Big game vs No. 5 Rice Owls tonight
5/15/2012 7:01:00 AM | Baseball
For several reasons, today's game against fifth-ranked Rice is going to be a biggie for the Bearkats.
Fresh off clinching a Southland Conference regular-season championship on Sunday, the Kats return to Don Sanders Stadium for what will be the final home game for Sam Houston.
With one more series left to go before the conference tournament gets under way next week, the Kats want to keep focus in the proper place to extend their momentum through the weekend.
In the big picture, however, a win over the Owls tonight, which would be No. 2 on the year, could strengthen Sam Houston's case for an at-large bid should it falter in the upcoming Southland tournament.
"First of all, a lot of the RPIs (a ratings system that uses wins, losses and strength of schedule to rank teams across the country) and the at-large picks are really out of our hands. It's our job to go out there and play a clean game every day and be as consistent as we can," Sam Houston head coach David Pierce said Monday morning.
"We just try to continue to position ourselves."
While the Kats did wrap up the Southland's regular-season title on Sunday, the championship that matters the most, especially in regards to the NCAA tournament, is the conference tournament.
Just like in basketball for March Madness, the winners of the conference tournaments will earn automatic berths to the 64-team NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Those teams that don't get automatic bids have to hope that the NCAA selection committee looks favorably on what they've done over the past few months and awards them with one of 33 at-large spots.
That is why Sam Houston has played teams like Baylor, Texas A&M and Dallas Baptist, in order to have a strong enough strength of schedule to earn consideration provided it has done well enough through the campaign.
The Kats have already built an impressive resume in the first 50 games. Sam Houston (RPI No. 48) has defeated Rice (No. 18) and Dallas Baptist (No. 22) in midweek games, while winning series against 21st-ranked San Diego (No. 25) to open the season, Texas State (No. 54) and Southeastern Louisiana (No. 55).
Of the teams that are currently ranked in the top 60 in RPI, the Bearkats have a record of 10-4 against them.
Inversely, losses against Houston (No. 134), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (No. 188) and McNeese State (No. 217) and possibly Central Arkansas (No. 180) later this week could hurt the Kats' case as well.
"The San Diego series was definitely early, but it really has helped us to stabilize our RPI right now. At the same time, with them doing as well as they have (currently in first place in the Big West Conference) that's definitely documented by the committee," Pierce said.
"Playing some better RPI teams like DBU and Rice and getting wins from those is great. Southeastern, Texas State and even UT Arlington are all in the top 60 to 65, so those are all good wins. ... The other part of it is seeing how the automatics play out. If the right schools win the automatics, it can definitely help you as well as if the wrong schools win the automatics, it can definitely hurt you.
"Hopefully we've done enough to get some consideration, but I just don't think we can look at it like we've got a high-percentage chance right now. ... There are so many variables that the committee looks at, so it's really out of our hands."
If everything goes as smoothly as the regular season has gone for Sam Houston and the Kats win the SLC tournament, then they won't have anything to worry about and will securely be in the NCAA tournament and headed to one of the 16 regional sites.
"I just want to get us back to concentrating on the next week versus still talking about yesterday's win and the conference title," Pierce said. "This is not the time of the year to pat yourself on the back. This is the time of the year to understand what you've accomplished, appreciate it, be thankful for it, but now we've got to move on. Rice doesn't care and Central Arkansas doesn't care if we won the conference championship.
"All of these teams are in the hunt for something. Rice is looking to try to become a regional and national host and UCA is still trying to get into the (Southland) tournament."
Even further, the Kats know that a win tonight against the Owls, who will travel to Central Florida later this week to try and win their own conference regular-season championship, can kick-start the rest of the final week of the regular season as they look to stay on top of their game.
"They're a team you can't take lightly. If we live in the past, they're going to kill us," Kats senior Jake Arrington said. "I think that playing a good team like them can really bring out the best in us."
In the last meeting at Reckling Park in Houston, the Bearkats scored a pair of runs on a double by now-injured John Hale and a groundout by Jessie Plumlee in the second inning.
After being held scoreless through the first seven innings, Rice cut the deficit in half with a solo home run in the eighth. Following a one-out single in the ninth by third baseman Shane Hoelscher, the Owls got another single by pinch hitter Keenan Cook. Hoelscher attempted to get an extra base on the hit but Greg Olson, who was a defensive replacement in right field, threw him out at third base. Designated hitter J.T. Hargois walked, then second baseman Christian Stringer struck out swinging to hand a hard-fought 2-1 victory to Sam Houston.
"They're never going to give up," Arrington said of the Owls. "If we come out and put up some runs at the beginning, we can't be satisfied with that because they're a good team and good teams never go away. I think if we just don't let up, we'll be fine."
The opening pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets and today at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the telephone number is (936) 294-1729.
