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Baseball: Previewing Wednesday matchup vs Arizona

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The opening stretch of home games at Reckling Park for Rice baseball continues Wednesday when the Owls welcome Arizona to Houston.

Winners of a four-game series against UMass Lowell over the weekend, Arizona will head east to play a set of four games in Texas. Their first matchup will is Wednesday night at Reckling Park against Rice before traveling down the road to play a three-game weekend series against Houston.

Rice and Arizona aren’t strangers on the diamond. The two teams met in the 2015 and 2016 season. Rice won the first series in Tucson 2-1. Arizona answered back the following year, taking the return series 2-1 in Houston. This is the second midweek game for Rice this week, who fell to Texas in a water-logged Tuesday night contest.

When and Where

Pitching matchups

Rice has thrown several arms through four games and has options Wednesday night against Arizona. If coach Matt Bragga opts to give starter Addison Moss a few more days of rest the Owls could turn to one of their arms out of the pen to toe the rubber against Arizona.

Zach Esquivel and Kendal Jeffries both started games at various points throughout the 2018 campaign. Evan Kravetz, who pitched well in lieu of Moss on Saturday, could be bumped up to a midweek role in anticipation of the return of the Owls’ second ace.

Arizona hasn’t named a starter either. The Wildcats’ bullpen saw mixed results against UM Lowell. No reliever managed better than four strikeouts while walks were prevalent. Both Cameron Haskell and Randy Abshier have picked up saves. Rice could see either of them, or both, if the game stays close in the late innings.

Names to know from the plate

The top half of the Arizona order features some of the most dangerous hitters Rice will see in the early portion of their schedule. Leadoff hitter Cameron Cannon and second man Matt Frazier each collected eight hits during their opening series, scoring a combined 19 runs between them. Following right behind them will be Ryan Holgate who blasted three home runs and 12 RBI in his first four games.

Like Texas on Tueday, Arizona has plenty of talent in their lineup. The Owls had best be ready on the mound for another tough midweek test.

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Baseball: Fielding falters as Owls fall to Texas

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Rice baseball dropped a midweek intrastate battle to the Texas Longhorns 11-4. The Owls return to action Wednesday against Arizona.

Rice took two of three from Rhode Island over the weekend, securing the first series win of Matt Bragga’s tenure at South Main. Neither he or the team had time to dwell on their successes or failure with a short turnaround which began on Tuesday against visiting Texas.

It had been two seasons since the Owls and Longhorns met on the diamond. They last split a four-game set in Austin in 2017. This was the fourth meeting between Texas skipper David Pierce and Bragga, who faced off in the Super Regionals in Austin last season when Bragga was at the helm of Tennessee Tech.

Rice struck first via a Texas error which allowed Andrew Dunlap to reach at the beginning of the second inning. Antonio Cruz came through with a single on the ground to score Dunlap from second and give the Owls an early 1-0 lead.

Texas came thundering back, putting a five-spot on the board in the third before adding three more in the fourth. Rice battled back, clawing back three runs of their own in the fifth to bring the score to 8-4 entering the sixth inning.

The Longhorns would tack on an additional run in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings and win by the final score of Texas 11, Rice 4.

1. Fielding follies loom large

Seven errors on opening weekend wasn’t how Matt Bragga envisioned the beginning of his tenure at South Main. Rice committed two against Texas. Bragga was point blank in his critiques after the game. “It’s not good enough….defensively it’s just not been good for four games.”

The Longhorns came in prepared to test Owls in the field. After a leadoff walk, the next two Texas hitters attempted to lay down sacrifice bunts. The second was successful, forcing third basemen Braden Comeaux to make a quick throw, which he did with little hesitation.

For a brief moment, things looked to be trending in the right direction but two costly outfield mistakes in the second inning flipped the script on this game quickly. Antonio Cruz and Dominic Cox each missed diving attempts, resulting in a five-run inning for the visitors.

Bragga summed it up rather succinctly: “When you give away free bases you’re going to lose games… it’s going to cost us games and it already has.”

2. Two relievers made strong season debuts

Senior Blair Lewis was the third arm to enter the fray against a Texas. His teammates Drake Greenwood and Dalton Wood allowed eight runs (six earned) on a combined seven hits and four walks. Facing a sizable deficit, Lewis was asked to hold the line, which he did admirably.

His four innings pitched was a career high. Designated hitter Zach Zubia punched a solo home run to deep center field in the sixth. Left fielder Eric Kennedy followed with a triple to the same part of the ballpark in the seventh. Both players scored. Otherwise, Lewis was largely effective, eating innings and limiting the damage to two runs on six hits and no walks.

Freshman A.C. Plum made his collegiate debut at the back end of the game as well. He struck out one, walked one and allowed one run which had advanced to third on a wild pitch.

3. Strikeouts

One of the reasons for their inconsistent offensive production against Rhode Islands were the mounting strikeouts. Rice K’d 36 times over the weekend and continued those issues at the plate on Tuesday. Seven different Rice hitters registered at least one strikeout, 11 overall. Cade Edwards and Trei Cruz led the team with three whiffs each.

Discipline is going to be something this team needs to improve, quickly. They’ve simply left too many men on base, stranding nine against Texas. The value of putting the ball into play cannot be underestimated.

Bragga has plans to address during practice later this week. “We’re swinging at a lot of bad pitches,” he said, going on to describe the approach the plate with words like “apprehensive” and “timid.” The issues are apparent. Now it’s time for this team to make some adjustments.

ON DECK | vs Arizona (Wed), vs UC-Irvine (Fri.-Sun.)

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Baseball: Previewing Tuesday matchup vs Texas

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Rice baseball continues their opening homestand with a rivalry game against in-state foe, Texas on Tuesday night at Reckling Park.

For scheduling purposes, midweek games largely come against in-state opponents affording Rice baseball regular opportunities to match up with some of the other heavyweight programs. In 2019 their first in-state Texas comes against the No. 23 Texas Longhorns in a midweek tilt.

Like Rice, Texas went 2-1 on opening weekend taking a series from Louisiana which included an extra-innings win. The Longhorns and Owls did not meet in 2017. The rivals split a four-game series in Austin in 2017.

When and Where

Pitching matchups

Official starters haven’t been named just yet. Given how early it is in the season there are a host of guys from each team who could get the call, but Addison Moss remains the biggest question mark for either side. Scratched from Saturday’s start, he’d be a tremendous plus in the Owls’ favor if he’s healthy enough to go on Tuesday.

Bragga declined to say anything definitive about who would get the nod against Texas saying “We’ve got a lot of guys available for Tuesday,” and that the staff felt “good with where we’re at” concerning the pitching availability after the weekend.

Names to know

Right fielder Austin Todd and third baseman Ryan Reynolds led the way at the dish for the Longhorns over the weekend. Todd had a team-high six hits, walking twice and striking out just once. Reynolds launched a home run and a double, finishing with a team-best 1.338 OPS. Leadoff man Duke Ellis led the Big 12 in on base percentage last season. He drew a staggering seven walks to go along with three base hits against Louisiana.

Out of the pen the Longhorns will most likely use a handful of arms, as was customary under manager David Pierce in midweek action last year. Nico O’Donnell (0.00 ERA, 2.1 IP) and Matteo Bocchi (0.oo ERA, 3.o IP) both saw some action against the Ragin’ Cajuns and could be options to see a large chunk of innings against the Owls. Mason Bryant (0.00 ERA, 1 IP) will be a late-game option if things are close.

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History made! Women’s basketball ranked in Top 25 for first time ever

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Rice women’s basketball has made history, achieving a ranking in the AP Top 25 basketball poll for the first time in school history.

Expectations were high entering the 2018-2019 Rice women’s basketball season, and for good reason. The Owls finished 23-10 the season prior and were returning key pieces on the floor like Erica Ogwumike, Nancy Mulkey, Nicole Iademarco and others. This was supposed to be the caliber of team which contended, not only for a Conference USA Championship, but a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The Owls haven’t secured either of those aspirations quite yet, but for the first time in school history Rice women’s basketball has been ranked in the AP Top 25. Following a pair of runaway victories against FIU and FAU over the weekend the Owls jumped into the rankings, currently as the No. 25 team in the nation.

The achievement marks the start of what the Owls hope will be a banner season in program history. The only real question is why it took so long for the nation to take notice of the incredible run under way at South Main.

Rice hasn’t lost a game since December 18, currently in the midst of a 15-game winning streak, the longest in school history. The Owls have played two games decided by fewer than 10 points in that stretch, the most recent coming in early February against a tough Old Dominion team on the road.

Other than that, Rice has blown the doors off of just about every opponent they’ve faced. Every time it looked like they might have peaked, they won again, and again, and again. Now sitting at 22-3, they don’t look to be slowing down any time soon.

Congratulations to the ladies and to head coach Tina Langley. Earning this designation is a tremendous accomplishment. May the best be yet to come.

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WBB: Owls seek first ever AP Top 25 ranking

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It was another impressive weekend on the court for Rice women’s basketball. The Owls are closing in on their first national ranking.

Rice women’s basketball bludgeoned another pair of conference opponents this week, blasting FIU by 32 points on Thursday before crushing FAU by 28 points on Saturday. For the better part of two months, no one has been able to crack the Owls’ physical defense which has allowed one opponent to surpass 51 points this calendar year.

The two wins boost the Owls’ record to 22-3 (13-0 CUSA) with three regular season games remaining. At this point finishing up the schedule has become somewhat of a formality as the team readies itself for the conference tournament and hopefully an NCAA Tournament berth.

Returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 is at the forefront of the team’s mind, but it’s not the only piece of history at stake for this squad. Winners of 15 straight, Rice is seeking their first appearance in the AP Top 25. The Owls stack up favorably against those ranked just above them.

Here’s how the lower portion of the top 25 faired this week:

No. 21 FSU (1-1) – Clemson (L), Pitt (W)
No. 22 Texas A&M (1-1) – LSU (W), Mississippi State (L)
No. 23 Rutgers (0-1) – Ohio State (L)
No. 24 Michigan State (0-2) – Wisconsin (L), Nebraska (L)
No. 25 South Dakota (1-0) – Western Illinois (W)

Also receiving votes

Rice (2-0) – FIU (W), FAU (W)
Utah (0-2) – Arizona (L), Arizona State (L)
UCF (0-2) – Tulane (L), UConn (L)
Drake (1-0) – Northern Iowa (W)
UCLA (0-1) – Stanford (L)

Rice is the only one of that selection of unranked teams to finish a perfect 2-0 this week. Each of those five ranked teams above the Owls lost at least once. Rutgers is on a three game losing streak and South Dakota’s overall record, 23-3, is almost identical to the Owls.

This team has been dominant. It’s time the pollsters give Rice some well-deserved recognition.

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