Rice Preview (From a Rice Fan)

Rice has had a tale of two seasons. After starting 13-25, Rice went 18-4 down the stretch and won the C-USA tourney to finish 31-29. At mid season, many fans were calling for Coach Graham's head, lamenting that we haven't been to Omaha since 2008 and although 22 straight years of regionals had been nice, Rice has higher standards. Even after this great stretch run, it would take an idiot to not notice our drop off. Anyhow, we are here so might as well enjoy the ride.

Rice has 8 wins vs. the RPI top 25 (2 vs. UT, 2 vs. Stanford, 2 vs. UH, 2 vs. USM) which is in line with several of the hosts, so it's not as if we are scared of/can't play top competition. Rather, its an issue of which Rice team shows up to play, as we also lost a home series to #195 Pepperdine.

I am unsure as to what order Rice will throw our pitchers, because Canterino pitched yesterday, but I will lay them out in the order of which they typically pitch...

Starters:

Matt Canterino, Fr, 5-4, 3.94 ERA, .190 BAA
Zach Esquivel, So, 6-5, 3.62 ERA, .261 BAA
Willy Amador, Jr, 4-5, 5.43 ERA, .274 BAA

Key Relievers:

Glenn Otto, Jr, 3.97 ERA, .223 BAA (Preseason All-American, pitched VERY poorly early in season but has been better lately)
Dane Myers, Jr, 4.09 ERA, .250 BAA (Also is our 3B and 2nd best hitter)
Evan Kravetz, So, 4.72 ERA, .302 BAA (Would probably start a game if we play four or five)
Kendall Jefferies, So, 5.01 ERA, .274 BAA
Addison Moss, Fr, 6.45 ERA, .269 BAA
Other Guys, Various Ages, None Very Servicable

As you can see, our pitching isn't exactly what Rice is accustomed to but they've been better lately and our offense is better than usual so that partially makes up for it. Still, expect Graham to ride Otto as hard as he can.

Offensively, these are our key guys:

Dom DiCaprio, C, .365, 6 HR, 47 RBI
Dane Myers, 3B, .360, 6 HR, 38 RBI
Darren Sheppard, 1B, .315, 7 HR, 50 RBI
Ford Proctor, SS, .309, 4 HR, 35 RBI
Tristan Gray, .299, 6 HR, 34 RBI (Only played in 43 games due to suspension at beginning of season)

Ryan Chandler, our center fielder, only bats .270 but always seems to be the guy who gets the clutch hit when we need it, so lookout for him.

Neither of our corner outfielders, Dayne Wunderlich and Charlie Warren, are particularly scary at the plate, though Warren had a great C-USA tourney.

Obviously, LSU is the favorite, but I do think we are a different ball club than the one that lost 2/3 to SeLA early in the season (though they're a respectable team). If our pitching is servicable (doesn't have to be great), I think our offense is good enough to pose a threat.

Anyhow, may the best team win!