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Rice Baseball: Making sense of the 2022 Season

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The 2022 Rice baseball season did not go as planned. From the highs to the lows, here’s how Jose Cruz Jr.’s crew faired this year.

His exact words were “I’m not going to promise the moon right now” when asked what Rice baseball would look like this season. That humble acknowledgment of the forthcoming growing pains by new head coach Jose Cruz Jr. served as guardrails to what would become a challenging season at Reckling Park.

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From the most meaningful wins to the most head-scratching losses, from surprise superstars to questions still outstanding, here’s a deep dive on the 2022 Rice baseball season.

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Rice Baseball: 2022 MLB Owls update – May 25

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The 2022 MLB season is underway and Rice baseball alums are busy on the mound and at the plate. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls.

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendon had a routine off day on Tuesday, piggybacking off a scheduled off day on Monday for a two-day break. The short time off meant he only appeared in three games since the prior update, collecting three hits, one of which was a double.

Through May 25 Rendon is hitting .239 with 14 extra-base hits, 20 walks and 31 strikeouts. His OPS is .742 and he’s collected 22 RBI.

J.T. Chargois – Tampa Bay Rays

Chargois suffered a setback in his rehab process this week and was placed on the 60-day IL pushing his return to the mound back by several weeks.

Through May 25, Chargois has a 0.00 ERA with a 0.000 WHIP. He’s averaging 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffer was extremely active this week, appearing in three games and earning two holds and his second win of the season. His most recent outing against the Tigers was his best, striking out two of the three batters he faced to preserve a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning before ceding to Jhoan Duran who earned the ninth inning save.

Through May 25, Duffey has a 3.63 ERA with a 1.096 WHIP. He’s averaging 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings.

Lucas Luetge – New York Yankees

Luetge was saddled with his first loss of the season last Thursday, allowing a walk-off home run against the Orioles in what had been a tied ballgame in the ninth inning. He bounced back with a scoreless inning against the White Sox three days later and record an out against the long better he faced against the Orioles on Tuesday.

Through May 25, Luetge has a 5.56 ERA with a 1.500 WHIP. He’s averaging 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings.

Glenn Otto – Texas Rangers

Otto made his fifth start of the season last Thursday, going six innings against the Astros while allowing just two earned runs. Despite the quality start, he was handed a loss thanks to a meager one-run showing from his lineup in response. Otto is 1-2 this season.

Through May 25, Otto has a 5.55 ERA with a 1.479 WHIP. He’s averaging 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Conference USA Baseball Tournament 2022 Preview, schedule, how to watch

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The Conference USA Baseball Tournament is headed to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Here’s how to watch and what to be looking for this week.

The final weekend of regular season play saw teams jockeying for position, but now theΒ Conference USA Baseball Tournament field is finally set. The top eight squads will square off with hopes of an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and their chance to play for a trip to the College World Series.

All games will be streamed on ESPN+ with the exception of the tournament championship, available on CBS Sports Network. The tournament runs from Wednesday, May 25 to Sunday, May 29. The full schedule and updated bracket are available on the Conference USA Baseball Tournament website.

Assessing the field

The favorite | Southern Miss enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed with a three-game lead on the next closest member of the field. The Golden Eagles are the conference’s only nationally ranked team and possess enough firepower on both sides of the ball to separate themselves from the next bunch behind them.

The contenders | Old Dominion, Florida Atlantic and UTSA finished the regular season with identical conference records (19-11) just one game back of Louisiana Tech (20-10). If any of those clubs and win their first two games, they’ll be in the driver’s seat to win the tournament. The field is rather deep this year behind Southern Miss and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if one of these “next four” wins it all.

The darkhorse | Charlotte dropped their final conference series against Louisiana Tech two games to one, but prior to that the 49ers had won four straight series with two sweeps. Winners of 16 of their last 20 games, this is a team playing way above what their record says they are entering the tournament.

The wild card | UTSA has somewhat quietly assembled a remarkable season, posting at least one win over every team in the tournament field. They can score runs in bunches. If they can avoid taxing their pitching staff, a run through the winner’s bracket is certainly within reach for this squad.

The bracket

The opening day of games will take place on Wednesday, May 25:

Game 1 – 9:00 AM | (3) Old Dominion vs (6) Middle Tennessee

Game 2 – 12:30 PM | (2) Louisiana Tech vs (7) Charlotte

Game 3 – 4:00 PM | (1) Southern Miss vs (8) UAB

Game 4 – 7:30 PM | (4) Florida Atlantic vs (5) UTSA

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Rice Baseball goes out on high note with sweep of FIU

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Rice Baseball ended its 2022 season on a high note, notching their first series sweep in their final weekend, taking all three from FIU on the road.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball wins the series 3-0

For the first time this season, Rice baseball swept their opponent in three straight games. Fresh off an extra-inning win over Houston, the Owls rode that momentum through the weekend, finishing the season playing what was by far their best baseball yet. Rice finished the year with a final record of 17-39 overall and 9-21 in conference play. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. The pitching came through at the end

After months of tweaking and shifting players into different roles, Rice baseball finally found a combination that seemed to work on the mound. Cooper Chandler was terrific, after missing time with an injury he bounced back to throw a scoreless seven innings on Friday’s win, backed by sterling relief appearances from Garrett Zaskoda and Micah Davis.

Brandon Deskins pitched a pair of multi-inning outings this weekend, striking out nine of the 16 total batters he faced without allowing a run. Matthew Linskey picked up save number five on Sunday. Almost to the man, the Rice staff was incredible.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball rallies past UH in extras

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. made was quick to acknowledge the Owls’ successes on the mound, running down a similar last of hurlers who had big weekend. He seemed particularly thankful to have guys like Linskey and Parker Smith (who pitched in two of the Owls’ final four wins of the year) back in the fold next season.

2. Austin Bulman will be missed

Although much has (and will be) said about the young talent Rice baseball will bring back next year, it would be remiss not to acknowledge the impact Austin Bulman had on this team during this series and this season. Bulman was the most productive hitter for the Owls on the weekend, driving in all three RBI in Saturday’s sweep-clinching win.

Bulman, who went 4-for-10 (.400) during the series, was measured in his final comments wearing blue and gray.Β “Things worked out for the Owls,” he said. “So I’m happy I got to go out on a high note.”

Beyond this series, Bulman will finish the season with a .280/.350/.514 slash line and the second-best OPS on the team (.864) among those who played in at least 30 games. A leader on this team for the past several seasons, his bat and his voice will be challenging to fill next year.

3. What the record says they are

With the 2022 season officially in the books, Rice baseball has finished ninth in the conference standings. Their combined record against the three teams below them (7-2) looks a lot different than their record against the top eight squads (2-19) who made the conference tournament. Given that divergence, it’s crystal clear just how good Rice was this season.

Cruz Jr. broke a smile but remained focused as he recapped how the year finished. “To be able to get a sweep is a big deal for us. It’s exciting to end in a positive way,” he said. “We changed some things around at the end and it worked. So now it’s just get ready, keep building and see how good we can get.”

At this point it seems clear Rice can beat the “bad” teams. What remains to be seen is whether or not the Owls can elevate themselves out of that tier of squads that didn’t play in any postseason games into a team that gets a chance at a conference tournament appearance next year. Cruz Jr. made no promises to that end, but he commanded his team for how they ended things.

“They committed to finishing out the season strong,” he acknowledge. “A lot of guys showed up at the end.”

THE PLAY BY PLAY

THURSDAY | Rice 8 – FIU 2

FIU scored the first run of the weekend in the bottom of the first inning, sandwiching a key stolen base around back-to-back singles to sneak across the opening tally. That was just about the only success the Panthers were able to have against the Rice pitching staff which shuffled through four different arms, all of which had success against the Panthers’ lineup.

David Shaw led the way with three strong innings before ceding to Alex DeLeon and Brandon Deskins, who was credited with his third win of the season. Meanwhile, the Rice bats went to work. Jack Riedel and Aaron Smigelski helped break the game open with RBI doubles in a four-run fourth inning before Connor Walsh added insurance with a three-run home run in the ninth.

FRIDAY | Rice 10 – FIU 0

Rice baseball utilized another big inning on Friday, quickly smashing through what had been a 0-0 pitcher’s duel with a 5-run sixth inning that gave Rice a commanding 7-0 lead. Aaron Smigelski, who had already driven in two runs with a fifth-inning home run, picked up two more RBI with another two-run shot in the sixth.

That second blast put the freshmen in rarified air. Smigelski became the first Owl to hit three multi-home run games in a season since Anthony Rendon did so in 2010. The long balls also provided Cooper Chandler with plenty to work with while he delivered a masterful seven-inning, three-hit scoreless gem on the way to his second win of the year.

SATURDAY | Rice 3 – FIU 1

To some degree, it was several of the familiar faces that propelled the Owls to their first sweep of the season on Saturday. Parker Smith worked a near-flawless 5.1 innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits. He have relief to Brandon Deskins, who pitched another strong outing in relief before handing the baton to Matthew Linskey to slam the door with two strong innings to earn the save.

Austin Bulman gave Rice a 2-0 lead in the first with a home run and provided an insurance run in the eighth via a sacrifice fly. It was an efficient, two-hour, 29-minute win that — while close on the scoreboard — had the feeling of a contest that was very much so under control from start to finish.

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Aaron Smigelski’s debut season gives hope for Rice baseball

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It’s been a tough year for Rice baseball, but freshman infielder Aaron Smigelski has been a bright spot. His ascent has given the Owls hope.

Trailing 15-0 on the second day of the 2022 season, Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr went to the bench for the final inning of at bats against No. 1 Texas. The game was all but decided at that point, but Cruz wanted to give everyone a chance to show him what they could do. The first to the plate in that frame was freshman Aaron Smigelski.

Whack.

The true freshman from Clayton, North Carolina laced a single up the middle. It was the Owls’ fifth hit of the day.

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