Who knows how much that game matters when it is all said and done? I know we are good enough to host a Regional. I also know that Rice and Texas are as well. And if we are as good as I think we are, what we are really lining ourselves up for is to host a Super Regional. But with that in mind, we do not play Texas this season and we only get one crack at Rice. Unfortunately, we let one slip away tonight, losing 4-3.

The Frogs have played really good this season and deserve every bit of their top 10 ranking. To put it into tennis parlance, the Frogs have been doing a good job of hitting winners. The problem has been, they have made a lot of unforced errors. Until tonight, these unforced errors were masked by all the good things this team has done. But when you play a team that has the pedigree of a team like Rice, you cannot afford to make those kind of mistakes.

Kyle Winkler pitched a heck of a game tonight and was virtually unhittable allowing just 4 hits, but you cannot walk batters. The 4 hits allowed were diminished by the 5 free passes he allowed. And true to form, 2 of the walks came around to score. Even Erik Miller falls into this category issuing 1 free pass. But that one pass pushed the game winning run into scoring position. The Frogs are issuing 5 free passes each game, whether it be by walk or hit batsmen. That is way too much and the weekend starters are the biggest culprits with 30 of the 50 free passes. That is unacceptable.

But the unforced errors do not stop on the mound. Base running has been awful this year. This team is much faster than in years past, but they keep running into outs. On the heels of the Missouri game when we had the game won in the 9th but ran into 2 outs, the Frogs started today with Josh Elander getting thrown out trying to steal a meaningless 3rd base and then Taylor Featherston getting doubled off on a line drive at 2nd base. Later in the game, Featherston almost ran out of the 8th inning trying to steal 3rd for no reason. This team has a lot of potential to create havoc on the basepaths, but they need to be smarter.

Yet the play that will stand out is Kyle VonTungeln in centerfield. With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, the Frogs were clinging to a 1 run lead. Jimmy Comerota hit a sharp drive to center and VonTungeln decided he had a chance and laid out for the ball. Instead of coming up with the ball, he totally whiffed and allowed the ball to get by him. I love the aggressiveness, but in that situation the most important thing is to keep the ball in front of you. A single meant they needed 2 hits to score the tying run, but with Comerota reaching 3rd it changed the game and shifted momentum.

In a lot of ways, the guy I feel bad for is Erik Miller. Miller had a really nice outing going and it all seemed to come undone there at the end. He was our designated closer as a freshman, but he underperformed and had some bad breaks the first half of last season. But ever since his meltdown against Oklahoma, it seems like things go wrong when he is in pressure situations. Tonight looked like things were starting to change. I know some people will question why our closer Eric Marshall was not in the game, but I do not. Miller had good stuff and was up to the task until the gaffe by VonTungeln.

Bottom line, the physical mistakes are the ones a coach can live with. The mental mistakes are the ones that gives a coach a heart attack. This is a byproduct of the youth on this team, but these are smart kids that are not using their heads between the lines. They will learn with experience, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

Nights like tonight will happen over the course of a 60+ game year, but the overriding question is does losing to Rice leave a deeper mark come tournament time? When national seeds and host sites are announced, will this game play a factor? It could. But when the Frogs look back on their trip to Houston, I think they will be disgusted by what should have been a stellar weekend. I hope that bitter taste is something that they will carry forward and use as a learning experience. But one thing is for sure, they will have no one to blame but themselves.