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Baseball: Previewing Owls’ opponents at Shriners Classic

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After a 3-6 start, Rice baseball has the chance for a few marquee wins at the Shriner’s Classic. Here’s how the Owls match up with their opponents.

It’s a long season. That’s true for ballclubs who will go on to win 40 games and for those destined to lose 30+. It’s too early to declare Rice bound for either of those groups, but the results at the Shriner’s Classic could push Rice baseball toward one of those two extremes.

With conference play looming, Rice needs to pick up some notable non-conference wins against ranked opponents. They’ll get two chances this weekend against Baylor and TCU. Here’s how Rice stacks up and how each of their opponents looks entering the weekend.

Pitching outlook

Addison Moss made his season debut Sunday against UC Irvine and didn’t show any noticeable discomfort. If he’s back to 100 percent, or close enough to it, he’d be a prime candidate for an extended relief appearance. He’s as trustworthy of an arm out of the bullpen as the team has right now and will push for a return to the starting rotation soon.

Here’s what the projected starting rotation looks like:

Friday vs Texas State – Matt Canterino (0-1, 3.27)
Saturday vs Baylor – Evan Kravetz (0-1, 3.00)
Sunday vs TCU – Jackson Parthasarathy (1-1, 1.80)

Hitting outlook

Shortstop Trei Cruz (.385/.478/.795) has been everything the Owls’ could have hoped for and more, but he hasn’t been the only consistent bat. When the offense has been producing, right fielder Bradley Gneiting (.381/.409/.476) has been the table setter.

Entering the Shriner’s Classic, Gneiting leads the team in at bats (42), hits (16) and has struck out just six times, the fewest of any Rice player with at least 20 at bats. Both Rodrigo Duluc (3-for-6, 6 RBI) and Andrew Dunlap (5-for-6, 7 RBI) had massive days against Prairie View A&M. Braden Comeaux has a .471 average over his last four games.

Texas State (5-4)

Friday at 11 a.m. – Watch | Listen

Last meeting with Rice: Texas State won 6-2 (3/6/2018)
Probable Starter: Nicholas Fraze (1-1, 6.00 ERA)
Hitters to know: Jaxon Williams (.517/.600/.586), John Wulthrich (.370/.486/.630), Colton Moore (.375/.444/.625)

Texas State started off the year at home, hosting Utah, Nevada and No. 24 Missouri State in the Texas State Tournament. The Bobcats took two of three from that trio, pounding Missouri State 10-0 in the final game. The followed that up the following weekend by taking two games against McNeese State and one against Creighton at the Lake Area Classic.

Baylor (8-0)

Saturday at 3 p.m. – Watch | Listen

Last meeting with Rice: Baylor won 9-2 (3/3/2014)
Probable Starter: Tyler Thomas (0-0, 5.40)
Hitters to know: Davis Wendzel (.516/.628/.903), Davion Downey (.481/.625/.963), Richard Cunningham (.389/.442/.556)

The No. 15 Baylor Bears haven’t given anyone a reason to doubt them yet. Perfect through eight games, the Bears have mowed through their early competition. Baylor posted series wins over Holy Cross and Cornell plus a midweek win over Dallas Baptist.

TCU (5-2)

Sunday at 7 p.m. – Watch | Listen

Last meeting with Rice: Rice won 7-3 (3/13/2018)
Probable Starter: Brandon Williamson (1-0, 2.08 ERA)
Hitters to know: Johnny Rizer (.429/.467/.714), Jake Guenther (.417/.516/.875), Hunter Wolfe (.375/.542/.438)

TCU has had their rough spots, dropping both of their Friday games so far this season. Unfortunately, the Owls get the Frogs on Sunday. TCU holds the most impressive win of the tournament field, taking a 10-2 decision over No. 1 Vanderbilt in the MLB4 Tournament.

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2020 Safety Plae Wyatt commits to Owls

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Rice football has their first commitment of the 2020 recruiting class, landing safety Plae Wyatt from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Tx.

National Signing Day for the 2019 class isn’t that far in the rearview mirror. Weeks removed from signing their 2019 class, Rice football is already making progress on 2020. Rice got their next class off to a great start with a commitment from safety Plae Wyatt, the top safety on their board. Wyatt has been a priority for this class for a long time, something he says was evident in his entire recruitment.

“They took time out of their day to give me a tour and talk about football and life,” he said. “I could feel the love from the first time I stepped on campus.” The culture being built by Mike Bloomgren and his staff at South Main has been instrumental in bringing talented playmakers like Wyatt to campus. He’ll be one of three players from Bishop Lynch High School on the team when he gets to school.

Rice football is developing a nice pipeline to Bishop Lynch. The Owls landed Cole Garcia in 2017, Jack Bradley in 2019 and now Wyatt in 2020. Garcia was an anchor on the offensive line last year. Both Bradley and Wyatt project as impact pieces quickly once they arrive on campus.

The 5-foot-11, 194 pound Wyatt had offers from SMU and Yale at the time of his commitment to Rice. The Dallas native was drawing interest from Oklahoma State as well. Instead, the Cowboys and others will have to watch from afar with everyone else as Wyatt builds his future in Houston.

247 Sports ranks Wyatt as the No. 103 recruit in the state of Texas. That ranking which could rise if Wyatt caps off is high school career with a strong season as expected. He was first-team All-District and second-team All-State in 2018, playing two ways as a safety and wide receiver. He’ll stick on the defensive side of the ball for Rice, most likely at free safety, though he’s comfortable playing all the safety roles in the Owls’ defense.

Wyatt hopes to be the first of many. “I have to act like a recruiter now,” he said. “In a few years we’re going to be something special.” He’s not alone. That same mindset has begun to saturate South Main, and more recruits will follow. If he can encourage players of his caliber to follow, the Owls’ future will only get brighter from here.

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Baseball: Two grand slams rocket Owls past Prairie View A&M

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Rice baseball jumped out to a sizable lead letting out their offensive frustrations with a lopsided home win over Prairie View A&M.

Rodrigo Duluc stood on the steps of the dugout with his teammates all season, not once stepping foot in the batter’s box until Wednesday’s game against Prairie View A&M. He looked on as the team dropped midweek contests to Arizona and Texas. He was watching when UC Irvine swept Rice at home, allowing the home team to score just nine runs over the course of the weekend.

Then, finally, after patiently waiting for his turn, Duluc took his place at the plate and let it rip. With the bases loaded two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Duluc deposited a 1-2 pitch over the left field wall. The Grand Slam broke a 13-inning scoreless streak, jumpstarting an offense in desperate need of a spark.

Staked to an early 4-0 lead, Rice would pour on at least one run over the first five innings. The Owls stretched their advantage to 10-2, and although Prairie View was able to creep back with a three-run sixth inning. It wasn’t enough to cause any serious concern, but Rice would put all hopes of a Prairie View A&M comeback to bed in the seventh.

Rice scored 13 runs on 14 hits, coming one batter shy of hitting around, twice. The mashed three home runs within the inning. The final score of 25-5 marked the most runs scored by Rice since a 26-17 victory over UAB in 2017.

Takeaways

1. The offense definitely exists

Rice hit .091 with runners in scoring position over the weekend, converting two opportunities in the span of three games. On Wednesday, Rice not only surpassed their weekend run total, but they also picked up 12 hits with runners in scoring position 20 tries.

In addition to Duluc’s coming out party, Bradley Gneiting and Andrew Dunlap had career-high five-hit games. Trei Cruz had his second grand slam of the season.

Justin Collins, Cade Edwards, Braden Comeaux each had multi-hit games. Prairie View is far from the caliber of pitching staffs the Owls have faced to this point and have on the docket this coming weekend. But, Rice should have scored in bunches against this squad, and they rose to the occasion — and then some. If Wednesday night isn’t proof they’re capable of packing a punch at the plate this season, what not much else will.

2. Kel Bordwine bounces back

Almost two weeks prior, the first win of the Matt Bragga era was made possible by a strong relief outing by Kel Bordwine. He threw the first three extra innings on the Saturday game against Rhode Island, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out two. Although he was charged with the go-ahead run, it was Zach Esquivel who allowed the runner to circle the bases.

His next outing wasn’t nearly as encouraging. Arizona knocked him out of his prior Wednesday start after he allowed six hits and three runs in the first three innings. Which Bordwine is the real deal? A five-hit, no earned run performance through five against Prairie View is a vote in favor of the season-opening version.

3. A complete team win is what this team needed

For whatever the reason, Rice hasn’t really gotten the offense, defense and pitching in sync this season. The Owls are still searching for their first error-free game of 2019, but the rotation and the lineup have each had bursts. Bordwine started the Owls off on the right foot on the mound and the offense was electric. The relief corps had a hiccup before settling down late in the game. The defense, again, wasn’t perfect. And Rice won by 20.

Winning big with some built-in mistakes is a step in the right direction. If Rice wants to contend with the heavyweights of the sport, they’ll need to start combining all phases in the same game. This was definitely a step in the right direction.

ON DECK | vs Texas State (Fri), vs Baylor (Sat), vs TCU (Sun)

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Rice Baseball: Complete 2019 Walk up song playlist

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Walk up songs are a creative niche which doesn’t exist to the same degree in any other sport. Here are the walk up songs for each Rice baseball player in 2019.

A few quick notes. Johnny Hoyle is the only player on the staff with a separate walk up song on the mound and at the plate. Awesome God by R Swift, the walk up song of choice for outfielder Dominic Cox, was not available for free streaming on Spotify. Listen to it here. Evan Kravetz and Brandt Frazier each chose The Stroke by Billy Squire

Get the full playlist on Spotify

Aaron Beaulaurier – Midnight in Montgomery by Alan Jackson

Kel Bordwine – Hot Blood by Kaleo

Khevin Brewer – Sittin’ On The Dock by Otis

Blake Brogdon – Wherever I May Roam by Metallica

Caleb Burgess – Come and Get Your Love by Redbone

Matt Canterino – Amazing by Kanye West

Justin Collins – Your Love by The Outfield

Braden Comeaux – Houston, We got a Problem by Luke Combs

Benjamin Content – Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother

Dominic Cox – Awesome God by R Swift

Trei Cruz – Sicko Mode by Travis Scott

Antonio Cruz – Nonstop by Drake

Brandon Deskins – Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden

Dominic DiCaprio – Biggest Alley Oop by Quavo

Rodrigo Duluc – Peligrosa by J Bavin

Andrew Dunlap – Stranglehold by Ted Nugent

Justin Dunlap – Telephone Calls by A$AP Rocky

Cade Edwards – Carousel by Travis Scott

Zach Esquivel – By the Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Brandt Frazier – The Stroke by Billy Squire

Roel Garcia – Gasolina by Daddy Yankee

Garrett Gayle – Reign in Blood by Slayer

Bradley Gneiting – Hakuna Matata by Jason Weaver

Drake Greenwood – Eminence Front by The Who

Johnny Hoyle (Batting) – Moonlight by XXXTENACION

Johnny Hoyle (Pitching) – Breed by Nirvana

Kendall Jeffries – Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

Evan Kravetz – The Stroke by Billy Squire

Joshua Larzabal – Butterfly Effect by Travis Scott

Blair Lewis – Homeboy by Eric Church

Addison Moss – Hells Bells by AC/DC

Jackson Parthasarathy – Touch Me by The Doors

A.C. Plum – What’s Up Danger by Blackway & Black Caviar

Daniel Russell – Shining Star by Earth, Wind and Fire

Ben Schragger – Welcome to the Show by Cody Johnson

Nick Silber – No Sleep Til Brooklyn by Beastie Boys

Jackson Tyner – Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood

Dalton Wood – Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns and Roses

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Baseball: Coach Matt Bragga undeterred by his toughest test yet

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Rice baseball had a rough start to the 2019 season, but head coach Matt Bragga is keeping the faith this team and this program can be something special.

It’s been a long time since 2003 for Rice baseball. The Owls would return to Omaha three times following their first College World Series title that remarkable season, most recently in 2008. But then things started to slow down at South Main. It came time to find the next leader who would carry what had become a mainstay program in college baseball back to the promised land.

That’s why Matt Bragga was hired. He was hired to bring another championship back to Houston.

And that’s why the first two weeks of the 2019 season have stung so much.

“It’s just not good enough. That’s a good team, but we shot ourselves in the foot multiple times over the course of the weekend as we did on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Bragga said following a three-game sweep at Reckling Park at the hands of UC Irvine. “We’re just not a good enough baseball team right now, and that’s my job as a coach to try to make us better and get as much out of these guys as we possibly can.”

More: Takeaways from Rice baseball’s home series loss to UC Irvine

In many respects, his summary is spot on. This is not a good enough baseball team right now.

On the mound, Rice pitchers are falling behind into less-than-favorable counts. They’re not being aggressive. At the plate the hitters are swinging at bad pitches, taking poor approaches with two strikes and failing to make adjustments at the plate over the course of a series. The defense, which has now accumulated 24 errors in eight games, needs to make more plays.

That list comes straight from the head man himself. Bragga meticulously spelled out the litany of issues following the third loss of the weekend to a UC Irvine team ranked in the Top 25 of some national polls. He summed it up with an all-encompassing decree, “we have to play better baseball.”

Rice baseball
Head Coach Matt Bragga introduced by AD Joe Karlgaard.

Perhaps he could take a page out of Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren’s book. Bloomgren came to South Main with a similar mandate: restore a winning tradition at Rice. What Bloomgren found out, and Bragga is currently experiencing, is the challenge of taking a program which had fallen on hard times back to relevancy is hard.

Following the football program’s loss to previously winless UTEP, Bloomgren remarked, somewhat in dismay, “I never thought I would be associated with a team that has had this little success.”

It’s hard to determine if that was the lowest low point of a challenging season on the gridiron, but there’s no denying the team Bloomgren’s unit finished the year on a high note, defeating Old Dominion in emphatic fashion. The inkings of a turnaround are finally present, but it took time. There are no shortcuts.

Hard, but not impossible

Bragga calls himself a straight shooter. He didn’t beat around the bush after his team fell to 2-6 on the season. “There’s more of a challenge [at Rice] than I probably envisioned,” he admitted. “But that’s okay. That’s why you coach, for challenges, and trying to overcome those challenges.”

Whether Bragga underestimated the challenge or not, his task hasn’t changed. His attitude remains unwavering. “I have belief in these guys,” he said confidently,” I think this could still be a really good team and I’m certainly not going to give up on them after eight games.” With at least 48 more to play in the 2019 season, Bragga will have plenty more opportunities to make that dream become a reality. Those aspirations will continue on to 2020 and beyond, too.

I have belief in these guys. I think this could still be a really good team and I’m certainly not going to give up on them after eight games.Matt Bragga

Baseball is hard. It’s a game built on failure and rooted in daily mental battles with oneself. There’s no doubt Rice baseball got punched in the mouth at the start of the 2019 season, but there’s also no reason to write off a strategic investment made by both the administration and by Bragga after two rough weeks, not yet.

Hope remains

As he walked off the field toward his office in the inner workings of Reckling Park, Bragga made one barely audible comment which resonated back out toward the field to scattered players and media standing on the dugout steps. “We’ll get it. I promise you, we’ll get it.”

Yes, it’s back to the drawing board for coach Bragga and the 2019 Rice baseball team. But this coach is a long way from throwing in the towel, and that’s why he’s here. Bragga was hired for more than two weeks of baseball. His legacy at Rice is only just beginning. Let’s allow him to play it out.

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