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Football: Owls name Mike Kershaw 10th assistant

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Mike Bloomgren has finalized the 2019 Rice football coaching staff, naming offensive assistant Mike Kershaw as his 10th assistant.

Rice football will promote from within. Mike Kershaw has been tabbed to complete the Owls’ 2019 coaching staff after serving as the team’s NFL liaison and offensive assistant during 2018. Prior to that, he worked as an assistant with Bloomgren at Delta State. He filled in briefly on the recruiting trail this winter, going as far as California as the team worked to finish their 2019 class.

His addition finalizes the Owls’ coaching staff, which had been one man short following Pete Lembo’s departure. Rather than fill his role directly, Kershaw will coach the wide receivers. That move will shift assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Jerry Mack from wide receivers to running backs. Drew Svoboda, who coached running backs in 2018, will shift full time to special teams.

The candidate pool for the final assistant spot was far-reaching, but the final list thinned out fairly quickly. Among the external candidates, former Rice tight end James Casey was in consideration before taking a job with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Continuity was something Bloomgren stressed throughout the entire process. If the best fit was an external candidate he was willing to go that route, but the ability to maintain the same message on special teams was a driving factor in the decision.  Rice skyrocketed from 114th to 17th in special team’s efficiency last season. Coach Svoboda, who already knows the vision and terminology which paved the way for the sizable improvement, should help make the transition as seamless as possible.

Kershaw won’t have to wait long to get his feet wet. Rice begins spring practices on March 4. The Owls will cap off the spring with the annual Blue-Grey Spring Game will be played at 11 a.m. CT on April 13.

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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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