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Rice Baseball 2021: Connor Walsh walk off lifts Rice to series win over HBU

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Rice baseball bounced back from an opening loss, taking two of three games against crosstown Houston Baptist to open their 2021 campaign.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice wins series 2-1

1. COVID-19 and Winter Storm Uri throw Owls a curve

Roel Garcia was meant to be the Opening Day starter for Rice baseball. Of course, that was when Opening Day was meant to happen on Friday night against Little Rock. Then Winter Storm Uri brought the city of Houston to a standstill and directly impacted who Rice has available to work with this week, including Garcia who was bumped from Friday to Sunday to ensure he had adequate time to ramp up.

Gacia wasn’t the only Owl displaced from the presumed normal roster. Freshman outfielder Guy Garibay was unavailable for the weekend because of COVID-19 protocols and contact tracing. There’s optimism he’ll be able to make his debut next weekend against Louisiana.

Head coach Matt Bragga was emphatic that the missing pieces weren’t an excuse for the Owls’ sluggish opener. Nevertheless, the carousel of available players — and the first cancelation of the season (the midweek game against Lamar has been shelved by the Cardinals) — served as yet another reminder that the 2021 season will still be bumpy, storm or not.

2. New catcher(s) in town

Catcher Justin Collins was among the Owls who did not play this weekend. His status was uncertain the last time this spring, but Bragga confirmed that he did not expect Collins to return. It looks like incoming transfer Will Karp, who hasn’t played the position much at all since high school, will assume the bulk of the responsibilities behind the plate.

Viewed as a do-it-all infielder when he was recruited, Karp has transitioned from that side of the diamond to behind the plate quite well. He flashed a good arm, caught a few would-be-base stealers and held his own behind the dish.

He was also productive with his bat. Karp, third baseman Braden Comeaux and outfielder Justin Dunlap were the only Owls with hits in all three games.

Freshman Justin Long got a chance behind the dish on Monday. We’ll probably see both guys over the next few weeks. Rice will have a few weeks to establish a new plan at the position before conference play arrives.

3. The bullpen is better and has the potential to be really good

Brandon Deskins hadn’t thrown in more than a week when he was asked to pitch Rice out of a jam on Saturday afternoon. He did give up a hard-hit RBI ball, with the runs charged to Alex DeLeon ahead of him, but settled in quickly. Deskins threw 3.2 innings, allowed three hits and struck out four.

Garret Zaskoda, who received a look as a possible midweek starting option, was sharp in his relief appearance on Sunday, allowing one run on two hits in four innings. Reed Gallant kept the ball rolling on Monday with five shutout innings, allowing no hits along the way.

Three of the five relievers Rice baseball deployed in the series were superb (Deskins, Zaskoda, Gallant). Only DeLeon allowed multiple runs. At the very least, more good outings than bad is a step in the right direction for the Rice bullpen which still has plenty of talented young arms like Dillon Janac and Matthew Linskey waiting in the wings.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

SATURDAY | HBU 8 – Rice 7 (10 Inn)

You couldn’t have drawn up a much better start for Rice. The first four Owls that stepped to the plate delivered with hits. Then the opening stanza was capped off with a three-run bomb from Austin Bulman. From that point onward, though, the offense was almost silent.  “They shut us down for the next nine innings, honestly,” Bragga said with a grimace.

Starter Mitchell Holcomb allowed three runs in 5.1 innings, but things soured when Alex DeLeon allowed four runs without recording an out, allowing Houston Baptist to take a 7-4 lead.

Rice added two unearned runs in the sixth, but trailed Houston Baptist 7-8 entering the ninth. The Owls manufactured one more run to force extras but fell in the 10th with the would-be game-winning run at the plate.

SUNDAY | Rice 9 – HBU 3

The pitching was much better for Rice in the second game of the series. The two-man combination of Blake Brogdon and Zaskoda allowed three runs on eight hits, striking out seven and walking three. Zaskoda earned his first career win in the result, supported by a thunderous late-game burst by the Rice bats.

After swapping runs in the middle frames, Rice hung a five-spot in the eighth inning. That crooked number effectively put the game out of reach. Hal Hughes and Karp had RBIs in the inning, but it was a bases-clearing RBI triple by reliable third baseman Comeaux that proved to be the insurmountable crescendo.

MONDAY | Rice 1 – HBU 0

The getaway game is typically slanted toward the offenses, but that wasn’t the case this time around. Garcia, bumped from the opener to the series finale, was sharp in his return to the mound, throwing four scoreless innings for the Owls.

Bragga said Garcia’s velocity isn’t quite back at 100 percent. Even so, he still managed to work through HBU’s lineup with relative ease. Gallant took over and blanked the Huskies for the next five frames, earning the win in his first-ever collegiate outing.

With the bases loaded in the ninth inning, incoming transfer Connor Walsh found the barrel and delivered his first base hit as a Rice Owl. The ball scorched down the alley in right center field, driving in a runner from third, giving Rice the game and series win.

ON DECK | Rice Baseball vs Lamar (Canceled), at Louisiana (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball: 2021 Season Preview

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Rain, snow or shine, Rice baseball is set to begin their 2021 season soon. Here’s a rundown of the Owls on the mound and in the batter’s box.

The long wait is finally over for Rice baseball. The Owls saw their 2020 season come to a premature end because of COVID-19 and they’re anxious to get back onto the field at Reckling Park this weekend.

The pitching staff

The weeks leading up to the regular season is really where the rubber meets the road when it comes to how Rice baseball will deploy its pitchers. Head coach Matt Bragga has a general idea for which guys will get the nods to be at the top of the pitching rotation, but the finalized plan regarding how to divvy up the innings are still coming together.

Bragga knows he’ll need almost every capable arm in some capacity this season. The revised 2021 schedule includes grueling four-game weekends, including a Saturday double header. As a result, it’s going to require teams to find at least 15 more outs every weekend. That means more arms.

“I think this year could lend itself to playing more guys and pitching more guys,” Bragga said, going on to note a particularly important truth, “Our depth is definitely better.”

Projected weekend rotation

  1. Roel Garcia, RHP
  2. Blake Brogdon, RHP
  3. Mitchell Holcomb, RHP
  4. Brandon Deskins, LHP

Next up, Possible midweek starters

  • Alex DeLeon, RHP
  • Dillon Janac, RHP
  • Garret Zaskoda, RHP

The top of the rotation isn’t much of a surprise. Roel Garcia has the arm talent to be a true ace for Rice when he’s healthy. According to Bragga, Garcia feels as good as he’s felt in the past several years and “a Friday-night type of young man” and “a game one starter”. Having him fully healthy would be huge for the Owls.

After Garcia, Brogdon will look to build on a strong, albeit short, 2020 campaign. He went five innings in three of his five starts and had 18 strikeouts 19.1 innings. An improvement in command and a few less walks are key things for him to take the next step in his game this season.

Rounding out the rotation will be some combination of intriguing young arms or veteran pieces. Of that group, transfer Mitchell Holcomb looks like the most likely to clinch a weekend spot. A four-year weekend starter at Penn, Holcomb has impressed in his time at South Main, particularly catching Bragga’s eye with his superb command.

The last spot truly is up for grabs. Deskins was electric in fall intrasquad practices. DeLeon was the opening day starter a year ago. Janich is an intriguing freshman with a power arm and a great slider. Zaskoda is a bit of a wild card, but finished second on the team in ERA this fall (behind Holcomb) and showed tremendous improvement from his freshman season.

At first glance, the rotation lacks the punch of Rice rotations of old, but there’s still a lot to like. That said, the Owls have more options in the rotation than they did last spring. If Garcia steps into his role as an ace and someone else seizes the No. 2 role, the depth should be good enough to keep Rice in games and win a few of them almost on their own.

Key bullpen pieces (in no particular order)

  • Dalton Wood, RHP
  • Drake Greenwood, RHP
  • Kel Bordwine, RHP
  • Matthew Linskey, RHP
  • Micah Davis, RHP
  • Reed Gallant, RHP
  • Cristian Cienfuegos, RHP
  • AC Plum, RHP
  • Caleb Burgess, RHP

Rice baseball could be in line for a step change in their bullpen production compared to where things stood when Bragga arrived on campus. 16 of the 20 pitchers than threw in the fall hit speeds of at least 90 miles per hour. Bragga himself said, “that doesn’t win you games,” but it’s “an extra weapon that you have.”

That starts with Dalton Wood. A power armed righty that missed most of last year recovering from injury, he has the potential to be a shutdown option out of the pen Rice was earnestly searching for last spring.

After wood, guys like Greenwood and Bordwine should see work in the middle innings. Both have starting experience and have proven to be dependable for the Owls in the past. Others like Cienfuegos and Plum have shown flashes, but hope to build upon that with improved consistency.\

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Freshman Reed Gallant, Matthew Linskey and Micah Davis have inserted their names into the mix. Both stood out during scrimmage outings. Rice will need someone to shut things down in key moments. Could Davis’ and his 96 mph fastball get the call? It’s certainly possible.

Having this many options is a good problem for Bragga to have. As with the back end of the rotation, the key will be finding the handful of most dependable options as quickly as possible. This is a spot where the incoming freshman class could shine. The quantity of top-notch arm talent is exciting. Getting a few key innings out of the up-and-coming arms could elevate the whole group tremendously.

The Lineup

There will be several difficult decision Rice baseball head coach Matt Bragga will have to make before the Owls’ regular season arrived on Feb. 19. Piecing together the majority of the starting lineup shouldn’t be one of them. As Bragga himself admitted the lineup is, “truthfully, not that big of a secret.”

The straightforwardness of the Owls’ attack is generated by a strong contingent of returning veterans plus a few new live bats that could prove to be difference makers for Rice this spring.

Projected Lineup

1B – Austin Bullman
2B – Cade Edwards
SS – Hal Hughes
3B – Brayden Comeaux
C – Will Karp / Justin Collins
RF – Guy Garibay
CF – Connor Walsh
LF – Bradley Gneiting
DH – Nathan Becker

The Infield

There’s certainly no mystery here. With the exception of Trei Cruz, a third round MLB Draft selection of the Detroit Tigers last year, the remainder of the Rice infield returns for 2021 thanks in part to the extra year of eligibility afforded to all players. Upperclassmen Austin Bulman, Cade Edwards and Brayden Comeaux all figure to be top of the order bats with plus fielding attributes.

The newcomer on the dirt is LSU transfer Hal Hughes. The junior started 63 games as a true freshman for the Tigers and 109 games in his LSU career. His biggest asset is his glove. He holds a career .955 fielding percentage and has position flexibility, able to slide over to third or second should the Owls’ need it.

Designated Hitter and Catcher

As it has been over the past two years under Bragga, the designated hitter spot will likely start as a rotation of sorts until someone seizes the job (hopefully) for good. True freshman Tyler LaRue started at DH on Opening Day last spring, making it seem reasonable to expect another up-and-coming bat will get a crack at the spot early in the season. Freshman Nathan Becker, a highly-regarded first base recruit, is the favorite to get the first look.

Rice baseball could be turning to a new face at catcher in 2021. Bragga indicated he expected newcomer Will Karp, a grad transfer from Haverford, to get the nod behind the dish. Former starter Justin Collins’ availability was in question. While Bragga did go as far as sharing that his absence was “COVID-related”, he did not go into details. The positive note on the catching front was the impressive spring Karp has put together.

The Outfield

The outfield was somewhat of a work-in-progress last year, but Rice will be much deeper at the position this time around. True freshman Guy Garibay and redshirt freshman Connor Walsh, an Ole Miss transfer, both come to Rice with high expectations and should be fixtures in the lineup from the start. Both swing the bat well.

As was the case last season, left field should prove to be more contentious. There are a host of guys who will probably cycle through that position with repeat outings possible for those who earn extended playing time. Veteran Bradley Gneiting will get the first crack at the job and will probably see some time at designated hitter as well. Other returners like Justin Dunlap, Antonio Cruz and Daniel Hernandez are thought to be in the mix.

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Rice Baseball: Way too early look at 2021 lineup

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The 2021 Rice baseball lineup will look different without Trei Cruz. Here’s a first pass at what players might trot out for the Owls on opening weekend next season.

Rice baseball hasn’t played many games since we last projected the starting lineup. Even still, so much has happened with the canceled season at the forefront of many of the developments.

Most notably, Trei Cruz was recently drafted by the Detroit Tigers. He has since signed. Rodrigo Duluc and Tyler LaRue intend to transfer. Those are the notable changes to the roster as of mid-June.

Earlier in the spring, the NCAA announced seniors in spring sports would be granted an additional year of eligibility. How that plays out from a scholarship situation will be handled on a case-by-case basis. To that end, we don’t have a definitive answer on which seniors will (or won’t) return in 2021. For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll assume they will come back.

With that in mind. Here’s what our lineup projection looked like entering the 2020 season.

Starting lineup projection as of Jan 31

  1. Braden Comeaux, 3B
  2. Bradley Gneiting, RF
  3. Trei Cruz, SS
  4. Austin Bulman, 1B
  5. Brayden Combs, DH
  6. Cade Edwards, 2B
  7. Justin Collins, C
  8. Tyler Larue, LF
  9. Aaron Beaulaurier, CF

And here’s our projection in mid-June, taking into account the losses of Trei Cruz and Tyler LaRue.

2021 starting lineup projection

  1. Braden Comeaux, 3B
  2. Cade Edwards, 2B
  3. Bradley Gneiting, RF
  4. Austin Bulman, 1B
  5. Justin Collins, C
  6. Connor Walsh, SS
  7. Brayden Combs, DH
  8. Aaron Beaulaurier, CF
  9. Antonio Cruz, LF

The most important new addition is Ole Miss transfer Connor Walsh. His commitment in early June was huge for the Owls. He’s the likely replacement behind Trei Cruz. The third outfield spot is a mystery at this point. Antonio Cruz, Justin Dunlap and Dominic Cox are the front runners by seniority, but nobody seized the job this past spring. Incoming freshman Guy Garibay Jr is a name to watch.

What are your thoughts? Share your guesses as to who suits up for the Owls in 2021 in the comments.

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Rice Baseball 2020: Texas A&M outlasts Owls at Reckling Park

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Rice baseball led No. 22 Texas A&M early, but couldn’t seal the deal, falling to the Aggies in their final game before conference play begins.

The early innings breezed by as Rice baseball traded three scoreless frames with Texas A&M (14-3) in a crucial midweek game. The Owls were hosting the No. 22 Aggies looking for their Tuesday victory of the young season.

Rice took a one-run lead in the fourth. Texas A&M responded quickly, pounding out back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning to take their first lead of the night. Rice leveled the score in the bottom half of the inning, holding the score at 2-2 before Texas A&M jumped ahead 3-2 in the seventh. The Aggies would add a decisive three additional runs in the eighth before winning 6-2.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Pop, pop

Entering Tuesday’s game Rice baseball was dead last in C-USA in home runs. The Owls have several players in their lineup with power — they ranked fifth in doubles with 28 — but those big hits weren’t leaving the yard.

Justin Collins and Rodrigo Duluc each blasted their first home run of the season against Texas A&M. Collins put Rice ahead in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot. Duluc followed an inning later, tying the game on a solo bomb of his own after the Aggies had moved ahead in the top of the fifth.

The bullpen at their best …. and their worst

Rice has been at their best this season when their starting pitching led the way. Rather than ride one arm as long as he could, Matt Bragga opted for a bullpen game, trusting a slew of relievers to be at their best against a dangerous Texas A&M lineup. Things started out well enough but trusting eight pitchers to all be at their best proved untenable.

Brandon Deskins and Kel Bordwine threw four hitless innings to start the game. Matthew Santos and Cristian Cienfuegos had scoreless frames. Garret Zaskoda was okay. Caleb Burgess barely scraped together three outs. Josh Larzabal allowed three hits before Andrew Kane came on and surrendered what felt like the backbreaking 2 RBI single in the eighth inning.

Dealt a tough hand, Kane’s short outing ended with a 6-2 Rice deficit. The bullpen which seemed thin entering the game lived up to that expectation. Rice has a few really good arms, but there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of consistency and pitchability.

Thank goodness for conference play

The 2020 series has been a series of heartbreaks for Rice baseball. Sitting at 2-10 prior to the Texas Tech series, Rice was incapable of holding on to a pair of 5+ run leads. They could have won that series. They could have won a few more games here and there. But from a macro-level view, Rice did not pass their brutal nonconference test. They open conference play 2-14.

The Owls have a half dozen proven arms and about that many trustworthy bats. The rest of the pitching staff and lineup could get there, but the rigors of games against Texas, UC Irvine, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and others were akin to a trial by fire. Everything is a bit singed.

Conference USA play marks a fresh slate. As disappointing as the first month has been, Rice baseball has plenty to play for, starting this weekend against Marshall.

Up Next | Marshall (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball 2020: Owls swept by No. 2 Texas Tech

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Rice baseball pushed No. 2 Texas Tech to the wire on multiple occasions but left Lubbock without a win. More on the good and bad from the wild weekend.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Texas Tech wins series 3-0

1. The starting pitching is gradually getting better

Texas Tech scored in droves over the weekend, but the Rice bullpen was the primary victim of the rain of runs. Starters Alex DeLeon (5 IP, 3 ER), Blake Brogdon (3.2 IP, 1 ER) and Drake Greenwood (5 IP, 2 ER) were able to battle and keep the potent Texas Tech offense at bay.

It wasn’t all positive. Although all of the Owls starting pitchers surrendered less than three earned runs, none made it through the sixth inning, the bar necessary to earn a quality start. A quality start isn’t a perfect measure of a pitcher’s mettle, but the toll exacted on the bullpen from the starter’s short outings couldn’t have been any more apparent after Texas Tech exploded at the end of games. 21 of their 33 runs were scored in the sixth inning or later.

2. Top-heavy lineup

Rice jumped out to a multi-run lead in two of the three games in this series. Given the Owls’ propensity to play from behind, a cushion for the starting pitching was an encouraging sign. The chief contributor for the early success was the top bats in the Rice lineup showing up in big ways.

The usual cast of characters — Braden Comeaux, Bradley Gneiting, Trei Cruz, Austin Bulman and Cade Edwards — gave the Texas Tech pitching staff fits. The bottom half of the order was an entirely different story. Justin Collins had a few hits, but struck out eight times. Aaron Beaulaurier and Antonio Cruz went 0-fer at the dish for the weekend.

On Saturday, Rice exhibited how dangerous this lineup can be when the top hitters are in a groove. The difference in the game, though, was the ability to score runs from the back half of the lineup. Rice 6-7-8-9 hitters had one combined RBI. The same portion of the Texas Tech lineup had 14 RBI.

3. Not yet five units strong

Before the season began, Rice skipper Matt Bragga said the team needed to be five units strong. That meant consistent pitching, Hitting and defense (catching, infield and outfield). Rice has had flashes of greatness in all three levels, but the defense has been the only facet this team can rely on with any level of dependability.

The defense has had blips here and there, but those units looks night-and-day different from where they started in 2019. The bats seem to be inching in the right direction; Rice has scored five or more runs three times since Feb. 28 after topping out a four runs in their 0-7 start.

Individual pitchers have had solid outings, but collectively they’ve struggled. Rice has held an opponent to fewer than four runs twice (not counting sunday) in 15 tries. That’s not going to cut it, especially when the offense isn’t able to consistently put up crooked numbers.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | Texas Tech 7 – Rice 1

Rice baseball fell behind early on Friday night against Texas Tech and was unable to battle back. The one-two punch of Clayton Beeter and Micah Dallas completely flummoxed the Owls, who struck out a season-high 17 times. It’s hard to mount any sort of rally when punchouts outnumber hits (Rice had six) by nearly three to one.

Even with the lack of production at the plate, Rice kept things within striking distance until starter Alex DeLeon left the ballgame. Freshman Matthew Santos came in and threw 1+ inning, walking three and allowing four runs. A 4-1 deficit became a 7-1 deficit, a score which held for the final two frames.

SATURDAY | Texas Tech 19 – Rice 12

Through two and a half innings, Rice led the No. 2 team in the nation 7-1. Blake Brogdon had worked through some trouble on the bases, but kept Texas Tech limited at the plate. Control issues and a rising pitch count forced Rice to go to the bullpen, opting for Cristian Cienfuegos in the fourth inning.

Cienfuegos had been one of the Owls’ more dependable bullpen pieces, but wasn’t able to do anything against the Red Raider lineup. He was tattooed for nine runs (eight earned) in two innings. Josh Larzabal and Johnny Hoyle, who followed Cienfuegos, were equally scarred. The Rice offense tied a season-high with 12 runs, but couldn’t keep pace with the home team.

SUNDAY | Texas Tech 7 – Rice 6 (11 inn)

Things started out on the right for the Owls in the series finale. Rice struck for four runs in the first inning despite only recording one hit. Texas Tech starter Austin Becker walked the bases full setting up a 2 RBI double by Rodrigo Duluc. Up big early for the second day in a row, all the Owls had to do was hold on.

Both teams had scary moments, loading the bases in the later innings with the chance to push the game to one extreme or the other. The differentiator was a bases loaded walk by Justin Collins and a deftly induced double play ball by Branden Deskins. Everything finally came together to help Rice salvage a much-needed marquee win.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M (Tues), vs Marshall (Fri-Sun)

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