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Rice Baseball 2021: Owls swept by Louisiana in first road series

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Rice baseball (2-4) fell in three straight games to Louisiana. The Owls had good moments on the mound, but couldn’t keep up with the Cajun’s bats.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Louisiana wins series 3-0

1. The Bullpen posts another strong showing

The season hasn’t been long, but we’ve seen the same narrative play out more than once. Rice baseball starting pitching surrenders the lead. The offense doesn’t have the juice to catch back up, but the bullpen keeps the team within striking distance until the innings run their course.

That same scenario manifested itself on Friday and Saturday against Louisiana. Dalton Wood and Reed Gallant were terrific. Wood allowed no hits and struck out three in 2.1 innings on Friday. Gallant allowed two hits with one strikeout in 4.1 innings on Saturday. But despite their best efforts, neither factored in a decision on the weekend because the lead had already been lost before they got their chance on the mound.

Sunday’s collective wasn’t as strong, but it did include several faces seeing their first action of the season in a situation where Rice was already trailing.

2. More offense, please

Rice scored three runs in each of their three games against Louisiana. Justin Dunlap, the Owls’ most productive hitter against Houston Baptist, did not play in the series. Among the Owls that did, only four — Braden Comeaux (.364), Justin Long (.333), Cade Edwards (.304) and Bradley Gneiting (.238) — are hitting better than .220 on the season.

Guy Garibay, who made his Rice debut on Friday night, drew three walks and hit a home run. He’s fifth among all Owls with a .385 on-base percentage. Rice is going to need more from incoming transfer Connor Walsh and Hal Hughes at the plate, too.

3. Flipped rotation not working for the Owls

We’ve seen a lot of tremendous pitching performances from the Rice staff so far this season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t extended to their unexpected series-starting pitcher Mitchell Holcomb. Entering the season, Roel Garcia and Blake Brogdon were the sure-fire top two arms in the rotation. Holcomb was the likeliest candidate to pitch on Sundays. He wasn’t supposed to be a Friday night guy.

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But the storm and limited availability of others have made Holcomb the man tasked with opening series thus far. By head coach Matt Bragga’s own admission, he hasn’t been at his best. That’s put Rice in early holes.

If everything had gone according to plan, Holcomb still would have been in the rotation, so his struggles so far still would have impacted the team. But there’s something to be said from falling behind in a series so quickly. It changes how pitchers are deployed and how a team responds. Getting Garcia back into the No. 1 spot is a must.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | Louisiana 7 – Rice 3

Louisiana struck early in the opener. A leadoff home run sparked a three-run, eight-batter first inning against Mitchell Holcomb that put Rice into comeback mode from the start. The Owls were able to equalize with a Connor Walsh home run, but the offense was quiet from that point onward.

Holcomb would allow another two runs before exiting after three innings. Alex DeLeon allowed two more runs in 2.2 innings before Dalton Wood came on and blanked the Cajuns for the final 2.1 innings. By then, it was too late. Rice had just four hits total after the second inning.

SATURDAY | Louisiana 5 – Rice 3

After trading zeroes in the first, Louisiana scratched across a run in the second and the third innings to take a 2-0 lead. Rice had their best opportunity in the fourth, striking for three runs and driving starting pitcher David Christie from the game.

The Owls did not hold the lead for more than a few minutes. A pair of RBI doubles against Rice starter Blake Brogdon put Louisiana in front in the bottom half of the inning. Brogdon would be chased before recording the third out. He was charged with all three runs in the inning as well as the 5-3 loss.

SUNDAY | Louisiana 6 – Rice 3

Rice struck first on Sunday, sneaking a run across on an error in the third inning. That 1-0 lead would hold until Garcia was lifted in the fifth inning for Brandon Deskins. The sophomore didn’t exhibit the same amount of control that he did against Houston Baptist. He was charged with three runs and saddled with the loss.

Including the three allowed by Deskins, the bullpen would collectively concede six runs before Rice baseball found a way back onto the scoreboard.

Garibay came through with his first collegiate home run in the eighth, but the celebration was somewhat muted with teammate Comeaux having been just escorted from the field after being hit by a pitch.

ON DECK | Rice Baseball vs Prairie View A&M (Wed) and Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park: Sam Houston (Fri), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sat), Texas State (Sun).

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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: Sweep by WKU a headscratcher for Owls

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Rice baseball came back to earth over the weekend. The Owls saw their six-game CUSA win streak snapped by a sweep at the hands of Western Kentucky.

Rice swept each of their last two Conference USA series and was reasonably confident entering a three-game tilt with Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers were right in the middle of the pack along with the Owls, but had proven themselves to be beatable along the way. Not only was Rice unable to take the series, they weren’t able to win a game. Here’s a rundown of the tough weekend and three closing thoughts on the regrettable string of defeats.

FRIDAY (GAME 1) | WKU 6 – Rice 3

Things started out as good as Rice could have hoped for in the series opener. Matt Canterino was lights out on the mound, striking out 11 batters in seven innings. Western Kentucky was able to rough him up a bit in his final inning, but after allowing four straight hits, Canterino survived the scare and left the game in position to earn the win.

Counting the two runs given up by Canterino, Rice still held a 3-2 advantage. A pair of RBI singles, one by Trei Cruz in the first and another by Aaron Beaulaurier in the second plus a wild pitch had put Rice ahead early. Then they turned to the bullpen for six outs.

One error and three hits allowed Western Kentucky to break things open against Kendal Jeffries who had been the Owls’ most trustworthy bullpen arm. After leading for seven innings, Rice saw the result flipped in less than 30 minutes, losing 6-3.

FRIDAY (GAME 2) | WKU 9 – Rice 5

A similar story materialized in the second half of the Friday doubleheader. Evan Kravetz threw five innings, striking out nine and allowing three runs. He’d had better days, but his solid outing was not the Owls’ undoing. It was the bullpen, again. This time Blair Lewis took the loss.

Lewis relieved Kravetz and retired two of the first three batters he faced. An error, followed by a walk and a hit by pitch put the fate of the game in jeopardy. With the bases loaded, WKU slugger Jake Sanford strode to the plate an uncorked a grand slam over the right-field fence. Rice would never recover, dropping the series.

SUNDAY | WKU 6 – Rice 4

Unlike the prior two games, Rice did not strike first in the series finale. WKU scratched across runs in the first, second and third innings, taking a 4-1 lead into the middle innings. Jackson Parthasarathy wouldn’t make it out of the fifth inning, being relieved in favor of Garrett Gayle after surrendering four runs in the first three innings.

With Gayle on the mound, the Owls traded runs. Following an RBI in the fifth by WKU’s Stanford, Cade Edwards doubled and Dominic Cox hit a sac fly to cut the home team’s advantage to 5-3. The squads each tacked on a single run over the remainder of the contest, with Rice falling short for the fourth consecutive game.

TAKEAWAYS | WKU wins series 3-0

1. Who can Bragga trust in the pen?

As recently as a week ago, Kendal Jeffries, Garrett Gayle and Blair Lewis were the Owls’ most trustworthy relief options. All three of them had regrettably rough outings this week, and were responsible, at least to some degree, for Rice losses.

Rice doesn’t have the depth behind them to make a quick fix. Ben Schragger, Jackson Tyner and Ben Content have had their chances – none have been able to consistently get outs. With Addison Moss on the mend, Rice is out of options.

Kel Bordwine’s strong start against Houston on Wednesday will put him in contention for relief minutes in the coming weeks. He got the final two outs on Sunday. Dalton Wood could be a candidate after his outing this week, too. The fact that few answers have been found this late into the season is frustrating. It’s an ever-present reminder the depth on this team has some ways to go before it’s back to the standard this program has enjoyed over the past several decades.

2. It’s time to go home

With the meaningful exception of the Old Dominion series, Rice has not been a good team away from home. The Owls swept the Monarchs, but are 6-11  away from Reckling Park with one series win in 2019. That .353 winning percentage contrasts sharply with the Owls’ home record of 13-15, a .464 winning percentage.

Rice can finish better than .500 at home if they sweep Southern Miss in their final home series. That’s a tall task, but equally as challenging as sweeping Louisiana Tech at home, a feat they achieved earlier this season. Rice has won three home series, playing comprehensively better baseball in Houston than anywhere else. They don’t get to bring the same dirt with them to the postseason, so they’d best take advantage of their own field while they can.

3. This team is running out of time to get in rhythm

On paper, a series against Western Kentucky’s porous pitching staff was exactly what this offense needed. After settling in on a starting nine, the Rice offense was beginning to up their production at the plate. They were getting hits. They just needed to convert those into runs. Rice scored some runs against Western Kentucky, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a shaky bullpen.

The same roster that swept Louisiana Tech at home crumbled on the road against a team squarely in the middle of the pack. Now Rice finds themselves further down the standings than they’d like. The Owls are one bad weekend away from finding themselves on the outside of the conference tournament looking in.

Which team shows up at home against Southern Miss next weekend? The answer to that question might determine whether or not Rice is playing baseball deep into May. As thing stands, they’ll enter their last home series in fifth place.

ON DECK | at Lamar (Tues), vs Southern Miss (Fri-Sun)

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