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Rice Baseball 2020: Previewing the Texas Tech series

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Rice baseball returns home to face Missouri State. The Owls are seeking their first series win of the season. Here’s how both teams stack up.

The final weekend of nonconference play for Rice baseball poses the biggest challenge of their season to date. The hot and cold Owls will take on No. 5 Texas Tech in their own ballpark for a three game series this coming weekend. A series win over Missouri State was a good first step. Taking a game or more from a College World Series perennial like Texas Tech would be an impressive statement prior to Conference USA play.

Game Notes

Times: Friday 6:30 p.m. | Saturday 2:00 p.m. | Sunday 11:30 a.m.
Venue: Rip Griffin Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: Friday and Saturday on Tech TV ($), Sunday on FSSW+

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (2-10) won their first series of the season last weekend, taking two of three games from visiting Missouri State. The Owls then lost both of their midweek games, the first to Louisiana and the next to Houston.

Texas Tech (13-1) has won nine games in a row. They beat FAU last Friday before taking two games from Florida State over the weekend. They pummeled UNLV by a combined score of 22-5 in two midweek games.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday | Alex DeLeon (1-2, 9.82) vs Clayton Beeter (1-1, 3.00)
Saturday |Blake Brogdon (0-3, 4.60) vs Bryce Bonnin (2-0, 4.15)
Sunday | Drake Greenwood (0-1, 4.09)  vs Austin Becker (1-0, 4.38)

Texas Tech Pitching

The bullpen has been the strongest part of the Texas Tech pitching staff. Micah Dallas and Hunter Dobbins have mowed through opposing batters at a remarkable pace. Those two have combined for 35 strikeouts in 23.2 innings, allowing just three runs and three extra base hits over that time. Jakob Brustoski has a 0.00 ERA and a 0.500 WHIP with 11 punchouts.

On the starting front, things are a bit rockier. Staff ace Clayton Beeter has been good outside of a start against Tennessee, Texas Tech’s only loss of the season. The rest of the rotation has struggled to get past the fifth inning. The deep bullpen has helped, but eventually the starters are going to have to carry more of the load.

Texas Tech Hitting

The Tech offense has been dynamite. Second baseman Brian Klein is hitting .431 with nine doubles in 14 games. He’s one of six every day players batting better than .300 for the Red Raiders. The rest of the lineup is nearly just as potent. Only one player with at least 10 plate appearances has a batting average below .270. Catcher Nate Rombach is slugging .787.

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Rice Baseball 2020: Houston takes Game 1 of Silver Glove Series

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Rice baseball dropped the first game of the Silver Glove Series on Wednesday night, falling to Houston 6-4 at Reckling Park.

Wednesday night’s narrow loss was the latest in a series of tough blows to a Rice baseball program still in search of consistency. Rice held Houston off the board in the first, but allowed the Cougars to score in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. Despite leading 2-1 after two frames, Rice fell behind 5-2 and was unable to rally.

The Rice loss put Houston ahead 1-0 in the battle for the Silver Glove. Rice won the series in 2019.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Lineup TBD

Matt Bragga has said on multiple occasions he’d prefer to pick one lineup and stick with it. Wednesday was far from that ideal, but that’s what happens when previous lineups fail to get the job done. Freshman catcher Cullen Hannigan got his first career start (and first collegiate hit).

The outfield consisted of Dominic Cox, Antonio Cruz and Aaron Beaulaurier, almost a complete 180 flip from the trio of Beaulaurier, Daniel Hernandez and Bradley Gneiting who started the first game of the Missouri State series. Hernandez did not appear, while Gneiting moved to first base, shifting Austin Bulman to third as Braden Comeaux remained out of the lineup.

Starting Pitching TBD

The midweek starting spots are still up for grabs. First, the Owls are still working to settle in on a weekend rotation that will include Roel Garcia when he’s back to full strength. Beyond that, the Owls haven’t had anyone come in and seize the job or force themselves into the conversation for a Sunday start.

Brandon Deskins got the nod tonight and turned in a serviceable performance. He allowed two runs (one earned) in three innings, one which came on a wild pitch. Looking past that misstep, and considering the lack of proven alternatives, Deskins probably deserves another midweek start at the very least.

Offensive execution continues to be a sore spot

Down 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Rice had a golden opportunity to tie the game. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. They had three opportunities. And they wasted each of them. After Cade Edwards and Trei Cruz had delivered RBI hits to set the table, Austin Bulman, Rodrigo Duluc and Bradley Gneiting struck out in order with runners on second and third.

Not converting with runners in scoring position happens to every team, but it’s happened with far too much regularity with the Owls. There is simply no reason the 3-4-5 hitters in any lineup can’t get the tying run 90 feet with three tries. A bad indiviual at bat happens, but three in a row from the better hitters on the team is a problem. If the approaches in those situations don’t change, it’s going to be hard to trust this team to get hits when the pressure rises even higher.

Up Next | Texas Tech (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball: Owls’ unraveled by errors in loss to Louisiana

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Fresh off their first series win of the season, Rice baseball dropped its midweek contest to Louisiana that was close through four innings.

Trei Cruz and Austin Bulman opened up the game with back-to-back doubles in the first inning, tying the score at one apiece after starter Ryan Rickett allowed a run in the first inning. That would become the extent of the Owls’ offensive production on the night.

Rice would manage to pull together five hits, paling in comparison to the 13 hits Louisiana accrued in their 10-run win. A game this lopsided has become all-too common this season, but it was the first time an opponent tallied 10 runs at Reckling Park this year.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Foreboding first innings

Rice has allowed at least one run in the first inning in seven of their 11 games this season. Their opponents are sending their best bats to the plate in the first inning. But that’s no reason for the Owls’ starting pitching to be this porous so early in games. Like Rickett tonight, who settled in for his short start after the one-run first inning, Rice starting pitching has been mostly adequate. If they can cruise through the second and third inning, getting three outs to start the game shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Owls can’t afford to be this sloppy

By the time the conference tournament came around, Rice baseball had become one of the better fielding teams in Conference USA. That level of play had held steady since. Entering Tuesday night, Rice had committed one error or less in eight of their 10 games. A pair two-error games were the exceptions.

Rice committed four errors against Louisiana, three of which came in the fifth inning. Three reliable infielders — Cruz, Bulman and Cade Edwards — all allowed free bases to the Cajuns who made the Owls pay. The seven-run fifth inning crushed what had been a promising start.

No rest for the weary

The schedule doesn’t ease up. Rice gets crosstown rival Houston on Wednesday night. Following that they draw Texas Tech for a three-game series on the road and return home for a midweek game against Texas A&M before starting conference play against Marshall.

The road looked tenuous before the Owls’ started playing games. The early results have been hard to process. How much of blame does Rice deserve? How much credit is due to the quality of the competition? As usual, the answer is probably a little bit of both.

Up Next | Houston (Wed), Texas Tech (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball 2020: Owls notch series win over Missouri State

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It took a few games to get in a groove, but Rice baseball found their rhythm in a 2-1 series win over Missouri State over the weekend.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice wins the series 2-1

1. The bats are here!

Rice scored as many runs in the first inning of their Friday game than they managed in their previous four games combined. That’s seven runs prior to getting three outs compared to seven runs after 36 outs. It wasn’t a completely clean flip of the switch. The offense didn’t do much on Saturday and still could have been better than the five runs scored on Sunday.

Big weekends from Austin Bulman, Bradley Gneiting, Rodrigo Duluc, Trei Cruz and others have given the Owls a semblance of a starting lineup. There’s still a bit more work to be done organizing the outfield, but the offense has cleared the first hurdle. This was a positive step after two successive backward weekends.

2. DeLeon shows he can do it — but consistency still a problem

DeLeon’s seven innings of five-hit, four-run ball don’t qualify as a quality start, nor should they after the rocky start. Still, the way the veteran was able to settle in and battle for as long as he did showed a tremendous amount of poise and control. Getting comfortable after a first-inning as poor as he had and going deep into the game says a lot about his staying power within the Rice rotation.

The stat sheet still shows a grisly 9.82 ERA next to his name. For him, though, the bad has come in bunches. His ERA would drop significantly if not for the few awful innings he’s been a part of for one reason or another. You can’t cherry pick stats to fit a narrative, but any good story need context. DeLeon has been about as good as his high ERA says. That said, there’s clearly room for improvement if he can eliminate his early game struggles.

3. The sky is not falling

Things were grim after the 0-7 start. 2-8 doesn’t look much better on the official tally, but it will feel a lot different between the ears of this Rice baseball team. The psychological impact of a series win outways whatever good this series will have in the final standings. Missouri State hasn’t proven themselves to be all that great of a baseball team this season. Unless Rice plays themselves into a position for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, this weekend won’t drastically impact their season. Still, it mattered to this team. It mattered a lot.

On some level, Rice just needed to remember how to win. Batting around on Friday night, responding to a “here-we-go-again” scare with the most impressive offensive outburst of the season shows what this team can be. Consistency will be the key. And they’ll have to figure that out on the fly too.

FRIDAY | Rice 12 – Missouri State 4

Things started out rocky for the Owls on Friday night. Missouri State stuck with a four-spot in the first inning off pitcher Alex DeLeon. The embattled starter did not face a deficit for long. His offense woke up, batting around in the bottom half of the inning. By the time he returned to the mound, Rice had staked themselves to a 7-4 lead.

A home run by Trei Cruz and triples by Rodrigo Duluc and Bradley Gneiting highlighted a night in which the Owls had more extra-base hits than Missouri State totalled base hits of any kind.

SATURDAY | Missouri State 9 – Rice 3

Missouri State took an early lead, but Rice kept things close in the middle game up until the seventh inning. An error allowed the leadoff man to reach, setting the stage for four un-earned runs to extend the visitor’s lead from 4-0 to 7-0. Rice would tack on a few runs at the end, but it was never enough to make it feel like the Owls were close to making this a game again after that.

SUNDAY | Rice 5 – Missouri State 1

Rice fell behing in the first inning during Sunday’s rubber match. Seeking their first series win of the season, the Owls dug deep, scratching across runs in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings to take and extend the lead. Rice only out-hit Missouri State nine to seven, but the Owls got the more timely hits — something that had eluded them in recent weeks.

ON DECK | at Texas State (Tues), vs Missouri State (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball 2020: Previewing the Missouri State series

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Rice baseball returns home to face Missouri State. The Owls are seeking their first series win of the season. Here’s how both teams stack up.

Rice baseball knew their nonconference schedule was far from a cakewalk before the 2020 season began. Two weeks into action, the Owls sit at 0-7 with series losses to two good, but maybe not great teams in Texas and UC Irvine. This weekend’s series against a beatable Missouri State squad has become all the more important with Omaha regular Texas Tech still on deck.

Game Notes

Times: Friday 6:30 p.m. | Saturday 2:00 p.m. | Sunday 1:00 p.m.
Venue: Reckling Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: CUSATV

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (0-6) was swept by UC Irvine in a weekend series. The Owls faced Texas State in their midweek game, falling on the road by a score of 9-2.

Missouri State (4-4) went 1-3 in the Turface Classic last weekend. They beat Austin Peay on Thursday. They then lost games to Belmont, Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee to finish the weekend. They beat Oral Roberts on Tuesday by a score of 6-3.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday | Roel Garcia (0-0, 0.00) vs Logan Wiley (1-0, 0.00)
Saturday |Blake Brogdon (0-2, 4.22) vs Hayden Minton (1-1, 3.27)
Sunday | Drake Greenwood (0-1, 5.68)  vs Peyton Carson (0-2, 9.00)

Missouri State Pitching

Missouri State has sent 10 different pitchers to the mound over the course of their eight games played in 2020. Eight of them have a season ERA of 3.00 or better. Four of them have perfect ERAs of 0.00 including staff ace Logan Wiley. He’s thrown 15 innings of shutout ball, allowing eight hits and two walks while striking out 14.

From the pen, Forrest Barnes and Trey Ziegenbein have emerged as the go-to guys. Ziegenbein is the only reliever on the squad to throw more than seven innings and owns a K/9 rate of 9.000.

Missouri State Hitting

Grant Wood has been on a tear to start the season. He leads the team with a .367 batting average, including a team-best three extra base hits. His OPS sits at a crisp .962. Greg Ziegler is just behind him with a .300 average.

This lineup as a whole is not geared toward explosiveness. The Bears have hit eight doubles this season in eight games and only have three regulars hitting better than .250.

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