above....but the remainder of my post is accurate. We turned 50% more double plays (despite having pitchers who strikeout more batters), have more OF assists, and throw out a much higher percentage of attempted basestealers.

Kendall's Eugene Regional preview
http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=8526

News article from the Oregonian

Looking ahead to a meet-up with OSU in Omaha.

Talk about lack of respect-- kendall rates the Eugene regional as one of his five "easiest"...

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=8522

Quote:5. Eugene: The Ducks are very solid at home, and get a favorable set of teams at P.K Park this weekend. Rice is playing a solid brand of baseball, winning last week's Conference USA tournament, but still doesn't possess an offensive lineup that will overwhelm you. However, do keep an eye on the Rice pitching staff, which has a trio of solid starting pitchers, and a stud reliever in Zech Lemond. Meanwhile, San Francisco is a solid club, but isn't expected to pose a significant threat to the host Ducks.

Quote:5. Rice: Remember the perennial power Owls? The Owls haven't done enough to warrant a ton of headliners this spring, but they've played well the past couple of weeks, storming through the Conference USA tournament on the way to the C-USA automatic berth into the postseason. Rice has a solid weekend rotation with John Simms, Jordan Stephens and Austin Kubitza leading the way, while reliever Zech Lemond is a power arm that I absolutely love going into the postseason.

Interesting that he knocks our offense when it is superior to Oregon's offense...and we have the better ERA, as well (albeit against a much weaker SoS). With the pitching that both Rice and S.F. brings to the table, and with the Duck's less than impressive offense (.260/.345/.358), I'm not sure how anyone can call this regional "easy" for any of the top 3 seeds. I also think it's a bit odd that he refers to our weekend rotation as simply "solid". He raves about other weekend rotations that have far inferior across-the-board stats than our trio. Go figure.

(05-29-2013 10:22 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Talk about lack of respect-- kendall rates the Eugene regional as one of his five "easiest"...

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=8522

Quote:5. Eugene: The Ducks are very solid at home, and get a favorable set of teams at P.K Park this weekend. Rice is playing a solid brand of baseball, winning last week's Conference USA tournament, but still doesn't possess an offensive lineup that will overwhelm you. However, do keep an eye on the Rice pitching staff, which has a trio of solid starting pitchers, and a stud reliever in Zech Lemond. Meanwhile, San Francisco is a solid club, but isn't expected to pose a significant threat to the host Ducks.

Interesting that he knocks our offense when it is superior to Oregon's offense...and we have the better ERA, as well (albeit against a much weaker SoS). With the pitching that both Rice and S.F. brings to the table, and with the Duck's less than impressive offense (.260/.345/.358), I'm not sure how anyone can call this regional "easy" for any of the top 3 seeds.

Eh. He can knock it all he wants. All that matters at the end of the day is getting the W.

(05-29-2013 10:22 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Talk about lack of respect-- kendall rates the Eugene regional as one of his five "easiest"...

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=8522

I think that's a fair assessment. You're talking about three other regional teams that have a grand total of 11 regional wins in their respective baseball history and a losing record to boot.

The only thing I'd maybe quibble about is it seems our region and the Corvallis region are pretty similar so he could have put either 5/6 or 6/5.

(05-29-2013 10:33 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(05-29-2013 10:22 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Talk about lack of respect-- kendall rates the Eugene regional as one of his five "easiest"...

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=8522

I think that's a fair assessment. You're talking about three other regional teams that have a grand total of 11 regional wins in their respective baseball history and a losing record to boot.

The only thing I'd maybe quibble about is it seems our region and the Corvallis region are pretty similar so he could have put either 5/6 or 6/5.

??? How many regional wins does Oregon have in their history...and last year, as the #5 national seed, they lost their home regional to Kent State. Again, past year's post-season performane is totally irrelevant. Oregon is a sub-par offensive team (much worse than Rice) that relies exclusively on small ball, pitching and defense. To knock our offense when it is the best amongst the top 3 seeds in our regional is not what I'd call a "fair assessment".

Oregon has 9, USF has 2. South Dakota State has never been to a regional before. We have 74 regional wins, which ranks 14th among this year's field of 64.

I'm saying it's fair to say our regional is one of the five easiest. I'm not talking about the specific comment on Rice. You're knocking Oregon (while once again getting your facts wrong - Oregon lost to Kent State in the supers, not the regionals), but at the same time, you don't think it's fair to label this an easy region?

Also note that Kendall refers to as us as one of the five hottest teams headed into the tournament - which logically implies that he's referring to USF and SD State as the "easy" part of the region.

What does it matter? Let's just take care of our business and win this damn thing.

(05-29-2013 11:08 AM)Orange County Owl Wrote:  Also note that Kendall refers to as us as one of the five hottest teams headed into the tournament - which logically implies that he's referring to USF and SD State as the "easy" part of the region.

SF is far from an "easy" #3 seed, with a #32 ISR, #50 RPI and #44 SoS, combined with a respectable 4-6 record vs. Top 50. They also have a very solid pitching staff, bolstered by one of the better bullpen in the nation. Again, Kendall specifically called out our offense in his preview, which is not exactly fair given we have a much better offense than Oregon and a slightly better offense than S.F..

According to Eric and Roons on the baldcast:

SanFran is a very tough school for recruiting. Very expensive private school ($62K was mentioned) in a very expensive city. Facilities aren't good. Eric described the ballpark as being squeezed in with residences down the foul lines.

Yet the coaches there have done a great job. The team has quality wins -- obviously.

OT: USF has one thing in common with Rice. After a promising 2011-12 basketball season they had 6 players transfer including some starters. Unlike Rice in 2012-13 they managed nearly a 0.500 record and a 144 Sagarin ranking (vs. 322 for Rice.)

(05-29-2013 09:48 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  OT: USF has one thing in common with Rice. After a promising 2011-12 basketball season they had 6 players transfer including some starters. Unlike Rice in 2012-13 they managed nearly a 0.500 record and a 144 Sagarin ranking (vs. 322 for Rice.)

Well, it's easier to recruit when you're a historic basketball school.

Bill Russell went there IIRC.

He's one of the 5 best centers in the NBA right now, . . . . . and he's in his upper-70's and has been retired for over 40 years.

Oregon rolling the dice and pitching their Sunday starter, Jake Reed, vs. South Dakota State in their opener on Friday-- despite pitching on only 5 days rest and struggling his past two outings. Pretty big gamble since South Dakota State does have a quality Friday night starter and closer-- both with ERAs under 2.00, and averaging better than a strikeout per IP.

(05-29-2013 11:27 PM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(05-29-2013 09:48 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  OT: USF has one thing in common with Rice. After a promising 2011-12 basketball season they had 6 players transfer including some starters. Unlike Rice in 2012-13 they managed nearly a 0.500 record and a 144 Sagarin ranking (vs. 322 for Rice.)

Well, it's easier to recruit when you're a historic basketball school.

Bill Russell went there IIRC.

He's one of the 5 best centers in the NBA right now, . . . . . and he's in his upper-70's and has been retired for over 40 years.

Russell and KC Jones led the Dons to back-to-back National Championships in the 50s.

riceowls.com video from PK Park with the Owls conducting their first workout yesterday:

(05-29-2013 10:47 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  ... last year, as the #5 national seed, they lost their home regional to Kent State.

Close, but not exactly correct, Walt. Oregon swept it's regional last year, beating CSU-Fullerton and Austin Peay.

It was at its home Super Regional that it fell to Kent State.

Aaron Fitt and John Manuel of Baseball America did a podcast preview of each of the regionals. The Eugene regional appears in Part I at the 30:21 mark...,

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/r...arts-i-ii/

In their Rice review, Manuel starts off very condescending and implies we've had a really down year, and our pitching staff is only so-so...but Fitt corrects him a bit. I mean I know AK has had control issues, particularly in the middle of the season, but how can one badmouth a guy with his across-the-board stats (e.g., 2.03 ERA, .196 BAA, and 2nd in the country in strikeouts per 9 IP)? Then Manuel proceeds to rave up S.F.'s Balog-- he with the 3.69 ERA, .278 BAA and just 5 Ks/game). Go figure.