Ball game! 9- 1....and sole possession of first place in the conference race. Nice all-around effort, with the defense only faltering a bit in the 9th, and even that was on a debatable call at 1B.
Game Ball #1: Jon Duplantier (W, 7-4, 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 BBs, 11 Ks) shut down FAU's powerful offense. Struggled a bit with his control, and threw a ton of pitches, but had the poise to always get that big out.
Game Ball #2: Tristan Gray (2-4, HBP, HR#2, run, 5 RBIs)-- continued to be a man on fire at the plate-- hitting both right-handed pitchers and southpaws alike. Really coming into his own and living up to his recruitment hype.
Game Ball #3: Defense-- despite the two "errors" in the 9th after the game was already all but over, the D saved the day with two big double plays to help get us out of jams, as well as several other nice defensive plays throughout.
One down, five more conference wins to go for the outright title. No let up tomorrow...let's get FAU when their down. Senior day tomorrow with Blake Fox fittingly taking the mound for his final regular season start after walking the aisle in the morning. Austin Solecitto will also be taking the walk. 4-year starter, Connor Teykl, has but 3 hours remaining for his degree. 3-year starter, Hunter Kopycinski, and 2-year starter, Grayson Lewis, are in a similar situation I believe. Hats off to them all. Let's honor them tomorrow with a second consecutive decisive win. Go Owls!
For all of his faults on the mound, congrats to Solecitto for graduating in four years given his two transfers (BC->JUCO->Rice) with a high GPA in economics. Not easy!
(05-13-2016 11:06 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote: Ball game! 9- 1....and sole possession of first place in the conference race. Nice all-around effort, with the defense only faltering a bit in the 9th, and even that was on a debatable call at 1B.
Game Ball #1: Jon Duplantier (W, 7-4, 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 BBs, 11 Ks) shut down FAU's powerful offense. Struggled a bit with his control, and threw a ton of pitches, but had the poise to always get that big out.
Game Ball #2: Tristan Gray (2-4, HBP, HR#2, run, 5 RBIs)-- continued to be a man on fire at the plate-- hitting both right-handed pitchers and southpaws alike. Really coming into his own and living up to his recruitment hype.
Game Ball #3: Defense-- despite the two "errors" in the 9th after the game was already all but over, the D saved the day with two big double plays to help get us out of jams, as well as several other nice defensive plays throughout.
One down, five more conference wins to go for the outright title. No let up tomorrow...let's get FAU when their down. Senior day tomorrow with Blake Fox fittingly taking the mound for his final regular season start after walking the aisle in the morning. Austin Solecitto will also be taking the walk. 4-year starter, Connor Teykl, has but 3 hours remaining for his degree. 3-year starter, Hunter Kopycinski, and 2-year starter, Grayson Lewis, are in a similar situation I believe. Hats off to them all. Let's honor them tomorrow with a second consecutive decisive win. Go Owls!
I think you meant final HOME regular season start for Blake tomorrow.
(05-13-2016 11:06 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote: Ball game! 9- 1....and sole possession of first place in the conference race. Nice all-around effort, with the defense only faltering a bit in the 9th, and even that was on a debatable call at 1B.
Game Ball #1: Jon Duplantier (W, 7-4, 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 BBs, 11 Ks) shut down FAU's powerful offense. Struggled a bit with his control, and threw a ton of pitches, but had the poise to always get that big out.
Game Ball #2: Tristan Gray (2-4, HBP, HR#2, run, 5 RBIs)-- continued to be a man on fire at the plate-- hitting both right-handed pitchers and southpaws alike. Really coming into his own and living up to his recruitment hype.
Game Ball #3: Defense-- despite the two "errors" in the 9th after the game was already all but over, the D saved the day with two big double plays to help get us out of jams, as well as several other nice defensive plays throughout.
One down, five more conference wins to go for the outright title. No let up tomorrow...let's get FAU when their down. Senior day tomorrow with Blake Fox fittingly taking the mound for his final regular season start after walking the aisle in the morning. Austin Solecitto will also be taking the walk. 4-year starter, Connor Teykl, has but 3 hours remaining for his degree. 3-year starter, Hunter Kopycinski, and 2-year starter, Grayson Lewis, are in a similar situation I believe. Hats off to them all. Let's honor them tomorrow with a second consecutive decisive win. Go Owls!
I think you meant final HOME regular season start for Blake tomorrow.
Nice writeup by Kendall in D1Baseball's "10 Thoughts" column...
Quote:5. Rice cruises past Florida Atlantic, leads Conference USA
Rice University logoRice has one of the most impressive feats in college athletics with its regular season conference title streak, and it got one step closer to adding another to the list on Friday night with a dominant 9-1 win over FAU, all while Southern Mississippi dropped a tough bout at home to red-hot Louisiana Tech.
For the Owls, Friday’s win over FAU was a total team effort. Rice has been criticized in the past for not being overly potent from an offensive standpoint. However, the offense was in a groove on Friday with young talent Tristan Gray having a huge day. Gray started the game on a positive note with a two-RBI single in the first inning. He also smacked a two-run homer in the third to give Rice total control. Gray finished the night with a career-high five RBIs, while the top of the Rice lineup had a huge night at the plate, the top four hitters tallying eight hits and knocking in eight of their nine runs.
While Gray led the offensive charge, Rice junior righthander Jon Duplantier put together another impressive start. Duplantier had a few command issues late in his start, but was very good for the most part. He sat down FAU in order the first two innings and consistently sat in the 92-93 mph range with his fastball, while also touching 94 on at least five occasions. Duplantier also threw his sharp curveball in the 81-83 mph range, and overall, threw with slightly more velocity than he did when we saw him a few weeks ago at Southern Miss.
Jon Duplantier put together a strong showing against FAU. (Kendall Rogers)
“I think we’ve got a pretty good team right now and he’s [Duplantier] has to be the guy if we’re going to go anywhere,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said. “I think his overall stuff is pretty unquestioned, but sometimes his command gets a little out of sorts, and a lot of that just goes back to basically having to take a season off. He’s had great control at times this season, and he’ll just continue get better as he matures.
“He will throw that curveball at anytime and he didn’t use his changeup tonight,” he continued. “It’s a pretty good changeup, too, but with us struggling late in the game to throw strikes, we didn’t use it. But we want to use it more moving forward.”
Duplantier finished the night with 11 strikeouts and four walks, while also allowing a run on four hits in 6.2 innings. It was the sixth time in 12 starts that Duplantier has recorded double digit strikeouts. Meanwhile, FAU righthander David McKay allowed four runs on five hits in 5.1 innings, but showed quality stuff at times. He sat anywhere from 89-90, and up to 91 and 92 mph with his fastball, while also showing good feel for a low 80s changeup and a mid-to-upper 70s curveball that had some real depth.
While Rice made a statement in the series opener, it will be very interesting to see what FAU brings to the diamond in Game Two on Saturday, a game that we’ll once again be at.
...who is averaging just 0.5 ks per inning pitched, but has impeccable control. Here's hoping our guys have learned enough to stay back on the pitches and go the opposite way, instead of trying to pull and hitting ground ball after ground ball.
BTW, it was great seeing Rice - FAU on TV last night. The color commentator was a Rice baseball player from the 80's. Didn't catch his name. Can someone post it?
Pat pitched for us, transferred to Baylor, and wound up pitching for the Phillies.
We had some good teams, and good pitching, in that era. Although I properly venerate Wayne, our '84 team went 41-14, had the best (or close) team ERA in the nation,... and didn't go to a regional. Not that I am still bitter about that, three decades later.
(05-14-2016 11:41 AM)sts60 Wrote: Pat pitched for us, transferred to Baylor, and wound up pitching for the Phillies.
We had some good teams, and good pitching, in that era. Although I properly venerate Wayne, our '84 team went 41-14, had the best (or close) team ERA in the nation,... and didn't go to a regional. Not that I am still bitter about that, three decades later.
Great memories of that '84 team - had two good friends on it. Wasn't that the one that started the season 17-0 (first loss to New York Tech, of all teams....)?
(This post was last modified: 05-14-2016 12:19 PM by TJS_NYC.)
(05-14-2016 11:41 AM)sts60 Wrote: Pat pitched for us, transferred to Baylor, and wound up pitching for the Phillies.
We had some good teams, and good pitching, in that era. Although I properly venerate Wayne, our '84 team went 41-14, had the best (or close) team ERA in the nation,... and didn't go to a regional. Not that I am still bitter about that, three decades later.
That season was my senior year in high school. I had already committed to attend Rice, and I was a big college baseball fan, so I followed the team (as best as one could follow college baseball back then) with interest. Hard to believe they did not get a tournament spot.
