Owls win, 4-3 ... take the series!!! Yay!!

(04-07-2018 04:36 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Comeaux flied out to CF.
Dunlap first pitch fly out to CF.
Sarchet flied out to CF. Ugh.

I'm assuming Gayle comes in here to face the bottom of the ODU order. Must. Throw. Strikes. No freebies and no errors.

No, Acker is back out there. Risky, as he was hit hard last inning despite now giving up a hit.

Well, thank goodness Acker came through! Congrats Owls!

#7 batter struck out. One down.
#8 batter grounded out to SS. Two down.
#9 batter flied out. Ball game!

This one was too close for comfort and almost wasted another great start by Garcia.

Game Ball #1: Roel Garcia (W, 3-1, 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 BBs, 7 Ks)-- set career highs in innings and strikeouts. Allowed only one baserunner after the third inning.

Game Ball #2: Brandt Frazier (1-3, HR#1, BB, run, RBI)-- for notching his first career HR, throwing out a baserunner and handling the pitching staff.

Game Ball #3: Dane Acker (Save, 2.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB, 1 K)-- for closing it out with drama in the 9th inning, and preserving the win for Garcia.

Let's get the offense back on track tomorrow, and go on our first 3-game win streak of the season. Go Owls!

Nice win. Nice to see Acker (and Jackson P) stepping it up in relief. A sweep would be big (and nice revenge on the sweep ODU laid on us last year).

(04-07-2018 04:43 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Owls win, 4-3 ... take the series!!! Yay!!

Excellent weekend so far against a very strong ODU team.

(04-07-2018 05:22 PM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 04:43 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Owls win, 4-3 ... take the series!!! Yay!!

Excellent weekend so far against a very strong ODU team.

ODU is 10-19...

But I think you knew that

Quote:Rice Thresher Sports
‏@ThresherSports
11m11 minutes ago
More
A note from Wayne Graham today regarding senior pitcher Ricardo Salinas: Salinas is recovering quickly from injury, but Graham expects he will not be available until the conference tournament (should the Owls qualify)

Glad to see Rice can win a CUSA series.

(04-07-2018 05:32 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 05:22 PM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 04:43 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Owls win, 4-3 ... take the series!!! Yay!!

Excellent weekend so far against a very strong ODU team.

ODU is 10-19...

But I think you knew that

Don't let their record fool you. We have a losing record and are strong too.

(04-08-2018 01:02 AM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 05:32 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 05:22 PM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 04:43 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Owls win, 4-3 ... take the series!!! Yay!!

Excellent weekend so far against a very strong ODU team.

ODU is 10-19...

But I think you knew that

Don't let their record fool you. We have a losing record and are strong too.

Not this year for ODU. They're 6-8 against Group 4 RPI teams (per Nolan). NC SOS is 172, NC RPI is 243. The last few years, they've been a top 100 team, but this year, it's sub-200.

(04-08-2018 09:20 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(04-08-2018 01:02 AM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 05:32 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 05:22 PM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-07-2018 04:43 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Owls win, 4-3 ... take the series!!! Yay!!

Excellent weekend so far against a very strong ODU team.

ODU is 10-19...

But I think you knew that

Don't let their record fool you. We have a losing record and are strong too.

Not this year for ODU. They're 6-8 against Group 4 RPI teams (per Nolan). NC SOS is 172, NC RPI is 243. The last few years, they've been a top 100 team, but this year, it's sub-200.

Don't let that fool you. Records and RPI mean nothing. CUSA is loaded this year which is why teams have bad records.

(04-08-2018 12:36 PM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  

(04-08-2018 09:20 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(04-08-2018 01:02 AM)Bulldinkydurham Wrote:  Don't let their record fool you. We have a losing record and are strong too.

Not this year for ODU. They're 6-8 against Group 4 RPI teams (per Nolan). NC SOS is 172, NC RPI is 243. The last few years, they've been a top 100 team, but this year, it's sub-200.

Don't let that fool you. Records and RPI mean nothing. CUSA is loaded this year which is why teams have bad records.

Don't let this fool you, but we get your point. Plenty of people share your opinions and everyone at least understands where you are coming from. No need to be beating this horse to death with sarcasm on one of the few decent weekends of the season.

As bad as CUSA may be in baseball this year, we currently have 3 teams ranked in the Top 30 in the polls: #14 USM, #26 FAU and #29 LaTech...

http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/...80409.html

I also perused the CUSA stat sheet this morning...Charlotte is the enigma team, with conference leading offense, but a pitching staff ERA over 5.50. Middle Tennessee is similar-- they can hit with power and have a couple basestealers, but with a staff ERA well over 5.00.

(04-10-2018 11:34 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  As bad as CUSA may be in baseball this year, we currently have 3 teams ranked in the Top 30 in the polls: #14 USM, #26 FAU and #29 LaTech...

http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/...80409.html

I also perused the CUSA stat sheet this morning...Charlotte is the enigma team, with conference leading offense, but a pitching staff ERA over 5.50. Middle Tennessee is similar-- they can hit with power and have a couple basestealers, but with a staff ERA well over 5.00.

If we don’t crush MT’s pitching this weekend, I’ll be very disappointed.

In addition to not being very good to begin with, they play two midweeks this week.

(04-10-2018 11:43 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-10-2018 11:34 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  As bad as CUSA may be in baseball this year, we currently have 3 teams ranked in the Top 30 in the polls: #14 USM, #26 FAU and #29 LaTech...

http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/...80409.html

I also perused the CUSA stat sheet this morning...Charlotte is the enigma team, with conference leading offense, but a pitching staff ERA over 5.50. Middle Tennessee is similar-- they can hit with power and have a couple basestealers, but with a staff ERA well over 5.00.

If we don’t crush MT’s pitching this weekend, I’ll be very disappointed.

In addition to not being very good to begin with, they play two midweeks this week.

One thing to watch with MTSU's offense, they appear to be VERY patient hitters-- they're leading the conference in free passes (BBs, HBPs), and by a rather significant margin, despite also striking out a lot. In other words, they really work the pitch count. I'm not concerned with our current weekend starters throwing strikes, but I am concerned with our relievers doing so.

We also have shown little aversion to losing to tier 4 teams. Despite the lowish RPI (MT has beaten some dogs), MT has two wins against SEC competition, one of which was during a weekend tourney. We will have our hands full I think.