The source for Rice sports news

Houston claims Silver Glove Series with pair of wins over Rice Baseball

By

Rice baseball dropped the first two games of the Silver Glove series this week, narrowly being outscored by Houston by a combined score of 8-3.

TUESDAY | Houston 4 – Rice 1

Houston had one strong inning with the bat on Tuesday, but they made the production count. The Cougars struck for three runs in the second inning off Rice starter Robert Fernandez, who pitched relatively well, all things considered, going five innings and allowing three runs, the final two of which came across on a bases-clearing triple in that fateful second frame.

Last Time Out: Bats wake up as Rice Baseball sweeps Houston Christian

Trailing 3-0, Rice would manufacture one run in the eight. Kyte McDonald walked and stole second, moving into scoring position for Treyton Rank who drove him in with a single. Houston tacked on an insurance run in the eighth and that would be that.

WEDNESDAY | Houston 4 – Rice 2

A true bullpen game featuring 15 pitchers saw consistent traffic on the base paths for both teams. But despite the accumulation of pitches, hits and free passes, runs trickled in here and there, rather than flowing in droves.

Houston got on the board first with a solo home run in the third. Rice tied things in the fifth on a sac fly from Manny Garza that felt a few feet short of a game-changing grand slam. Instead, the game was back to even for a few more innings until Houston scratched across three more to take a 4-1 lead midway through the eighth. The Cougars would hold on to claim the series, which concludes next week.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

1. Not so fast

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

ON DECK | vs Tulane (Fri-Sun)

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

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 2: From the Trenches

By

Spring is meant to be a time for improvement and learning. That’s been the theme from Rice football on the practice field this week.

Rice football returned from spring break and got back on the practice field this week. There were standouts at all levels, but the trenches stuck out the most. The offensive line has wowed early, even as they rotate through several faces. Meanwhile, on defense, the up-and-coming youngsters are working to make a name for themselves alongside some veteran pieces.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

Growth, competition and good news up front

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

14-Seed Rice Women’s Basketball to face LSU in 2024 NCAA Tournament

By

Rice Women’s Basketball has earned a 14-Seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and will open up against 3-Seed LSU in Baton Rouge.

For the first time since 2019, Rice Women’s Basketball is going dancing. The Owls clinched an automatic berth in the 2024 NCAA Tournament when they cut down the nets this week in Forth Worth, TX, winning the American Conference Championship. They found out their postseason destination on Selection Sunday:

Rice will be the No. 14 Seed in the Albany 2 Region where they’ll face 3-Seed LSU in the first round. Should the Owls pull off the upset and advance beyond that, they’ll play the winner of 6-Seed Louisville and 11-Seed MTSU.

Rice and LSU will tip off Friday at 3:00 pm. The game will be televised on ESPN

This is the Owls’ fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history and head coach Lindsay Edmonds has become the only Rice women’s basketball head coach to reach the tournament in their first three seasons with the school.

The Owls’ first appearance as a program came in 2000 when the 13-Seed Owls upset 4-Seed UC Santa Barbara in the first round. They then advanced to the second round and fell to 5-Seed North Carolina. Their second trip came in 2005 as an 11-Seed where they fell to 6-Seed Georgia in the first round.

Erica Ogwumike and Nancy Mulkey headlined the most recent Rice Women’s Basketball team to go dancing. That squad was a 12-Seed, pitted against 5-Seed Marquette in the first round. That team dropped a close overtime contest and was denied another chance at the tournament when the 2020 postseason was canceled with the outbreak of COVID-19.

The complete bracket is available here.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball battles through rain to sweep Houston Christian

By

Rice baseball picked up its first home series sweep of the season, battling through the rain to take all three games against Houston Christian at Reckling Park.

It was all smiles at Reckling Park following a weekend sweep of a team from across town. Rice baseball moved to 8-11 on the season with conference play looming ahead. “All in all, it was an excellent weekend for us. We were challenging the guy on the offensive side to be more than they have been, get on the plate and create some more issues on the offensive side and they really did,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr said.

“They took it personally and they were swinging the bat. They were confident. They battled with two strikes. They got hits with guys on base. They had more stolen base attempts, executed bunts. All that was really good. That’s the kind of attitude that we just need to have moving forward.”

FRIDAY | Rice 10 – HCU 7

It became evident this would not be a pitcher’s duel when Rice ace Parker Smith was lifted after three innings that required 62 pitches to get through. The Owls were in front 4-3 when Smith departed, but ceded that advantage in the fifth inning when Smith’s relief, Tom Vincent, surrendered a pair of two-out RBI hits.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops series to Hawaii

Trailing 7-6, Rice went quietly in the sixth before getting something going in the seventh. The first three batters reached, setting up a bases-loaded situation with no outs. Two strikeouts later, the burden fell to Trey Duffield who delivered in style, mashing the two-out delivery over the left field fence for a grand slam. Vincent followed with a scoreless eighth before Davion Hickson stepped in for the ninth, earning his second save of the season.

SATURDAY | Rice 7 – HCU3

Rice were visitors in their home park after weather forced the Saturday contest, previously scheduled to be played at Houston Christian, back to South Main. They found themselves trailing after the first inning, giving up a pair to HCU via a pair of errors in the infield, before rallying back in the top of the second.

The Owls hung three on HCU starter Parker Edwards, who they’d knock out of the game early in the fourth. JD McCracken settled in quickly, working through five allowing just two earned runs as the bats continued to tack on runs, steadily increasing their advantage. Treyton Rank’s two-RBI double in the eighth left plenty of cushion for Tyler Hamilton, who earned the last six outs and his first save of the season.

SUNDAY | Rice 10 – HCU 6

There was no Rice deficit to be seen in the series finale. The Owls struck for two in the first inning before hitting around in the second, sending 11 to the plate in a seven-run outburst that gave the home team a commanding 9-0 lead entering the third. At that point, all Ryland Urbancyzk had to do was hold the line. He worked 4.2 innings in relief, handing the ball to Mauricio Rodriguez who earned the win.

Kyte McDonald, Jack Riedel and Nathan Becker all had three-hit games as Rice baseball unloaded the bench and was able to get a host of position players into the game in the later innings. HCU was eventually able to get a bit closer, threatening with bases loaded in the ninth, but Davion Hickson came in and shut the threat down quickly, earning the save and clinching the sweep.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball needed a weekend to get right and did just that against Houston Christian. Three straight wins, regardless of opponent, are a boon for morale. Here are three takeaways from the series:

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

1. Left on Board

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?

ON DECK | at UH (Tues), vs UH (Wed), vs Tulane (Fri-Sun)

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

Recent Posts

Potential Rice Basketball head coaching candidates

By

Rice Basketball is in the market for a new head coach after moving on from Scott Pera. Who might the Owls target for the job?

Following an 11-21 season, Scott Pera is out as the head coach of Rice Basketball. This decision doesn’t come as a surprise to many and likely has been in the cards for some time now, giving athletic director Tommy McClelland ample time to begin mentally preparing a shortlist of potential targets. Who might the Owls tap to be the next head man on the court?

McClelland was adamant Rice basketball had a bright future ahead of it. “Talent is not an issue. We can get them here and we can win here,” he said, pointing toward recent successes like Quincy Olivari as well as NBA players who came from Rice like Trey Murphy and Drew Peterson. “I want to win,” he declared, making his intentions crystal clear.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.
Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts