The source for Rice sports news

Rice Baseball 2021: Owls rally to walk off Incarnate Word in extras

By

Rice baseball came from behind to beat Incarnate Word on Tuesday night, courtesy of a walk-off home run from Braden Comeaux.

Weekend pitching woes followed Rice baseball into one of their rare midweek games of the 2021 season. Their opponent, Incarnate Word, came out swinging, piling on 10 runs in their first three innings. Trailing 10-3 midway through the third, Rice pitching had been shelled for 43 runs in its last 18 innings, rolling up to a collective ERA north of 20. The situation was dire.

Stunned, but not stumped, Rice slowly began the process of digging out of the chasm. The Owls scratched across two runs in the home half of the third, two more in the fourth and another pair in the fifth. By the time the sixth inning rolled around, a blowout had turned into a contested game.

The Roost Podcast: Rice Football Spring Practice “Believe it or Not”

Rice went three-up, three-down in the seventh and stranded the basis loaded in the eighth. Trailing by three as they entered the ninth, the bats delivered. A double from Cade Edwards cut the deficit to one before Guy Garibay evened the score with a single up the middle.

Once trailing by seven runs, the Owls could sense the momentum had flipped. Rice put two men on in the 10th, setting the table for senior Braden Comeaux who came through. He walloped the ball over the left field fence, putting the exclamation point on the come-from-behind win.

What it means

The pitching staff is going to face a lot of scrutiny in the coming days, but there is something to be said for the quintet of Alex DeLeon, Dalton Wood, Guy Garibary, Micah Davis and Josh Larzabal who limited Incarnate Word to one run in their final six innings. They provided some much-needed good news on that front.

That said, if there were ever a must-win midweek game in April, this was probably it. In the thick of the toughest part of their schedule, snapping a losing streak in thrilling fashion was exactly what the doctor ordered.

ON DECK | Old Dominions

Rice baseball will hit the road this coming weekend to take on Old Dominion, ending a five-game homestand. This is the Owls’ second C-USA road series of the season. The Owls had previously played at Middle Tennessee in early April.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Women’s Basketball splits with North Texas, wins C-USA west

By

Rice women’s basketball clinched Conference USA West over the weekend. For the third consecutive year, the Owls finished the regular season with C-USA’s best record.

It’s always a battle when Rice women’s basketball squares off with North Texas. That proved true again this time around when the two teams battled for the best record in Conference USA West in the final weekend of the regular season, with Rice once more coming out ahead.

Rice took an early lead in the opener, but couldn’t fully contain an 18-9 North Texas run in the second corner. Trailing at halftime and after three quarters, the Owls came alive with a near-perfect fourth quarter. Rice hit 10-of-12 shots from the floor including a pair of three-pointers to put the game away late and clinch the divisional crown.

North Texas got the better of the Owls’ in the series finale, taking an early 16-9 first quarter lead and staying just a step ahead. A banner day for Quincy Noble plus some timely three point shooting propelled the Mean Green to an upset win.

Player Spotlight | Nancy Mulkey

Mulkey has become so automatic for this team. Regardless of whether or not her shots are falling, she impacts the game every trip down the court. She had seven blocked shots on Thursday, including two big ones in the fourth quarter. She also tallied yet another double-double. On Saturday she had 12 points and two more blocks.

It’s become easy to take having someone as impactful as Mulkey on the court, but what she can do as an athlete is remarkable. Rice fans should soak up every minute they can.

Stat Corner | Tusseling with turnovers

Rice women’s basketball has done so many things well over the last three seasons in which they’ve been nearly unbeatable in conference play. As impressive as the Owls have looked in that span, though, they’ve struggled to consistently take care of their basketball. Fortunately, when you have a defense as tenacious as theirs has been, those self-inflicted wounds are easier to overcome.

Rice has finished in the bottom five in Conference USA in turnover margin three years running. This year they average five more giveaways than takeaways. That’s five extra possessions per game that go for naught.

The Owls turned the ball over 15 times on Thursday and 16 times on Saturday. Now imagine how much more challenging of an out they’ll be in the postseason if they aren’t giving away free possessions. When this team protects the basketball, they’re lethal.

Up Next

Rice women’s basketball walked off the court at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday for the last time this season. The next time they take the hardwood will be in the Conference USA Tournament, where they’ll represent the West as the No. 1 seed which includes a bye. They’ll play the winner of Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss on Thursday at 11 a.m. The Rice men play on Tuesday against Southern Miss at 7 p.m.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Baseball: Owls pound Prairie View A&M in get-right game

By

Rice baseball pummeled Prairie View A&M on Wednesday. The Owls improved their record to 3-4 entering the Shriner’s Classic this weekend.

There weren’t any runs scored in the first two innings from either side on Wednesday night. But when Rice baseball struck in the third with its first trickle of offensive success, the dam broke almost immediately. The deluge of runs that followed was swift and decisive.

Rice scored six in the third, headlined by a three-run home run by Bradley Gneiting. Rice added another run in the fifth, another in the sixth and two in the seventh. By the time the Owls and Panthers were on their way to the eighth inning all nine members of the Rice lineup had at least one hit and at least one run. Rice would go on to win by a final score of 10-0.

Things went almost as well for the Owls on the mound as they did in the batter’s box. Mitchell Holcomb rebounded from a pair of middle-of-the-road Friday night outings, posting 3.1 scoreless innings. He did allow four hits, but struck out five. A combination of Brandon Deskins, Alex DeLeon and Dillon Janac kept Prairie View at bay through the remainder of the contest.

What it means

The last time these two teams met, Rice routed Praire View A&M 25-5. The Owls are the more talented team in every respect and should be able to take care of business at home in these matchups. On Wednesday night, that’s exactly what they did. Raising some averages and dropping some ERAs and rebounding from a tough weekend sweep in the process was a bonus.

ON DECK | Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park

Rice baseball returns to Minute Maid Park this weekend for the Shriner’s College Classic. They’ll play three in-state foes: Sam Houston (Fri), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sat), Texas State (Sun).

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

Recent Posts

Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls shoot circles around Louisiana Tech

By

Rice women’s basketball rebounded from a challenging road trip with an emphatic home sweep of Louisiana Tech. The wins kept the Owls atop C-USA.

The lede up to the Marshall games was different for Rice women’s basketball. The team wasn’t able to practice like they’re used to before fleeing a thawing city in the midst of ever-present COVID-19 concerns. Win or lose, last week was hard.

So win Jasmine Smith launched a half-court heave in the third quarter of Friday’s win over Louisiana Tech, the bench exploded. “Everything is so heavy right now,” head coach Tina Langley recalled after the game. “You can’t even see each other smile hardly anymore. So to be able to see [Smith] celebrate and have some fun, I think really brought us all a lot [of joy].”

That infectious energy imbued Rice to a two-game sweep of Louisiana Tech this weekend. The Owls jumped out to an early lead in the opening game, but Louisiana Tech fought back and held the Rice accountable for their miscues.

Listen: The Roost Podcast Offseason Interview Series

A five-point halftime lead reflected what had been a fairly evenly contest to that point. Then the Rice women took a page out of the men’s playbook and began a barrage of three-pointers. Including the half-court bomb from Smith, Rice hit six threes in a row, blowing what had been a close game wide open. The Owls closed out the fourth quarter with a comfortable lead, capping off an emphatic bounce-back win.

Saturday was more of the same. The two teams traded blows early on, with Rice clinging to a two-point lead at halftime. Then came the third quarter and, once again, the three point barrage. Rice made three of their seven three pointers in the third quarter, extending the lead to double-digits to set up a relatively stress-free fourth quarter.

Player Spotlight | Nancy Mulkey

Mulkey notched her 1,000th career point with, what else, but a three pointer in the third quarter. She’s perfect from deep on her career, making all three of her attempts. As good as the Owls have been as a unit, Mulkey has been on another level.

As of the end of this series, the Owls’ center leads the team in field goal percentage, rebounding, blocks and points. She’s also the only member of the team to be shooting 1.000 from three.

Stat Corner | Going deep

This isn’t a team that takes a lot of three point shots. With Nancy Mulkey in the paint, there’s hardly much need to rely on volume from deep. It’s just never been part of head coach Tina Langley’s offensive philosophy. Until now?

“To be honest with you, we’ve been talking about [shooting more threes] for some time.”

Rice finished their Friday game with 14 made three-pointers, four more than they converted in their two-game set against Marshall last weekend and more than they’ve made in any game over the past three seasons. Four different players hit at least three three-pointers. The Owls 25 attempts were the most they’d taken since Feb. 14, 2019 in a win over FIU.

The volume was down Saturday, but the efficiency remained sky-high. Rice hit 50 percent of their deep balls, tied for their fourth-best shooting performance from three this season.

Up Next

While some programs have ended their regular season schedule, Rice women’s basketball has one more set of games lined up prior to the conference tournament. The Owls will make up previously scheduled games against North Texas. The Owls will play Thursday in Denton and finish the two-game set Saturday at Tudor Fieldhouse.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Women’s Basketball splits with Marshall, loses perfect C-USA record

By

Rice women’s basketball saw their perfect run come to an end, suffering their first conference loss in a road split at Marshall.

Any physical or psychological toll exacted on the Rice women’s basketball team by the events in Houston this week was not apparent in their series opening win against Marshall on Saturday. Almost immediately, the Owls jumped out to a 10-0 lead, then grew that advantage to 33-15 at the half. Led by Lauren Schwartz and Nancy Mulkey, Rice cruised through the opener with ease.

The Sunday finale was closer, but there wasn’t too much reason for concern until the floor seemingly dropped out from beneath them. Rice fell behind 13-6, but stormed back on a 21-3 run to regain control and walk into halftime with a comfortable 31-23 lead.

Marshall edged Rice in the third quarter by a point, but everything seemed to be working well up until the point when India Bellamy made an early fourth quarter layup to give Rice a nine-point advantage with just over nine minutes to play. Rice would go on to lose by 12, their first conference loss in more than a calendar year.

The Herd outscored Rice 18-0 in the final 3:53 and 23-2 in the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter. For a team that has accrued a certain amount of respect around the league for their ability to adjust in the second half and close things out, things just slipped away. Rice made two of their final 13 shots. Marshall made their last five, finishing perfect from the field over the final six minutes of regulation.

Going undefeated in conference play was never the goal. Head coach Tina Langley has always said as much. The focus for Rice has always been on getting better with each successive week. This team has always bounced back for the better. Now they’ll put that resiliency to the test once again.

Stat Corner | Just enough of an edge

The defense has been the Owls’ calling card ever since head coach Tina Langley took charge. Seeing Rice hold a team like Marshall to 15 points in the first 20 minutes of play on Saturday isn’t too surprising. Not anymore. That’s what this team does.

But Rice also holds the distinction of being the No. 1 shooting team in Conference USA. The Owls have outshot their opponents in every game this season, including in their two losses: a narrow defeat to Texas A&M and Sunday’s loss at Marshall. Even though they lose by double figures, Rice shot better from the field (42.9 percent vs Marshall’s 41.2 percent).

Up Next

Rice women’s basketball will play their final home series next weekend against Louisiana Tech. The Owls will host the Bulldogs on Friday and Saturday before finishing out their regular season scheduled against North Texas the following weekend.

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

Recent Posts