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Fast start not enough as Rice Baseball falls to Texas A&M for third time

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Rice Baseball started fast, but couldn’t hold on, falling to Texas A&M for the third time on the season in as many games.

Rice baseball couldn’t have asked for much of a better start to their midweek tilt against Texas A&M. Benjamin Rosengard mashed a leadoff home run to put the Owls in front 1-0. Drew Holderbach followed two innings later with a two-run blast, spotting the road team a 3-0 lead entering the bottom half of the inning. The lead would not last.

Texas A&M drove Rice starter Garret Zaskoda from the game in the fourth, connecting on four consecutive extra-base hits to tie the game in the process. A pickoff attempt gone awry by Cristian Cienfuegos in the following frame would allow the Aggies to go ahead, an advantage they’d lengthen as the game progressed.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball grinds out hard-fought sweep over UAB

Texas A&M added an insurance run in the sixth and two more in the eighth, all via the long ball. Trailing by four in the ninth, Rice snapped out of their offensive funk. Ben Royo hit the game’s fifth home run, getting Rice within two. Then Guy Garibay, with a runner on, deposited a ball over the right-center fence to tie the game.

Rice went to Justin Long in the ninth, proof of their desire to find a way to win. A walk followed by two softly hit balls in the infield loaded the bases, setting up the Aggies for a walk-off win which would come via a hit by pitch. For the third time this season, Rice fell to Texas A&M.

What it means | Cienfuegos joins the circle of trust

At this point, it seems unrealistic to expect Rice baseball to solidify a singular midweek starter for the season. It’s fairly obvious that head coach Jose Cruz Jr. and pitching coach Parker Bangs are willing to mix and match as they work to narrow down their pecking order on the mound. This time around, it was Cristian Cienfuegos that turned heads.

More: Rice Baseball Nonconference State of the Program

Cienfuegos stranded the would-be go-ahead runner on third base on his way to 2.2 strong innings with three strikeouts. He did allow one run (unearned) on a sequence that felt like a halfhearted throw to second that was blocked by the base runner. This was his third consecutive quality outing in a row and it probably should earn him a relief opportunity this coming weekend.

ON DECK | vs UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball 2023: Names to Know — Pitching

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Entering Year 2 under head coach Jose Cruz Jr the Rice baseball roster is starting to take shape. Here are a few names to know on the mound.

Rice baseball will look to significantly retool its pitching staff this season. In addition to the hiring of Parker Bangs, a new pitching coach, this offseason, the Owls will also turnover a sizable portion of their staff and likely introduce a host of players to new roles.

Moving On

From purely an innings-pitched perspective, Rice will have to replace its top five arms from last year’s team. Cooper Chandler, Alex DeLeon, Roel Garcia, Thomas Burbank and Brandon Deskins have moved on, leaving a vacuum of mound time to back fill. That quintet accounted for 251 of 485.2 innings pitched, representing more than 50 percent of the innings worked by the entire 2022 staff.

Coming Back

While they are losing a lot of innings, the cupboard isn’t completely bare. Closer Matthew Linskey, who led the team with a 3.00 ERA last season, returns to the squad and could be stretched out to take advantage of his talents for more than an inning or two per weekend. Also back is Parker Smith, who made a strong case to be higher in the weekend rotation at the end of last season and throughout summer ball.

Blake Brogdon, who has been a weekend rotation guy in prior seasons, is back for his fifth season at South Main. It’ll be interesting to watch how his role plays out as well as a guy like Micah Davis that flashed his talents last year but lacked consistent command. Tom Vincent, Reed Gallant, Cristian Cienfuegos and Garret Zaskoda return as potential bullpen options.

Added to the Mix

The list of newcomers who will be in the mix is long. Rice added Mauricio Rodriguez from the JUCO ranks as well as Krishna Raj (Charleston Southern, Tulane), Hayden Durke (Louisiana), JD McCracken (Tennessee) and Tyler Hamilton (Texas Tech) from the Transfer Portal. Additionally, they converted Justin Long from catcher to hurler, and word of his development has been very positive throughout the offseason.

More: Expectations rise for Rice Baseball, Cruz Jr. in Year 2

Past that, there’s a strong compliment of freshman arms that will get looks. Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. singled out Ryland Urbanczyk and Garrett Stratton as early standouts at the onset of preseason practices, which would likely make the front runners in that regard. The Owls also added Marco Fuentes, Jake Crews and Tanner Fox in their incoming freshman class.

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Rice Baseball goes out on high note with sweep of FIU

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Rice Baseball ended its 2022 season on a high note, notching their first series sweep in their final weekend, taking all three from FIU on the road.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball wins the series 3-0

For the first time this season, Rice baseball swept their opponent in three straight games. Fresh off an extra-inning win over Houston, the Owls rode that momentum through the weekend, finishing the season playing what was by far their best baseball yet. Rice finished the year with a final record of 17-39 overall and 9-21 in conference play. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. The pitching came through at the end

After months of tweaking and shifting players into different roles, Rice baseball finally found a combination that seemed to work on the mound. Cooper Chandler was terrific, after missing time with an injury he bounced back to throw a scoreless seven innings on Friday’s win, backed by sterling relief appearances from Garret Zaskoda and Micah Davis.

Brandon Deskins pitched a pair of multi-inning outings this weekend, striking out nine of the 16 total batters he faced without allowing a run. Matthew Linskey picked up save number five on Sunday. Almost to the man, the Rice staff was incredible.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball rallies past UH in extras

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. made was quick to acknowledge the Owls’ successes on the mound, running down a similar last of hurlers who had big weekend. He seemed particularly thankful to have guys like Linskey and Parker Smith (who pitched in two of the Owls’ final four wins of the year) back in the fold next season.

2. Austin Bulman will be missed

Although much has (and will be) said about the young talent Rice baseball will bring back next year, it would be remiss not to acknowledge the impact Austin Bulman had on this team during this series and this season. Bulman was the most productive hitter for the Owls on the weekend, driving in all three RBI in Saturday’s sweep-clinching win.

Bulman, who went 4-for-10 (.400) during the series, was measured in his final comments wearing blue and gray. “Things worked out for the Owls,” he said. “So I’m happy I got to go out on a high note.”

Beyond this series, Bulman will finish the season with a .280/.350/.514 slash line and the second-best OPS on the team (.864) among those who played in at least 30 games. A leader on this team for the past several seasons, his bat and his voice will be challenging to fill next year.

3. What the record says they are

With the 2022 season officially in the books, Rice baseball has finished ninth in the conference standings. Their combined record against the three teams below them (7-2) looks a lot different than their record against the top eight squads (2-19) who made the conference tournament. Given that divergence, it’s crystal clear just how good Rice was this season.

Cruz Jr. broke a smile but remained focused as he recapped how the year finished. “To be able to get a sweep is a big deal for us. It’s exciting to end in a positive way,” he said. “We changed some things around at the end and it worked. So now it’s just get ready, keep building and see how good we can get.”

At this point it seems clear Rice can beat the “bad” teams. What remains to be seen is whether or not the Owls can elevate themselves out of that tier of squads that didn’t play in any postseason games into a team that gets a chance at a conference tournament appearance next year. Cruz Jr. made no promises to that end, but he commanded his team for how they ended things.

“They committed to finishing out the season strong,” he acknowledge. “A lot of guys showed up at the end.”

THE PLAY BY PLAY

THURSDAY | Rice 8 – FIU 2

FIU scored the first run of the weekend in the bottom of the first inning, sandwiching a key stolen base around back-to-back singles to sneak across the opening tally. That was just about the only success the Panthers were able to have against the Rice pitching staff which shuffled through four different arms, all of which had success against the Panthers’ lineup.

David Shaw led the way with three strong innings before ceding to Alex DeLeon and Brandon Deskins, who was credited with his third win of the season. Meanwhile, the Rice bats went to work. Jack Riedel and Aaron Smigelski helped break the game open with RBI doubles in a four-run fourth inning before Connor Walsh added insurance with a three-run home run in the ninth.

FRIDAY | Rice 10 – FIU 0

Rice baseball utilized another big inning on Friday, quickly smashing through what had been a 0-0 pitcher’s duel with a 5-run sixth inning that gave Rice a commanding 7-0 lead. Aaron Smigelski, who had already driven in two runs with a fifth-inning home run, picked up two more RBI with another two-run shot in the sixth.

That second blast put the freshmen in rarified air. Smigelski became the first Owl to hit three multi-home run games in a season since Anthony Rendon did so in 2010. The long balls also provided Cooper Chandler with plenty to work with while he delivered a masterful seven-inning, three-hit scoreless gem on the way to his second win of the year.

SATURDAY | Rice 3 – FIU 1

To some degree, it was several of the familiar faces that propelled the Owls to their first sweep of the season on Saturday. Parker Smith worked a near-flawless 5.1 innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits. He have relief to Brandon Deskins, who pitched another strong outing in relief before handing the baton to Matthew Linskey to slam the door with two strong innings to earn the save.

Austin Bulman gave Rice a 2-0 lead in the first with a home run and provided an insurance run in the eighth via a sacrifice fly. It was an efficient, two-hour, 29-minute win that — while close on the scoreboard — had the feeling of a contest that was very much so under control from start to finish.

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Rice Baseball 2022: Early miscues doom Owls at UH

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Rice Baseball was unable to overcome a costly early error, dropping the game and the Silver Glove Series to Houston on Wednesday night.

Winners of their last two midweek games, Rice baseball saw that streak come to an end on Wednesday night against the Houston Cougars. After a scoreless first inning, both teams traded runs in the second. The modest start continued into the third, but after Owls’ reliever Garret Zaskoda collected two quick outs, a fateful error extended the inning.

Last Time Out : Rice baseball battles back to take two of three vs WKU

Instead of heading back to the dugout in a tied, 1-1 game, things began to unravel. The next three Houston batters reached base, including a two-run double followed by a two-run home run. Instead of a close game, Rice found themselves trailing 5-1 after three innings.

Having dropped the first game of the series in March, the Silver Glove was at stake and Rice was already in a sizable hole.

Houston would extend their lead with a run in the fourth. Rice got that one back in the sixth but would go on to leave eight runners on base throughout the course of the game. The big hit that Houston collected would go on to evade Rice. The Cougars had five two-out RBI. Rice had one. That alone would prove to be the difference on Wednesday night.

What it means | Focus back on C-USA

For better or worse, Rice baseball can now fully turn its attention to conference play. The Silver Glove was the last non-conference achievement the Owls had to look toward this season, two-midweek games against Louisiana notwithstanding.  If Rice wants to make the Conference USA Baseball Tournament, they have to win and win a lot in their final nine conference games.

What does that look like, from a practical standpoint, head coach Jose Cruz Jr. was crystal clear regarding just how sizable the task at hand will be. “We’re basically gonna have to win every series to even have a chance,” he said. “We need at least need six wins. If we can get a seventh that’d be even better.”

Every team talks about turning the page and moving on to the next game. This time, more than ever, Rice needs to be locked in and ready to go when they make the trip to Charlotte this weekend.

ON DECK | at Charlotte

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Rice baseball: Sunday fireworks avert weekend sweep vs UTSA

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Rice Baseball salvaged a Sunday win against UTSA, snapping a nine-game C-USA losing streak as the back end of the season approaches.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball drops series 2-1

Rice baseball dropped a conference series for the third consecutive weekend, this time falling to UTSA 2–1 at Reckling Park. The Owls pitching staff was worn down throughout the weekend, but the Rice bats were able to answer with some power of their own in a runaway Sunday win. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Ouch

Rice baseball gave up 36 runs in its three-game series with Texas earlier this season. At the time, that was largely excused as early-season jitters on an opening weekend against a college baseball superpower.

From there, the run totals against the Owls started to dissipate, albeit slowly. Lamar scored 26 runs in three games. Tech scored 20. UAB had 26 runs and FAU pushed across 22. Then UTSA came into Reckling and put up 31 runs, but somehow only managed to win two of the three contests.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball sweeps season series over SHSU with midweek win

UTSA is second in the conference in batting average, third in on-base percentage and fourth in slugging percentage. The Roadrunner bats have been just as lethal elsewhere. But it still stings a bit to give up an average north of 10 runs per game over the course of a weekend, regardless of how good the opponent is thought to be at the time.

2. All together now

Despite the first two one-sided results in favor of the visitors, Rice and UTSA each tallied 34 hits on the weekend with UTSA committing seven fielding errors to the Owls’ six. Part of the reason Rice came up short in the run column was the lack of synergy the lineup produced in the first two games, especially at the top where the bulk of the Owls’ offensive production has been produced so far this season.

On Friday, Jack Riedel and Aaron Smigelski went hitless while Nathan Becker and Austin Bulman managed a single apiece.

On Saturday it was Guy Garibay’s turn to go 0-for-5 from the field. Smigelski, directly behind him in the batting order, went 0-for-4.

It wasn’t until the Sunday finale the Rice bats started firing in unison. Garibay, Bulman, Smigelski and Becker each reached base at least four times. Pierce Gallo followed behind them with a four-hit, four-RBI day.

It’s unrealistic to expect that kind of production from an entire middle of the lineup day in and day out, but even an extra hit here and there would have helped the Owls extend innings and scratch across a few more runs. On Saturday UTSA outhit Rice 14-10 but won by 11 runs. That’s just too big of a gap. The offense left too many runs on the table.

3. Sundays are for closers

Ironically, Rice closer Matthew Linskey has his worst outing of the season, surrendering four runs in his lone inning of work. But it wouldn’t matter in the end, because the Rice lineup had given him a more the sufficient cushion with a crucial assist from a pair of Rice pitchers.

Thomas Burbank and Brandon Deskins held a lineup that had scored 24 runs in the first 18 innings of the series to two runs across seven frames. Honestly, it was stunning, in the most positive of ways. Rice doesn’t win the game without both men hurling tremendous games, allowing the Owls to race out to such a big lead.

On a weekend where good pitching performances were hard to find, that tandem shone bright and gets a well-deserved shout out here.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | UTSA 9 – Rice 2

UTSA struck early, getting to Rice front liner Cooper Chandler with a four-spot in the second inning before ultimately scratching across two more against him before he left the game, trailing 6-2. Those two Rice runs came courtesy of a Guy Garibay double and would be the only meaningful offensive contribution from the Owls for the remainder of the evening.

The Roadrunners would tack on a few insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings, rendering a productive 3.2 inning relief appearance from Garret Zaskoda too little, too late. UTSA went on to win 9-2

SATURDAY | UTSA 15 – Rice 4

An error-plagued third inning allowed Rice baseball to take a 3-1 lead against UTSA on Saturday, their first lead of the series. It would not last long. UTSA struck back with six runs in the next half inning, driving Rice starter Alex DeLeon from the game after the frame, but not before the damage had been done.

Trailing 7-3, Rice would never get closer. UTSA would score eight more runs as the Rice lineup went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, stranding eight runners as any hopes of a rally dwindled by the inning. And that’s before taking into account a bizarre 45-minute delay to check the hat of pitcher Roel Garcia, which would prove fruitless.

SUNDAY | Rice 16 – UTSA 7

Aiming to avoid a sweep, Rice baseball responded on Sunday with one of their most impressive offensive outings of the entire season. The Owls struck for three in the first inning, adding two more in the third and two more in the fourth. Leading 7-3 after four, it felt like a missed opportunity to have only managed a 9-3 lead entering the eighth inning.

Podcast: Rice Owls’ Voice JP Heath talks baseball, basketball, broadcasting

With closer Matthew Linskey on the mound, that didn’t seem to matter, until he allowed an uncharacteristic four runs to put the game very much so back in the balance. Leading 9-7, the offense did the rest. Rice batted around in the eighth, scoring seven runs to put an exclamation point on a long-awaited conference win.

ON DECK | at Southern Miss (Fri-Sun)

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