top teams do get beat

[shock10]

U C Irving lost two games to U C Riverside a team with a 10 and 23 record. I say this because they are ranked number 5 right ahead of WSU. I won't even talk about Texas because they are over rated.

[Harold_Shox]

Yes, it happens every week, all season and is good perspective to keep in mind.

One solid pitching outing, a crazy wind, a couple of bad bounces, by anyone in the country and they can beat a top team...As we've said all along, baseball is a strange game sometimes.

[KC Shox]

Riverside isn't that bad of a loss for Irvine compared to ours. Riverside has the 20th most difficult schedule, they have played 29 games against the RPI Top 100, and they do have wins agasint Fullerton, Long Beach 2x, Washington 2x and now Irvine 2x. They have shown they can compete with the stonger programs.

I'd rather lose to a 10-23 team with a 130 RPI rather than an SIU team which has a SOS of 254 and an RPI over 180 even though their W/L record is better than Riverside's. Records can be deceiving.

[Hill Sitter]

I agree KC: SIU loss is no fun but - and I don't have the time to google every top team's schedule- but keep in mind there are tons of other examples of this from all across the RPI spectrum (most things in sports don't happen in a vacum to just one team).

Not saying it makes it any easier, but stuff happens to everyone.

[BostonWu]

Bottom line we don't have much margin for error playing in the Valley. You don't have to be Texas; even a program like Irvine has some cushion...but not us.

[Hill Sitter]

We lost a lot of mid-week games last year to both ranked ( OU, OSU, Arkansas) and non ranked teams (ORU, South Alabama, KSU, and others) , and still hosted.

Yes, of course we need to win as many as we can - but I say the verdict will be played out in the long run.

[shockfan89]

Our weekend was really no worse than Nebraska. They got beat by KU who has an RPI of 130 (SIU is 168). And the Games Nebraska did win were 7-6 and 8-6. Nebraska had to score 3 runs late to win on Friday so Nebraska struggled way more with a comparable team. It happens.

[1972Shocker]

Texas A&M he current Big XII leader has the same number of losses as the Shocks at 7.

Texas A&M has lost to Northern Colorado x2, Rutgers, Oklahoma State x2 and Texas Tech the last place team in the Big XII.

Shocks losses are to LBS x3, Nebraska, Missouri State, Creighton and Southern Illinois.

A&M's non-conference schedule has not exactly been a real tough one.

Of course, Texas A&M still has Missouri, Nebraska and Texas on the Big XII schedule.

[WSUwatcher]

A&M

Texas A&M he current Big XII leader has the same number of losses as the Shocks at 7.

Texas A&M has lost to Northern Colorado x2, Rutgers, Oklahoma State x2 and Texas Tech the last place team in the Big XII.

Shocks losses are to LBS x3, Nebraska, Missouri State, Creighton and Southern Illinois.

A&M's non-conference schedule has not exactly been a real tough one.

Of course, Texas A&M still has Missouri, Nebraska and Texas on the Big XII schedule.

As a result, the Aggies' RPI still ranks just behind WSU's (22nd, according to Warren Nolan, vs. the Shocks' 21st), and only third in their league, behind Oklahoma State at 5th and Nebraska at 12th. A&M's strength of schedule is 104th, vs. 84th for WSU.