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Rice Baseball: Bullpen holds as Owls top LaTech at CUSA Tournament

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Rice baseball shook off their bullpen struggles, topping Louisiana Tech 4-3 in a Conference USA Tournament elimination game.

As the old saying goes, lightning doesn’t strike twice. For Rice, the lightning came in the form of a walk-off loss to Marshall a week ago on Thursday. Then it happened again. And again. And yet another time, with the final strike coming off the bat of Southern Miss slugger Matt Wallner on Wednesday.

Rice had led all four of those games by two or more runs entering the eighth inning. Each time the bullpen coughed up the advantage and the bats failed to rise to the occasion.

More: CUSA Tournament Bracket, news and notes

The story started in a similar way against Louisiana Tech in Thursday’s Conference USA Baseball Tournament elimination game. Rice got things going with a two-run double off the bat of Cade Edwards in the first, giving starting pitcher Evan Kravetz some breathing room early on.

Next, both sides swapped single runs, Louisana Tech in the third and Rice in the fifth, to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of the Owls. Then coach Matt Bragga made a bold decision. Rather than turn to the same pitchers who had failed to deliver over the past week, he put the ball in the hand of Jackson Parthasarathy.

Rice’s typical Sunday starter wasn’t as sharp as usual out of the bullpen. Following Kravetz’s five-inning, one-run performance, Parthasarathy struggled through a 1.2 inning showing. He allowed two runs before Dalton Wood came to relieve him.

After watching countless relievers fail to shut the door, Wood delivered. The freshman reliever worked two and a third perfect innings, allowing no hits, striking out one and clinching the Owls first win in a week’s time.

Apparently lightning does strike twice, but its encores are limited to four dismissive blasts. For the first time in a week, Rice took the lead and held on. Now they’ll look to do it again on Friday.

Up Next | Winner of Marshall vs Southern Miss, 3:00 PM, Friday

Rice will meet their demons face to face on Friday where they’ll face the winner of the Marshall and Southern Miss game scheduled to take place later Thursday afternoon. Rice is 0-3 against Marshall this season and 2-2 against Southern Miss.

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Rice Baseball: Owls stunned by walk-off loss to Southern Miss in CUSA Tournament

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Matt Canterino’s gem was wasted. The Rice baseball bullpen caved again as the Owls fell to Southern Miss at the Conference USA Baseball Tournament.

The formula for Rice advancing in the Conference USA Baseball Tournament was simple: Pitch well and take advantage of opportunities at the plate. Matt Canterino answered the call. The bullpen did not as the Owls fell to 2-Seed Southern Miss 6-4 in 10 innings.

More: CUSA Tournament Bracket, news and notes

The staff ace, Canterino was every bit as special as the Owls needed him to be. He was sharp as ever through 7.1 innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowing one run on three hits. With the Southern Miss offense confounded, even a slight lead felt commanding.

To that point, the offense had been sturdy. Braden Comeaux reached based on each his first four plate appearances, coming in to score three times. Trei Cruz blasted a two-run dinger in the third. Rice led 4-0 at the seventh inning stretch.

Owls fall by walk-off for the fourth straight game

When Canterino left the game Rice fans held their breath. The bullpen was coming off their worst week of the season. It took guts for Bragga to pull Canterino when he got into the seventh inning jam. While it might have been ideal to ride Canterino as far as he could carry them, he’s already thrown 100 pitches. His availability the rest of the week would have been factored into Bragga’s decision to turn to the pen.

With Garrett Gayle on the mound, Rice coughed up the four run lead including three runs scored in the ninth inning. Rice needed one more out to advance. On multiple tries, they failed to get it. A walk-off home run by Southern Miss slugger Matt Wallner ended any hope of a late rally.

Rice isn’t going to advance without a few big outings from their bullpen. They came close Wendesday, but fell painfully short once again.

UP NEXT | Louisiana Tech – Thursday 9:00 am

Rice will play Louisiana Tech in the loser’s bracket. The Bulldogs dropped their first-round game to Marshall in 12 innings., the longest game (by time) in CUSA Tournament history. Rice swept Louisiana Tech at home earlier this season.

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Rice Baseball 2019: Previewing CUSA Tournament game vs Southern Miss

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Rice baseball takes on Southern Miss in the opening round of the Conference USA Baseball Tournament. Here’s how both teams match up.

A battle of CUSA heavyweight programs will reconvene in Biloxi. Rice and Southern Miss have won five of the last six Conference USA Baseball Tournament championships. Southern Miss won in 2018 with Rice winning the year prior.

The Owls have undergone plenty of changes since, most notably with the hiring of head coach Matt Bragga. If either program wants to return to the top they’ll need to get past the other this week.

How to watch and game info

Previous meetings

Rice and Southern Miss will meet for the fourth time in the 2019 season on Wednesday during the first round of the 2019 Conference USA Baseball Tournament. 7-Seed Rice will look to do what they’ve already accomplished twice this season, an upset of the Golden Eagles.

How Rice wins

Rice blew three late-inning leads in their final regular season series against Marshall. The sound of the Marshall bats pounding out three straight walk-off hits might still be ringing in the ears of the Rice bullpen, a low point for that group. If the Owls have it their way, they’ll be able to minimize the risk that bullpen might add in a survive-and-advance setting.

Staff ace Matt Canterino has been superb this season, but so also have fellow starters Evan Kravetz and Jackson Parthasarathy. The Owls’ trio of starting pitchers is the only set of starters who have each been named CUSA Pitcher of the Week this season. Canterino will presumably start against Southern Miss. If he’s throwing well, it’s going to be hard for coach Bragga to take him out a before the sixth or seventh inning at the earliest.

A complete game from Canterino or a strong start with a few well-executed innings by a select bullpen arm or two have proven to be enough to keep the Southern Miss bats at bay. That combination, plus a big hit or two from the likes of Trei Cruz, Bradley Gneiting or Andrew Dunlap are the recipe Rice needs to employ to move on.

How Southern Miss wins

Southern Miss is playing far from their best brand of baseball, going 3-6 in their last nine conference games. Even in defeat, though, the markings of an NCAA Tournament-worthy team have been apparent. Walker Powell is a top of the line starting pitcher who tossed nine innings in his most recent outing against UAB, striking out eight while allowing one earned run. He’ll go toe-to-toe with the Owls’ Canterino.

The lineup is where Southern Miss will hope to exploit their advantage. The Golden Eagles entering the CUSA Tournament with the third best batting average in CUSA and the second-most long balls on the season (54). Outside of an off weekend in Houston, the Southern Miss offense has tallied 21 runs or more in every conference series they’ve played this season — including the series losses.

Both teams can pitch and both teams can hit. But Southern Miss has proven more capable of stringing those hits together and producing runs consistently. They just haven’t done it against Rice. Which side blinks first?

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Conference USA Baseball Tournament 2019 Preview, schedule, how to watch

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The Conference USA Baseball Tournament returns to Biloxi, Mississippi for what promises to be another exciting final week with an NCAA bid on the line.

An eventful regular season has boiled down to one week in Biloxi. Eight Conference USA teams will enter, but only one will clinch an NCAA Tournament bid. With the possible exception of 1-Seed FAU or 2-Seed Southern Miss, the rest of the league will need to win the tournament to have a realistic shot at the NCAA Tournament as an at large team.

All games will be streamed on ESPN+ with the exception of the tournament championship, available on CBS Sports Network scheduled for Sunday, May 26 at 1:00 pm. The first four games are scheduled to be played on Wednesday, May 22. The full schedule and updated bracket are available on the CUSA Baseball website.

Assessing the field

The favorites | Southern Miss and FAU are arguably the two most complete teams in Conference USA. They each possess the depth to make a run through the loser’s bracket should they need to, although the field isn’t far behind.

The darkhorse | Old Dominion is playing their best baseball of the season when it matters most. The Monarchs might not be thought of as a baseball power, but they could sneak up on a team caught looking ahead.

The wild card | Rice might be the scariest team in this regional. Their bullpen has been as erratic as the starting pitching has been dominant. If they can manufacture something out of the pen, Rice could stun several higher seeded teams.

The bracket

Game 1 – 9:00 AM | (6) Marshall vs (3) Louisiana Tech

How they got here | It took a strong finish on the final weekend of the regular season for Marshall to clinch a spot in the CUSA Tournament field. The Thundering Herd swept Rice, setting up a rematch with Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs had a more comfortable journey, winning seven of their 10 CUSA series.

The matchup | Louisiana Tech took two of three from Marshall in the regular season, but it’s worth noting Marshall won the series opener. With just short of a full week’s rest to rest their pitching, this could be a close one.

Game 2 – 12:30 PM | (7) Rice vs (2) Southern Miss

How they got here | Southern Miss was in contention for the No. 1 overall seed until the final weekend of conference play. Their series loss to eventual top-seed FAU cost them the top spot and set them up for a matchup with hot and cold Rice. The Owls ricocheted to a low point in their final series, being swept by Marshall on three consecutive walk-off losses.

The matchup | Had it not been for a shaky bullpen, Rice might have swept Southern Miss in the regular season. Rice took two of three from the Golden Eagles. The caveat of the inconsistent bullpen throws any reasonable expectation for how this game might end up right out the window.

Game 3 – 4:00 PM | (8) UTSA vs (1) FAU

How they get here |  FAU baseball seized their opportunity, following a series win over then top-seeded Southern Miss with wins in five of their final six conference games. That gave them the regular season crown. They’ll face off with UTSA who clinched their spot on the final weekend, taking two of three from Charlotte.

The matchup |  UTSA managed one win in three tries against FAU during the regular season. The lone victory came by way of a two-hit complete game performance from Slater Foust. Silencing FAU’s offense won’t come easy, even with ace Karan Patel on the mound.

Game 4 – 7:30 PM | (5) Old Dominion vs (4) WKU

How they get here |  Playing in the CUSA Baseball conference tournament for the first time in school history, WKU road a stout offense to their first such postseason berth. Old Dominion was swept at home by Rice in late March and proceeded to win their last seven CUSA series to rocket back into the postseason mix.

The matchup | Old Dominion took two of three from Western Kentucky in the final weekend of regular season play, capping the series off with theatrics. Trailing 10-5 in the ninth inning, Old Dominion scored seven unanswered runs to take the game and the series.

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Conference USA Baseball: 2019 regular season roundup

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The 2019 Conference USA Baseball regular season is in the books. Here are a few of the teams and players who stood out the most.

Teams

Credit is due to FAU, the 1-seed in the Conference USA Baseball Tournament and the top team in the regular season in conference play. Picked to finish third in the preaseason polls, FAU bested league-leading Southern Miss head on to earn the regular season crown.

On the other end, Western Kentucky broke through for their first CUSA Tournament appearance in school history while Rice made the postseason in the first year under head coach Matt Bragga.

Hitters

Western Kentucky’s Jake Sanford was unbelievable in 2019. He was the only player in Conference USA to finish with a batting average better than .400 (.402) and he did it with a .828 slugging percentage, more than 160 points better than second-place Matt Wallner of Southern Miss. Sanford led the conference in on base percentage (.488), hits (84), RBI (65), home runs (22) and total bases (173).

Second to Sanford in most categories, Wallner would have been the front-runner for recognition had Sanford not had his incredible season. Wallner was a big bat and ended the season with eight multi-hit games over his final 14 appearances.

Pitchers

A trio of starting pitchers stand out among the many great options in CUSA. Walker Powell from Southern Miss led the conference in ERA, finishing the regular season at 2.58, complemented with a stunning 11 walks allowed in 83.2 innings pitch.

Rice’s Matt Canterino was equally impressive. The Owls’ ace held opposing batters to a CUSA-best .204 batting average against while completing more innings (93 than anyone else in the conference). He struck out 112 batters (37 looking), all the while working under the pressure of being the Friday night guy for a low-run producing offense.

Finally, UTSA’s Karan Patel earned his fair share of recognition. While not as overpowering as Canterino or as crafty as Powell, Patel mowed through innings like few others in CUSA.  His 2.82 ERA was second in conference and he was one of four CUSA hurlers with 100+ strikeouts.

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