The prospects of facing Rice in the Super Regional

Here are the 3 pitchers that Rice will more than likely throw at LSU in the Super Regional (if both teams make it):

...........................ERA.....REC...GS....IP........H....R....ER...BB....SO..HR..BA
Wade Townsend.....1.68....11-0...14..112.2....65...26...21...43...141..5...171
Philip Humber.........1.80....13-2...14..105.0....71...26...21....33...141..5...190
Josh Baker.............2.69.....9-2...11...93.2....89....32...28...35....85...3...251

Their 4th option:
Jeff Niemann..........3.34.....5-3...10...70.0....55....28...26....26....83..4...219

Ouch!

 

How does their best pitcher manage to start the fewest games and pitch the least innings per start on average? Was he injured part of the year?

I mean it's obvious their 2 best pitchers are Townsend and Humber. These are 2 of the best pitchers in all of college baseball.

 

Here is a recap of their 12 losses:

Feb 14 - Texas wins 6-3 (Score was tied 3-3 after 7)
Feb 22 - Arizona State wins 3-1
Mar 2 - @ Texas wins 8-7 (led 7-2 after 6 1/2)
Mar 9 - Texas wins 5-0 (Rice outhits Texas 6-5)
Mar 16 - @ Houston wins 3-2 (Rice outhits Houston 7-5)
Mar 21 - Hawaii wins 5-3 (Rice outhits Hawaii 12-5)
Apr 13 - @Texas wins 3-2 (lose in bottom of 9th)
May 7 - @ Hawaii wins 7-5 (led 5-2 after 4 1/2)
May 8 - @ Hawaii wins 6-5 (loss in bottom of 9th)
May 22- @ Fresno St. wins 9-7 (led 7-4 after 7 1/2, loss in 10th)
May 23- @ Fresno St. wins 11-4 (led 4-0 after 3 1/2)
May 29 - La. Tech wins 6-5 (led 5-2 after 6 and loss in 10th)

This is impressive to say the least. With the exception of the Fresno State game where they lost 11-4, there were no blowouts. And even then, they led 4-0 before the pitching fell apart in the middle innnigs.

The only thing positive you can get out of this if you are an opponent, is that they lost leads late in the game or when it was tied. 8 of the 12 losses they either led by a decent margin at some point midway to late in the game, or they lost a game in which it was tied late or in extra innings. Those other 4 losses were by a combined total of 10 runs.

The other positive is that they lost all 4 meetings against Texas. Texas was their toughest opponent. Arizona State was ranked 7th at the time they lost to them. The other 7 losses were to unranked teams.

They beat # 16 Nebraska, #17 North Carolina and #10 Texas A&M (rankings at the time they played them).

Their schedule was definitely not tough. It was mediocre at best. They were 3-5 against ranked opponents, and 39-7 against unranked opponents. Their toughest losses came against these ranked opponents, losing them late.

There is some hope in that for sure.

 

Definitely the formula will be keep it close, preferably within 1 to 2 runs late and take your hacks at their bullpen. The managerial decisions for Rice may prove to be the difference in winning and losing, as he must decide whether to leave his starter in or bring in a fresh arm. They definitely do not have a Houston Street on this staff, thank goodness. Although we will be playing the game on some street in Houston (I know, bad joke).

Of course the other option is for the LSU pitchers to pitch like superheroes and shut Rice down and get a lead and never relinquish it. Not going to be easy going that route.

 

Other stats:

1) They batted .310 as a team and held opponents to a .210 average.
2) They scored 394 (7.2) runs to their opponents 166 (3.0)
3) They hit 52 homers to 29 by their opponents
4) They have 2 big RBI guys. Paul Janish and Adam Rodgers.
5) They only lost 4 games at home, with 3 of them being close. Texas 5-0 was their only bad loss at home.

One thing you can take from this is that they are a team that does very well in not allowing home runs (only a scant 29). On the other hand, they are not a big power lineup as they hit only 52 home runs (low by college baseball standards). They have 2 big RBI guys in the lineup that you have to be fearful of. That may be better than a team that has 4-5 good RBI people in their lineup.

 

Sounds like beating Rice requires patience at the plate. Make them throw a lot of pitches and wear them down.