Well, that was a great deal of satisfaction taken with the Saturday night win over LaTech, both in the dugout and in the stands. Couple of us drove over from Houston on Friday after we won games 1 and 2; wanted to just support the team and watch some ball games. Not a huge contingent of Owleybirds on hand, but those who were got to see a lot of baseball on Saturday. First game, our old friend Tony Maners was behind the plate and he was terrible; his ball/strike calling was all over the place. Wasn’t Maners the guy who tossed Wayne in the second game of the Rice-Stanford championship series in ‘03? It’s clear the guy is one Blue that makes OG’s skin crawl.

The LaTech crowd was a piece of work; must say have never heard a crowd of 150 people make as much obnoxious racket. To describe, those of you who can remember Texas’ Wild Bunch during the70s and 80s, that’s about what it was like. They hooted and hollered every pitch, it seemed, like it was the third game of the CWS final in Omaha. Perhaps, to them, it actually was. The USM fans absolutely hate them and while hanging around the stadium or at the restaurant before and afterwards, we got a lot of friendly encouragement (among the over-50 set, anyway). Quip heard more than once: what in H are schools like ours (Rice and USM) doing in in a league like this?

We were on Row One at the home plate corner of the dugout for second game; and it was clear the guys had just had a belly-full of LaTech, and were animated and determined. The dugout-to-stands level of involvement with the game was as high as I’ve seen; as small as our group was, have to say that we were a true Twelfth Man (make that, I guess, “Tenth Man”) for the team in a couple of ways am not at liberty to discuss. Suffice it to say that we stood toe-to-toe with the “Deliverance” set from Ruston a more than couple of us have the strained vocal cords this morning to show for it.

Before the game, Dane was sitting at the top ledge, directly in front of us intensely quiet and deep in his thoughts; pretty sure he was told beforehand that was going to be our ultimate line of defense. At one point, he buried his bandaged and braced left hand (looked like a hyperextended thumb) under his left armpit as if to say, ‘if I don’t see it, it’s not there.’ And then of course he went out and pitched his heart out. Pretty damn good for a one-handed pitcher! In the ninth it was clear that, with what he had left in the tank, he was determined to just throw strikes and trust his fielders.

It’s obviously been a disappointing year for everybody from the OG on down, but somehow that win last night was a faith-restorer; sure hope we can pull off the win today and keep The Streak alive, but if not, can live with it – let’s just go out and start another.

(05-29-2016 07:57 AM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Well, that was a great deal of satisfaction taken with the Saturday night win over LaTech, both in the dugout and in the stands. Couple of us drove over from Houston on Friday after we won games 1 and 2; wanted to just support the team and watch some ball games. Not a huge contingent of Owleybirds on hand, but those who were got to see a lot of baseball on Saturday. First game, our old friend Tony Maners was behind the plate and he was terrible; his ball/strike calling was all over the place. Wasn’t Maners the guy who tossed Wayne in the second game of the Rice-Stanford championship series in ‘03? It’s clear the guy is one Blue that makes OG’s skin crawl.

The LaTech crowd was a piece of work; must say have never heard a crowd of 150 people make as much obnoxious racket. To describe, those of you who can remember Texas’ Wild Bunch during the70s and 80s, that’s about what it was like. They hooted and hollered every pitch, it seemed, like it was the third game of the CWS final in Omaha. Perhaps, to them, it actually was. The USM fans absolutely hate them and while hanging around the stadium or at the restaurant before and afterwards, we got a lot of friendly encouragement (among the over-50 set, anyway). Quip heard more than once: what in H are schools like ours (Rice and USM) doing in in a league like this?

We were on Row One at the home plate corner of the dugout for second game; and it was clear the guys had just had a belly-full of LaTech, and were animated and determined. The dugout-to-stands level of involvement with the game was as high as I’ve seen; as small as our group was, have to say that we were a true Twelfth Man (make that, I guess, “Tenth Man”) for the team in a couple of ways am not at liberty to discuss. Suffice it to say that we stood toe-to-toe with the “Deliverance” set from Ruston a more than couple of us have the strained vocal cords this morning to show for it.

Before the game, Dane was sitting at the top ledge, directly in front of us intensely quiet and deep in his thoughts; pretty sure he was told beforehand that was going to be our ultimate line of defense. At one point, he buried his bandaged and braced left hand (looked like a hyperextended thumb) under his left armpit as if to say, ‘if I don’t see it, it’s not there.’ And then of course he went out and pitched his heart out. Pretty damn good for a one-handed pitcher! In the ninth it was clear that, with what he had left in the tank, he was determined to just throw strikes and trust his fielders.

It’s obviously been a disappointing year for everybody from the OG on down, but somehow that win last night was a faith-restorer; sure hope we can pull off the win today and keep The Streak alive, but if not, can live with it – let’s just go out and start another.

Thanks for the write up! Honestly I can't stand any team from Louisiana. LSU/ULL/LaTech all have their fair share of the "deliverance" bunch as you say that seem to follow their team. It's incredibly satisfying to beat them at any sport.

I guess I'm ok with Tulane though... Never witnessed that from them.

Thanks for the insight, Paul. Wish I could be out there with you guys, but I'll save my voice for next weekend, whereever they should send us.

Not sure where our pitching is going to come from today. Sure wish Parthasarathy was ready as several had project several weeks back. Any one we run out there is going to be running on fumes, though Dup and Fox would normally be throwing their between start bullpen at this time so they may each be able to give us 2 - 3 innings max.

A prediction-- the key to our offense is going to be Ryan Chandler, who has been badly slumping the last month, with his AVG down to just over .270. If we are going to win today, I think he has to step up and be the tablesetter he is capable of being. Stop trying to hit the HR (way too many fly ball outs for him), and just try to use your speed to get on base.

Bring home a victory!

(05-29-2016 07:57 AM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  Well, that was a great deal of satisfaction taken with the Saturday night win over LaTech, both in the dugout and in the stands. Couple of us drove over from Houston on Friday after we won games 1 and 2; wanted to just support the team and watch some ball games. Not a huge contingent of Owleybirds on hand, but those who were got to see a lot of baseball on Saturday. First game, our old friend Tony Maners was behind the plate and he was terrible; his ball/strike calling was all over the place. Wasn’t Maners the guy who tossed Wayne in the second game of the Rice-Stanford championship series in ‘03? It’s clear the guy is one Blue that makes OG’s skin crawl.

The LaTech crowd was a piece of work; must say have never heard a crowd of 150 people make as much obnoxious racket. To describe, those of you who can remember Texas’ Wild Bunch during the70s and 80s, that’s about what it was like. They hooted and hollered every pitch, it seemed, like it was the third game of the CWS final in Omaha. Perhaps, to them, it actually was. The USM fans absolutely hate them and while hanging around the stadium or at the restaurant before and afterwards, we got a lot of friendly encouragement (among the over-50 set, anyway). Quip heard more than once: what in H are schools like ours (Rice and USM) doing in in a league like this?

We were on Row One at the home plate corner of the dugout for second game; and it was clear the guys had just had a belly-full of LaTech, and were animated and determined. The dugout-to-stands level of involvement with the game was as high as I’ve seen; as small as our group was, have to say that we were a true Twelfth Man (make that, I guess, “Tenth Man”) for the team in a couple of ways am not at liberty to discuss. Suffice it to say that we stood toe-to-toe with the “Deliverance” set from Ruston a more than couple of us have the strained vocal cords this morning to show for it.

Before the game, Dane was sitting at the top ledge, directly in front of us intensely quiet and deep in his thoughts; pretty sure he was told beforehand that was going to be our ultimate line of defense. At one point, he buried his bandaged and braced left hand (looked like a hyperextended thumb) under his left armpit as if to say, ‘if I don’t see it, it’s not there.’ And then of course he went out and pitched his heart out. Pretty damn good for a one-handed pitcher! In the ninth it was clear that, with what he had left in the tank, he was determined to just throw strikes and trust his fielders.

It’s obviously been a disappointing year for everybody from the OG on down, but somehow that win last night was a faith-restorer; sure hope we can pull off the win today and keep The Streak alive, but if not, can live with it – let’s just go out and start another.

Great report! Here's for another one tomorrow!

Go Owls!

(05-29-2016 08:06 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  ... Honestly I can't stand any team from Louisiana. LSU/ULL/LaTech all have their fair share of the "deliverance" bunch as you say that seem to follow their team. It's incredibly satisfying to beat them at any sport.

I guess I'm ok with Tulane though... Never witnessed that from them.

To me, the LSU fans are generally just a bunch of drunks who need to sober up. The ULL fans are a bunch of crazy cajuns who just laissez les bons temps roulez a bit too much. The La Tech roster is laden with Juco's, most all of the from Southern, rural locales. I suspect that their families and friends constitute the bulk of the traveling LaTech fandom. It was a pretty darn rough group, which seemed to lack the leavening of, "hey, we jus' tryin' ta have a good tam...' that their South Louisiana cohorts typically display But I've always been treated cordially when at Ruston. I do think their folks in the stands yesterday for the most part are up-river folks who’ve never been taught any table manners -- either in the stands or on the field..

(05-29-2016 07:57 AM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  ...as small as our group was, have to say that we were a true Twelfth Man (make that, I guess, “Tenth Man”) for the team.... Suffice it to say that we stood toe-to-toe with the “Deliverance” set from Ruston a more than couple of us have the strained vocal cords this morning to show for it.

Good for you! Rice needs more fans with that kind of spirit!

After watching this tournament, I am beginning to re-think the Rice hitting problem as being in large part park-related. Is Reckling just ridiculously hard to hit in? I am sure there must be studies on this.

I think it is a combination of Reckling being a pitcher's park, and us just hitting the ball better.

Hunter K has gotten his average over .200 for the year now! And he gets another game today and then however many post-season games we play. With his post-season success, maybe he approaches .300 before the season is over.

(05-29-2016 11:58 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  I think it is a combination of Reckling being a pitcher's park, and us just hitting the ball better.

And facing worse pitching. How can you tell the dancer from the dance? All of the above.

Great report. Thanks