Yeah. I don't like the "choke" reference either. Although we all get frustrated when it seems obvious what we need to do... And we fall all over ourselves NOT doing it.
Baseball has a way of magnifying individual errors out of proportion to the team effort.

Some real bright spots. Ryan Chandler had a great game. Didn't get a hit but looked great at the plate (mostly) and had a great saving catch in CF. Got on base. Scored our only run.
And Solecito looked good in his first collegiate outing. Had some control issues here and there but looked confident. He's got a great array of pitches. From the 75 mph to the 90 mph. And his delivery is so smooth. Expecting great things from him this season.

I always hold my breath this time of year, wondering about our talent level against teams like UT. And I know that it's dangerous to speculate after one game... BUT... We've got the talent this season. I think we are contenders.

Minor correction: Solectitto made several appearances for BC in 2013, before he transferred to a JuCo last spring.

Gray looked good at 3rd even with his playing mostly SS during the Spring. Strong very confident throws to first. He did however not make the play to his left that wound up being an infield hit. He will get more aggressive as he settles in, muck like Shane did.

Other positive were the aggressive leads at first. For too long we were passive at first putting zero pressure on the pitcher.

(02-14-2015 12:32 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Gray looked good at 3rd even with his playing mostly SS during the Spring. Strong very confident throws to first. He did however not make the play to his left that wound up being an infield hit. He will get more aggressive as he settles in, muck like Shane did.

Other positive were the aggressive leads at first. For too long we were passive at first putting zero pressure on the pitcher.

Agree totally. We actually had a stolen base in the FIRST inning last night. A sign of things to come. I hope.

If Rice never sac bunted, I would be ok with it. It has a time and place, but those instances are pretty limited, IMO, and our increased use of bunting the last few years hasn't really yielded much in terms of results. Auntie believes in small ball to the core of his being and it shows. Coach Graham doesn't have quite that commitment and it shows. I like Coach Graham's approach a million times more. I think Rice could hit and run a little more and steal a little more. But it is a pretty rare game where I think the team should be giving away outs by sac bunting, and certainly I don't like it before the late innings.

As illustrated in the decisive inning last night, bunting isn't always giving away outs in the college game,

(02-14-2015 11:08 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 10:58 AM)interwebowl Wrote:  I just think Mr. Wolf that you sure throw that choking word around easily. Game 1 of many and lots of bright spots. It seemed to me that ut pitched pretty good when we got men on. They hit their spots and made it tough on us. Save for some unfortunate bounces at second and one crazy throw this game could have ended 1-0 for the good guys. I guess I don't think that is choking.

Maybe choking isn't the right word, but it sure felt familiar. Timely hitting has happened the last few years, but it has seemed like the outlier rather than the norm. Was it the 2012 regional where we left like 20 men on base?

We will do well this season, and we may even win this series, but it is frustrating to regularly see so many men left stranded.

It felt familiar because we are a good team and good teams sometimes fall just short of doing enough to win, while still having several bright spots.

It was just game 1. We're on to Texas (again) and from the looks of game 2, we have 6 runs on the board!!

(02-14-2015 01:45 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 11:08 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 10:58 AM)interwebowl Wrote:  I just think Mr. Wolf that you sure throw that choking word around easily. Game 1 of many and lots of bright spots. It seemed to me that ut pitched pretty good when we got men on. They hit their spots and made it tough on us. Save for some unfortunate bounces at second and one crazy throw this game could have ended 1-0 for the good guys. I guess I don't think that is choking.

Maybe choking isn't the right word, but it sure felt familiar. Timely hitting has happened the last few years, but it has seemed like the outlier rather than the norm. Was it the 2012 regional where we left like 20 men on base?

We will do well this season, and we may even win this series, but it is frustrating to regularly see so many men left stranded.

It felt familiar because we are a good team and good teams sometimes fall just short of doing enough to win, while still having several bright spots.

It was just game 1. We're on to Texas (again) and from the looks of game 2, we have 6 runs on the board!!

No, it felt familiar because we have struggled with timely hitting and bunting for a number of years.

We are a good team (like you and I said) who often does enough to win, but it's been frustrating that, for a number of years, we seem to leave a lot of men on base consistently. But I am still hopeful and pretty sure that this is an outlier rather than the norm.

(02-14-2015 11:08 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 10:58 AM)interwebowl Wrote:  I just think Mr. Wolf that you sure throw that choking word around easily. Game 1 of many and lots of bright spots. It seemed to me that ut pitched pretty good when we got men on. They hit their spots and made it tough on us. Save for some unfortunate bounces at second and one crazy throw this game could have ended 1-0 for the good guys. I guess I don't think that is choking.

Maybe choking isn't the right word, but it sure felt familiar. Timely hitting has happened the last few years, but it has seemed like the outlier rather than the norm. Was it the 2012 regional where we left like 20 men on base?

We will do well this season, and we may even win this series, but it is frustrating to regularly see so many men left stranded.

We aren't just hitting the ball; we're crushing the ball. It's been quite some time since I've seen so many line shots off Rice bats in one weekend series (and that includes a number of outs). Really great clutch hitting with runners in scoring position in both games today. Our bunting is still embarrassing, but it would be very hard to critique our pitching and hitting.

(02-14-2015 11:40 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 11:08 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 10:58 AM)interwebowl Wrote:  I just think Mr. Wolf that you sure throw that choking word around easily. Game 1 of many and lots of bright spots. It seemed to me that ut pitched pretty good when we got men on. They hit their spots and made it tough on us. Save for some unfortunate bounces at second and one crazy throw this game could have ended 1-0 for the good guys. I guess I don't think that is choking.

Maybe choking isn't the right word, but it sure felt familiar. Timely hitting has happened the last few years, but it has seemed like the outlier rather than the norm. Was it the 2012 regional where we left like 20 men on base?

We will do well this season, and we may even win this series, but it is frustrating to regularly see so many men left stranded.

We aren't just hitting the ball; we're crushing the ball. It's been quite some time since I've seen so many line shots off Rice bats in one weekend series (and that includes a number of outs). Really great clutch hitting with runners in scoring position in both games today. Our bunting is still embarrassing, but it would be very hard to critique our pitching and hitting.

Spot on but I think the bunting will improve a lot over the season. We have at least 4 good bunters in the lineup, five when Warren plays. But we shall see if they can bunt when it's crucial.

(02-15-2015 11:23 AM)elf owl Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 11:40 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 11:08 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 10:58 AM)interwebowl Wrote:  I just think Mr. Wolf that you sure throw that choking word around easily. Game 1 of many and lots of bright spots. It seemed to me that ut pitched pretty good when we got men on. They hit their spots and made it tough on us. Save for some unfortunate bounces at second and one crazy throw this game could have ended 1-0 for the good guys. I guess I don't think that is choking.

Maybe choking isn't the right word, but it sure felt familiar. Timely hitting has happened the last few years, but it has seemed like the outlier rather than the norm. Was it the 2012 regional where we left like 20 men on base?

We will do well this season, and we may even win this series, but it is frustrating to regularly see so many men left stranded.

We aren't just hitting the ball; we're crushing the ball. It's been quite some time since I've seen so many line shots off Rice bats in one weekend series (and that includes a number of outs). Really great clutch hitting with runners in scoring position in both games today. Our bunting is still embarrassing, but it would be very hard to critique our pitching and hitting.

Spot on but I think the bunting will improve a lot over the season. We have at least 4 good bunters in the lineup, five when Warren plays. But we shall see if they can bunt when it's crucial.

Well, Byrd, Hunter and Chandler are supposedly 3 of our best bunters, and all three failed repeatedly so far this series.

I'm anxious to see how this season plays out. Right now SS, 2nd and CF are the only positions locked up. Will we platoon or will some guys step up and claim an everyday spot? JC and Hunter will probably share the catching duties as JC's hip isn't 100% yet and he can't catch every game. Both corner infield and outfield spots are up for grabs right now. We don't have any superstars, but we've got a lot of real good players. Every game we should have a pretty good lineup. We've made some errors so far but I think we'll end up with a good defense, and offensively not much power but more speed than usual and it looks like a bunch of good contact hitters.

(02-15-2015 11:57 AM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  I'm anxious to see how this season plays out. Right now SS, 2nd and CF are the only positions locked up. Will we platoon or will some guys step up and claim an everyday spot? JC and Hunter will probably share the catching duties as JC's hip isn't 100% yet and he can't catch every game. Both corner infield and outfield spots are up for grabs right now. We don't have any superstars, but we've got a lot of real good players. Every game we should have a pretty good lineup. We've made some errors so far but I think we'll end up with a good defense, and offensively not much power but more speed than usual and it looks like a bunch of good contact hitters.

Bob, I disagree about 1B, as Connor Teykl appears to have that locked up, and he'll be a fixture at #5 or #6 in the everyday lineup. Given how Kirby Taylor hits left-handed pitching, he will no doubt be no worse than a platoon player, and if he continues hitting the way he has this weekend he could be in the everyday lineup, with Gray and Lewis platooning at 3B. I think Warren pretty much has RF locked up, save for the infrequent times we face a particularly tough southpaw starting pitcher. Having said that, Wayne has already shown that he's comfortable totally turning around the lineup in-game when opposing pitching changes dictate...and it appears he's got the personnel and depth this year to do so effectively, without creating a vulnerability in the field or at the plate.

Chandler bunted an RBI in the seventh of the first game on Saturday.

(02-15-2015 11:52 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-15-2015 11:23 AM)elf owl Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 11:40 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 11:08 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-14-2015 10:58 AM)interwebowl Wrote:  I just think Mr. Wolf that you sure throw that choking word around easily. Game 1 of many and lots of bright spots. It seemed to me that ut pitched pretty good when we got men on. They hit their spots and made it tough on us. Save for some unfortunate bounces at second and one crazy throw this game could have ended 1-0 for the good guys. I guess I don't think that is choking.

Maybe choking isn't the right word, but it sure felt familiar. Timely hitting has happened the last few years, but it has seemed like the outlier rather than the norm. Was it the 2012 regional where we left like 20 men on base?

We will do well this season, and we may even win this series, but it is frustrating to regularly see so many men left stranded.

We aren't just hitting the ball; we're crushing the ball. It's been quite some time since I've seen so many line shots off Rice bats in one weekend series (and that includes a number of outs). Really great clutch hitting with runners in scoring position in both games today. Our bunting is still embarrassing, but it would be very hard to critique our pitching and hitting.

Spot on but I think the bunting will improve a lot over the season. We have at least 4 good bunters in the lineup, five when Warren plays. But we shall see if they can bunt when it's crucial.

Well, Byrd, Hunter and Chandler are supposedly 3 of our best bunters, and all three failed repeatedly so far this series.