Here’s a little note for you Rice Owl baseball fans who like to post on the message boards. Coach Wayne Graham likes to read your little postings. But here’s the thing, he doesn’t always agree with what you write. And he’s hoping that, after last night’s 16-9 win over the TSU Tigers, you’ll finally understand why he started J.T. Chargois.
“I noted on our message boards that some people questioned the starting of J.T. Chargois,” Graham said after the game. “And I also note what he did compared to the rest of the people we put out there. For those who criticized that move.”
What Chargois did, in his first start of the year, was pitch five innings of no-run baseball. He held TSU scoreless while throwing only 69 pitches, giving up only three hits, and walking no one (he did hit two batters, however). The rest of the Rice pitching staff last night wasn’t so accomplished, especially the four poor souls who pitched the eighth and ninth innings, Doug Simmons, Holt McNair, Matt Evers, and Tyler Duffey.
The four surrendered nine runs, seven hits, and four walks as they turned what had been a 13-0 laugher into a 16-9 thriller that saw TSU (23-21) making the Rice (28-16) coaches, players, and faithful in the stands sweat on an otherwise calm night of near non-humidity.
“I think this was the longest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said shortstop Rick Hague.
Hague was one of Rice’s many hitting stars for the night, finishing
two-for-five with a walk, two runs, and three RBI. And it was Hague who
finally got the final out of the game, having to charge a dribbler hit
by TSU’s Andrew Garza and barely getting the throw to Rice first baseman
Jimmy Comerota in time.
“We just
wanted to get that last out,” he said. “It seemed like we couldn’t get
these guys out late in the game. They kept battling, but I was glad to
help the team and get that last out.”
The win, the second in two
nights by Rice (they defeated Texas State 16-2 on Tuesday), gives Rice a
five-game winning streak, and they’ve won 11 of their last 13 games. They’ve yet to win six in a row this season (they’ve done five in a row
four times), and this weekend just might be the most opportune time for
the Owls to get that sixth in a row for they’re heading out to West
Virginia to take on C-USA foe Marshall, who is tied for second in the
conference.
The Owls, at 11-4 in conference, have a four-game
advantage on Marshall, 10-8 in conference, in the lost column, but
they’re only one up in the win column. And getting the wins in Marshall
this weekend will not only cement Rice’s lead in the conference, but
will let them soar away from their competition, something that not many
imagined was possible when Memphis won two of three over Rice to start
conference play, leaving Rice at 13-12.
“We’re going to their
place,” Hague said. “So we just want to come out early, score some
runs, kind of get on top of them. They have a tough team this year, so
we’ll be ready for them.”
Rice, as always, has the pitching
advantage coming into the Marshall series, allowing nearly three runs
less a game than the Thundering Herd. But Graham says the key is going
to be the Owls ability to hit. Something they’ve been doing a lot of
this past month. But just as important will be the pitching.
“We
need to continue to hit,” he says. “There could be — it has a lot to
do with conditions at Marshall. If the wind’s blowing out, they really
go. But you know, it’s always how well we pitch probably more than
anything else because you figure we’re going to swing fairly well, and
it’s going to be how we pitch.”
Should the Owls handle Marshall
this weekend, then they appear to be primed to win the conference and
move on through the C-USA Tournament and into the NCAA Regionals in
June. The Owls definitely have the bats, and for the past month,
they’ve been hitting everybody in sight. The key will be the pitching,
and after last night, Graham’s hoping Chargois will be ready to join
Taylor Wall and Mike Ojala in a starting rotation that has been good,
but not great, and has been that one thing the team’s been lacking this
season.
“He’s got really good stuff. That’s the reason I put him
out there. Because we’re looking for pitching, and he’s got an arm. A
good one.”
All three games with Marshall (21-24) will be day
games, with Friday and Saturday set to start at 1:05 p.m. and Sunday’s game
starting at 9:35 a.m.
This article appears in May 6-12, 2010.
