(02-14-2020 10:34 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Despite the negativity here, there are some bright spots tonight (and some not so bright spots).

It's 7-4 Texas in the 8th, but Rice quite honestly has had several other chances to make it a game. UT folks can't be happy about their 3 errors and 4 HBP.

Bright spots at the plate for Rice include a couple of the JUCO hitters (Bulman and Hernandez two hits apiece). Edwards has a triple and two runs scored. DeLeon gave up 6 runs in 4 innings, so that's not so good. Cienfuegos (1 run, 3 innings) and Larzabel have been a bit better in relief at least to keep it relatively close.

I agree with FBO. The bright spots were the defense (both in the OF and infield), our JUCO position players (and Combs hasn't played yet), and the relief work from both Cienfuego and Lazabal. Keep in mind, neither of those two had particularly impressive intrasquads and neither was considered going in as anchors of our bullpen. (Those would be Greenwood, Ricketts, Santos and Kane.)

I continue to believe our offense will be formidable once we get used to seeing quality pitching (which we didn't see during intrasquads), and Bragga tweeks our lineup. I'm still scratching my head with the decision to have Collins (with his historic poor plate discipline and high strikeout frequency) #3 in the lineup, and having two proven .300 hitters (Gneiting and Edwards) toward the bottom of the lineup. Hernandez reminds me a little of Daniel Gonzalez-Luna-- speedy baserunner, but with a much better bat.

Let's not hit the panic button after one game against a preseason all-american pitcher and against a borderline Top 25 team. We're going to be a work in progress, especially on the mound. That's reality. However, if the offense develops as I expect, Roel Garcia regains full arm strength by mid-March, and a couple other pitchers step up, we still have the potential to compete against the best in CUSA.

(02-14-2020 10:06 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  7-3 Horns at the stretch is the reason I’m skiing in Montana this weekend vs. in my season ticket at Reckling.

Even if they were winning, skiing in Montana still seems like a sound choice.

I appreciate the commentary from you all --- lots of new names for me to learn this year.

UT draws first blood again.

1-0 B1.

Pretty sure the UT pitcher was committed to us at some point.

Missed opportunity in the B3.
Sort of a questionable call against us with Teri trying to steal 2 nd.
We had the base runners. No offense to bring them in.

(02-15-2020 06:24 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  UT draws first blood again.

1-0 B1.

Pretty sure the UT pitcher was committed to us at some point.

Yessir....as were multiple other pitchers currently doing well for their current teams. They weren’t good enough for Rice apparently.

(02-16-2020 09:49 AM)Owl1998 Wrote:  

(02-15-2020 06:24 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  UT draws first blood again.

1-0 B1.

Pretty sure the UT pitcher was committed to us at some point.

Yessir....as were multiple other pitchers currently doing well for their current teams. They weren’t good enough for Rice apparently.

That might be true of others but IIRC Madden thought he was too good for Rice.