Rice lost the championship game Saturday night before a TV audience and the biggest Rice audience in a long time.

I wonder if the boys did not put undo pressure on themselves. They do seem to have trouble dealing with success sometimes.

They got a lot of hits off the first pitcher Innis but only got one hit with men in scoring position. They left a lot of men on base.

The second pitcher is the only one for USM who has gotten Rice hitters out this year and he continued that after the first pitcher left the game.

Now we Wait

Now we wait to see where Rice will go for the Regionals starting this weekend. I have a big conflict Saturday morning so I may not be able to travel this year. I am disappointed but that is life.

I walked over to UH with my soon to be California daughter and watched the Rice vs. ECU game Wednesday. The game started at 3:00. At 2:00 I was at work and she was shopping at Galleria. You would never have guessed it as we took about 25 minutes to walk from home crossing I-45 at Cullen in Rice hats. The beggars ignored us.

Anyway Taylor Wall did struggle at times but only gave up two solo home runs for five innings and ended up giving up what I think was an unearned run in the 6th. Rice was behind 1-0 in the bottom of the 1st but hit a home run of our own in the bottom of the 1st to take a 3-1 lead. Rice kept broadening the lead until it was 8-2 when Taylor Wall had pitched 6 innings and got to 100 pitches.

Rice used Holt McNair for two innings. Then Matt Reckling came in to start the ninth to a cheer from the crowd. He got three outs without incident to finish. Neither of these two figure to pitch in pressure situations. Rice won 11-3 getting a late home run from Diego Seastrunk. It was a satisfying game for the crowd.

Mention should be made of the great fielding by Rice. Rendon made a couple of great plays. There were some running catches, some diving catches, McNair started a clean double play after a great stab of a ground smash up the middle. There was one mistake on an attempted double steal by ECU late in the game. But ECU did not take advantage of the extra out.

East Carolina started a guy who had not started a game this year and who had a 9.00 ERA. He has pitched about 9 innings this year. Their second pitcher was also a lower rated guy. They seemed to be conceding this game. They have saved their best pitchers for the next two games in their pod. Does that make sense? I do not get it.

Rice plays the host team Houston tonight at 7 PM. I think my Marble Falls daughter is coming with me tonight. Cool.

Rice Owls plays as the first seed in the C-USA tournament starting Wednesday over at the Houston Cougar field. So Rice plays at 7 PM on Wednesday Thursday and Friday. COME BY AN SEE. I should be fun.

Each day there will be three game at UH. So you can be there all day and watch baseball. But Rice will be last each day.

The Cougars qualified for their own tournament over the weekend. It did not look like they were going to for a while. Only six out of nine teams qualify and lot of teams were tied for sixth before the last game. Actually the Cougars may be able 4th after all is said and done. They won two out of three from East Carolina on the road. ECU has had tournament teams recently so that was a good weekend. Maybe the UH coach keeps his job after that. Maybe not.

I don't know if I mentioned that Rice lost the last game versus UAB on Saturday. UAB won 8-5. All their runs came on three home runs, two by their marvelous first baseman, making his count 22 for the year. The last three run home run came after they walked the first baseman. It was on the first pitch after pretending to pitch to him.

Rice came back from behind twice to tie but after this they did not really mount any more threats. They did not appear to be too intense but how can one know. Baseball is that kind of game, if you do not control your emotions you try too hard and are more likely to fail.

Sunday I also took in the final game of the Rice - Southern Miss series. The series was for first place in conference. It was not terribly pretty in some ways, especially pitching but Rice did get it done, winning the last two.

Fridays' game was rained out. Saturday morning the rain was still coming so the doubleheader make up was moved back to 3 PM. I think I must have written of this yesterday. Did I?

Rice scored a lot of runs this weekend, 41 I think.

Rice got behind 11-2 in the first game since the starter did not have it and the next two relievers got hit hard too. But then Rice had a big 8 run 8th inning after the starter finally tired. It seems SM has a worse pitching staff than we do. But also the Rice kids can really hit. Despite a few of them in batting slumps they are proving they can score in bunches. However the SM closer came in and got Rice out in the 9th to hold on for the win. I do not think he got the save since he gave up some of those runs in the 8th. But in the 9th he settled down.

Mike Ojala pitched well in the second game and Rice scored some later to take a 10-2 win. Abe Gonzales came in for the last three innings are earned a save, even with such a lopsided score. You have to worry about SM's hitting after watching them in the first game. They had Vollmuth, a hot hitter. I think he got almost as many home runs as Rendon. Did Rendon hit five home runs in the series? Maybe it was four. He hardly ever made an out. And Seastrunk was almost as good.

OK on Sunday I had church and could not get to the game until the top of the third. SM scored four, I think in the first and Rice's pitcher only went 2.1. Should I name names? Tradition seems to be you only list the names of guys doing well. I was walking to the park it was 5-2. By the time I got to the ticket taker it was 6-2. I believe it was 9-2 on a three run home run by the time I got to my seat. Graham brought in and replaced two pitchers in that inning. I guess they scored seven runs before the fourth pitcher, Anagnostou, got the final out. The group around where I sat wondered why I came to watch this carnage. It was now 11-2 going to the bottom of the 3rd.

The comeback was amazing. In the 4th I believe Rice scored seven runs making it 12-9. That looked closer but SM can score too. I figured they had plenty of time to score 20 runs. Why not? Rice's bullpen does not strike fear in opponent's hearts. We have a bunch of throwers who just do not seem to be able to get third strikes. They give up too many walks and hit batsmen.

But Anagnostou managed to hold up for six innings without giving up a run. He was getting ahead of hitters and spotting the ball very well. He had few real threats. Vollmuth kept hitting the ball but no one could drive him home. This is certainly his best performance this year.

In the next inning (5th?) Rice scored 5 runs and in the 6th Rice scored 5 more runs making in 19-12. Amazing. Amazing. Rice then got a single run in each of the 7th and 8th. So in the top of the ninth Rice had a 21-12 lead. I was late to my evening church choir practice so I headed out with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. I heard the final put out as I walked to my car.

In the car I can barely pick up KTRU but through the static I found that Anagnostou finally tired and after giving up a home run and walking another he was relieved with one out for Abe Gonzales. That's what I knew when I went in for the practice.

I found out when I got home that we won 21-14. A pretty good football score. I guess Gonzales gave up Anagnostou's runner before closing the game.

The fellow behind me had already left and the other fellow who sits next to him said he would leave too. He says "If they lose now, I do not want to be here to watch it." I can relate.

When it as 11-2 we were wondering what OG, Wayne Graham, would say at the baseball dinner scheduled for Monday night, tonight. As it is there is quite a bit to complain about. But winning 2 out of 3 looks good. And remember we had a good chance to win the first game Saturday with just one or two more timely hits. What could have been. heh

Rice got rained out Friday. Houston much needed it. JB and I went to the park just to be sure. They had held out hope but soon after I arrived the rain did too in torrents. I finally got a nachos just before they called it off. They rescheduled a double header for Saturday...

I am just back from the doubleheader Saturday. Wall did not have it and only lasted two innings. Rice got down 11-2 before scoring 8 times in the 8th. But with one out and a man on third they could not score the tying run and lost 11-10.

In the evening Rice got the split with a 10-2 win. Ojala pitched well enough over six innings and left after having thrown 110 pitches. Abe Gonzales spread four hits and no walks over three innings to finish up and qualify for a save.

The games started out scheduled for 1 PM, later got moved to 3 PM by early rains. I left for the park at 3 PM and was there in plenty of time. The first game started around 3:45 PM. The first game took over three hours, closer to four.

Rice pitching led by Wall gave up seven free passes. That got them way behind. Also Southern Miss hit three home runs in the early game. They got their only two runs in the second game off Ojala on a home run by Vollmuth, their best hitter.

If was funny, the first Southern Miss starter had a ERA over five yet a record of 7-0. He extended it to 8-0 with the win. The second starter had a 2.45 ERA yet a 5-4 record. And he took the loss, so he is now 5-5. I guess the Friday starter usually gets a lot of run support.

Rice is now two games ahead of SM in the C-USA standings. We hope for a final win tomorrow. The weather cleared very nicely for the last game. I think it will hold up like this for Sunday's game at 1 PM.

Did I mention Rice beat Texas State something like 14-2 on Tuesday afternoon? The game was pretty quick. Few walks. Rice got our early and scored in every inning but one.

On Wednesday night Rice beat Texas Southern 16-9. That one took much longer, not because of the score. It was because each team had seven pitchers, there were about 10 hit batsmen during the game and quite a few walks on both sides. Rice fielded a bit better than TSU but Rice had their share of mistakes. Only TSU had errors, two of them on tough chances for the 3B. At least one of them could have been ruled a hit and no one would have minded. But they at times looked ragged in the field.

The scoring started slowly. TSU starter gave up only one run for three innings. Then they took the starter out and Rice went to town. Some of it was being patient and taking the walk. Meanwhile Rice starter J. T. Chargois did not give up any runs and left after five innings. Chargois did not look terribly dominate but he and his teammates managed to find a way keep runners from scoring. There was a pickoff at second base and a caught stealing in there. Rice scored their only run off the starter: with two outs, men on first and third, the runner on first attempted a steal of second but when the throw was made the runner stopped and the runner on third was able to score before the runner from first was tagged out in a run down. Cute. Rice tried it later again but this time TSU was ready and threw out the runner at home catcher to 2B to catcher. That too was a nice play.

Rice was ahead 14-0 when TSU scored five in the 8th. Several pitchers were ineffective giving up hits and walks. Rice got two back in the bottom of the 8th. Then Matt Evers was allowed to start the 9th. The crowd groaned. Was the 16-5 lead big enough for Evers? Bless his heart Evers just has not been effective for about two years now. Apparently the answer was no as he allowed the three batters he faced to reach and he was taken out. Tyler Duffey was finally brought in to finish. It was not a save situation but coach was nervous. We all were. Duffey gave up a long three run home run to cap the four run inning for TSU but then did get the final outs. One was a line drive snared by Rendon, a very nice play.

Rice had three non-standard DP's in this game. Two were line drive, catch the runner off base plays. I cannot remember what happened on the other one. Maybe it was a like DP played against Rice.

Rice has three games this weekend. With the game Tuesday that is five games in six days. Rice coaches were trying to get through these first two games with backup, less used pitchers. It worked out fine. Aside from Duffey all the pitchers were guys who needed work and were trying to show the coaches they deserved to play in more important games.