The Rice Owls (6-17) host the Florida International Panthers (12-9) for what hopes to be a turn around for a slow start in both the season and conference play. Looks to be a 50% chance of rain around first pitch, a mild 76 degrees, and projected attendance of 150 (including players).

Rice boasts a home field record of (4-8) while FIU is only (3-0) away.

Probable starters:
Rice-Philip Humber (6-0, 0.00 ERA, 54 IP, 162 Strikeouts) most impressive stat: Only 2 free passes all season.
FIU- Pedro Martinez (5-1, 0.34 ERA, 49 IP, 139 Strikeouts) most impressive stat: Threw Don Zimmer to ground and does not plan on stopping there.

Other players to watch:
Rice- Wayne Graham- Hasn't seen much action yet this season, but don't be surprised to see him enter the lineup in any position at any point of the game.
FIU- Pedro Serrano- Plans to sacrifice a chicken before the game, drops hella bombs.

Go Owls.

For those who attend the Parents Tailgate, due to strong chance of rain todaty, it has been rescheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:00 noon.

(03-24-2017 08:43 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  For those who attend the Parents Tailgate, due to strong chance of rain todaty, it has been rescheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:00 noon.

Saw that in RUBPA, thanks. Can't wait to see everyone.

Any word on the rotation this weekend?

(03-24-2017 08:50 AM)RiceOwl Wrote:  Any word on the rotation this weekend?

Canterino-Esquivel-Myers

I'm really, REALLY hoping the pitching staff can get it together (well, the bullpen actually....poor Canterino has pitched his butt off).....

The inability to throw strikes is hurting my soul.

I wonder what conference W/L record "guarantees" a team to make the tournament? Obviously it changes every year, but historically I bet it is probably about the same more often than not.

(No, I did not want to go look up historical CUSA standings...)

(03-24-2017 10:18 AM)RiceOwl Wrote:  I wonder what conference W/L record "guarantees" a team to make the tournament? Obviously it changes every year, but historically I bet it is probably about the same more often than not.

(No, I did not want to go look up historical CUSA standings...)

That is going to be difficult to judge with the change in conference alignment. It is something I would like to see as well though. Even though we were swept we still control our own destiny for the post season.

(03-24-2017 10:18 AM)RiceOwl Wrote:  I wonder what conference W/L record "guarantees" a team to make the tournament? Obviously it changes every year, but historically I bet it is probably about the same more often than not.

(No, I did not want to go look up historical CUSA standings...)

It wasn't that hard (starting with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Confe...Tournament ):

2016 12-17 Charlotte made it, 12-18 UAB did not.
2015 13-17 FIU made it (and won the whole thing), 12-18 Marshall did not.
2014 3 teams were tied at 16-14 to make it, 14-16 FAU did not.
2013 (only 9 teams in league) 7-17 UAB made it, 6-18 Marshall did not.

And that's probably a good cutoff, as it was 9 teams in 2012, too.

So where does that leave Rice - 12 to 14 wins needed? Let's say 13 wins, which means Rice needs to go 13-14 in the conference the rest of the way just to get into the conference tournament (assuming no rainouts). Is this a .500 team against CUSA opponents? I guess we're about to find out.

(03-24-2017 11:24 AM)gsloth Wrote:  It wasn't that hard (starting with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Confe...Tournament ):

2016 12-17 Charlotte made it, 12-18 UAB did not.
2015 13-17 FIU made it (and won the whole thing), 12-18 Marshall did not.
2014 3 teams were tied at 16-14 to make it, 14-16 FAU did not.
2013 (only 9 teams in league) 7-17 UAB made it, 6-18 Marshall did not.

And that's probably a good cutoff, as it was 9 teams in 2012, too.

So where does that leave Rice - 12 to 14 wins needed? Let's say 13 wins, which means Rice needs to go 13-14 in the conference the rest of the way just to get into the conference tournament (assuming no rainouts). Is this a .500 team against CUSA opponents? I guess we're about to find out.

Thanks for providing this info.

.500 ball should be manageable in CUSA.

Hoping this weekend is the weekend we turn it around (stop me if you've heard that before). FIU's record is decent, but they have no big wins. They have defeated Miami once but Miami is have a down year.

(03-24-2017 11:46 AM)RiceOwl Wrote:  

(03-24-2017 11:24 AM)gsloth Wrote:  It wasn't that hard (starting with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Confe...Tournament ):

2016 12-17 Charlotte made it, 12-18 UAB did not.
2015 13-17 FIU made it (and won the whole thing), 12-18 Marshall did not.
2014 3 teams were tied at 16-14 to make it, 14-16 FAU did not.
2013 (only 9 teams in league) 7-17 UAB made it, 6-18 Marshall did not.

And that's probably a good cutoff, as it was 9 teams in 2012, too.

So where does that leave Rice - 12 to 14 wins needed? Let's say 13 wins, which means Rice needs to go 13-14 in the conference the rest of the way just to get into the conference tournament (assuming no rainouts). Is this a .500 team against CUSA opponents? I guess we're about to find out.

Thanks for providing this info.

.500 ball should be manageable in CUSA.

I would like to think that we would be better than that. I hope the players and coaches are playing to win conference outright rather than hoping to make it to the tournament and see what happens.

It looks like there is going to be a double header tomorrow (Friday game pushed back to Saturday).

game tonight postponed due to weather concerns (there are possible storms later tonight). DH tomorrow now at 1 pm. The weather doesn't look awful (there is a PGA event today in Austin and I don't think they've even had a weather delay) but the wind is supposed to pick up tonight even if there isn't much rain. Since the weekend is supposed to be perfect, it's probably a good decision.

We seem to have had a lot of weekend rain in Houston this spring during the baseball games.

I much rather they make that call now than have Canterino pitch a couple of innings tonight and then depend on the Owl bullpen in a re-start on Saturday.

(03-24-2017 02:02 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  game tonight postponed due to weather concerns (there are possible storms later tonight). DH tomorrow now at 1 pm. The weather doesn't look awful (there is a PGA event today in Austin and I don't think they've even had a weather delay) but the wind is supposed to pick up tonight even if there isn't much rain. Since the weekend is supposed to be perfect, it's probably a good decision.

We seem to have had a lot of weekend rain in Houston this spring during the baseball games.

Will the tailgate still start two hours before the first game's start? (That is at 11 a.m., up from the previously scheduled Noon tailgate start?)

(03-24-2017 02:04 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  I much rather they make that call now than have Canterino pitch a couple of innings tonight and then depend on the Owl bullpen in a re-start on Saturday.

THIS x 17,000,000

(03-24-2017 09:11 AM)Owl1998 Wrote:  I'm really, REALLY hoping the pitching staff can get it together (well, the bullpen actually....poor Canterino has pitched his butt off).....

The inability to throw strikes is hurting my soul.

Esquivel and Myers have done their jobs the past several weeks. It's the bullpen that's killed us.

(03-24-2017 02:07 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-24-2017 02:02 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  game tonight postponed due to weather concerns (there are possible storms later tonight). DH tomorrow now at 1 pm. The weather doesn't look awful (there is a PGA event today in Austin and I don't think they've even had a weather delay) but the wind is supposed to pick up tonight even if there isn't much rain. Since the weekend is supposed to be perfect, it's probably a good decision.

We seem to have had a lot of weekend rain in Houston this spring during the baseball games.

Will the tailgate still start two hours before the first game's start? (That is at 11 a.m., up from the previously scheduled Noon tailgate start?)

I doubt we'll know until Alan's update comes out in the morning, but the Pera announcement event is at 11:00am in Tudor.

Tailgate starts at 11:30am, meaning everyone can first go to Tudor for the Pera announcement (and team celebration) at 11:00am.

Quote:RICE UPDATE, MARCH 24, 2017 –
NEW WEEKEND BASEBALL SCHEDULE

RICE BASEBALL SERIES VS FIU, THIS WEEKEND:
Due to local inclement weather conditions, there is a new weekend baseball schedule at Reckling Park. The game originally scheduled for 6:30 pm today will now be played at 1 pm tomorrow, as the first game of a doubleheader. Tomorrow’s game, originally scheduled for 2 pm, will begin 45 minutes following the conclusion of the 1 pm game.

Your ticket for today’s originally scheduled game should be used at the 1 pm game tomorrow and your ticket for tomorrow’s game at 2 pm should be used for the second game.

The Rice Fans/Parents Tailgate will now take place 11:30 am–12:30 pm tomorrow.

BTW, Hardin will be in the house tomorrow morning for the Pera announcement...

Quote:Mark Berman‏
@MarkBermanFox26

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.@RiceAthletics says @JHarden13 will attend news conf Saturday to introduce @RiceCoachPera as coach of @RiceBasketball. The 2 are very close