Owls down 3-0 in T5 of game 2 vs Harvard. BB, E5, BB brings pitching change. No outs.

Someone call me when the Owls decide to score again. Never thought I’d see the day the Owls baseball offense would be worse then the Owls football offense, but we may be there.

Make that 6-0 going to B5. In T5, 3 runs on 1 hit and 1 error.

Stop the presses! The Owls scored! 2 runs in so far. Bulman double to bring home 2nd run results in pitching change for Harvard. 2 outs, 1 on.

Another infield single, but F9 ends it. 2 runs on 3 hits vs what Harvard got in T5. One team is having to work a lot harder to score.

(03-05-2022 06:11 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Owls down 3-0 in T5 of game 2 vs Harvard. BB, E5, BB brings pitching change. No outs.

Someone call me when the Owls decide to score again. Never thought I’d see the day the Owls baseball offense would be worse then the Owls football offense, but we may be there.

But like football the head coach’s position is now endowed. So there is that similarity too.

Harvard is a decent team (top 3 in new england probably?) but there's no excuse getting wiped out by them, even in a rebuilding year. Totally unacceptable.

B7 rally ruined by a baserunning blunder.

This is looking more and more like a Clyde Drexler situation.

Harvard is not a top three baseball program in New England..

Bryant, Northeastern, UConn, Yale, BC, and Fairfield have all been better lately (just to name a few).

Agree with WRC that this is Drexler 2.0.

I was thinking about going tomorrow since the weather should be nice.

No longer.

The woeful lack of fundamentals-- in the field, at the plate and on the bases-- would make a Little League coach shutter. It's totally unacceptable at the D1 level, and it's happening every single game. We have at least one baserunning error per game...we clearly don't practice fielding the bunt because we're incompetent at it (and don't even get me started about executing the bunt on offense)...we're booting at least a couple balls per game in the field....and our offensive approach at the plate is the worst I've seen in 30 years. We have a bunch of players who repeatedly take first and second pitch fastballs down the middle of the plate, and then are sitting ducks for the breaking ball. And though the pitching was considerably better last night and the first game, I'm already beyond frustrated with the number our pitchers have had 0-2 counts on batters only to throw the next pitch down the middle of the plate. The leadoff HR off Burbank in the 2nd game was only one of over 10 examples I have witnessed in the 7 games I have now attended. Is anyone coaching these guys? Seriously.

Totally embarrassing. I walked out after the first inning of the second game as I couldn't take it any more.

I think Cruz is going to have to learn that he can’t treat these kids exactly like pros. College kids need both carrots and sticks.

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****.

We all then left game 2 after the 4th ended when rice ran a hit and run with one out and instead of running back to first when he clearly saw it was an easy fly ball to RF, the runner not only continued to run to second, but he slid into second for some odd reason.

And this was after watching Rice gift Harvard their 2 runs in the first game by not being able to field 2 straight sac bunts

(03-05-2022 07:20 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Harvard is not a top three baseball program in New England..

Bryant, Northeastern, UConn, Yale, BC, and Fairfield have all been better lately (just to name a few).

Agree with WRC that this is Drexler 2.0.

BC and Yale are pretty bad this year. Bryant, UConn, and Northeastern are all better so they and Fairfield round out the top 5.

Rice shouldn't be losing to any of those programs, let alone get swept by one. Harrowing & the only way to really numb the pain of these losses is to recruit up a storm. Gotta hit the trail, get our guys, and develop them.

(03-05-2022 07:27 PM)Scooter Wrote:  We all then left game 2 after the 4th ended when rice ran a hit and run with one out and instead of running back to first when he clearly saw it was an easy fly ball to RF, the runner not only continued to run to second, but he slid into second for some odd reason.

And this was after watching Rice gift Harvard their 2 runs in the first game by not being able to field 2 straight sac bunts

The first bunt of which was an easy double play....or should have been.

(03-05-2022 07:29 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(03-05-2022 07:27 PM)Scooter Wrote:  We all then left game 2 after the 4th ended when rice ran a hit and run with one out and instead of running back to first when he clearly saw it was an easy fly ball to RF, the runner not only continued to run to second, but he slid into second for some odd reason.

And this was after watching Rice gift Harvard their 2 runs in the first game by not being able to field 2 straight sac bunts

The first bunt of which was an easy double play....or should have been.

Yep, it wasn’t a great bunt and had plenty of time to get lead runner at 2nd but then ended up not even getting the guy at 1st

(03-05-2022 07:28 PM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  

(03-05-2022 07:20 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Harvard is not a top three baseball program in New England..

Bryant, Northeastern, UConn, Yale, BC, and Fairfield have all been better lately (just to name a few).

Agree with WRC that this is Drexler 2.0.

BC and Yale are pretty bad this year. Bryant, UConn, and Northeastern are all better so they and Fairfield round out the top 5.

Rice shouldn't be losing to any of those programs, let alone get swept by one. Harrowing & the only way to really numb the pain of these losses is to recruit up a storm. Gotta hit the trail, get our guys, and develop them.

Cruz thinks it’s easier to recruit the West U little league so good luck with that.

(03-05-2022 07:26 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  You can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****.

On that note, I think we’re seeing why these transfers from Power 5 schools were all available.

(03-05-2022 07:56 PM)RiceOwls2019 Wrote:  

(03-05-2022 07:26 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  You can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****.

On that note, I think we’re seeing why these transfers from Power 5 schools were all available.

A couple of points here.

I agree that Cruz didn’t inherit an allstar roster, but that’s not enough of an excuse. This is Harvard we’re talking about. Would Bragga have lost three straight to them?

Cruz has taken a page from the Bloomgren playbook in bringing in P5 players hoping there’s some reason other than the obvious that they weren’t getting playing time. That’s on him.

On-field coaching deficiencies are also very evident. The baserunning error I referred to above was on the 3rd base coach. On a line drive into deep CF, once the player has rounded second and is two-thirds of the way to third, he does not have time to pull up, turn around and go back, but that’s what he was told to do. A fan from the stands wouldn’t have made that mistake.

Let me add: as I’ve said before Cruz is on a steep learning curve and bad hiring and recruiting mistakes are inevitable. I hope he’s learning from them.

Wayne came to a game the other day. If I were Cruz I'd inquire about interest in any role that could teach him a thing or two about managing in college baseball.

(03-05-2022 07:26 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  You can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****.

I suspect that is at least a large part of the issue.