UT: .306 avg 63 HRs .379 OBP .477 Slg% 2.73 ERA Rice: .322 avg 70 HRs .394 OBP .491 Slg% 2.77 ERA Wow, that weak offense isn't much weaker than Rice's. At least we have a little better pitching. Of course, the Big XII is worlds better than the WAC.
wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong WRONG wrong I can't tell you how much it sucks that they have to play in the first round, it's amazing how similar their teams are: Rice (52-12, 17-5 road, 2-1 neutral, 8-3 vs. top 25) #1 national ranking by Baseball America Offense: .322 BA, 7.52 runs/gm, 146 2B, 70 HR, .394 OBP, .491 SLG, .885 OPS Pitching: 2.77 ERA, .237 BA, .316 OBP, .322 SLG, .638 OPS, 556 K, 196 BB .971 Fielding % * 2.77 ERA second in nation Texas: (53-15, 27-5 road, 1-2 neutral, 8-5 vs. top 25) #2 ranked by BA Offense: .306 BA, 7.1 runs/gm, 157 2B, 63 HR, .379 OBP, .477 SLG, .856 OPS Pitching: 2.73 ERA, .233 BA, .304 OBP, .315 SLG, .619 OPS, 509 K, 159 BB .974 Fielding % * 2.73 ERA leads nation Also Texas is 6th in RPI & Rice is 10th; Boyd's ISR's have Rice 2nd & Texas 3rd; Boyd's Strength of Schedule has Texas 14th & Rice 30th - the Big XII is tougher than the WAC, but it's not like Rice beat up on the Little Sisters of the Poor all year (check records vs. top 25). No official word yet, but I'd expect Justin Simmons (14-1, 2.52 ERA) to go for UT against Steven Herce (13-2, 2.82) or Justin Crowder (10-2, 1.88)
It's nice to see UT fans providing such undying hopes for their kids after getting such a bad draw in the first round. That's what the College World Series is all about--dreams.
heypartner - relax, I'm just having some fun. I have a degree from Texas, so obviously I'm not out to see their total destruction. Other people have already made all the relevant baseball points, so I'm just cheering my team on. Honestly, it worries me a bit because we couldn't seem to beat Texas during the regular season... but, this time, we'll see. I also wish we weren't on the same side of the bracket.
Dreams that a school like Rice might actually be a winner in something. I mean, Rice can't even win a contest of the smartest nerds.
Rice might be good, but I don't think we are good enough to ever cause Texas total destruction. They have a way of doing that better to themselves, than anything Rice could do. I'm sure their fans will be happey if their kids just play hard and give it their all. Losing to a juggernaut Rice baseball team after a terrible draw could never be as bad as when they choke in football to Oklahoma.
A note about Sinisi, as you Rice fans probably already know he was out last season with an injury at Texas. He asked for and was granted a release to transfer to Rice. What would be sad is if Texas had said "no" and kept him on the roster when he didn't want to be here.
3,753,000: The floating population of Shanghai, China, circa 1999. This has just as much relevance to Saturday's game.
<h2>0:</H2> The # of runs the winner of 3 of the last 5 CWS scored on Rice's juggernaut pitching staff in two games last weekend. I liked the quote by the 3rd basemen of LSU after the first shutout. "The pressure is on Rice, now." Sounds like Smokey to me.
Well, I obviously want Rice to win since I'm still in school here, but I don't think the Horns will be a pushover like some people are talking about. Also, the Big 12 is not nearly as strong a conference this year as it has been the past few and the WAC has several good teams. For whoever said that we had only 1 CWS win, it just happened to come against a Big 12 opponent (Ok. State) as well. After the 2 shutouts last weekend against the Tigers I think we are on a role and we need to beat Texas to stay in the winners' bracket. Go Owls!
You know the sad thing about all of this? After Rice loses on Saturday, even if they win Game #2, it will just set up a rematch in Game #3 vs. a 2-0 UT team. So, at best, Rice is looking at a 1-2 record.
Anyone care to wager on the game? Oh, and two big 12 teams made the world series. Not bad for a down year.
RiceRocket1, I agree UT isn't the pushover that many think they are. They have done an commendable job getting this far and are much better than anyone could have imagined, with such weak offense. You know the sad thing about this is: fans of big state schools with 10x more students and 10x bigger budgets get really confused talking **** to a small, humble #1 ranked Rice team, much like that 3rd Basemen at LSU who said the "pressure was on Rice" after Rice shut them out. for instance, This is not how the brackets work. A 2-0 team cannot face a 1-1 team. I know they're confusing. Poor UT fans; they get confused easily.
If UT's offense is weak, what do you call Rice's since they're so similar? Maybe because Rice is playing in a powerhouse conference like the WAC, while UT is playing in that laugable conference that somehow sent 6 of 10 teams to the tournament and 2 to the CWS?
This is not how the brackets work. A 2-0 team cannot face a 1-1 team. I know they're confusing. Poor UT fans; they get confused easily. Dammit. I took my college math classes at Rice. It screwed me all up.
No, you see, UT fans have more things to root for than just a kickass baseball team with the best team ERA in the nation. Rice fans wouldn't know anything about being successful in any sports, so they expend all their energy in the details of the one sport that they've been semi-good in the past oh, say, forever.
This says a lot about the spirit of an underdog college fan. It is so good for college sports to see such loyalty. To see how fans will cheer until the inevitable crushes all their hopes. Like how a perennially underachieving football school can find solace in their current overachieving spring sport team in a comparatively unimportant sport like baseball. It must be a great comfort to come back from football embarrassment against Oklahoma and a title shot before the Colorado game to have another shot at a #1 team like Rice. Take comfort in this, at least you don't have a starting pitcher controversy like Major Applepie vs Daddy's boy.
