Congratulations on a hell of a year, Rice. I am disappointed in the losses, of course, but I couldn't be prouder of the fight and heart of this team.

(06-10-2013 03:02 AM)smackdaddy Wrote:  Congratulations on a hell of a year, Rice. I am disappointed in the losses, of course, but I couldn't be prouder of the fight and heart of this team.

+1

(06-10-2013 04:15 AM)Viejobuho Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 03:02 AM)smackdaddy Wrote:  Congratulations on a hell of a year, Rice. I am disappointed in the losses, of course, but I couldn't be prouder of the fight and heart of this team.

+1

Agree totally.

I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

A shout out to freshman Hunter Kopycinski who did a hell of a job with relatively few innings under his belt when he was called upon. Impressive!

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

+1. Where would we have been without Zech this year? There would have been no CUSA conference tourney victory, no Eugene, OR regional win. Zech, just try to shake it off, and use it as motivation for next year. We couldn't be prouder of you and the entire team.

(06-10-2013 06:40 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

+1. Where would we have been without Zech this year? There would have been no CUSA conference tourney victory, no Eugene, OR regional win. Zech, just try to shake it off, and use it as motivation for next year. We couldn't be prouder of you and the entire team.

+1

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

Nobody on this team needs to apologize to anyone for anything.

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year.

+1

Without Zech being perfect in Eugene, we would not have made it to Raleigh.

My two cents on Game 2 is just this--as tough as it was to swallow the 9th inning, we ended up getting top shelf performances from ALL THREE of our starting pitchers. None of them left anything in the tank.

Tip of the cap to NC State for exploiting their opportunities and for the depth of the bullpen that Walt had warned us about. They used more pitchers in Game 2 than we used in the last 6 weeks of the season.

(06-10-2013 06:40 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

+1. Where would we have been without Zech this year? There would have been no CUSA conference tourney victory, no Eugene, OR regional win. Zech, just try to shake it off, and use it as motivation for next year. We couldn't be prouder of you and the entire team.

+1000

(06-09-2013 10:51 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

(06-09-2013 10:26 PM)Riceman2004 Wrote:  That pitch was definitely out, then again, you've got to get the bunt down earlier in the at bat

Stupid to even try to bunt in my opinion. I would much rather that we try to play for 2 runs and the win instead of trying to scratch out a run and go to the 18th tied.

Rice was the home team ... one run would've ended the game with a win.

(06-10-2013 06:42 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

Nobody on this team needs to apologize to anyone for anything.

I agree with the other sentiments about not sniffing the post-season without Zech Lemmond and the larger point about the entire team. As bleak as things looked six-eight weeks ago, they played well enough to make it to Omaha by the end of the season.

(06-10-2013 07:13 AM)I45owl Wrote:  

(06-09-2013 10:51 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

(06-09-2013 10:26 PM)Riceman2004 Wrote:  That pitch was definitely out, then again, you've got to get the bunt down earlier in the at bat

Stupid to even try to bunt in my opinion. I would much rather that we try to play for 2 runs and the win instead of trying to scratch out a run and go to the 18th tied.

Rice was the home team ... one run would've ended the game with a win.

No, in bottom of the 17th we were down 1 run.

I missed seeing most of this Super Regional because of travel and family commitments, but kept up with the games via this board.
As I recall, many on this board after the Memphis series were feeling pretty low. We had a very tough path to the post season at that point. But this team and this coach performed incredibly after that and we wound up in the top 16. And no one has any doubt that this team could play and beat anybody in the country.
Great season. Congratulations to our team and our coaches for a truly memorable season. I have great expectations for Owl baseball in 2014.

Wanted to stop by and say this was about as entertaining a series as anyone could ask for. Both teams well done. Glad the Pack won obviously, but a few thoughts:

1. Home plate ump last night was the worst I have ever seen. No consistency whatsoever. It seemed to be "consistently inconsistent" but still....have to imagine NCSU & Rice pitchers got a bit frusterated a time or two.

2. Simms was unbelievable. Kid seems cool, composed, and just rocks and fires....he was straight dominant for 6+. Was he drafted/eligible yet?

Great season, Owls!

And anyone who thinks NCSU doesn't belong in Omaha is off their rocker; many think they should have been the 8th national seed over Oregon and we nearly knocked them both out!

The sloppy field probably contributed to the loss. When your number is up, your number is up. But we fought like crazy down to the last swing. NC State must feel like a team of destiny today with two improbable comeback wins but what an effort by the Owls. Nothing came easy for this team and it went farther than most of us dared to dream.

(06-10-2013 06:44 AM)MemOwl Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year.

+1

Without Zech being perfect in Eugene, we would not have made it to Raleigh.

My two cents on Game 2 is just this--as tough as it was to swallow the 9th inning, we ended up getting top shelf performances from ALL THREE of our starting pitchers. None of them left anything in the tank.

Tip of the cap to NC State for exploiting their opportunities and for the depth of the bullpen that Walt had warned us about. They used more pitchers in Game 2 than we used in the last 6 weeks of the season.

We've got to learn from NC State and find more pitchers next year. We can't just ride 4, no matter how good those 4 are.

(06-10-2013 06:46 AM)d1owls4life Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 06:40 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(06-10-2013 06:33 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  I just read Zech tweeted apology to his teammates and the fans. Zech your heart is in the right place but there is no need. No one is automatic. You had a great year. Enjoy the summer, get some rest and have a good time. We will see you in the Fall. I look forward to watching you and your teammates next year.

+1. Where would we have been without Zech this year? There would have been no CUSA conference tourney victory, no Eugene, OR regional win. Zech, just try to shake it off, and use it as motivation for next year. We couldn't be prouder of you and the entire team.

+1000

Agree completely.

(06-10-2013 07:26 AM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I missed seeing most of this Super Regional because of travel and family commitments, but kept up with the games via this board.
As I recall, many on this board after the Memphis series were feeling pretty low. We had a very tough path to the post season at that point. But this team and this coach performed incredibly after that and we wound up in the top 16. And no one has any doubt that this team could play and beat anybody in the country.
Great season. Congratulations to our team and our coaches for a truly memorable season. I have great expectations for Owl baseball in 2014.

Memphis was much better than their overall record. Same for Southern Miss and even UH. The disrespect to CUSA coupled with the inflation of the overall strength of the ACC and SEC combined to limit CUSA to only one team in the Regionals. Memphis had two victories over Ole Miss. Maybe we would have felt better about our season going into the Regionals if other CUSA teams were given the respect they were due with invitations.

What a superb two days of baseball against NC State. Rice proved they belonged and were good enough for Omaha. Unfortunately, so did NC State.

Good luck to NC State in Omaha. Maybe the tradition of the National Champions eliminating Rice will continue.