NCAA Houston Regional Game 5 - Rice vs. Houston

[Boomer]

Game started in May and ended in June. Those guys have to be tired.

---Yea but remember that baseball when compared to other sports is the least taxing---Remember that they are 18-23 year olds---and all athletes have gone with the late night out to the early morning practices----Maybe FUN can give us a medical on how the body reacts to the sleep and physical makeup for RICE!!!

[Zeebart21]

Rice will play very well....for about 4 inninngs. Adrenaline does crazy things but eventually the heat, humidity and lack of sleep take over. Shame on us if we don't win this thing.

Geaux Cajuns!

[Zeebart21]

Man, I miss MissionOmaha! I saw his Mom lurking last night.

Z

[Dad04]

Rice will play very well....for about 4 inninngs. Adrenaline does crazy things but eventually the heat, humidity and lack of sleep take over. Shame on us if we don't win this thing.

Geaux Cajuns!

Their heads will be writing checks their legs can't cash.

[GoneGolfin]

By my math, according to their roster/statistics, I see 6 pitchers available based on whos pitched significant innings this regional. The for sure 6 I see available are

Solecitto (2.87 ERA, 15 app, 1 start, 0-1 record)
Williamson(4.50 ERA, 14 app, 0 starts, 1-2 record)
Pettite(6.16 ERA, 14 app, 0 starts, 1-1 record)
McCarthy(0.00 ERA, 5 app, 0 starts, mysteriously 0-1 record)
Myers (2.61 ERA, 7 Appearances, 1 start, 0-0 record)
Amador (9.0 ERA, 6 appearances, 2 starts, 0-0 record)

The last 3 guys (McCarthy, Myers, Amador) combine for 24.2 IP, so the other 3 are much more likely to get called on.

Stephens (2.65 ERA, 16 appearances, 10 starts, 6-4 record) is a Likely candidate to get a second start in the regional I'd guess, as he went 3.1 innings before the rain delay Saturday. Judging by the stats of the guys, It seems that Rice is big on not worrying about making a pitcher pitch deep and turning it over early. The key will be getting to the starter early, they have good pitchers left, but not enough to guys to fill out 2 games worth, but our bats have to come to life, particularly at the top of the order.

The problem with Stephens as I noted ... He is coming off of TJ surgery. Not saying Graham will not do it.

Brian

[CrappDaddy]

I don't think they will be physically unable to perform. This is baseball, not football or basketball. They only advantage we have is the amount of pitching they have had to use up already.

[TuffGuy84]

Rice is throwing Stephens today. He is their ace, and very good. Saturday basically would function as a bullpen day. So the Cajuns will have to earn the win the hard way....again.

According to their site, he has 55 innings pitched over 16 appearances and 10 starts, if only his starts were considered he's only averaging going between 5-6 innings per game. He's 4th in ERA, 4th in IP, but tied for 3rd in Strike outs and lowest batting average against of the "starters". Stephens will get the start but my guess is he's got 4-5 innings in him and they'll have to piece together the rest of the game. We can NOT let this guy go 6+ innings.

[ManAboutTown]

The biggest advantage we have is the mental edge. That's as big as any.

[TuffGuy84]

The problem with Stephens as I noted ... He is coming off of TJ surgery. Not saying Graham will not do it.

Brian

That's why my original thought is that I thought he would be the "If Necessary" starter, but I could be wrong.

[Cajun_RH]

Let's not forget what we did the Mississippi State last year... Gotta take care of business. I do expect more runs to be scored by the Cajuns today...

Yes but last year's Cajuns team had one of the best offenses in the country and a damn good pitching staff full of seniors and draft picks. Rice is not that team.

[CajunFan3406]

I would lose some respect for him starting Fox on two days rest.

Thought about this one early this morning. Not sure if Rice will put Fox out there at all (maybe an inning or two if needed), but think about this, USA threw Kevin Hill on two days rest last week. He threw 112 pitches against GaSt on Thursday and 95 against us on Sunday. And I remember UH did the same thing in the BR regional last year. I don't like the idea of Graham going that route. I'd think we're more likely to see the guy who started on Saturday.

[wcd35]

I'm trying to make sure I'm following conversation correctly, but are we wondering if Stephens will throw vs us today? Because, that's what's already been confirmed by Luke Johnson and Rice's beat reporter. Of course that could change at any point.