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Rice Baseball 2023 Season Review: Bullpen

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The bullpen was a perpetual work in progress for Rice baseball in 2023. There was talent, but the control and dependability were erratic.

The Rice baseball pitching staff never quite settled in during the 2023 season. Individuals had their moments, but it was hard to know what was going to happen when the ball changed hands late in games, particularly in high-leverage situations. The starting rotation was addressed previously. This roundup focuses on the relievers.

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Fast starts not enough as Rice Baseball is swept by UTSA

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Rice Baseball scored first in all three games against UTSA but left San Antonio reeling, suffering another sweep in painful fashion.

FRIDAY | UTSA 9 – Rice 7

Rice got the jump on UTSA ace Luke Malone in the early goings of the opener, scoring four runs in the first two frames and following that up with a three-spot in the fifth. The UTSA bats were ready to push back, however, cutting into a 4-0 Rice lead with two-run innings in the second and third, respectively, to tie the game back at 4-4.

The aforementioned three-run fifth — all runs courtesy of a Ben Royo home run — would give the Owls a lead, but again, the Roadrunners rallied back. UTSA would score four in the seventh and one more in the eighth, roughing up Justin Long and Cristian Cienfuegos, the latter of which took the loss, his first of the season.

SATURDAY | UTSA 10 – Rice 8

As they did on Friday night, Rice got to work early on Saturday afternoon. A pair of solo home runs in the top of the first inning staked the Owls to a 2-0 lead, which quickly grew to 5-0 in the second before a weather delay paused the game in the middle of Ben Royo’s second at-bat. Royo would fly out when play resumed, signaling a shift in momentum away from the Owls.

MORE: Roost Pod – Rice Football Spring Ball Recap and Basketball Recruiting

With Rice leading 6-1, UTSA went on the offensive. The Roadrunners ambushed JD McCracken for four runs in the fourth, then jumped all over Tyler Hamilton for three runs in the sixth to take the lead for good. Once again, Rice was unable to hold an early lead and fell, ceding the series to UTSA.

SUNDAY | UTSA 11 – Rice 6

A weekend of crooked numbers rounded into full form on Sunday. Ben Royo got things going with a solo home run in the second, answered quickly by a single run to tie the game by UTSA in the bottom of the inning. Then the fireworks really got going.

UTSA hung a four-spot in the third. Rice answered with five runs in the fourth with Guy Garibay providing an emphatic, go-ahead three-run blast. The lead was short-lived, though. UTSA answered with a six-run sixth, rocking Matthew Linskey with a grand slam to take a commanding 11-6 advantage. That would be the final score.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Another weekend down, but the same familiar result. Rice baseball is headed back to Houston with a bad taste in its mouth. Here are three takeaways from a tough weekend on the road.

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1. Building blocks

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ON DECK | vs UIW (Tues), vs Houston (Wed), at WKU (Fri-Sun)

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“It Killed Us”: Rice Baseball swept in heartbreaking fashion by DBU

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Rice Baseball took Dallas Baptist to the wire three times but came away winless. More on a tough weekend at Reckling for the Owls.

Rice baseball had their chances to win this series, but fell short. I asked head coach Jose Cruz Jr. for his take on the frustrating weekend and left it unlocked for all to read.

“It killed us”

“This hurts because we’re playing good. We’re desperate for wins. And we’re playing good enough to win, we’re just not getting the end result which stinks,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said. “If you tell me that we’re going into the ninth inning with a two-run lead, I’ll take it all day. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t gone our way here of late.”

Rice baseball knew what it was up against when Dallas Baptist came to town this weekend. Even without the impressive 14-game winning streak, which was snapped on Tuesday by TCU, Rice was going to be up against it facing one of the most complete teams in Conference USA and the No. 19 ranked team in the nation.

To win, Rice was going to have to take risks. If not perfect, the Owls were going to have to be pretty darn close. And for most of all three games, it sure looked as if Rice had accomplished just that. Rice led DBU through seven innings in all three games: 4-3 on Friday, 2-1 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday.

As if that weren’t enough, entering the weekend, Rice was 13-2 when leading after seven innings, that’s a clip of victories on 87 percent of such occasions. That’s what made this weekend sting all the more, because not only did they come in well below that 87 percent threshold, they were winless.

On Friday and on Sunday, it was the longball that did Rice in. “It killed us,” Cruz said of the DBU home run that put Rice behind. “It’s part of the season, right? It’s part of it. “You get ups and downs and you get a bit of heartbreak and gut punch. And that’s basically what happened this last weekend.”

In an alternate universe, Rice baseball sweeps DBU and we’re talking about a resurgence late in the season. That’s not what happened, and it’s been a downward trend that’s been apparent for a month now. But as Cruz pointed out, the pieces are there. If Rice can hang with DBU they can hang with anyone in C-USA. It’s time to turn that effort into results.

“We played good enough to win at least two games. I mean, we led in the ninth by two runs, twice,” Cruz said. “It’s just a matter of our belief in ourselves to be able to do what needs to get done to win. I think that’s the essence of what we need to do right now is just believe that we can and I think we will.”

FRIDAY | DBU 8 – Rice 6 (12 innings)

It was a race to beat the rain on Friday night and both starting pitchers certainly did their parts. Rice starter Parker Smith threw 5.1 innings with six strikeouts, allowing three runs, two of which came in his final inning of work. DBU’s ace Ryan Johnson was lifted after four innings and Rice pounced quickly, tying the game 3-3 quickly after he left.

From there, Rice tacked on solo runs in the seventh (a Drew Holderbach RBI single) and the eighth (a Guy Garibay home run) to go ahead 5-3 before thunderstorms forced a postponement to Saturday. Upon resumption, DBU tied the game in the ninth with a two-run home run before pouring on three more in the 12th to complete the come-from-behind win.

SATURDAY | DBU 10 – Rice 3

Even though the Owls had used several arms to complete the first game on Saturday afternoon, the pitching staff came through in a big way in the early portions of the evening game. JD McCracken racked up a career-best seven strikeouts and Matthew. Linskey looked much more like his old self, striking out three while allowing one run in two innings.

MORE: Roost Pod – Rice Football Spring Ball Recap and Basketball Recruiting

McCracken and Linskey’s arms combined with two solo home runs from Jack Riedel positioned Rice with a 2-1 lead entering the eighth inning. Five walks, two home runs and a single later, DBU had hung an eight-spot on the Owls and put the game out of reach.

SUNDAY | DBU 4 – Rice 3

DBU struck first in the finale, but Rice was quick to follow. They trailed for a matter of minutes, answer a DBU solo home run in the first inning with three straight two-out hits, capped off by a two-RBI single from Manny Garza. Jack Riedel added some insurance in the third with a sacrifice fly, staking the Owls to a 3-1 lead in the early going.

That lead held for a good while thanks to strong pitching performances from Cristian Cienfuegos, Ryland Urbanczyk and Justin Long. When Long was relieved in the top of the ninth following a lead-off home run from DBU, Rice led 3-2. Once again, the Owls were unable to get those last three outs. Jack Ben-Shoshan was credited with the loss, allowing a walk and a go-ahead home run in relief of Long.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rather than a series win, Rice baseball is reckoning with one that got away. Here are three takeaways from a tough weekend at home.

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ON DECK | vs Houston (Wed), at UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball falters late, drops series to MTSU

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Rice Baseball and MTSU went down to the final inning with the fate of the series in the balance before an MTSU walk-off spoiled the Owls’ weekend.

FRIDAY | MTSU 6 – Rice 0

It didn’t matter which portion of the weather-split game it was for Rice baseball, the bats just weren’t syncing up. Rice was held scoreless in their series opener against Middle Tennessee, which was paused in the sixth inning with Rice trailing 3-0 before being restarted on Saturday afternoon.

Prior to the delay, Tyler Hamilton and Cristian Cienfuegos kept the Blue Raiders to one unearned run through four innings.  Blake Brogdon was tagged for two runs in the fifth, but the Owls were very much still in the game until MTSU tagged Ryland Urbanczyk with three runs in the eighth inning on Saturday to put the game away.

SATURDAY | Rice 9 – MTSU 2

Rice baseball and MTSU traded single runs in the early innings then did so again in the top of the sixth and bottom of the seventh. The game was neck-and-neck, even when Paul Smith singled in Jack Riedel in the top of the eighth to put the Owls in front. Leading 3-2 entering the ninth, the Rice bats exploded.

MORE: Roost Pod – Rice Football Spring Ball Recap and Basketball Recruiting

Three consecutive RBI hits put Rice up 7-2 and prompted an MTSU pitching change. The new reliever didn’t fair much better, getting charged with two additional runs on sacrifice flies as the Owls smacked the Blue Raiders around, scoring six in the ninth to win 9-2.

SUNDAY | MTSU 5 – Rice 4 (11 innings)

MTSU took a 2-0 lead on a first-inning home run against JD McCracken in the series finale, forcing Rice to play from behind. The Owls chipped away with a run in the fourth on an RBI single from Trey Duffield and another in the eighth, this time via a Ben Royo home run. Finally tied again, that’s when the drama would begin.

Both teams traded solo runs in the next two half innings, forcing extra with the score deadlocked at 3-3. Royo came through again in the tenth with an RBI single, but MTSU leveled the score on a wild pitch charged Rice reliever Krishna Raj. After Rice went quietly in the top half of the next inning, Raj gave up the walk-off long ball on the very next pitch, handing the game and the series to MTSU.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball had their chances to win a series for the first time in a month and couldn’t close the deal. Here are a few takeaways from a wet, frustrating weekend in Murfreesboro.

1. RIP RISP

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ON DECK | vs Dallas Baptist (Fri-Sun)

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“Everything’s on the table”: Rice Baseball reeling from sweep by Charlotte

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Rice Baseball gave Charlotte a battle on Friday night but offered little resistance for the rest of the weekend, getting swept at home in painful fashion.

FRIDAY | Charlotte 1 – Rice 0

Rice starter Parker Smith and Charlotte starter Wyatt Hudepohl blazed through their opposing lineups on Friday night, both pitching into the ninth inning and combined to allow just one run (charged to Smith). The time of game (2:17) was reflective of their utter dominance and very few base runners.

Through eight innings, the Owls and 49ers combined for five hits and two walks. Charlotte would eventually break through with a leadoff double in the ninth, eventually turning that into the winning run. Rice had the tying run thrown out at third base in the bottom of the frame, falling 1-0.

SATURDAY | Charlotte 4 – Rice 1

Rice struck first on Saturday, scoring one of their few runs of the weekend in the second inning when Jack Riedel doubled in Aaron Smigelski. The lead barely lasted 15 minutes in real time as Charlotte went ahead in the next half inning, capitalizing on an error by depositing a two-run blast over the left-center wall.

The Rice bullpen fought through some traffic and fared well through 4.2 innings of work, allowing just two hits and two runs. The arms kept Rice in the game, but the bats never got going. Rice would be held to four hits and did not score again for the remainder of the afternoon.

SUNDAY | Charlotte 16 – Rice 2

There was plenty of traffic on the bases in the early innings of getaway day, but no runs, at least through the fourth. That changed in a hurry in the fifth when Rice receiver Matthew Linskey was tagged with three straight doubles before giving way to Cristian Cienfuegos who allowed a walk and then a home run to put Rice in a 5-0 hole.

Following another Charlotte home run in the sixth, the Owls found some offense, tacking on two runs courtesy of a Guy Garibay RBI triple and an RBI single by Manny Garza. Charlotte quickly dampened any hopes for a rally, however, launching a three-run shot in the next frame to take a commanding 9-2 lead before dropping seven more runs on the Owls in the ninth.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball wasted another brilliant start from Parker Smith on Friday night, which proved to be an omen of tough tidings ahead as the Owls were swept in a conference series for the first time this season. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. It’s the little things

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ON DECK | at Middle Tennessee (Fri-Sun)

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