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Rice Baseball 2020: Previewing the UC Irvine series

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The 2020 Rice baseball is off to a tough start, making the Owls weekend road trip to UC Irvine an important series. Here’s how both teams stack up.

A three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Longhorns was not how Rice baseball wanted to start their season. Even in defeat, the Owls showed promise. Now it’s time to take those glimmers of hope and turn them into wins. Getting revenge over the Anteaters, who swept the Owls at Reckling last season, would be the perfect place to start.

Game Notes

Times: Friday 8:00 p.m. | Saturday 8:00 p.m. | Sunday 3:00 p.m.
Venue: Fowler Park at Cunningham Field
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (0-3) was swept by Texas in a weekend series. Inclement weather forced a midweek game against Sam Houston to be postponed.

UC Irvine (1-3) won their Saturday game against Fresno State, dropping the series 2-1. They also lost their midweek game, falling to San Diego 9-1 on Tuesday.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday | Alex De Leon (0-0, 0.00) vs Trenton Denholm (0-1, 4.76)
Saturday |Blake Brogdon (0-0, 0.00) vs Peter Van Loon (0-0, 6.75)
Sunday | Roel Garcia (0-0, 0.00)  vs Cole Van Den Helder (0-0, 10.12)

UC Irvine Pitching

The Anteater pitching staff had a rough first week to the season. Ace Trenton Denholm should be expected to rebound. The right posted a sub 2.00 ERA last season, throwing at least eight innings in six of his final nine games including to complete-game victories.

The rest of the staff had equally challenging starts. Dylan Riddle is the only reliever to make multiple appearances without allowing an earned run. Newcomers Josh Ibarra and Jacob King could be called upon if there are signs of trouble.

UC Irvine Hitting

Left fielder Jake Palmer is UC Irvine’s top bat and leadoff man. After hitting .307 last season the junior picked right up where he left off, hitting .389. And that’s after an uncharacteristic 0-3 night in the midweek drubbing by San Diego. First baseman Damla and right fielder Nathan Church have been consistent this season.

Center fielder Mike Peabody, who finished second to palmer in on base percentage last season, has gotten off to a slow start. He hit cleanup last time out. Don’t let his .142 batting average fool you.

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Rice Women’s Basketball Preview: Owls seek rebound vs North Texas

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Losing is not a familiar feeling for Rice Women’s basketball. The Owls look to get back to their winning ways against North Texas on Thursday.

Rice Women's Basketball

Time: Feb. 20 at 7:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Tudor Fieldhouse
TV: ESPN3

North Texas 9-16 (3-10), Last 5 (0-5)

  • 67-52 (L) vs Rice
  • 80-60 (L) vs MTSU
  • 51-50 (L) vs UAB
  • 72-59 (L) at Charlotte
  • 71-66 (L) at Old Dominion

Rice 16-8 (11-2), Last 5 (3-2)

  • 67-52 (W) at North Texas
  • 64-53 (W) vs UAB
  • 77-60 (W) vs MTSU
  • 66-59 OT (L) at Old Dominion
  • 62-51 (L) at Charlotte

North Texas statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Anisha George – 13.2 per game
  • Rebounds | Anisha George – 8.4 per game
  • Assists | N’Yah Boyd – 2.7 per game
  • Steals | Destinee McDowell – 2.6 per game
  • Blocks | Destinee McDowell – 1.4 per game

Rice keys to victory

Returning home to play a familiar opponent is nothing but good news for Rice women’s basketball. Rice beat North Texas 67-52 in Denton earlier this season. They beat them three times last year and twice the year before that. The Owls know the Mean Green inside and out. That’s a good start, but not enough by itself to push the home team to a much-needed victory

In their two losses, Rice has not shot well from the floor and relied heavily on Erica Ogwumike and Nancy Mulkey to carry the load. Ogwumike fouled out against Charlotte and Mulkey played less than her usual complement of minutes, exiting with an injury in the second half. Rice needs someone else, anyone else, to step up and provide a scoring threat to make the defense guard something beyond Ogwumike’s drive to the basket.

Lauren Schwartz has been in a bit of a shooting slump of late, connecting on more than two shots from the field once in her last five games — all starts. She’s shown herself to be a capable scoring threat at times this year and could be the key cog Rice needs to snap back into their winning ways.

More: Complete playlist of 2020 Rice baseball walk up songs

If not Schwartz, look for fellow starters Sydne Wiggins and Jasmine Smith to knock down the key shots behind the Owls’ leading scorers. Both have had moments, but neither has been leaned upon to carry the offense on a consistent basis.

The defense will continue to be the Owls’ bread and butter. None of their conference opponents have reached 70 points. Six have been held to 60 or fewer. Rice doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel on Thursday. They just need to play their game and create a few more plus opportunities on offense. Finding a new spark their should be more than enough to get this team back in the win column.

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Rice Basketball: Glue-guy Drew Peterson has become one of Owls’ leaders

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Rice basketball has gone through a transformation on and off the court this season. Drew Peterson has been one of the men leading the charge.

The 2019-2020 Rice Basketball season has bounced from high to low and back again. In the midst of those oscillating waves of success and failure, Drew Peterson has been at the center of a team learning to compete at a consistent level. A role player for head coach Scott Pera as a true freshman last year, Peterson has settled into a leadership role with this year’s squad.

In an interview in the early weeks of conference play, Peterson spoke of the changes he’s seen in his own game — changes that have continued throughout the season. “I feel more comfortable out there,” Peterson said. “I’m really trying to slow the game down. I think that’s the biggest thing between this [year] and last year. I was so fast-paced last year and I was chaotic. And now I can really see the whole floor and sit and read situations. I feel really comfortable out there.”

That comfort has translated to more time on the court. Peterson eclipsed 30 minutes once last season. He’s been on the court for at least 30 minutes in 16 of the Owls’ 27 games this season, playing 38+ minutes three times in conference play.

Pera says Peterson’s newfound confidence has turned him into a creator for the Owls’ offense. Pera called Peterson “a unique player because he’s got that size [and] vision and as he continues to be more aggressive he can make plays for us.”

For Peterson, those plays haven’t necessarily meant more scoring for himself. His 10.1 points per game average rank fourth on the team. Instead, he’s freed up others to make easier shots. Peterson has six or more assists in four of his last five outings. His 91 assists this season are Top 10 in Conference USA. His teammates have noticed the difference.

Owls’ leading scorer Trey Murphy credits Peterson for a portion of his success. “He’s been rebounding, getting assists for guys, creating his own shot, and I commend him for it. He gives me a lot of open layups when I cut.”

That’s been the most noticeable difference in Peterson’s game. He’s still rough around the edges. His improvisation has led to occasional turnover struggles that have put the Owls in tough positions. But more often than not, Peterson sets his team up for success rather than failure. The consistency should only improve as he grows into his role as a leader for Rice basketball.

Peterson’s hand will be needed now more than ever. Rice basketball was assigned to the lowest pod for the final four games of the season. Rice is in elimination mode. If they don’t edge two of UTEP, Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss down the stretch, their season is over. Peterson has come a long way. It’s time for him to elevate his game one more time.

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College Football transfer rules could be changing soon

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Changes could be coming to the college football transfer rules. The NCAA could enable one-time transfer exemptions for all sports as soon as April.

There have been rumblings of changes to the NCAA transfer policy for some time. Those ideas have reemerged recently in the national discourse. The Big Ten got things rolling in earnest a few weeks ago by announcing their support of a “one-time transfer exemption.” That policy, if enacted, would allow athletes competing in any sport to transfer to another school without being forced to sit out a year as a penalty.

A more open transfer policy is already in place in all Division 1 sports with five notable exceptions: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and men’s ice hockey. This new proposal would bring those five spots into alignment with the rest of collegiate athletics.

The ACC quickly followed suit:

With two Power 5 conferences in support of a revised policy, the NCAA stepped in. They provided a few clarifications to the proposals, announcing potential conditions for a new rule. This proposal, created by a working group, could be enacted as quickly as April of this year. If that were to be the case, the rule would be in place before the beginning of the 2020 football season.

If the transfer rules were indeed relaxed, some language could be added to the rules to account for the fluctuation in players from school to school. The biggest change would revolve around the size of annual signing classes, currently capped at 25 players per year. Transfers currently count against that number.

So how does this impact Rice football?

The short answer is I’m not sure. I’m cognizant of the fears that Power 5 programs will all of a sudden swoop in and steal away all of the top talent from Group of 5 programs.

But let’s not pretend that’s not a threat as things currently stand. And the mobility isn’t limited upward. Rice signed six graduate transfers last year and three more this year, the majority of which came from Power 5 schools. They’ve not taken many regular transfers under head coach Mike Bloomgren, instead, they’ve relying on the JUCO and grad transfer markets.

Rice has seen several players enter the Transfer Portal this offseason. It’s reasonable to believe that a more lax transfer policy would see that number increase. But the doom and gloom preached by some seems a tad excessive. A capable starter at a program like Rice would have to weigh the trade-offs of a Rice degree and playing time with perhaps a lesser role at another institution, albeit one with a bigger football brand.

Beyond that, Rice will be playing by the same rules as everyone else. They’ll have just as much access to talent relative to their peers in Conference USA and the Group of 5. The gap between the bigger state schools is sizable already. I don’t see more transfers tipping the playing field by a noticeable margin.

I’m curious to hear what you think. Do you support these potential changes? How would you propose such a policy were implemented?

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Rice Baseball: Complete 2020 Walk up song playlist

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You’ll find yourself tapping your toe and singing along to the 2020 Rice baseball walk up songs. Here’s a list of tunes for each of the Owls.

A few quick notes. These are the songs as selected on Opening Day. Players have been known to change their music as the season progresses, but we’ve started with what we know. If you notice a new tune, feel free to drop us a note and let us know.

Get the full playlist on Spotify

Hitters

Aaron Beaulaurier – In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins

Austin Bulman – Falling in Love by Dennis Kruissen

Braden Comeaux – Welcome to the Show by Cody Johnson

Antonio Cruz – BOP by DaBaby

Trei Cruz – Jump Around by House of Pain

Justin Collins – Your Love by The Outfield

Brayden Combs – Electric Feel by MGMT

Dominic Cox – Schemin Up by Drake

Rodrigo Duluc – Plakata by  Jose De Las Heras

Justin Dunlap – Telephone Calls by A$AP Mob

Cade Edwards – Piece of Your Heart by MEDUZA

Bradley Gneiting – Whoah by Lil Baby

Cullen Hannigan – Thunderstruck by AC/DC

Daniel Hernandez – Song I Can Drink To by  Koe Wetzel

Tyler LaRue – Pure Water by Migos

Pitchers

Kel Bordwine – Ooh Ahh by Grits

Blake Brogdon – Wit It by Gunna

Caleb Burgess – Get on My Knees and Pray by Kenny Faithful

Eric Benitez – Tu No Metes Cabra by Bad Bunny

Cristian Cienfuegos – Bandolero by Tego Calderon

Jack Conlon – E.I. by Nelly

Brandon Deskins – Heartless by Kanye West

Roel Garcia – Butterfly Effect by Travis Scott

Drake Greenwood – Stranglehold by Ted Nugent

Johnny Hoyle – N.I.B. by Black Sabbath

Andrew Kane – I’d Love to Change the World by Ten Years After

Josh Larzabal – Money in the Grave by Drake

Jared Plank – Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

A.C. Plum – Come and Get Your Love by Redbone

Ryan Rickett – Country Must Be Country Wide by Brantley Gilbert

Matthew Santos – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant

Dalton Wood – I’ll Make a Man Out of You by Donny Osmond

Garrett Zaskoda – Sleeping on the Blacktop by Colter Wall

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