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The Rice Raiders’ baseball team has been falling victim to some of the same issues as they traverse a difficult season. Many of their problems are found on the defensive side of the ball as they struggle to find enough consistency to keep their opponents from having huge games offensively. Several opponents have scored into the double digits against Rice’s pitching and defense. On the other side of the ball, the Raiders have shown difficulties in getting on base and putting themselves into scoring positions on the base path. Many of these factors showed up once again during the Raiders’ last week of competition as they fell in two straight games after allowing over 20 runs in each.
Vs Hallettsville, 21-3 The Raiders had understandable difficulties as they faced off against the team that currently leads the district standings. Much of the game was a display of why the Brahmas had earned that position as they dominated from the first pitch and ran up the score quickly. They had no difficulties finding hits and filling up the bases with runners. The Raiders were able to respond with three runs of their own to prevent the shutout, but they never created a realistic chance to get back into the ball game.
Vs Industrial, L, 23-0 Rice’s week did not get any easier as they faced off against another top-3 team in the district. Industrial came out with intense effort to try to prevent from falling further behind in the district championship race. The Raiders’ opponents flooded the outfield with multiple- base hits and runs scored from miscues by the Raider defense. While an offensive explosion by the opponent was a familiar experience, nothing on offense felt the same as the Raiders fell in their first shutout defeat of the district season.
