CWS

Rice just cleared the one hurdle I thought might give them trouble at the College World Series: Texas (the team that had their number last year).

Texas had the Rice pitcher on the ropes in the first inning, forcing him into 31 pitches with outstanding discipline at the plate. But they only scored two runs off of him, and had very little discipline at the plate the rest of the game. Consequently, he shut down Texas.

One thing I've noticed about Rice's starters this year is that they are not invincible -- but they're damn close, and you aren't going to get many chances. Your hitters have to have more discipline than most college hitters do to beat Rice, because their pitchers, in addition to having great stuff, will just throw junk balls all day as long as batters are going after 'em. It's hard enough to hit their best stuff when they're throwing strikes, but if your team is chasing bad balls, it's probably going to be a long day against Rice's starting pitching.

As a UH fan, I have some experience in this category (unfortunately). It's even tougher if the ump has an overly generous strike zone.

I don't see anyone beating Rice at this point, unless Wayne Graham and crew just have some sort of meltdown.

[Posted at 21:49 CST on 06/16/03] [Link]