The source for Rice sports news

Anthony Rendon red-hot with Washington Nationals

By

Rice baseball product Anthony Rendon is currently mashing his way through the MLB, riding one of the hottest streaks of his professional career.

Anthony Rendon earned the Howser Trophy when he was named National Player of the Year with the Owls in 2010. He later went on to be a first-round pick of the Washington Nationals in 2011 and been a successful big leaguer ever since. Currently in his sixth season in the bigs, Rendon is having one of the best stretches of his career.

A career .280 hitter with a decent amount of pop, Rendon has had a two-week stretch to remember. Beginning on June 17 against the Blue Jays, Rendon currently carries a nine-game hitting streak in which he’s been red-hot. He’s hit three home runs, six doubles and driven in seven RBI. Over the course of the nine games, Rendon is slashing .438/.471/.875. That’s an astounding 1.346 OPS. There are few hitters in the MLB seeing the baseball as well as he is right now.

Despite Rendon’s successes, the Nationals haven’t fared well. They’ve gone just 3-6 against the Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Phillies and Rays in that stretch. The Yankees are a real World Series contender, but the rest of those clubs shouldn’t be able to keep up with the Nats’ firepower at the plate or arms on the mound. Regardless of the outcome, Rendon has done his part.

As of the latest update, Rendon wasn’t in the top-5 of the National League All-Star voting recipients at third base. He trails the Rockies’ Nolan Arendo, the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, the Braves’ Johan Camargo, the Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and the Dodgers’ Justin Turner. Perhaps an electrifying finish to the first half will be enough to change the minds of enough voters to earn Rendon his first All Star selection of his career.

Recent Posts
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Owls add three players to roster

By

Rice football announced the addition of three transfers to their program: offensive lineman Andrew Mike, fullback Giovanni Gentosi and linebacker Blaze Alldredge.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren announced three additions to the Rice Football program on Monday. Joining the Owls in 2018 will be graduate transfers Andrew Mike (offensive line, Florida) and Giovanni Gentosi (fulback, UCLA) as well as JUCO transfer Blaze Alldredge (linebacker, Los Angeles Pierce College). All three are scheduled to join the team in time for summer training camp on July 26.

The two grad transfers, Mike and Gentosi, will aid Bloomgren significantly in his pursuit to add toughness and size up front. And he’s getting a lot more than warm bodies. Both Mike and Gentosi played meaningful roles on Power 5 teams last fall.

Mike should slide into the offensive line rotation immediately whereas Gentosi could fill a few different roles. Although he began his collegiate career as an offensive lineman he saw time at fullback and tight end last season. Where he’ll play in the fall could be determined, at least in part, by how the rest of the offense looks during practice.

Both Mike and Alldredge had previously announced their intentions to transfer to Rice. The announcement of Gentosi’s decision was made public for the first time on Monday. Adding a second grad transfer from a program of UCLA’s caliber is meaningful on two fronts. First, Rice needs depth to content in Conference USA. Second, and more importantly, Bloomgren has convinced mutiple quality players to finish their careers at Rice and help him build the future of what is still a fledgling program.

Mike will wear No. 74. Gentosi will wear No. 45. Alldredge will wear No. 55.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Owls enter dead period in middle of CUSA recruiting ranks

By

Rice football is looking to turn over a new leaf on the recruiting trail and so far it looks like head coach Mike Bloomgren is doing just that.

Rice football enters the dead period in the thick of the CUSA recruiting ranks. No school has a particularly large class up to this point, and there are still a little more than five months to go before the early signing period begins in December. At that point, most staffs will look to have the majority of their classes locked down. That means a lot can, and probably will change.

As far as things look right now, Rice has the No. 6 class. With three 3-stars in the fold, it seems to primarily be a numbers game. The leader, North Texas, has nine commitments. As Rice continues to grow their class they’ll continue to edge their way up the list. If the Owls add one more 3-star commitment they’ll vault from the No. 6 class to the No. 4 class. Here’s how the full ranks look:

Rice being in the middle of the recruiting standings at all is noteworthy. The Owls haven’t finished in the top six since the 2013 class and are coming off of three consecutive seasons in which they finished dead last in the conference. The progress made my Bloomgren and his staff at this point is impressive, and their class is only beginning to take shape.

If Rice wants to contend for conference championships they’ll need to improve the level of talent on the field. Finishing at the bottom of CUSA won’t be enough, and Bloomgren certainly knows that. Checking in right in the middle of the pack at this point of the race is a good start, with plenty of opportunities to turn the 2019 class into a significant milestone in Rice’s push for relevancy on the gridiron.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Recruiting dead period begins Sunday, June 25

By

Rice football recruiting is going to look a bit different over the next month as the dead period begins. What is it and how does it impact the Owls?

Coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff have put together a strong few weeks on the recruiting front. As the summer sun began to beat on the city of Houston the Owls picked up several commitments. Since June 10th the Owls have added three new faces to their 2019 class:

The commitments might not (and hopefully won’t) stop, but the way the staff goes about their recruiting efforts will look different during the coming weeks. The “dead period”, as it has come to be known, officially begins on Monday, June 25 and runs through July 24.

What is the dead period?

During the dead period, no recruits are allowed to visit schools. That means no official visits or unofficial visits. Effectively it puts a pause on recruiting weekends, camps and face-to-face meetings between recruits and coaches. What it doesn’t end are the conversations.

Although coaches can’t talk with players in-person they can still call and text recruits. You can be sure that coach Bloomgren and his staff will be just as active with their targets during the next month as they were in the weeks leading up to the dead period.

When the dead period is over there will still be a halt on official visits. These can’t resume until the regular season kicks off this fall. This will give coaches time to work with their players already on campus and get ready for the upcoming season. Unofficial visits are still allowed, but Rice will be primarily focused on working the phones and preparing for their first game against Prairie View A&M on Aug. 25.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Head coach Matt Bragga ushers in new era for Owls

By

Rice baseball has hired its 21st head coach in program history, officially introducing former Tennessee Tech head coach Matt Bragga at Reckling Park on Thursday.

It’s been a long time since Rice baseball was on the hunt for a new head coach. Any trepidation towards their first hire in nearly three decades quickly faded away thanks to the sharp smile of new head coach Matt Bragga. The jovial, passionate coaching veteran held his introductory press conference on Thursday before a packed crowd at Reckling Park. “[Rice] is an elite program in college baseball,” he said, “my expectations for what is going to happen here are high.”

Bragga doesn’t make such claims lightly. He took a Tennessee Tech program from a 15-win season when he arrived to the brink of a College World Series appearance in 2018. After defeating the Texas Longhorns in Game 1 of the Austin Regional, Bragga’s squad couldn’t quite seal the deal and deliver on the trip to the College World Series that he had promised when he took the Tennessee Tech job 15 years prior. “We got one game away from Omaha,” recalled Bragga who went on to add, “If you can do it at Tennessee Tech. We can do it big time at Rice.”

There was a time when College World Series was an annual affair for Rice baseball, but it’s been a decade since the Owls last played in Omaha. Bragga intends to use the same mentality that he used to transform Tennessee Tech at Rice, with one notable exception. Rice isn’t starting over from square one, rather, Bragga views Rice as a sleeping giant that’s ready to wake up. And that starts with the players.

“This is what you can expect from me. High energy, great passion, blue-collar work-ethic mentality, competitiveness. I love competitors. Competitors win.”

Bragga’s culture is one of respect, passion and competitiveness. In his brief moments at the podium, he hammered on those focal points. He didn’t mince words when he delivered his vision for the program going forward. “This is what you can expect from me,” he declared. “High energy, great passion, blue-collar work-ethic mentality, competitiveness. I love competitors. Competitors win.” That competition extends to not-so-friendly games of ping-pong, getting to class first and every day of practice. Everything is a competition, but it all comes with one purpose in mind – returning to Omaha.

“When the players know you love them, you can make them believe anything is possible.” That message, one of Bragga’s lasting impressions from his interview with athletic director Joe Karlgaard, was what Karlgaard shared in his opening remarks during Bragga’s introduction. And that tone, one which invoked an atmosphere of family, resonated throughout the room as Bragga continued to share his hopes for Rice baseball.

For a moment, it felt like the new head coach had been there for years. His humble sincerity was invigorating. There wasn’t any flashing lights or smokescreens. Just Bragga, who summed up the press conference with a simple, but telling statement. “I’m a baseball coach,” he said. “At the end of the day, I like to get on that field and get dirty and roll my sleeves up and go to work.”

There’s plenty to be done at Rice, but if Bragga is to be believed, it might be a shorter process than previously expected. For now, it’s time to get to work.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts