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Rice Baseball 2021: Previewing the Charlotte series

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Rice baseball needs a big weekend against Charlotte to clinch a spot in the Conference USA Baseball Tournament. Here’s how the Owls stack up with the 49ers.

Fresh off their first C-USA series win of the season, Rice baseball hopes to continue their winning ways this coming weekend against the Charlotte 49ers. Rice punch their ticket to the Conference USA Baseball Tournament with a strong showing this weekend and a little help from a few others teams in the league.

Times: Friday 1:00 p.m. | Saturday 1:00 p.m. / ~4:00 p.m. | Sunday 12:00 p.m.
Venue: Reckling Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
Watch: CUSAtv

How each team fared this week

Rice baseball (21-27-1) took three of four from UAB last weekend with their only loss coming by a walk off. The Owls could have used the extra win, but a three-win weekend in itself was big for this team with the regular season end coming soon.

UAB (35-14) took care of business in their final home series of the year, sweeping Marshall in commanding fashion. The 49ers outscored the Herd 35-19 in three games, rebounding swiftly from a series loss to Old Dominion the weekend prior.

Probable Pitchers

Friday | Mitchell 6olcomb (5-4, 6.08 ERA)
Saturday 1 | Roel Garcia (1-5, 5.26)
Saturday 2 | Blake Brogdon (3-5, 5.29)
Sunday | Brandon Deskins (2-4, 3.70)

Charlotte Pitching

While the 49ers might lack the top end of the rotation talent that’s carried other teams this deep into the season, they do have one of the more well-rounded pitching staffs in Conference USA. Bryce McGowan leads the team in strikeouts (92). Andrew Lindsey has a sterling 6-1 record, who marvelously did not receive a decision last weekend against Marshall even though he surrendered seven runs.

Charlotte Hitting

The Charlotte offense came to Lindsey’s back in that game, and has risen to the occasion throughout the season. The 49ers have the No. 4 offense in Conference USA led by Austin Knight, the conference leader in batting average, hits and doubles. Right behind him, the No. 2 hitter in C-USA, is Gino Groover, with a .352 average.  Those two are the key cogs in the machine that have made Charlotte so successful.

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2022 DL Chibby Nwajuaku commits to Owls

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The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class has doubled in size, securing a big commitment from defensive lineman Chibby Nwajuaku.

Sometimes you know what you want. While the offer count for the 2022 Rice football recruiting class continues to be modest, the focus on building on areas of strength has remained a focal point of the Owls’ efforts. Rice has now doubled down in the trenches, picking up their second commitment, defensive lineman Chibby Nwajuaku.

Nwajuaku joins fellow defensive lineman Davion Carter as the initial members of the 2022 Rice football recruiting class. His addition represents the second commitment for Rice in as many months.

To earn Nwajuaku’s pledge Rice beat out offers from a dozen other programs including the ACC’s Wake Forest as well as fellow in-state conference foe UTSA. The Owls have recruited nationally under head coach Mike Bloomgren but they remain committed to bringing in the right pieces from the Lone Star State, too. They didn’t have to go far to land Nwajuaku, who played his high school ball at Cy Ranch.

With Nwajuaku and Carter in the fold, Rice boasts an elite tandem up front. They’ll one day be tasked with picking up the mantle of a series of high-end players that have come before them like current interior defenders Elijah Garcia and DeBraylon Carroll. Going from strength to strength is how programs sustain success, and it’s no mistake these two players were early targets in this cycle.

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Nwajuaku can line up across the defensive front, giving opposing offenses headaches all throughout high school. At 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, he’s a menacing force off the edge that can pick up steam and drive offensive lineman back with force. He also plays with incredible poise. He knows when to watch the play develop and displays impressive closing speed after he’s diagnosed where the ball is going.

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Conference USA Baseball: Outlook as regular season ends

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The 2021 Conference USA Baseball Tournament is near and a few spots are still up for grabs as the regular season draws to a close.

Last spring marked the first season in which the Conference USA Baseball Tournament wasn’t held since 1996 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s edition will be hosted at JC Love Field, the home of Louisiana Tech, and will run from May 26 to May 30. The format will consist of two double-elimination brackets with a winner-take-all championship game.

Seeding

Eight teams will make the 2021 Conference USA Baseball Tournament field. The top three teams in each division will be awarded berths, as well as the two best remaining records, regardless of division.

Six of the eight tournament tickets have already been punched. No matter what happens in the final weekend of the regular season, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech are postseason bound. The remaining two slots are technically up for grabs, although  UTSA is realistically one win against Louisiana Tech away from securing one of the two remaining openings.

Last Team In

Four teams remain alive for the eighth and final spot:

Middle Tennessee
  • 10-17-1 record (.375 winning percentage)
  • Up Next: Home vs FIU
FIU
  • 9-17 (.346)
  • Up Next: Away vs Middle Tennessee
Rice
  • 9-18-1 (.339)
  • Up Next: Home vs Charlotte
UAB
  • 9-19 (.321)
  • Up Next: Away vs Marshall

Marshall is the only team that has been mathematically eliminated thus far. They’ll hope to play spoiler against UAB this weekend, the owner of the second-worst record in the conference. Should Middle Tennessee win the series over FIU, they would advance no matter how either of the remaining series ends. If FIU wins the series, they’d open the door for Rice or UAB to claim the final spot.

The remaining teams who have already clinched are playing for seeding. Charlotte (22-6), Southern Miss (20-7), Louisiana Tech (19-7) and Old Dominion (19-9) are all in the mix for the top four seeds.

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Rice Baseball 2021: Owls bounce UAB, win first C-USA series

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Rice baseball needed a strong showing against UAB and got it, with all phases contributing to the Owls’ first C-USA series win.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball wins series 3-1

1. The few, the proud

The Rice bullpen has been hit or miss this season. Knowing that, head coach Matt Bragga appears to have found a makeshift solution: limit their innings. Of the 31+ innings thrown by Rice pitching this weekend, starters accounted for 23 of them, roughly 74 percent.

The only game in which the starter did not go six innings was the Sunday finale. The starter in that game, Brandon Deskins, was the lone reliever the Owls utilized in the prior three games of the series, throwing two innings on Friday and another three on Sunday.

2. Strong up top

The top of the lineup has been the difference-maker for the Rice offense this season. When they’re at their best, players like Cade Edwards, Braden Comeaux, Bradley Gneiting and Austin Bulman have the capability to overcome other offensive lulls. This weekend painted that picture as clear as ever.

Rice racked up 23 RBI on the weekend, 15 of which were drive in by those top four hitters in the lineup. Nathan Becker had two RBI in the second Saturday game and Will Karp picked up a pair on Sunday, but the rest of the run production largely rested at the top.

3. The right to play another day

A sweep would have been best, but Rice baseball did their part with a series win this weekend, pushing them up one rung in the conference standings. The Owls are now tied in the win column with UAB and FIU. More importantly, Rice is within striking distance of Middle Tennessee for what will likely be the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament.

The math gets tricky with the ties thrown in, but the most likely scenario for Rice to qualify would be this: Rice wins their upcoming series against Charlotte and Middle Tennessee loses their series at FIU. Rice could also advance with a sweep and a Middle split or a split and Middle being swept. Either way, they need to make up a two-loss differential.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY  | Rice 6 – UAB 1

It’s been a bumpy road for starter Mitchell Holcomb, but he’s settled in down the stretch as one of the Owls’ most competitive pitchers. He a gem on Friday, tossing seven innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts. With him keeping the UAB offense at bay, the Rice bats did the rest.

Rice scratched across single tallies in the first and second innings before Edwards added to the breathing room with a two-run RBI in the fourth. The Owls extended their lead again in the sixth before Bulman capped things off with a home run of his own in the ninth.

SATURDAY 1 | UAB 2 – Rice 1

Staked to a 1-0 lead by an Austin Bulman sac-fly, Roel Garcia delivered one of his stronger outings of the season in the first half of the Saturday doubleheader. He breezed through six innings, a season-long outing, allowing three hits and one unearned run.

Asked to return to the mound for the seventh inning, Garcia ran out of gas. He allowed three hits including the walk-off winner. The intentional decision to trust the rotation paid off in other games during this series. It came back to bit the Owls in this one as the offense tallied just six hits in seven frames.

SATURDAY 2 | Rice 7 – UAB 0

Clearly frustrated from how the first game ended, Rice came out swinging in the nightcap. Gneiting picked up RBI hits in the first and second innings as the Owls jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Things could have gotten even further out of hand had Rice not left the bases loaded in the second.

None of that would matter, though, starter Blake Brogdon was locked in on the mound. Given a big lead, he went the distance, completing the seven-inning game without allowing any runs and scattering five hits. Some insurance runs were added in the later innings, but Brogdon was the driving force.

SUNDAY | Rice 10 – UAB 5

Rice entered Sunday with the opportunity to secure their first Conference USA series win of the season, and a necessary one if they hoped to realize any conference tournament aspirations. Deskins got them off to a great start on the bump, but it was a crooked number from the offense in the fifth inning that blew this game open.

Edwards got things going in earnest with a three run home run, but the bats didn’t slow down. Following that blast, Antonio Cruz and Hal Hughes added RBI doubles to extend the lead to 6-1 in the Owls’ favor. A three-run seventh put things out of reach, giving Rice their first double-digit run total since April 17, a win over Old Dominion.

ON DECK | Rice baseball vs Charlotte (Fri-Sun, four games).

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Rice Baseball: 2021 MLB Owls update – May 8

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The 2021 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 from this week.

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendon was just beginning to get going with eight RBI in his first seven games back from going on the injury list in mid-April. Unfortunately, he fouled a ball off his leg resulting in a knee contusion that rendered him “day-to-day” prior to returning to the injured list on May 6.

Through May 8, Rendon is hitting .276 with five extra-base hits, seven walks and 11 strikeouts. His OPS is .814.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey converted holds in back-to-back appearances this week, throwing 1.1 innings scoreless innings across a pair of two-out outings. His strikeout of Adolis García in the eighth inning on Tuesday was his 198th strikeout at Target Field, moving him up to sixth all-time in park history.

It was smooth sailing until Saturday when the Tigers ambushed him for four runs in 0.2 IP, doubling his season-long ERA which had sat at 2.53 entering the weekend.

Through May 8, Duffey has a 5.56 ERA with a 1.765 WHIP. He’s averaging 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

Brock Holt – Texas Rangers

Holt was placed on the injured list on Wednesday, retroactive to May 3 after suffering a right hamstring strain. Like Rendon, this is his second time to miss games this season with an injury.

Through May 1, Holt has 11 hits in 44 at bats, a .250 average. He’s walked eight times, struck out 11 times and collected five RBI.

Lucas Luetege – New York Yankees

Luetege continues an impressive season. Over the past eight appearances, he’s allowed no runs, four hits and struck out seven in nine innings. He picked up his second win of the season this week.

Through May 8, Luetege has a 3.26 ERA with a 1.034 WHIP. He’s averaging 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

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