*****Texas vs. Rice Baseball Friday*****

[bbdude]

Great game by the Horns beating a solid Rice team. 1-0 in the Houston College Classic after one day.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Texas wins 2-0 against the number 15 team in the country. That makes Texas 3 of 4 against ranked teams this year. That split against Cal on the road isn't looking all that bad now, since Cal hasn't lost a game since.

Like I said at the beginning of the year, if we can get 3 to 5 runs a game we will get a lot of wins. Hell, even 2 runs will get us some wins. Go check out the numbers of the team that won the CWS last year, our pitching and hitting numbers are very similar. Granted, it's early in the year but dominant pitching rotations win once you get to the tournament.

 

[NLeininger]

Texas wins 2-0 against the number 15 team in the country. That makes Texas 3 of 4 against ranked teams this year. That split against Cal on the road isn't looking all that bad now, since Cal hasn't lost a game since.
Like I said at the beginning of the year, if we can get 3 to 5 runs a game we will get a lot of wins. Hell, even 2 runs will get us some wins. Go check out the numbers of the team that won the CWS last year, our pitching and hitting numbers are very similar. Granted, it's early in the year but dominant pitching rotations win once you get to the tournament.

The problem is that Texas offense is almost completely predicted on Payton. UCLA also stole 71 bases, Texas may steal 20 this year as they have no singular threat to steal bases. It would also help if Augie would move Johnson up in the lineup.

 

[joeywa]

The problem is that Texas offense is almost completely predicted on Payton. UCLA also stole 71 bases, Texas may steal 20 this year as they have no singular threat to steal bases. It would also help if Augie would move Johnson up in the lineup.

The offense wasn't all about Payton tonight. His hit streak ended at 18 games. He is still on a 49-game streak of reaching base safely in a game.

He was not our offense at all in this one.

Clemens and Johnson finally found a bit of a groove, with two hits apiece.

RBIs by both Johnson and Barrera. Barerra broke out of his slump with the RBI double. Johnson hit an RBI double off the top of the wall that would have been out in about any park in the country. We have been getting a lot of clutch production from the lower half of our lineup.

CJ had a single tonight, but still looks to be pressing a bit at the plate. He'll find his stride soon.

I'd like to see the lineup shuffled a bit, but I don't see anyone out there that's just tearing it up that should be moved too far up or down in the order.

It was good to see Clemens go 2/3 tonight. He also had a very solid defensive game at first.

The play by Marlow to slap the ball to CJ to start the 4-6-3 DP was amazing to watch.

An interesting question was asked tonight, and I don't know the answer, and frankly I don't know where to find it. Where would one find our AVG with RISP? That would be interesting to look at.

Overall, a very good win against a team that is likely to be an opponent IF we make it to a Super.

 

[utisdabomb12]

The problem is that Texas offense is almost completely predicted on Payton. UCLA also stole 71 bases, Texas may steal 20 this year as they have no singular threat to steal bases. It would also help if Augie would move Johnson up in the lineup.

Texas is very reliant on Payton right now, there's no denying that. Some of these Freshman hitters are going to start coming around though, like Clemens and Barrera. You saw some progression tonight. Go look at batting averages and runs per game, there isn't a huge distinction between the two teams. As long as Texas can continue to score a couple runs a game, our pitching staff will get us far this year IMO. We don't need a great offense, we just need an offense that can get a couple runs a game. This is why I'm actually a strong advocate of Augie ball this year. Manufacturing a couple runs a game, like we did tonight, will be sufficient for most games. Texas will start getting some stolen bases too. Augie even said recently that he's not taking risks on the bases yet, because of youth. We actually have some athletes on the team that can steal some bases.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Texas needs to make a change at closer though IMO. Thornhill is either a starter or middle relief type pitcher. It's difficult to get hits off Thornhill, but he's entirely too wild to be a closer. I think I would actually like to see Thornhill as the third starter, and Schiraldi as the closer. We also have some middle relief guys that I think are better fits at closer in comparison with Thornhill.

 

[JimR]

Thornhill is very much a question mark. He pitches like a starter, not a closer. I have not seen Schiraldi throw. Of the ones I have seen, French is the only one with closer stuff, IMO.

Also IMO, I agree with Joey re juggling the batting order. I have seen enough to know Celems is not a cleanup hitter. Pitching against UT looks to be pretty easy right now.

 

[drgilbert]

Thanks joey for putting the game out there for us to read. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Topstarr]

Great win....Hook'em

 

[BBQ time]

Thanks Joey.

 

[NLeininger]

Texas is very reliant on Payton right now, there's no denying that. Some of these Freshman hitters are going to start coming around though, like Clemens and Barrera. You saw some progression tonight. Go look at batting averages and runs per game, there isn't a huge distinction between the two teams. As long as Texas can continue to score a couple runs a game, our pitching staff will get us far this year IMO. We don't need a great offense, we just need an offense that can get a couple runs a game. This is why I'm actually a strong advocate of Augie ball this year. Manufacturing a couple runs a game, like we did tonight, will be sufficient for most games. Texas will start getting some stolen bases too. Augie even said recently that he's not taking risks on the bases yet, because of youth. We actually have some athletes on the team that can steal some bases.

Texas didn't manufacture a run tonight. They had 2 extra base hits that scored their runs. They failed every time they tried to manufacture a run.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Texas didn't manufacture a run tonight. They had 2 extra base hits that scored their runs. They failed every time they tried to manufacture a run.

The first run was definitely manufactured. McGuire sacrificed to get Clemens in scoring position. Small ball might have been a better phrase...

Regardless, my point is I have no problem with Augie ball this year. We don't have any power bats and we haven't shown the ability to put big runs on the board really. Our pitching staff is maybe the best in the country. If we get a guy on first with no outs, I have no problem with a sacrifice bunt (especially based on our hitting). Like I've said we only need a few runs a game. The only time I disagree with Augie ball is if a team has huge bats and the ability to score big runs, we don't have that (at least yet). Say what you will about Augie ball but it's won before.

 

[NLeininger]

The first run was definitely manufactured. McGuire sacrificed to get Clemens in scoring position. Small ball might have been a better phrase...
Regardless, my point is I have no problem with Augie ball this year. We don't have any power bats and we haven't shown the ability to put big runs on the board really. Our pitching staff is maybe the best in the country. If we get a guy on first with no outs, I have no problem with a sacrifice bunt (especially based on our hitting). Like I've said we only need a few runs a game. The only time I disagree with Augie ball is if a team has huge bats and the ability to score big runs, we don't have that (at least yet). Say what you will about Augie ball but it's won before.

Again the bunt was inconsequential. Clemens might have scored on the 1st double, but definitely the near HR. The only thing the bunt did was waste an out.