The source for Rice sports news

Rice Baseball 2021: Previewing the Southern Series

By

The Rice baseball enters the weekend fresh from one of their best weekends of the season. Here’s how the Owls stack up with visiting Southern.

It was a good weekend for Rice baseball, who won three of four in a multi-team event. It was the first time Rice has won three games in any weekend span since they swept a three-game series from Louisiana Tech in April 2019. Tuesday’s one-sided loss to Texas State cooled the Owls’ momentum, but they’ll have fresh arms and ready bats for the upcoming three-game slate.

This series marks their final weekend tune-up before Conference USA play begins the following weekend. The Owls will then host UTSA in a four-game series.  But first, a look at how Rice matches up with Southern. Originally scheduled for a Saturday doubleheader, the series will now be a more traditional three game affair.

Game Notes

Times: Friday 6:00 p.m. | Saturday 1:00 p.m. | Sunday 1:00 p.m.
Venue: Reckling Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
Watch: CUSAtv

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (8-8) took both games against Northern Illinois and split a pair of games against Kansas State. They lost their midweek game against Texas State.

Southern (5-10) lost three of their last four, dropping their most recent weekend series with Prairie View A&M (whom Rice beat 10-0) as well as a midweek game against Lamar.

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday | Blake Brogdon (1-2, 6.52)
Saturday | Roel Garcia (1-1, 3.86)
Sunday | Mitchell Holcomb (2-1, 5.59)

Southern Pitching

Willhelm Allen is their definitive Friday night guy. He owns a 5.30 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched across four games. He’s not going to go deep, and with a .304 batting average against and only 14 strikeouts, Rice should be able to get some hits off of him.

Larry Barabino has been the go-to guy out of the bullpen. He’s allowed two runs in 9.1 innings with eight strikeouts. Walks have been his nemesis though. He’s surrendered seven on the season. The staff as a whole owns at 5.52 ERA almost a full point higher than the Owls.

Southern Hitting

The offense hasn’t been much better than the pitching. Southern has a team average of .233 shared by 20 different hitters. They do have a fairly consistent core led by Bubba Thompson (.271 avg, 16 hits, 10 runs) and Zavier Moore (.246 avg, 14 hits, 8 runs). While they might lack truly elite hitters, they have a smattering of guys who have shown flashes and can put the ball in the gap for an extra-base hit.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball 2021: 12-run inning dooms Owls at Texas State in midweek tilt

By

A rough fourth inning snowballed quickly on Rice baseball, who fell in seven innings to Texas State on the road on Wednesday.

The first three batters reached base for Texas State in their midweek win over Rice baseball. The third baserunner reached via a single to give the Bobcats an early 1-0 lead. They would never look back.

Texas State was ready for Rice pitcher Garret Zaskoda in his first career start. He lasted 3+ innings and was charged with six runs. Following his hook, Dillon Janac and Mike Davis struggled to close out the inning. In total, Rice pitchers allowed six hits, four walks and four hit baseman in what became a disastrous 12-run fourth inning for Texas State.

Podcast: Former Rice football star Christian Covington talks football, Marvel

Ny the time the Rice offense got going, it was too-little-too-late. Rice scored five runs in their final three frames, but it wasn’t enough to curtail a 10-inning run-rule which halted the game after the seventh inning. It was the first time Rice has lost by run-rule since 2016.

A double from Hal Hughes and a home run from Connor Walsh were the only extra-base hits from Rice hitters in the game.

What it means

Rice baseball lost to Texas State for the seventh consecutive time on Wednesday. The Owls still lead the all-time series 61-20, but it’s been all Bobcats for the last several seasons. An 8-8 record through 16 games is head-and-shoulders better than the 2-14 mark where Rice ended last season. Yet nights light this one serve as a reminder there is work still to be done.

ON DECK |

Rice baseball returns home for a three-game series against Southern this weekend. It’s their last scheduled nonconference weekend series of the year.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball 2021: Previewing Owls vs Texas State

By

The Rice baseball draws a midweek rematch with Texas State on Wednesday. The Owls lost to the Bobcats in the Shriner’s Classic.

Rice baseball would love to keep the momentum going after their first three-win weekend of the series. To accomplish that, they’ll need to even the season-series with in-state foe Texas State on Wednesday.

Game Notes

Times: Wednesday 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Bobcat Ballpark
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal

How each team fared this weekend

Rice baseball (8-7) took both games against Northern Illinois and split a pair of games against Kansas State.

Texas State (7-10) lost two of three to Houston at home. They picked up their marquee win of the season, upsetting TCU 11-1 in seven innings at Bobcat Ballpark.

Texas State Pitching

Garrett Herrmann toed the rubber in Texas State’s most recent midweek bout with TCU. He went three innings and allowed one unearned run. As is often the case in midweek affairs, we could see several arms out of the bullpen for both sides. Relievers Otto Wofford and Matthew Nicholas have both been extremely effective so far, owning WHIPs of 0.500 and 0.720, respectively.

Texas State Hitting

Not much has changed for Texas State since the Owls last met up with them less than two weeks ago. It’ll still be a lot of familiar faces in the lineup that produced nine runs against the Rice pitching staff at Minute Maid Park.

Third baseman Justin Thompson led the team in hits (3) and RBI (2) in that game. It’s not a coincidence he leads the Bobcats in both measures (26 hits, 18 RBI) for the season as well, outpacing the next closest hitters by a wide margin.

Behind Thompson, left fielder Will Hollis is the other top-of-the-lineup bat to be wary of on Wednesday. He was 1-for-4 against Rice at the Shriner’s Classic, but is second on the team for the season with a .306 average and enters the week with a team-high four home runs.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2021: Spring Practice Week 2 Notebook

By

Rice football had their first scrimmage of the spring this past week. A few players stood out, including one very notable position switch.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren called spring practice “the lab” during his opening media sessions. The phrase stuck with me as I’ve watched the team go through drills over the last two weeks. Many things seem relatively mundane, but a few things did stand out as decidedly unique. Whether or not those tidbits remain in the fall might depend on how well the experiments go this month.

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

For those that might have missed it, you can check out the initial depth chart reactions as well as the Week 1 notebook. Not subscribed? The Roost will have you covered every step of the way this spring and beyond. Subscribers get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) 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 Women’s Basketball: Owls headed to WNIT for postseason play

By

The Rice women’s basketball season ends without an NCAA Tournament selection. Instead, the Owls are headed to WNIT for postseason play.

Rice women’s basketball lost a heartbreaker to Middle Tennesse in the Conference USA Championship Game on Saturday. Rice trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half but thundered back to make it a one-score game in the final seconds.

The loss marks the first conference tournament defeated in the last three sees for Rice. It also means the Owls’ long-hoped automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament disappeared as well. Hoping for an at-large selection, Rice was disappointed when their name was not called on Selection Monday.

The Owls season is not over yet, though. Rice will accept an invitation to the WNIT as an automatic qualifier. Rice will play Arizona State in their first round matchup.

Fellow Conference USA squad Charlotte has also made the field. They’ll play Florida. Rice women’s basketball will play its first game on Friday. It can be streamed on FloHoops.

Podcast: Former Rice football star Christian Covington talks football, Marvel

The structure for the tournament has been tweaked. Each of the four regions will include an opening round on Friday, March 19 followed by a second-round on Saturday, March 20 featuring semifinal matchups and a consolation round. The finals for the championship bracket and consolation bracket will be played on Monday, March 22.

Rice last played in the WNIT in 2018. The Owls defeated Texas State in Round 1 before falling to New Mexico in Round 2. Rice last made the NCAA Tournament in 2019, falling in overtime to Marquette in College Station, TX.

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

Recent Posts