Just don’t know how you keep Cruz after this season.

Hate to use a football analogy, but no coach has ever won an SEC championship in the modern era after winning <9 games in his second year.

A few comments about this weekend:

• Rice is currently in finals thru Tuesday. Likely that is the reason the UH game is Wednesday this week. In the past, Rice would not play during finals, but I believe that with C-USA they needed another school to agree to play earlier in the year and that quit happening about 5 years ago.
• If the weather had waited another 15 minutes Friday, Rice would have won, as I think Long would have been able to shut down DBU in the 9th.
• Rice played a top 20 team pretty even during finals week, with the possible difference being pitching depth.
  

Some other notes about this team and baseball:

• Baseball only has 11.7 scholarships with a roster of 35.
• Scholarships for freshmen this year were already committed prior to Cruz being named coach. You might recall previous discussion about Bragga telling some commits that he would not honor their commitments. Most transfers over the last two years would be by the current staff.
• I believe that there are still Pope recruits on the roster. It takes time to get your recruits in for baseball.
• I believe that Rice typically renews scholarships regardless of athletic performance. With only 11.7 scholarships, this has more impact on baseball than football and basketball.
• This team has had 14 one run games. Unfortunately, they are 4-10 in those games. This team is definitely better than last year.
  

(04-30-2023 10:54 PM)Owl Is In Chains Wrote:  A few comments about this weekend:

• Rice is currently in finals thru Tuesday. Likely that is the reason the UH game is Wednesday this week. In the past, Rice would not play during finals, but I believe that with C-USA they needed another school to agree to play earlier in the year and that quit happening about 5 years ago.
• If the weather had waited another 15 minutes Friday, Rice would have won, as I think Long would have been able to shut down DBU in the 9th.
• Rice played a top 20 team pretty even during finals week, with the possible difference being pitching depth.
  

Some other notes about this team and baseball:

• Baseball only has 11.7 scholarships with a roster of 35.
• Scholarships for freshmen this year were already committed prior to Cruz being named coach. You might recall previous discussion about Bragga telling some commits that he would not honor their commitments. Most transfers over the last two years would be by the current staff.
• I believe that there are still Pope recruits on the roster. It takes time to get your recruits in for baseball.
• I believe that Rice typically renews scholarships regardless of athletic performance. With only 11.7 scholarships, this has more impact on baseball than football and basketball.
• This team has had 14 one run games. Unfortunately, they are 4-10 in those games. This team is definitely better than last year.
  

Enough of your reason and common sense!

This is Parliament!

We have now lost 8 consecutive since (and including) that horrible, give-away loss to McNeese St. (that "meaningless" midweek game).

Anyone who has actually watched this team play knows that they are definitely better all-around than last year's squad. The problem has been lack of pitching depth (partly the result of Durke and Davis unavailable, and Stratton missing two-thirds of the season and still working his way back). Having only one starter capable or allowed to go even 5 innings is only going to compound that problem. And questionable bullpen management continues to plague us. When you have such a deficiency in reliable depth, you have to think long and hard about pulling a guy after one bad pitch or AB, recognizing that the next man up may be an even worse option.

The other recurring issue I have with this year's team (continuing from last year) is our approach at the plate. Too many guys take first pitch fastballs down the middle (and sometimes even take a second strike), and far too many strikeout looking; again, oftentimes on fastballs. It almost appears our hitters are looking for walks as opposed to being aggressive hitters...and this is the case even against opposing pitchers with outstanding control who pound the strikezone.

Next year's incoming recruiting class (2023 high school class) will be the first with Jose in full control.

(04-30-2023 10:05 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Just don’t know how you keep Cruz after this season.

Hate to use a football analogy, but no coach has ever won an SEC championship in the modern era after winning <9 games in his second year.

In a possibly more relevant comparison, Wayne Graham in his 2nd year was 36-18, but just 7-11 in conference play. The big jump came in his third year when the team went 12-6 in conference play.