Texas vs Rice ***Game 4 Thread (Sun-1 PM CST)***

[utisdabomb12]

Looking at future nonconference opponents. 

UTSA won 2 of 3 at home against Louisiana Lafayette. That's fairly surprising, I'm not sure if ULL lost a lot of talent but they went 58-10 last year. That game on Tuesday might not be all that easy. 

Minnesota lost all 3 to Houston. 2 were blowouts. Minnesota only scored 5 runs in the series so they have problem with the bats (4 of the runs came in the 3rd game against Houston's third starter). 

UT Pan American went 2-2 this weekend. They split games with Tennessee Martin and Jackson State. 

San Diego went 1-3 against Morehead State this weekend. That's a bit surprising, San Diego was decent last year. 

Stanford went 1-2 against Indiana. That's not surprising, Stanford seems to always start slow and that Indiana squad is pretty good. Stanford seems to be limited offensively. 

Incarnate Word went 1-2 against Northeastern. 

UT Arlington went 1-2 this weekend. They beat SFA and lost to Washington State/Missouri State. 

Texas State with 2 wins and a tie this weekend against UC Davis (they apparently called a tie due to travel rules). 

Nebraska went 1-2 against UNLV. That's a bit surprising. Nebraska only scored 3 runs the entire series. 

A&M CC went 3-0 against St. Peters. 

Wichita State went 1-2 against Sam Houston State. 

Prairie View A&M went 0-3 against Houston Baptist. 

It's early but San Diego and Nebraska might not be as good as I thought. Not sure about Stanford, that Indiana squad is pretty good. 

 

[joeywa]

Indiana was a regional host last year, and got bounced by Stanford.  There may have been a bit of fire in the Hoosiers' bellies this weekend.

Wichita State was put on probation last month, and I'm not sure what effect that has had on their program. 

Nebraska is the one that surprises me out of all of those listed. 

 

[utisdabomb12]

A look at the Big 12. 

WV went 2-1 against Clemson. I think they are a better team than get credit for. They deserved to make the tournament last year IMO. 

Baylor went 3-0 against Cal Poly. That's an impressive start for Baylor, Cal Poly was ranked #13. 

Tech went 4-0 against San Francisco. They scored a lot but gave up a bunch of runs too. I think Tech will be good, but they lack pitching. 

TCU went 3-0 against Southern Illinois. Expected result. 

Kansas went 0-3 against LSU. Probably the worst team in the Big 12. They did keep all three games close. 

Kansas State went 2-2. They beat Iowa and Pittsburgh, but lost to George Mason and Saint Louis. They are exactly what I thought they were. They have 2 pretty good starters, but have question marks in terms of their 3rd and 4th starters.

Oklahoma State went 1-2 against Arizona State on the road. Not horrible, that Arizona State team is pretty good.

Oklahoma went 3-2 this weekend. They beat Southern Illinois Edwardsville twice, but lost 2 of 3 to Notre Dame.   

 

[utisdabomb12]

The Big 12 is a 9 team league. I think Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU, and Tech easily get into the tournament. Then there's Baylor, Kansas State, WV and Oklahoma. All decent but not great teams IMO. I can see two out of that bunch making the tournament. Kansas is the only for sure team IMO that won't make the tournament. The Big 12 should be at least a 6 bid league if you ask me, 5 at worst.  

 

[Bear19]

Stop it Joey. You clearly don't know a panic button situation when you see one. 6th inning of game 4 is certainly time enough.

And we were lucky to win a regional, a super and 3 games in Omaha. Or something.

And in that super we beat the team that beat LSU on their own turf.

On second thought, I guess we did have some luck. We drew aggy in the first round.

 

[Bear19]

Stop it Joey. You clearly don't know a panic button situation when you see one. 6th inning of game 4 is certainly time enough.

And we were lucky to win a regional, a super and 3 games in Omaha. Or something.

And in that super we beat the team that beat LSU on their own turf.

On second thought, I guess we did have some luck--we drew aggy in the first round. They shouldn't even have been there.

 

[armadillo slim]

Just some banter back and forth, tejas. 

Slim and I disagree on a single AB, and that's no biggie.

GBT, not sure what's going on there. 

But yeah, we won, and it was a helluva game.  Impressive showing by some frosh in burnt orange today. 

yeah, we agreed to agree but disagree on one at bat in the 10th inning, but overall im pretty happy with a 2-2 outcome playing Rice at home.  first of all, Rice is better than 13th in the country IMO.   

i WOULD like to point out that prior to the series i said i'd be happy with just a 2-2 outcome, so it's hard to gripe about one helluva damn competitive series.  hell, if i didn't know better i'd have said we were playing a regional.

i was pretty impressed with Johnston.  i think he's our closer.  with all due respect to skip, i'm not sure i'd toy with taking french out of that friday starters slot.  for whatever reason, french just seems to start slow and then find his rhythm in his second inning out.  we can't afford that in a closer, but he's usually pretty solid from the second inning on, so my hope is that they stick with him as a starter.

rice outhit us pretty handily, i thought.  overall, i thought we swung pretty aggressively which i hope will pay off later.  i thought CJ hit the ball hard, just right at people.

i got on cantu for picking the wrong time to do his impression of a cigar store indian, but maybe that was just nerves.  next time i'll bet he takes a swing or two.

 

[Donald Boyles]

Joey do you think Johnston could potentially become a starter come tournament time? I was impressed with him today. I could see something similar to the way Hollingsworth was used last year. 

Watch for Connor Mayes or Tyler Schimpf to be in that role...

Kyle Johnston will be more effective in the closing role..