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Basketball: Owls top Charlotte for third straight win

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Rice basketball has taken their game up a notch, remaining perfect in pod play with a 79-70 road win over Charlotte on Wednesday.

With a trip to the Conference USA conference tournament already secured, Rice had two bouts with the Charlotte 49ers to make their last adjustments. The first came Wednesday and resulted in the second win in two chances for Rice over Charlotte so far this season.

For the Owls, it was Drew Peterson who led the way on offense. A role play for a large chunk of the season, Peterson has come on strong in the last few weeks, posting 31 points in the Owls’ last two games including a 15 point effort against Charlotte. Right behind in on the stat sheet was Chris Mullins (14 points) and Robert Martin and Ako Adams, each with 12.

Six different players connected on at least four field goals on Wednesday and five different Owls tallied three rebounds or more. As has been the recipe for many wins this season, it was truly a team effort.

Rice held Charlotte to 37.7 percent from the field while connecting on 49.2 percent of their own buckets, including 50 percent from three-point range. Charlotte managed to block seven shots. Although they were able to cut the deficit down to as little as one point in the second half, the home team never led, trailing from the moment Quentin Millora-Brown put in a layup to start the scoring in the first half.

The two squads will end their respective regular seasons with a third game in Houston on Saturday. Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Rice holds a one game advantage, including the head-to-head tiebreaker, over Middle Tennessee for the top spot in their pod. Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, Rice will be the No. 11 seed in Frisco.

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Rice Baseball: Owls fall to Sam Houston in Wednesday shootout

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Rice baseball couldn’t hold off a disciplined Sam Houston offense, falling on a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning on Wednesday.

Runs were expected to come in bunches when Sam Houston came to town on Wednesday. The Bearkats did indeed bring their bats, striking first on a one out single in the first. Rice would quickly even the score in the second before the two squads exchanged 4-run innings in the third.

It took Sam Houston five hits to score their four runs. Rice only needed one, utilizing a sacrifice fly followed by a three-run blast from Andrew Dunlap to level the game. Dunlap would come up with another big hit in the next inning, capping off a four-run fourth inning with 2 RBI double down the left field line.

Leading 9-5, the Rice offense cooled down dramatically. Meanwhile, Sam Houston wasn’t done. The Bearkats struck for two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth. The go-ahead run, which they scored in the final frame, came on a bases loaded walk to nine-hole hitter Diego Davila. That proved to be the deciding run as Rice would fall at home, 10-9.

Takeaways

1. The Owls have solved their 3-4-5 spots

Cleanup hitter Trei Cruz was promoted to the leadoff spot when the Owls’ offense sputtered out of the gate. He stayed consistent, leading the team in on base percentage and slugging percentage, but someone else was going to have to help drive in the runs.

Rice has found their answer in the trio of Braden Comeaux, Alex Collins and Andrew Dunlap. Those three were responsible for seven RBI against Sam Houston, coming through with big hits with runners on base. Comeaux didn’t have a hit on Wednesday, but he did reach base twice, scoring both times.

2. Work to be done behind the backstop

Sam Houston trimmed their deficit to one run in the eighth inning on a single to center field. Then, with two runners on base, two wild pitches allowed the base runners to advance, eventually scoring the game-tying run. Rice threw three wild pitches on Wednesday, bringing their total to 18 wild pitches over 14 games.

Justin Collins had a strong weekend behind the plate, but he’s been charged with five passed balls this year. The fielding errors are trending in the right direction and the connection from the mount to the plate needs some tuning up as well.

3. Midweek pitching remains a question mark

Addison Moss put together a strong outing on Tuesday against Houston, but it doesn’t seem likely he sticks in the midweek role for long. He’s going to challenge for a weekend spot, possible pushing someone else to an extended relief role or one of the midweek jobs.  That still leaves Rice in a quandary, especially on five-game weeks.

The combination of Drake Greenwood and Kel Bordwine have had their moments, but neither has taken the job for themselves, not yet. There are plenty of young arms in the pen waiting for their chance on the bump, too.

ON DECK | vs Oklahoma (Fri – Sun)

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Baseball: Owls down Houston for first win of Silver Glove series

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Rice baseball handed their cross-town rivals their fifth consecutive loss, edging Houston in the first game of the annual Silver Glove Series.

The good times kept rolling for Rice baseball, who earned their third consecutive win over a Texas team on Tuesday. In a game bumped forward a few hours because of weather concern, Rice handed rival Houston a 5-3 defeat in front of their own fans.

Trei Cruz opened up the scoring in the second with a two-run double down the left field line. Bradley Gneiting followed, driving in Cruz to stretch the advantage to 3-0. Houston battled back, scoring a pair of runs in the third one of which was unearned by way of an infield error. Up 3-2 in the seventh, Rice tacked on two more runs on a single from Andrew Dunlap followed by a groundout by Dominic DiCaprio.

Houston would get one run back in the eighth, but was only ultimately able to manage two hits and one run on the bullpen combination of Jackson Tyner and Kendal Jeffries. It was Jeffries who earned the save, his second on the season.

Takeaways

1. Defending the city

The Silver Glove series has gone back and forth between Rice and Houston over the last several years. The same team hasn’t won the series in consecutive seasons since 2014 and 2015 (Houston), but that came on the heels of the Owls dominating the Cougars for the better part of two decades.

Winning the first of three doesn’t guarantee Rice the series, the Owls won the opener in 2018 before dropping the final two contests. But it does give this team an added boost of momentum in a game that meant a lot for players in both dugouts.

2. Streaking

Victories over Baylor, TCU and Houston mark the longest winning streak of the season for Rice. Dating back to last Tuesday, the Owls have won four of their last five. The same team that was swept at Reckling Park against UC Irvine seems to have vanished overnight.

The 2019 Rice season has been a tale of two parts. A win over Sam Houston on Wednesday would bring the team back to .500 on the year. If they can keep things going with a strong weekend against Oklahoma the Owls’ rough start will be officially in the rearview mirror.

3. Addison Moss looks A-OK

Evan Kravetz has made the sudden disappearance of Moss from the weekend rotation seem somewhat of a non-event, but there’s a reason he and Matt Canterino were billed as a 1-2 punch this offseason. Since returning to the mound, Moss has looked sharp. Tuesday was his first start of the year, and it went it off without a hitch.

Moss threw five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and three hits and striking out one. The outing was his longest of the year thus far, ending in his first win. Coach Bragga will soon have a hard decision to make. What do you do when you have four weekend starters and three games to pitch them? How things play out will be interesting, but having an extra bullet in the chamber is good for this team in the long run.

ON DECK | vs Sam Houston  (Wed), vs Oklahoma (Fri – Sun)

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Rice Football: Note from first day of spring practice

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Rice football returned to practice for the first of several weeks of spring ball. Here are a few notes from the Owls’ first day back on the grass.

First off, it might not be purely football related, but Antonio Montero was wearing short sleeves and shorts in 40-degree weather. The Minnesota native was giving his more southern teammates a hard time.

1. Position changes, notes

  • Cam Montgomery is at running back.
  • Sam Glaesmann remains at wide receiver
  • Cameron Valentine moves to nose tackle
  • D’Angelo Ellis at corner, not listed on the offensive depth chart
  • Cole Garcia and Nick Leverett only players listed as starters with no backup on the two-deep

2. Offensive line and running backs

Juma Otoviano, Aston Walter and Cam Montgomery all had explosive plays during practice, bursting through big holes and accelerating downfield. That’s a credit to their speed, but also because of a more physical offensive line. JUCO transfer Nick Leverett is entrenched along the right side, most likely at right guard. Clay Servin looks like the real deal at left tackle.

Nashon Ellerbe missed most of last season with a nagging lower-body injury. He doesn’t appear to be 100 percent this spring. With Jawan King on his way, he’ll have to battle to get meaningful minutes.

3. All three JUCO transfers flash

In addition to Leverett, Naeem Smith and Bradley Rozner both made a few nice plays on their respective sides of the ball. Smith won the offseason conditioning program and has drawn rave reviews from several coaches all spring. Rozner made an impressive athletic catch down the sideline and seems to be slotting in well on the outside.

4. Quarterback remains a wait and see

Wiley Green will enter spring as the QB1 with Evan Marshman his primary competition. We really won’t know for sure if Green has secured the starting job before grad transfer Tom Stewart and freshman Jovoni Johnson get to campus later this summer. Still, Green threw some nice balls and made a few plays with his legs on Monday.

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Rice Baseball: Owls shock Baylor, TCU in Shriner’s Classic

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Rice baseball finished off the 2019 Shriner’s College Classic with a bang, upsetting Baylor and TCU to earn their biggest wins of the season.

After an 0-5 week which included a series sweep at the hands of visiting UC Irvine, Rice baseball needed a big weekend at the Shriner’s College Classic to prove to the college baseball world and themselves the Owls were here for the long haul. A 1-0 loss to Texas State via an unearned run got the weekend off to a sour start, but impressive wins on Saturday and Sunday against ranked Baylor and TCU made the weekend a tremendous success.

Baylor had entered the weekend undefeated. TCU had an emphatic 10-2 win over No. 1 Vanderbilt under their belts. Rice beat them both. Here’s the rundown of all three games and some final thoughts on the three game slate at Minute Maid Park.

FRIDAY | Texas State 1, Rice 0

Rice can’t realistically ask for much more than they got from their pitching staff on Friday against Texas State. Matt Canterino was every bit the ace he has been billed to be, striking out nine while allowing four hits and no walks in seven innings pitched. The lone run scored during his outing was unearned, a product of a two-error inning from shortstop Trei Cruz.

After allowing Texas State to score an unearned run in the top of the seventh, Rice had their chances. The Owls got a runner into scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings but couldn’t get him across. After scoring 25 runs in an offensive explosion on Wednesday against Prairie View A&M, Rice was held scoreless on two hits.

SATURDAY | Rice 6, Baylor 3

Perhaps the team needs to ask the administration to move the left field wall at Reckling Park a bit closer to home plate. Rice deposited two home runs into the Crawford Boxes on Saturday against Baylor to compliment a flurry of extra base hits. Andrew Dunlap and Rodrigo Duluc each went deep, helping Rice build an early 5-0 lead against No. 15 Baylor.

Rice scored in the second, third and fourth innings. Starting pitcher Evan Kravetz retired Baylor in order through the first three innings before the Bears broke through in the fourth. Two triples plated three runs and cut the Rice lead to 5-3 after four innings.

The advantage would stay at two until the eighth. With two men on and two outs, Bradley Gneiting delivered. He mashed a double which bounced of the wall in left, scoring Rodrigo Duluc and giving Rice an insurance run and a 6-3 lead. Kendall Jeffries would close things out of the pen, earning his first save of the year and closing the door on the Owls’ biggest win of the season.

SUNDAY | Rice 12, TCU 2

Things picked up where they left off for Rice in the Shiner’s College Classic finale. After a quick first inning, TCU starting pitcher Jared Janczak started to lose command. He allowed a pair of singles to start the inning before a hit by pitch, sandwiched between two walks broke the first inning deadlock. Rice would score three in that second inning, striking first for the second game in a row.

TCU got one back in the top of the third and the fifth, cutting the Rice lead to 3-2. The Owls responded in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs on the back of three extra base hits. The bats stayed active in the sixth, scoring six addition runs on three hits to give Rice a commanding 12-2 advantage entering the seventh.

With a 10-run lead after seven innings, the run rule ended the contest. In some ways it was surreal. From the shutout Friday, Rice ended the weekend with an exclamation point.

TAKEAWAYS | Rice wins one of three in Shriner’s College Classic

1. The starting pitching will carry this team

Matt Canterino spent the offseason with Team USA and entered 2019 with a host of preaseason accolades. The Rice ace has lived up to his billing early on. Despite an 0-2 record, Canterino has been special, compiling a 2.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and a 24-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio in 18 innings. The only earned runs he’s surrendered this season came on a series of three home runs against UC Irvine.

Evan Kravetz picked up where Canterino left off. He was perfect through the lineup the first time before Baylor broke through with three runs in the fourth. He bounced back, going 6.2 innings, the longest of his career, before being lifted after a two-out double in the seventh. His nine strikeouts are one shy of a career-best 10K game against Rhode Island earlier this year.

Not wanting to be left out of the accolades, Jackson Parthasarathy closed out the weekend with a strong start. He went six innings, allowing five hits but just two runs (one earned).  As a unit, the Rice starting pitching put the team in position to win each game of the weekend. When that happens, good things will follow.

2. Base running errors exposed against Baylor

Baylor starting pitcher Tyler Thomas was erratic in 2+ innings, setting Rice up with a golden opportunity to break the game open in the top of the third. The Owls got runners on second and third with no outs and a 2-0 lead. Bradley Gneiting was thrown out at the plate, trying to advance on a softly hit ground ball to the left side of the infield. Give the situation, the safer decision would have been to stay put and take the out at first.

Two batters later Dominic DiCaprio would single up the middle, a hit which should have scored two runs. With Gneiting already sitting in the dugout, Braden Comeaux scored from second. Justin Collins, who was only on base because Gneiting ran into an out at home, was thrown out trying to advance to third.

Rice would get just one run in the inning. This team has had enough trouble with runners in scoring position this season. Trei Cruz was caught stealing by a wide margin the next inning and thrown out in the eighth at home plate. That’s too many outs on the basepaths.

3. Strikeouts continue to slow the offense down

The offense has been erratic through the first 12 games of the season. There are days when everyone who steps to the plate blasts a double to the gap. Then there are days when the team swings at pitches outside the zone and doesn’t battle well with two strikes. Unfortunately, the latter scenario has been the case more often than not.

Rice struck out 14 times against Texas State, 10 times against Baylor and four times against TCU. As a whole, the team has more strikeouts (120) than they have hits (118 ). That’s going to happen here and there on an odd series against top-notch starting pitching. Still, as good as the pitching the Owls faced this week was, it’s becoming a problematic trend.

The approach at the plate was much better on Sunday, not coincidentally the Owls’ best offensive performance of the weekend. Hopefully a precursor of better outings from the lineup in the coming weeks.

ON DECK | at Houston (Tues), vs Sam Houston  (Wed), vs Oklahoma (Fri – Sun)

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