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Rice Baseball: 2022 MLB Owls update – Apr 13

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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 Angles

It was a slower start for Anthony Rendon in his return to the diamond after missing extended time last season. He collected his first hit and his first run in his second game. On Monday, he hit his first home run of the season, collecting his first two RBI.

His glove hasn’t missed a step, though. Rendon has flashed leather already several times in the young season.

Through April 13, Rendon is hitting .118 with one extra-base hit, two walks and six strikeouts. His OPS is .505 and he’s collected two RBI.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey has had two very different outings this season. His first came on Saturday, where he blew a save and was saddled with a loss against the Mariners, giving up three hits and two runs in the ninth inning. His second appearance was much better, a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout on Monday.

Even with that down performance in the ninth, Duffey owns a 1.33 career ERA in the ninth inning, only allowing three earned runs in 20.1 innings of work while striking out 24.

Through April 13, Duffey has a 9.00 ERA with a 2.000 WHIP. He’s averaging 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings.

Lucas Luetge – New York Yankees

Luetge picked up his first win of the season in his first appearance, tossing a scoreless sixth inning against the Red Sox on Saturday with two strikeouts. He saw additional action on Sunday, striking out one in a scoreless seventh inning.

Through April 13, Luetge has a 0.00 ERA with a 0.500 WHIP. He’s averaging 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

J.T. Chargois – Tampa Bay Rays

Chargois entered his only game so far on Friday in the fifth inning with a runner on base and one out, tasked with protecting a one-run lead. He did his job quickly, inducing a groundout to second before striking out the next batter to end the frame.

Unfortunately, that might be the last time we see Chargois for some time. He was placed on the injured list on April 12 (retroactive to April 9) with left oblique tightness, something which could sideline him for several weeks depending on the severity.

Through April 13, Chargois has a 0.00 ERA with a 0.000 WHIP. He’s averaging 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Rice Football 2022 Spring Practice Notebook 6: Running backs ramping up

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The running back room has made significant strides for Rice football this spring, thanks in part to the addition of new position coach CJ Anderson.

Many of the bigs plays of the spring have come from the running back room. Rice football brought in former Super Bowl Champion CJ Anderson to lead the room during the offseason and his presence is already being felt. This update details what he’s telling his guys and the growth (and challenges) he’s seen with the unit throughout the spring.

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Rice Baseball sweeps season series with road win over SHSU

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The Rice baseball bullpen stood stall, collectively holding Sam Houston at bay to earn a series sweep of the Bearkats this season.

For the second time this season, Rice baseball notched a victory over Sam Houston. The Owls entered the game as winners of one of their last nine and left Hunstville with one of their more well-rounded performances of the season.

Hot-hitting Jack Riedel opened the game with a double to right-center field before he and Guy Garibay (who had walked) were driven in by Aaron Smigelski who smoked a ball down the right-field line for a double of his own. Staked to a 2-0 lead, Rice trusted their bullpen to piece together enough outs for the midweek win.

Last Time Out : Takeaways from Rice baseball sweep by LA Tech

Mark Perkins got the start and went two and two-thirds innings, allowing the only run of the night surrendered by Rice pitching on a double to the last batter he faced in the game. After he exited in the third inning, a combination of David Shaw, Roel Garcia, Brandon Deskins and Matthew Linskey combined for 10 strikeouts and just three hits over the remaining six and one-third innings.

Shaw was credited with the win. He left the game after the fifth inning with a 3-1 lead, a score which would endure for several more frames before Hal Hughes added two more insurance runs on a double in the top of the eighth. Rice would go on to win 5-1.

What it means | Beating good baseball teams

Sam Houston is a good baseball team. The Bearkats entered the game 12-4 at home and 19-12 overall with wins over Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas State. Anything can happen in a midweek game in April — college baseball is known for its oddities — but the Owls’ win didn’t feel fluky at all, especially considering this is the second time this season Rice has beaten Sam Houston.

The rest of the Owls’ list of victories might not look as impressive on paper. Rice was blasted by Baylor earlier this season and has been swept in back-to-back weekends by some of the better teams in Conference USA. When the competition has been at its best, this team has struggled. And that’s what makes wins like this one more meaningful.

“I think this is the best game overall we’ve had all year, from top to bottom” head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said.

If you can beat good teams, you can beat anyone. Doing it consistently separates the good from the great. Rice baseball still has a ways to go to reach that mark, but they did all they could control tonight. They’ll get three more games this weekend against another good baseball team in UTSA. If they’ve really turned a corner they’ll have another chance to put that on display soon.

ON DECK | vs UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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Strong starting pitching not enough as Rice baseball was swept at LA Tech

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Rice Baseball was swept for the second-straight weekend, this time falling in three straight games to Louisiana Tech on the road.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball drops series 3-0

The decent down the standings continued this weekend for Rice baseball, who dropped another three-game series in conference play to reach a 3-9 conference record. The Owls have showed flashes, but weren’t able to combine the arms and the bats in the same way they did in a midweek blowout of Houston Baptist.

It was a tough result, with some good and bad mixed in. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Counting on Cooper Chandler

Cooper Chandler got off to a rocky start with Rice baseball. He walked away from his first two starts with a 10.80 ERA, failing to get out of the fourth inning. Despite the poor numbers, head coach Jose Cruz Jr. was adamant Chandler was going to the Owls’ Friday night guy. Cruz Jr. said Chandler was “competing well” and “unlucky”, trusting his veteran hurler to stick it out and turn things around.

Half a season later, Chandler has cut his ERA in half, trimming it to 5.36. Perhaps even more impressive, he’s posted a quality start (six innings pitched with three of fewer runs allowed) in three of his last four appearances. The front runner of a team that has been desperately searching for consistency on the mound, Chandler has been a beacon of that in recent weeks.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball pummels HBU in midweek blowout

Since the Lamar game on Feb. 25, Chandler has allowed more than three runs in an outing just once. He’s posted more strikeouts than innings pitched in five of his six starts over that span. He’s been great. And Rice baseball is better for it. Hat tip to coach, he definitely got this one right.

2. Big hits can’t mask lineup struggles

As a team, Rice baseball holds a .254 combined batting average. That’s the 11th best in Conference USA, better than bottom-dwelling FIU by just seven points. The Owls rank in the bottom half of the league in doubles, home runs and RBI. They’re 11th in slugging percentage and ninth in on-base percentage. They’ve consistently drawn walks at a high clip, but the rest of the numbers are sobering.

And that’s why Rice puts up threes and ones in the run column against teams like Louisiana Tech. Rice had at least four hits combined from the top four spots in the order in every game this series. The bottom five hitters never combined for more than four base knocks in a game.

The lineup has skewed top-heavy this season, but it was abundantly clear this weekend when four players — Jack Riedel, Austin Bulman, Aaron Smigelski and Pierce Gallo — accounted for every RBI of the series. That’s not a winning formula and the numbers bear that out.

3. Hanging Tough

Louisiana Tech was one of the tougher opponents on the Rice baseball schedule this season. Being swept by the bulldogs, who are now 9-3 in conference play and 16-4 at home this year with two midweek wins over a ranked LSU squad, wasn’t a shocking development. From what we’ve seen on the field from both teams so far, Louisiana Tech is the better baseball team right now. But for most of the weekend, the gap didn’t see as big as it might have on paper.

The Owls’ largest deficit on the weekend came in a 9-3 lost on Saturday which was a 5-3 game after six innings. Two of the final four runs were unearned.  Rice dropped the other two games by two runs apiece, maintaining close contests thanks to three strong outings by their starters — possibly the first time they’ve gotten such a performance in unison in conference play this season.

Being swept isn’t fun, but being thumped is worse. Rice baseball wasn’t thumped this weekend. Now it’s time to get the arms and the bats working together.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | LA Tech 5 – Rice 3

A first-inning home run put Rice in a 3-0 hole early, setting the stage for what became a pitcher’s duel between the Owls’ Cooper Chandler and Louisiana Tech’s Cade Gibson, who would leave the game after six holding to that very same 3-0 advantage. That’s when Rice responded with a three-spot in the seventh inning sparked by a two-run home run from Jack Riedel and followed by a RBI double from Aaron Smigelski.

The deadlock would last for one more inning before Louisiana Tech used another long ball, this one a two-run variety, to put themselves ahead for good. Rice was shut out in the ninth, falling 5-3 in the opening game.

SATURDAY | LA Tech 9 – Rice 3

Rice baseball got on the board first in the middle game with another home run from Riedel. Austin Bulman tacked on another run via a double to give Rice a 3-0 edge in the fifth, but that’s where the Rice pitching staff would show its first true signs of weakness on the weekend.

Garret Zaskoda entered in relief of Alex DeLeon and surrendered three earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, allowing three of the five batters he faced to get hits. The 3-0 lead became a 4-3 deficit, which would lengthen for the remainder of the game, with Louisiana Tech scoring at least one run in each subsequent frame, winning 9-3.

SUNDAY | LA Tech 3 – Rice 1

Sunday’s are typically high-scoring affairs exhibiting strained bullpens and plenty of pent-up energy. That wasn’t the case at all in this series finale, which featured four total runs, scored in three innings, leaving plenty of white noise in between. Louisiana Tech scored three of Rice starter Thomas Burbank who matched a career-high five innings, set earlier in the week against Houston Baptist.

Unused up to that point, closer Matthew Linskey was handed the ball for the final three innings, tossing a career-high eight strikeouts in another dominant performance. Unfortunately for the Owls, it would be too little, too late.

Podcast: Rice Owls’ Voice JP Heath talks baseball, basketball, broadcasting

Rice would manage just one run on the day, scored on an RBI ground out from Pierce Gallo in the ninth inning. That left the tying run at the plate with just one out, but strikeouts from Smigeliski and Nathan Becker quelled any hopes of a comeback and finalized the series sweep.

ON DECK | Rice baseball at Sam Houston (Tues), vs UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football 2022 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Defense suffocates in Scrimmage 2

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Rice football wrapped up its second scrimmage of spring practice on Friday, marking the last scrimmage before the Spring Game next Saturday.

There wasn’t too much new that stuck out in the second Rice football scrimmage of the spring, but several underlying themes of the spring were emphatically reinforced with some new flair along the way.

The quarterback battle remains close and the defense remains dominant, making the Rice offense scrap for every inch. We’ll unpack all of that and more in this week’s spring practice notebook. Stay tuned for a scrimmage report this weekend.

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