Yea, this team took out the #1 seeded team, then went to Stillwater and just flat shut down the Pokies two straight, with a shutout yesterday. They are very hot, with excellent pitching. But, nobody said it would be easy.
Time for some Round Rock revenge. But it probably won't happen. The Anteaters are too good. In fact, we are DOOMED!
I was rooting for the Cowboys over the Anteaters. I knew we could beat OSU, but UCI looks like they play our offense even better than we do (we struggle at times with the fundamentals) and their pitching can be dominant from their first two starters (Morales 11-2 with a 1.53 and Surrey 8-4 with a 1.99) to their closer (Moore 31 appearances, 23 saves and a 1.88).
I sure hope we don't face off against that Morales kid. He was masterful shutting down OSU with a number of deadly pitches. Guy is 12-0 with a 1.46 ERA and has never lost in 17 college starts. Wait a second, that's the stats from the Rice pitcher we slapped 9 hits and 2 runs off in a 3-2 regional victory. DOOMED I say!
Hot teams from California has usually not been a good recipe for Texas. Those games against Fullerton, Pepperdine, and Stanford were always tough in Omaha. Cal-Irvine is on a roll and you can bet we will see their best pitcher whoever they deem that to be. I would have rather played OSU too and it's why I followed the game and posted the results on that upset thread. Still, I rather be playing any team as long as we made it back to Omaha.
Their pitching is certainly stout. All kidding aside, Morales will be extremely hard to get a bead on. He has wicked movement, nice velocity, wide variety of pitches, and paints his spots when he's on (which is often). Basically he's a massive challenge if we see him in Game 1. The other top starter (Surrey) is real good too, but won't be nearly as threatening to shut us down...doesn't have the same tools. Morales:1.53 ERA, 129 inn,136 K's, 30 BB, .182 avg vs. .Surrey: 1.99 ERA, 108 inn, 75 K's, 27 BB, .229 avg vs. Morales' numbers aren't f'n around. Over a strikeout per inning avg and a walk every 4 innings or so. That's serious dominance. Only other pitcher I saw us play with same extreme dominance and full package was the TCU ace. We looked foolish trying to hit that guy. Just like OSU did trying to hit Morales last night. Good news is their bats are real similar to ours. .272 to .268 lead on us in avg. We scored more (253 to 240 RBI's), and hit for more power (21 to 12 HR's). The only real concern I have comes from playing their ace. The rest I'm confident we can handle and defeat. No doubt we could beat them against either starter as they are no offensive juggernaut by any means. Our postseason avg is .284 while they trail at .265. We are pitching like complete studs also. We lead them in postseason team ERA at 1.15 to 2.04. I love our bracket but won't love seeing Morales first game out. Regardless I'd in no way raise the white flag if we do. Still have great shot of beating these guys with our dominant pitching.
i'd think we'd go with Thornhill, but Augie could surprise us. Whoever is pitching for us, MUST be on their game for us to have a chance. We can do it.
The very name Anteaters strikes fear in me since the days at the Dell Diamond. We are definitely DOOMED
Texas plays at 2:00 p.m. CST, Saturday, June 14th against the Anteaters. And at 2:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m., Monday, June 16th against Louisville or Vanderbilt. The Bracket
