(02-15-2014 10:26 AM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Here's my short cameraphone video of Ditman's final two strikes of Friday night's 10-3 victory ... followed by a pan around the Rice rooting section:

Go Owls!!

I'm impressed -- how did you get express written consent of the commissioner so quickly?

Kendall gave Matt Ditman some well-deserved love in his opening day wrapup column on Perfect Game...

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=9434

Quote:DID YOU SEE THIS?
How often does a reliever record 10 strikeouts in a performance? Well, Rice’s Matt Ditman accomplished that goal in his club’s dominating 10-3 win over Stanford. Rice starting pitcher Jordan Stephens only went five innings, and Ditman was phenomenal in relief, striking out 10, walking one and allowing just two hits in four shutout frames.

Ditman, by the way, begins the season in positive fashion. In 2013, the talented right-hander tallied a 5.50 ERA in just 18 innings of work. Oh yeah, he also only had 17 strikeouts overall last year. Safe to say he’ll eclipse that mark.

I wonder if Kendall has a clue that Matt came to Rice as a walk-on catcher, where he served as our bullpen catcher his Freshman year, and was only converted to pitcher last season.

Great story. Keep it up, Matt!

Shocking, I say!-- Brian Foley and College Baseball Daily named Rice it's "Most impressive team of the day" and had a intiguing photo of The OG atop in their Opening Day roundup column...

http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2014...t=FaceBook

(02-15-2014 10:26 AM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Here's my short cameraphone video of Ditman's final two strikes of Friday night's 10-3 victory ... followed by a pan around the Rice rooting section:





Go Owls!!

Thanks!

Tiki, wish you and Mrs. Tiki were here with us. Not quite the fan support we had in Raleigh, NC during the Supers last June, but a large enough and vocal enough contingent to get the low-keyed Stanford fans envious.

Here's one Cardinal fan's lament on their Scout message board...

Quote:It's only the first game but we got over matched by Rice in every department. They out hit us, out pitched us, out coached us and out cheered us. Defense was the worst part and after last year, I was hoping that would improve, maybe not.

The stands were empty and the Rice fans out yelled us all night long.

http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.db...=209407184

Stanford recap with clips of Ewing's hits and a few of the Ditman curves.

So who's starting for us on the mound the next two games? Fox and one of Duplantier/McDowell/McCanna? Has Coach G announced it?

(02-15-2014 12:32 PM)wheredidmypantsgo Wrote:  So who's starting for us on the mound the next two games? Fox and one of Duplantier/McDowell/McCanna? Has Coach G announced it?

Nope; nothing announced....but I'm guessing Fox today and McCanna tomorrow. The OG was raving about McCanna's progress the other day.

Ditman keeps pitching the way he did last night, and Zech may yet move to our Saturday starter spot.

On the pregame last night Wayne said McCanna would start Sunday. Listening to the broadcast it was interesting that when we could hear the crowd it was the Rice fans that were much louder.

Just saw the Pac 12 Network replay of the game. Impressed with our hitters. Williamson had a good at bat hitting it off the wall. He and Reeves and Ewing all showed good power. The freshman CFer looked polished. Ditman has a decent fastball that he keeps low in the zone and a devastating curve that he got all his K's with. I like him out of the bullpen to give us 2 potentially dominant stoppers, but only if we have strong starting pitching.

Need to see more of Byrd at SS and Reeves behind the plate, but defensively this looks like a good team, perhaps a great one. I have to see more of the starting pitching, that is a question mark for me beyond Stephens. The hitting was a pleasant surprise, let's see if it's for real.

(02-15-2014 10:57 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Tiki, wish you and Mrs. Tiki were here with us. Not quite the fan support we had in Raleigh, NC during the Supers last June, but a large enough and vocal enough contingent to get the low-keyed Stanford fans envious.

Here's one Cardinal fan's lament on their Scout message board...

Quote:It's only the first game but we got over matched by Rice in every department. They out hit us, out pitched us, out coached us and out cheered us. Defense was the worst part and after last year, I was hoping that would improve, maybe not.

The stands were empty and the Rice fans out yelled us all night long.

At Stanford, baseball has to compete with a significant number of other events (athletic and otherwise) as well as the attractions offered in paradise. Not surprising that the game did not draw that much of a crowd.

It's nice to be on the positive side of that dynamic for a change.

What an impressive start - - Go Owls!