The source for Rice sports news

Rice Baseball: Owls pound Prairie View A&M in get-right game

By

Rice baseball pummeled Prairie View A&M on Wednesday. The Owls improved their record to 3-4 entering the Shriner’s Classic this weekend.

There weren’t any runs scored in the first two innings from either side on Wednesday night. But when Rice baseball struck in the third with its first trickle of offensive success, the dam broke almost immediately. The deluge of runs that followed was swift and decisive.

Rice scored six in the third, headlined by a three-run home run by Bradley Gneiting. Rice added another run in the fifth, another in the sixth and two in the seventh. By the time the Owls and Panthers were on their way to the eighth inning all nine members of the Rice lineup had at least one hit and at least one run. Rice would go on to win by a final score of 10-0.

Things went almost as well for the Owls on the mound as they did in the batter’s box. Mitchell Holcomb rebounded from a pair of middle-of-the-road Friday night outings, posting 3.1 scoreless innings. He did allow four hits, but struck out five. A combination of Brandon Deskins, Alex DeLeon and Dillon Janac kept Prairie View at bay through the remainder of the contest.

What it means

The last time these two teams met, Rice routed Praire View A&M 25-5. The Owls are the more talented team in every respect and should be able to take care of business at home in these matchups. On Wednesday night, that’s exactly what they did. Raising some averages and dropping some ERAs and rebounding from a tough weekend sweep in the process was a bonus.

ON DECK | Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park

Rice baseball returns to Minute Maid Park this weekend for the Shriner’s College Classic. They’ll play three in-state foes: Sam Houston (Fri), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sat), Texas State (Sun).

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball 2021: Owls swept by Louisiana in first road series

By

Rice baseball (2-4) fell in three straight games to Louisiana. The Owls had good moments on the mound, but couldn’t keep up with the Cajun’s bats.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Louisiana wins series 3-0

1. The Bullpen posts another strong showing

The season hasn’t been long, but we’ve seen the same narrative play out more than once. Rice baseball starting pitching surrenders the lead. The offense doesn’t have the juice to catch back up, but the bullpen keeps the team within striking distance until the innings run their course.

That same scenario manifested itself on Friday and Saturday against Louisiana. Dalton Wood and Reed Gallant were terrific. Wood allowed no hits and struck out three in 2.1 innings on Friday. Gallant allowed two hits with one strikeout in 4.1 innings on Saturday. But despite their best efforts, neither factored in a decision on the weekend because the lead had already been lost before they got their chance on the mound.

Sunday’s collective wasn’t as strong, but it did include several faces seeing their first action of the season in a situation where Rice was already trailing.

2. More offense, please

Rice scored three runs in each of their three games against Louisiana. Justin Dunlap, the Owls’ most productive hitter against Houston Baptist, did not play in the series. Among the Owls that did, only four — Braden Comeaux (.364), Justin Long (.333), Cade Edwards (.304) and Bradley Gneiting (.238) — are hitting better than .220 on the season.

Guy Garibay, who made his Rice debut on Friday night, drew three walks and hit a home run. He’s fifth among all Owls with a .385 on-base percentage. Rice is going to need more from incoming transfer Connor Walsh and Hal Hughes at the plate, too.

3. Flipped rotation not working for the Owls

We’ve seen a lot of tremendous pitching performances from the Rice staff so far this season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t extended to their unexpected series-starting pitcher Mitchell Holcomb. Entering the season, Roel Garcia and Blake Brogdon were the sure-fire top two arms in the rotation. Holcomb was the likeliest candidate to pitch on Sundays. He wasn’t supposed to be a Friday night guy.

Listen: The Roost Podcast Offseason Interview Series

But the storm and limited availability of others have made Holcomb the man tasked with opening series thus far. By head coach Matt Bragga’s own admission, he hasn’t been at his best. That’s put Rice in early holes.

If everything had gone according to plan, Holcomb still would have been in the rotation, so his struggles so far still would have impacted the team. But there’s something to be said from falling behind in a series so quickly. It changes how pitchers are deployed and how a team responds. Getting Garcia back into the No. 1 spot is a must.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | Louisiana 7 – Rice 3

Louisiana struck early in the opener. A leadoff home run sparked a three-run, eight-batter first inning against Mitchell Holcomb that put Rice into comeback mode from the start. The Owls were able to equalize with a Connor Walsh home run, but the offense was quiet from that point onward.

Holcomb would allow another two runs before exiting after three innings. Alex DeLeon allowed two more runs in 2.2 innings before Dalton Wood came on and blanked the Cajuns for the final 2.1 innings. By then, it was too late. Rice had just four hits total after the second inning.

SATURDAY | Louisiana 5 – Rice 3

After trading zeroes in the first, Louisiana scratched across a run in the second and the third innings to take a 2-0 lead. Rice had their best opportunity in the fourth, striking for three runs and driving starting pitcher David Christie from the game.

The Owls did not hold the lead for more than a few minutes. A pair of RBI doubles against Rice starter Blake Brogdon put Louisiana in front in the bottom half of the inning. Brogdon would be chased before recording the third out. He was charged with all three runs in the inning as well as the 5-3 loss.

SUNDAY | Louisiana 6 – Rice 3

Rice struck first on Sunday, sneaking a run across on an error in the third inning. That 1-0 lead would hold until Garcia was lifted in the fifth inning for Brandon Deskins. The sophomore didn’t exhibit the same amount of control that he did against Houston Baptist. He was charged with three runs and saddled with the loss.

Including the three allowed by Deskins, the bullpen would collectively concede six runs before Rice baseball found a way back onto the scoreboard.

Garibay came through with his first collegiate home run in the eighth, but the celebration was somewhat muted with teammate Comeaux having been just escorted from the field after being hit by a pitch.

ON DECK | Rice Baseball vs Prairie View A&M (Wed) and Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park: Sam Houston (Fri), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sat), Texas State (Sun).

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball 2021: Previewing the Louisiana Series

By

The 2021 Rice baseball season started strong with a series win over HBU. Next, they face Louisiana. Here’s how the teams stack up.

After falling in extra innings in their season opener, Rice bounced back and took the final two games of their improvised three-game season-opening series against Houston Baptist. The Owls had originally intended to host a pair of out-of-state teams as well as the Huskies, but neither Washington or Arkansas Little Rock were able to travel to Houston.

Instead, Rice made the best of a crosstown series, opening their year with a pair of wins. With a midweek tune up against Lamar canceled, Rice will make their road debut on Friday against the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Game Notes

Times: Friday 6:00 p.m. | Saturday 2:00 p.m. | Sunday 1:00 p.m.
Venue: LA ‘Tigue’ Moore Field at Russo Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (2-1) took two of three against Houston Baptist. COVID-19 concerns at Lamar forced the cancellation of their previously scheduled Tuesday game.

Louisiana (3-2), like Rice, dropped their opener but went on to win their opening weekend series over Tulane, 2-1. They defeated Louisiana Tech 2-0 on Tuesday and lost to LSU on Wednesday.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday | Mitchell Holcomb (0-0, 5.06) vs Hayden Durke (0-0, 0.00)
Saturday |Blake Brogdon (0-0, 3.60) vs Conor Angel (0-0, 11.57)
Sunday | Roel Garcia (0-0, 0.00)  vs Carter Robinson (0-0, 3.60)

Louisiana Pitching

Pitching has been a plus for Louisiana early on in the season. Staff ace Hayden Durke allowed one hit and no runs in his opening five-inning performance. The Ragin’ Cajuns entered the weekend with six members of their pitching staff under 1.00 in WHIP, including reliever Brandon Talley, who has struck out seven of the 16 batters he’s faced this season.

Louisiana Hitting

The Ragin’ Cajuns are even with their opponents, batting .247 and allowing their opponents to hit .247 as well. To this point, they’ve mashed four home runs on the season and have hit 11 extra base hits. That’s a decent amount of power, which has been largely shared throughout the lineup. Catcher Drake Osborn was the hot hand late, going 4-for-6 in the series finale against Tulane with a double, home run and four RBI.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

How good will Rice baseball be in 2021 and beyond? All-American Q&A

By

All-American Level subscribers on Patreon get access to a monthly Q&A with me. This update focuses on the newly begun Rice baseball season.

Q. It’s hard to believe Rice baseball would ever be “rebuilding” but if that is the case, when will it be over? When are the Owls going back to Omaha?

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

A. Rice baseball was the premier program of the university and a standard-bearer for the state under Wayne Graham. But things have fallen off over the last several years, bottoming out in an abridged 2-14 season in the spring of 2020.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($25) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball 2021: Connor Walsh walk off lifts Rice to series win over HBU

By

Rice baseball bounced back from an opening loss, taking two of three games against crosstown Houston Baptist to open their 2021 campaign.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice wins series 2-1

1. COVID-19 and Winter Storm Uri throw Owls a curve

Roel Garcia was meant to be the Opening Day starter for Rice baseball. Of course, that was when Opening Day was meant to happen on Friday night against Little Rock. Then Winter Storm Uri brought the city of Houston to a standstill and directly impacted who Rice has available to work with this week, including Garcia who was bumped from Friday to Sunday to ensure he had adequate time to ramp up.

Gacia wasn’t the only Owl displaced from the presumed normal roster. Freshman outfielder Guy Garibay was unavailable for the weekend because of COVID-19 protocols and contact tracing. There’s optimism he’ll be able to make his debut next weekend against Louisiana.

Head coach Matt Bragga was emphatic that the missing pieces weren’t an excuse for the Owls’ sluggish opener. Nevertheless, the carousel of available players — and the first cancelation of the season (the midweek game against Lamar has been shelved by the Cardinals) — served as yet another reminder that the 2021 season will still be bumpy, storm or not.

2. New catcher(s) in town

Catcher Justin Collins was among the Owls who did not play this weekend. His status was uncertain the last time this spring, but Bragga confirmed that he did not expect Collins to return. It looks like incoming transfer Will Karp, who hasn’t played the position much at all since high school, will assume the bulk of the responsibilities behind the plate.

Viewed as a do-it-all infielder when he was recruited, Karp has transitioned from that side of the diamond to behind the plate quite well. He flashed a good arm, caught a few would-be-base stealers and held his own behind the dish.

He was also productive with his bat. Karp, third baseman Braden Comeaux and outfielder Justin Dunlap were the only Owls with hits in all three games.

Freshman Justin Long got a chance behind the dish on Monday. We’ll probably see both guys over the next few weeks. Rice will have a few weeks to establish a new plan at the position before conference play arrives.

3. The bullpen is better and has the potential to be really good

Brandon Deskins hadn’t thrown in more than a week when he was asked to pitch Rice out of a jam on Saturday afternoon. He did give up a hard-hit RBI ball, with the runs charged to Alex DeLeon ahead of him, but settled in quickly. Deskins threw 3.2 innings, allowed three hits and struck out four.

Garret Zaskoda, who received a look as a possible midweek starting option, was sharp in his relief appearance on Sunday, allowing one run on two hits in four innings. Reed Gallant kept the ball rolling on Monday with five shutout innings, allowing no hits along the way.

Three of the five relievers Rice baseball deployed in the series were superb (Deskins, Zaskoda, Gallant). Only DeLeon allowed multiple runs. At the very least, more good outings than bad is a step in the right direction for the Rice bullpen which still has plenty of talented young arms like Dillon Janac and Matthew Linskey waiting in the wings.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

SATURDAY | HBU 8 – Rice 7 (10 Inn)

You couldn’t have drawn up a much better start for Rice. The first four Owls that stepped to the plate delivered with hits. Then the opening stanza was capped off with a three-run bomb from Austin Bulman. From that point onward, though, the offense was almost silent.  “They shut us down for the next nine innings, honestly,” Bragga said with a grimace.

Starter Mitchell Holcomb allowed three runs in 5.1 innings, but things soured when Alex DeLeon allowed four runs without recording an out, allowing Houston Baptist to take a 7-4 lead.

Rice added two unearned runs in the sixth, but trailed Houston Baptist 7-8 entering the ninth. The Owls manufactured one more run to force extras but fell in the 10th with the would-be game-winning run at the plate.

SUNDAY | Rice 9 – HBU 3

The pitching was much better for Rice in the second game of the series. The two-man combination of Blake Brogdon and Zaskoda allowed three runs on eight hits, striking out seven and walking three. Zaskoda earned his first career win in the result, supported by a thunderous late-game burst by the Rice bats.

After swapping runs in the middle frames, Rice hung a five-spot in the eighth inning. That crooked number effectively put the game out of reach. Hal Hughes and Karp had RBIs in the inning, but it was a bases-clearing RBI triple by reliable third baseman Comeaux that proved to be the insurmountable crescendo.

MONDAY | Rice 1 – HBU 0

The getaway game is typically slanted toward the offenses, but that wasn’t the case this time around. Garcia, bumped from the opener to the series finale, was sharp in his return to the mound, throwing four scoreless innings for the Owls.

Bragga said Garcia’s velocity isn’t quite back at 100 percent. Even so, he still managed to work through HBU’s lineup with relative ease. Gallant took over and blanked the Huskies for the next five frames, earning the win in his first-ever collegiate outing.

With the bases loaded in the ninth inning, incoming transfer Connor Walsh found the barrel and delivered his first base hit as a Rice Owl. The ball scorched down the alley in right center field, driving in a runner from third, giving Rice the game and series win.

ON DECK | Rice Baseball vs Lamar (Canceled), at Louisiana (Fri-Sun)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts