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Conference USA Baseball: 2019 regular season roundup

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The 2019 Conference USA Baseball regular season is in the books. Here are a few of the teams and players who stood out the most.

Teams

Credit is due to FAU, the 1-seed in the Conference USA Baseball Tournament and the top team in the regular season in conference play. Picked to finish third in the preaseason polls, FAU bested league-leading Southern Miss head on to earn the regular season crown.

On the other end, Western Kentucky broke through for their first CUSA Tournament appearance in school history while Rice made the postseason in the first year under head coach Matt Bragga.

Hitters

Western Kentucky’s Jake Sanford was unbelievable in 2019. He was the only player in Conference USA to finish with a batting average better than .400 (.402) and he did it with a .828 slugging percentage, more than 160 points better than second-place Matt Wallner of Southern Miss. Sanford led the conference in on base percentage (.488), hits (84), RBI (65), home runs (22) and total bases (173).

Second to Sanford in most categories, Wallner would have been the front-runner for recognition had Sanford not had his incredible season. Wallner was a big bat and ended the season with eight multi-hit games over his final 14 appearances.

Pitchers

A trio of starting pitchers stand out among the many great options in CUSA. Walker Powell from Southern Miss led the conference in ERA, finishing the regular season at 2.58, complemented with a stunning 11 walks allowed in 83.2 innings pitch.

Rice’s Matt Canterino was equally impressive. The Owls’ ace held opposing batters to a CUSA-best .204 batting average against while completing more innings (93 than anyone else in the conference). He struck out 112 batters (37 looking), all the while working under the pressure of being the Friday night guy for a low-run producing offense.

Finally, UTSA’s Karan Patel earned his fair share of recognition. While not as overpowering as Canterino or as crafty as Powell, Patel mowed through innings like few others in CUSA.  His 2.82 ERA was second in conference and he was one of four CUSA hurlers with 100+ strikeouts.

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Rice Baseball: Owls switch gears to CUSA Tournament after Marshall sweep

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Riding high after a series win over Southern Miss, Rice baseball was stopped stone-cold in their tracks by Marshall, narrowly clinching a CUSA Tournament spot.

The week began on a high note, with Rice baseball besting rival Houston to clinch the Silver Glove Series. After the Tuesday night victory, Rice hit the road to finish conference play with a three-game set in Huntington, West Virginia. Both Marshall and Rice were fighting for a spot in the Conference Tournament. Rice clinched their berth on Friday but Marshall had more work to do, eventually locking up a spot of their own after taking three straight from Rice.

Both the Owls and the Thundering Herd earned spots in Biloxi this coming week. Here’s how the series unfolded with three overarching themes as Rice enters the conference tournament.

THURSDAY | Marshall 5, Rice 4 (11)

Rice used a big fifth inning to jump ahead in the series opener. Trei Cruz broke the deadlock with an RBI single to center, scoring Aaron Beaulaurier. Andrew Dunlap followed with a three-run bomb to break things open.

Matt Canterino was in top form on the mound, holding Marshall to two earned runs in seven innings with nine strikeouts. He handed the ball to Kendal Jefferies at the start of the eighth. Jefferies, and later Garrett Gayle, were unable to hold the line. Marshall walked it off in the 11th on a two-out RBI single after holding Rice scoreless through the final six innings.

FRIDAY | Marshall 4, Rice 3 (10)

Kel Bordwine took the ball on Friday after Evan Kravetz was a late scratch. Even with the deviation in the weekend rotation, the Owls weren’t threatened early in game two. Bordwine was superb, throwing seven innings of one-run ball. The Marshall offense mustered five hits off the short-notice starter, allowing the Rice offense to slowly build a lead.

Rice climbed ahead 3-0, courtesy of a few impactful extra-base hits. Bealaurier doubled in the third, scoring Antonio Cruz. Bradley Gneiting and Antonio Cruz added solo home runs in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively.

Marshall wouldn’t score until the eighth, leveling the score at 3-3 after Blair Lewis surrendered a 2-run home run. That score would hold for one more inning until Marshall scored a final, unearned run on an infield error to win the game in the 10th.

SATURDAY | Marshall 5, Rice 4

Marshall struck first in the finale, taking a 1-0 lead on a home run in the first inning. Playing from behind for the first time in regulation, Rice was forced to muster a comeback. Trei Cruz gave Rice the lead with a fourth-inning double. Justin Collins extended the advantage to 3-1 with a solo home run in the sixth. Jackson Parthasarathy powered through the Marshall lineup as Bordwine and Canterino had before. Things were looking good.

Yet again, Rice took a lead into the later innings. Yet again, Marshall found an equalizer. The Thundering Herd knotted the game at 3-3 in the eighth, but this time Rice punched back, squeezing out the go-ahead run via a sac bunt in the top of the ninth inning. The small ball wouldn’t be enough, though, as Marshall tied and went on to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, their third walk-off win of the weekend.

TAKEAWAYS | Marshall wins series 3-0

1. Who will step up in the bullpen?

The Owls most trustworthy bullpen arms failed them in big spots against Marshall. Staked to late leads with few outs to get, nobody was able to come up with an answer. That’s not a problem the Owls were hoping to run into this late in the season, but May is the time to make the best with what you have, not to reinvent the wheel.

Coach Bragga could try to implement a quicker hook or experiment with bumping someone like Bordwine from a spot starter to a bullpen piece. Bragga will undoubtedly push all the buttons he thinks will make the most sense for the team in its current state, but he’s not able to step on the mound and physically throw the pitches.

Those same players who had rough weekends have proven capable in the past. Jefferies and Gayle have combined for nine saves, 100 percent of the team’s total on the season. And that’s the peculiar thing about baseball. The sport built upon failure will put these same pitchers in high leverage situations again, soon. They’re going to get another chance. If they capitalize on their opportunities in Biloxi, their shortcomings in Huntington will fade, quickly.

2. It’s going to be a short week if something doesn’t change

Even without a win in their final regular-season series, Rice qualified for the Conference USA Baseball Tournament. The starting pitching showcased their extraordinary depth over the weekend, digging beyond their typical weekend trio and still producing three quality starts. The bullpen and the offense can’t ask for much better than they got against Marshall, setting the stage for a game of Russian Roulette going forward.

Assuming a strong start on the mound, Rice needs to find a way to avoid joint implosions by the bullpen and the lineup. If one of those two units can produce at a level commensurate to the starting pitching, Rice has a shot to advance deep into the conference tournament. If both units fade into a repeat of this weekend. Bang. Season over.

3. CUSA Tournament set

If there is any good fortune to be found in the weekend sweep, Rice draws a familiar opponent in the opening game of the CUSA Tournament. Rice took two of three from Southern Miss a week ago, relying on their now embraced pattern of high-caliber pitching and just-enough offense.

UTSA’s loss on Saturday might prove to be fortuitous for the Owls, too. A win by the Roadrunners would have dropped Rice to the 8-seed where they’d have met 1-seed FAU in Biloxi. FAU swept Rice earlier this season and the games weren’t as close as the three Rice loss to Marshall. Nevertheless, Rice has its opponent. Now they need to execute.

ON DECK | vs Southern Miss (Wed) in CUSA Tournament

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 push continues into summer

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The summer is approaching and Rice football recruiting is picking up steam. The Owls are working hard to add a few of these additional top targets.

The last weeks of May have been spent on the road. Head coach Mike Bloomgren is making stops across Texas on the Coaches Caravan. He made an appearance on Dave Campbell’s Texas Campbell live show on Thursday, one of several stops along the way. The coaching staff is making their rounds too. Camps start in June, making the final days of May a critical recruiting window.

Putting a bow on 2019

After the addition of Harvard grad transfer Charlie Booker, Rice has filled up all but one spot in their 2019 class. That last spot will more than likely be reserved for a corner given the youth at the position right now. There are a few options in the market at the position, whomever the right fit, Rice wants to have the last scholarship accounted for in the next two weeks.

Current commits leading the charge in 2020

Rice has the top-ranked 2020 class in Conference USA and it stands to get even better. The staff is working their avenues to add more talent to the group, but so are the members of the 2020 class themselves. Longtime commit Plae Wyatt and recent addition Khalan Griffin have taken up vocal leadership positions with the class. They’re recruiting the recruits and the reception has been overwhelmingly positive.

New Caney’s Zion Childress has been a focal point of their efforts at wide receiver. He was on campus for the Blue and Gray Spring Game and has spoken highly of the staff and the current class. He’s made plans to be in attendance at the Addidas Three Stripe camp on June 1.

The Owls have been choosey with their spring offers, only handing out a handful as they work to build on a strong start. One of those key targets is California defensive end Lance Keneley. A coveted recruit with offers from the likes of Utah, Colorado, Duke,  Northwestern and Vanderbilt, Kenely remains interested in what Rice has to offer.

He hasn’t gone as far to narrow down his choices, but the appeal of a first-class degree and D1 football is at the front of his mind. He’s developing a great relationship with the coaching staff and hopes to get to campus soon.

Quarterbacks

Rice has been choosy with the 2020 quarterback class. They’ve been all over the country and have begun to trim the list of possibilities down. The Owls have extended offers to Fresno State commit Jaden Casey from California, who has reciprocated some interest. Florida passer Devon Lingle holds their other quarterback offer.

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Rice Baseball: Owls down Houston, take home Silver Glove

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Rice baseball and Houston clashed for a third and final time in the regular season as the Owls took the game and the Silver Glove series with a win at Constellation Field.

“I could throw a baseball 150 feet to [Houston baseball coach Todd Whitting’s] house from where we live,” mused Rice baseball coach Matt Bragga after his first Silver Glove Series victory. The cross-town, and apparently cross-street rivalry has rich roots but holds a special meaning for Bragga and his team this year.

“It was fun for our guys,” Bragga said in the midst of postgame celebrations. “It was exciting to see them take the glove there at the end and hoot and holler a bit. That’s fun to get hardware.

That hardware came by way of a rather innocuous start. A groundout from Braden Comeaux and a sac fly from Justin Collins were the only runs Rice scored against Houston on Tuesday, but those two runs would prove enough. Six different pitchers and some carefully executed defensive plays would hold the Owls’ lead for the remainder of regulation.

Here are three things which stood out from the Owls’ important win.

1. Bullpen arms make their final midweek auditions

For Drake Greenwood and the arms who followed him on the mound Tuesday, this was a live-action audition for the weeks ahead. Rice has had their weekend rotation set for more or less the entirety of the season. They haven’t figured out the order immediately following the top three.

If Rice wants to make it to the NCAA Tournament, they’ll need to do all they can to win the Conference USA Tournament. That’s going to require more than three starting pitchers, it could take as many as seven. For most staffs, that means someone who hasn’t carried much of the load during the regular season is going to have to step up.

Greenwood lasted 1.1 innings, walking four before hitting the showers. Jackson Tyner was equally ineffective in the fifth, loading the bases while getting one out. Dalton Wood had two good innings, striking out three, before allowing the potential winning run to reach base in the ninth.

On the positive side of the ledger, a few arms did impress. Blair Lewis escaped a 1-out, bases loaded jam in the second. From there he went 2.2 innings, allowing one hit, one walk while striking out two. Kel Bordwine pitched through Tyner’s leftovers, holding the Rice advantage and striking out two in 1.2 innings. Kendal Jefferies came through in the clutch, closing things out with a two-out save.

2. The bats are improved, but still inconsistent

Rice did not have a hit in the third or the fourth inning but managed to score a run in each frame. Although this team will take runs wherever they can find them, the lack of reliable production remains a sticking point. The Owls have enough starting pitching to go toe-to-toe with just about anyone, but that will only take them so far. They need to find a way to get hits, and get them more often than once every other inning. They were limited to three hits on Tuesday.

The pitching wasn’t at their best, but was able to strand 14 Houston runners. That allowed Rice to be in position for the win — their only win this season when scoring two or fewer runs. Rice had been 0-11 previously. The win counts, but Rice can’t count on finding similar victories with such limited production from the plate.

3. Silver Glove

Rice struck first in each of the three games of the Silver Glove series. They held on at Schroeder Park in April and faltered at home on May 1. That set up this winner-take-all pivotal matchup. With the benefit of just enough umph to get things done, Rice took the series.

It’s been an adventurous year for coach Matt Bragga at Rice. There have been highs, lows and confounding twists and turns. Nevertheless, he’s taken back the Silver Glove and his team is in position to make a run in the conference tournament. This team is better than their record and they’re headed in the right direction.

ON DECK | at Marshall (Thr-Sat)

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CUSA Baseball Tournament spots wide open entering final weekend

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A busy weekend for CUSA Baseball set the stage for a chaotic finish to the regular season during the final weekend.

Notable weekend results

1. Rice makes a statement (more)

It’s been a back and forth year for Rice coach Matt Bragga in his first season at the helm. His team has had it’s low points, but the Owls took two of three from league-leading Southern Miss over the weekend. With series wins over the Golden Eagles and Louisiana Tech, Rice has proven they can hang with the conference’s best when they bring their A-game.

2. Blazers poised for big breakthrough?

UAB has sat at the bottom of the conference standings since the conference slate began. It’s been nearly a foregone conclusion the Blazers wouldn’t be playing in the postseason, but a series win over Charlotte has kept the door open. Entering the final weekend UAB is one win out of the eighth spot, the final postseason eligible team. It’s going to take some work, but there is hope in Birmingham.

3. Marshall swept

As UAB surged, Marshall swooned. Rather than position themselves for a low-pressure weekend against Rice, Marshall firmly in must-win mode after being swept by Old Dominion. Four CUSA teams have 11 wins and two of them aren’t going to Biloxi. That’s not where Marshall wanted to find themselves, but here they are.

Standings

Team CUSA Overall
1 FAU 19-8 34-17
2 Southern Miss 19-8 32-17
3 WKU 15-11-1 24-24-1
4 Louisiana Tech 15-12 32-30
5 Old Dominion 14-13 32-18
6 Rice 14-13 23-28
7 Marshall 11-15 24-26
8 UTSA 11-15 24-27
9 FIU 11-16 22-29
10 MTSU 11-16 18-33
11 Charlotte 10-16-1 19-29-1
12 UAB 10-17 25-27

 

Upcoming series of note

1. MTSU vs FAU

MTSU hasn’t won a conference series since taking two of three from UAB on the weekend of April 12. Still, somehow the Blue Raiders have real postseason aspirations. They’ll have to go through FAU who needs to outperform Southern Miss to clinch the No. 1 seed.

2. Old Dominion at Western Kentucky

For the first time in school history, Western Kentucky has clinched a spot in the CUSA Baseball Tournament. WKU can secure the No. 3 seed and potentially knock Old Dominion out of the postseason. At the minimum, the Hilltoppers want to pick up momentum entering Biloxi.

3. UAB at Southern Miss

Losers of back-to-back CUSA series for the first time this season, Southern Miss is in danger of losing the No. 1 seed. To clinch the top spot, they’ll need to best UAB and finish a game ahead of FAU who beat USM two weekends ago. It’s a tough bar, but this is a team talented enough to do it. A sweep of UAB would be a good start.

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