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Rice Baseball: 2021 MLB Owls post regular season update

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The 2021 MLB regular season is in the books and Rice baseball alums played big roles throughout the year. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls this year.

Glen Otto – Texas Rangers

Originally a fifth-round draft pick by the Yankees in 2017, Otto worked his way through the Yankees organization. He rose from rookie ball to AAA in the span of four MiLB seasons before he was traded to the Rangers in a deadline deal this season.

Following the trade, Otto made his major league debut on August 27 against the Astros. He threw five scoreless innings in that game, striking out seven and allowing just two hits. That would be his best outing of the season.

Otto ends his first major league season with a 9.26 ERA and a 1.714 WHIP. He struck out 28 batters across 23.1 innings, averaging 10.8 punchouts per nine innings.

Brock Holt – Texas Rangers

Holt filled the utility role with the Red Sox for seven seasons before brief stints with the Brewers and Nationals in 2020. In his lone season with the Rangers, he played exclusively at third base, appearing in 76 games with 57 starts at the hot corner.

At the plate, Holt hit .209 on the season with 23 RBI and 16 extra base hits. After averaging .270 during his Red Sox tenure, Holt hasn’t found the same level of consistency elsewhere, scattering strong months here and there like August where he slashed .259/.232/.333 with a .656 OPS, some of his best marks of the season.

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendon appeared in 58 games for the Angels in 2021 before he was ruled out for the remainder of the season following hip surgery. This was the fewest games he played in any full 162-game season in his major league career.

Before his season came to an end, Rendon had accumulated 34 RBI in those 58 games. He had a .240 batting average and a .712 OPS, coming on and off the injured list multiple times throughout the year before eventually being shut down.

Jon Duplantier – Arizona Diamondbacks

Duplantier’s 2021 season was derailed by injury. He suffered a lat strain in July while pitching with the Diamondbacks’ AAA affiliate and was released, quickly resigning with the club on a minor league deal.

He appeared in four major league games with the club, finishing the year with an 0-3 record and a 13.15 ERA. He struck out 12 batters, allowed 19 hits in four starts.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey wrapped up the 2021 season with a 3-3 record and a 3.18 ERA. His 64 appearances were a career high, as were his three saves. He threw 62.1 innings, the most he’s thrown in a single season since 2017.

Primarily seeing action as a setup man and middle reliever, Duffey was effective, despite seeing his walk rates tick upward and his strikeout numbers trend the wrong way. 2021 wasn’t his best season, but he still managed a 134 ERA+ (a weighted ERA that accounts for all other pitchers and ballparks).

Lucas Luetge – New York Yankees

Luetge’s reemergence in the big leagues was a tremendous success. He accounted for 1.5 WAR (wins above replacement) of his career 1.6 WAR this season alone, making one start and appearing in 56 games as a reliever. He finished with a 2.74 ERA and 78 strikeouts compared to just 15 walks.

It was a banner year across the board for Luetge, who smashed most of his marks from his early days in Seattle, proving to be a reliable middle-relief option for the Yankees on their way to the postseason.

The Yankees play the Red Sox in the Wildcard Game on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 7:08 PM CT.

J.T. Chargois – Tampa Bay Rays

Chargois had a bump 2019 season with the Dodgers and ended up spending the 2020 season playing overseas in Japan. That brief trip out of the states proved to be just what he needed. Chargois returned to the MLB triumphantly, posting career bests across two separate organizations, spending the first half of the season with the Mariners before being traded to the Rays.

Across both organizations, Chargois claimed a 2.52 ERA (which fell to 1.90 with the Rays) and struck out 53 battlers in 53.2 innings. His strikeouts per inning numbers were down, but his effectiveness rose. Chargois’ 1.081 WHIP was the lowest of his career.

The Rays await the winner of Tuesd;says wildcard matchup between the Yankees and Boston. Game 1 of the ALDS will be played on Thursday.

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“It was a grimy game, and we got it done”: Rice Football wins ugly

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Rice football found a way to win ugly, downing Southern Miss for their first 1-0 conference start under Mike Bloomgren.

After losing three of their last four games, Rice football was well aware of what could possibly go wrong in a college football game. The Owls had experienced their fair share of negative plays over the past month, including in their prior win against Texas Southern.

If there were looking for a perfect game on Saturday against Southern Miss, they didn’t get it. But they did win.  “It was a grimy game,” super senior defensive tackle Elijah Garcia said with a smile, “And we got it done. That’s something I’m really proud of this defense for.”

It wasn’t that long ago Garcia took the postgame podium and used words like “hurt” and embarrassing”. In fact, only two short weeks later, he praised a defensive unit that gave up 378 total yards to a team relying on what was essentially their third-string quarterback, a team that committed error after error on special teams.

The positive sentiment wasn’t rooted in the individual lines on the final box score. No, Garcia was referencing the scoreboard.

“I feel good man,” he said. “We fought to the end.”

Ultimately, that’s what made the biggest difference. Garcia called it “grimy”. At sometimes it was downright bad. But this time, Rice was able to win ugly. That’s not something this team has done in recent memory. Bad games have typically doomed them to bad results. This time was different. “Guys didn’t cry,” safety Kirk Lockhart said of the team’s mistakes. “They didn’t drop their heads.”

More: Rice football outlasts Southern Miss for first conference win

No, rather than drop their heads they raised their level of play. The defense forced two interceptions in the fourth quarter. They sacked quarterback Jake Lange twice. Running back Frank Gore Jr. was held in check, telling six total yards in the final frame. “We actually came out and finished,” Lockhart reiterated.

That in itself implies Rice has reached a certain level of maturity as a team they might not have fully embraced in prior seasons. Everything doesn’t have to go right for this team to win. They’d prefer it did, but they can cobble together enough good to get things done in a pinch. That in itself is a positive the Owls will certainly be hanging onto moving forward.

Equally jovial in his postgame remarks was Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren. A winner of six of his last nine conference games, Bloomgren couldn’t suppress his smiles when he looked back at what was the first 1-0 start in Conference USA play in his Rice tenure.

“I don’t really give a dang how we win. Every win is beautiful to me,” he said with a grin. “We’re going to work on [the mistakes] whether we win or lose, and I promise you it’s a lot more fun to work on it when you win. The fun is in the winning.”

Rice hits the bye week on a two-game winning streak. There’s optimism the Owls could get several key players back following the bye, reloading for what they hope is a run toward their first bowl berth since 2014. Bloomgren himself called his special team’s unit “a work in progress”. There’s work to be done. But like Bloomgren said, the work will be just a bit more fun.

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Conference USA Football 2021: Week 5 C-USA Roundup

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Conference USA Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron in Week 5.

Team Week 5 Result Week 6
Charlotte at Illinois L, 24-14 at FIU
FAU vs FIU W, 58-21 at UAB
FIU at FAU L, 58-21 vs Charlotte
LA Tech — OFF — L 34-27 — OFF —
Marshall at MTSU L, 34-28 vs Old Dominion
MTSU vs Marshall W, 34-28 at Liberty
North Texas — OFF —  — at Missouri
Old Dominion at UTEP L 28-21 at Marshall
Rice vs Southern Miss W, 24-19 — OFF —
Southern Miss at Rice L, 24-19 vs UTEP
UAB vs Liberty L, 36-12 vs FAU
UTEP vs Old Dominion W, 28-21 at Southern Miss
UTSA vs UNLV W, 24-17 at WKU
WKU at Michigan St. L, 48-31 vs UTSA

Notable Week 5 results – Standings

Marshall takes third straight L

Marshall was a popular pick to win the Eastern division. Through the Herd’s first five games, they’ve beaten just one FBS team and dropped their three most recent contests. Saturday’s loss to Middle Tennessee was particularly disheartening. They outgained MTSU 493 to 314 but committed six turnovers.

Louisiana Tech, masters of heartbreak

You couldn’t make this up if you wanted to. Once more, Louisiana Tech has found a way to lose in the most painful of ways. Trailing by seven with three minutes to play, Austin Kendall marched the offense the length of the field into the redzone only to be intercepted in the endzone on the final play of regulation with the clock expiring. Ouch.

Honorable mention: UAB opened Protective Stadium with a loss to Liberty. It was a tough outing, but at least there was no fourth-quarter dagger to amp up the pain even further.

Hot rice

Rice football dropped its first three games in non-conference play to Arkansas, Houston and Texas. Then Jake Constantine took over at quarterback and the Owls rattled off two consecutive home wins, capped off with their first conference win of the season over Southern Miss. They enter the bye week tied for first place in Conference USA West, righting the ship after a rocky opening stanza.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

Cross-divisional fireworks

Two of the most significant divisional crossover games of the season are set to take place in Week 6. Frontrunners in the West, UAB and UTSA, are set to take on FAU and Western Kentucky, respectively. It wouldn’t be stunning to see one or possibly two of these four teams represented in the conference championship game, making these matchups some of the best we’ll see in the conference this year.

Way-too-early bowl watch

UTEP is off to one of its better starts in recent history and the Miners’ aspirations of postseason play seem more believable now than perhaps any other time in Dana Dimel’s tenure. Southern Miss is far from the top-dog in the West, making this a key matchup for UTEP if they want to stay on track and reach that coveted six-win (or more) season.

Nonconference nightcaps

Week 5 marks a notable shift toward conference play, but there are a handful of programs that won’t face a Conference USA foe. North Texas will have their work cut out for them against Missouri, while Middle Tennesee will make their best efforts to knock off a feisty Liberty squad that faced off with UAB the weekend prior.

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Rice Football – September 2021 Patreon Q&A

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There were a handful of questions submitted for this month’s Q&A, all of which revolved around the state and future outlook of the Rice football team.

We had several questions submitted for the September mail bag as Rice football closes out non-conference play. Topics range from injuries to depth pieces to what changes we should expect to see from the Owls moving forward.

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Rice Football 2021: Owls hitting their stride in practice prep for Southern Miss

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Rice football got some pieces back this week as it preps for its conference opener against Southern Miss. The latest from practice, here.

Things are starting to settle in for Rice football. Fresh off their first win of the season with several players expected to return to the field after missing time with injuries, spirits were high on South Main this week. This update will hit on those key returning pieces and discuss how Rice will approach the wide receiver and quarterback positions this week against Southern Miss.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

Cedric Patterson takes the lead

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