AWAKENING

By Mark Anderson

On February 23rd, it was a cold, wet evening as the Owls played Florida Atlantic. But the folks in the stands weren’t the only ones cold at the time. The Owls were 6-4, and the ninth inning didn’t look very promising with the home team down. That’s when Joe Savery stepped to the plate and delivered one of the biggest hits of the season to give the Owls the win that night.

The Owl bats have had an awakening ever since.

Take Savery as the prime example. Coming into that game against Florida Atlantic, he was batting .171, with only 6 hits and 4 RBIs. Starting with the Florida Atlantic game, Savery has hit at a .465 clip. This is his stat line beginning on February 23 through today:

AB: 43 R: 8 H: 20 2B: 5 3B: 1 HR: 0 RBI: 12 AVE.: 465

Now that’s what’s referred to as an awakening!

But Savery’s bat wasn’t the only one in the doldrums. Aaron Luna was struggling as well at the time, hitting .181 with 2 HR. His stats starting February 23rd read this way:

AB: 43 R: 13 H: 15 2B: 4 3B:1 HR: 2 RBI: 12 AVE.: .348

That’s what you would call an awakening as well.

Brian Friday’s bat since that day has also been on a tear of its’ own. Brian was clearly struggling early in the season, and brought a .189 average with no RBI’s into that February 23rd game. But beginning there, here are his stats:

AB: 45 R: 10 H: 15 2B: 6 3B: 0 HR: 1 RBI 9 AVE. .333

Clearly, the All-American shortstop has found his stroke. The quickest bat of the team has begun to produce and live up to expectations.

Diego Seastrunk wasn’t setting the world on fire coming into that game, either. He had 3 hits in 17 at-bats for a Mendoza-like .176. Look at his statistics beginning with that same game:

AB: 41 R: 9 H: 16 2B: 4 3B: 0 HR: 1 RBI: 9 AVE.: .390

While I was unable to obtain Jordan Dodson’s stats going into that same game, he clearly is on the warpath himself with a very hot bat. He homered twice against A & M—CC when the Owl offense exploded. He’s also coming off a weekend where he was named the MVP of the Whataburger Classic.

And Coach Graham turned into somewhat of a prophet himself as he reminded the blog that day, “There are entire months that Barry Bonds and Lance Berkman didn’t get a hit.” He also looked with a twinkle in his eye as he referred to the Owls’ lack of hitting and said, “They’ll hit.”

Yea, Coach—they’re hitting. And when these guys hit, great things happen. Their record since then is 8-3.

Here’s hoping those smoking hot bats continue to smack the baseball around the Reck today as Rice (14-7) takes on Cal Poly this weekend.

PROBABLE Weekend Rotation for Rice:
FRIDAY: Ryan Berry
SATURDAY: Matt Langwell
SUNDAY: Joe Savery