Rice University
UTSA
Owls Host UTSA In C-USA Weekend Series
3/21/2019 10:54:00 AM | Baseball
First Pitch Friday Set For 6:30 PM At Reckling Park
Tickets for Reckling Park
Rice Game Notes PDF
Live Stats
Mar. 22 (Fri.) 6:30 pm; UTSA at Rice Watch online
Mar. 23 (Sat.) 2 pm; UTSA at Rice Watch online
Mar. 24 (Sun.) 1 pm; UTSA at Rice Watch online
Rice Hosts UTSA In Three-Game Weekend Series
The Rice baseball team, 8-15 overall and 0-3 in Conference USA, returns home to Reckling Park March 22-24 for three-game weekend series against league foe UTSA. Game times against the Roadrunners (9-12, 1-2) are set for 6:30 pm Friday, 2 pm Saturday and 1 pm in Sunday's series finale. After the three C-USA home games Rice is away for a stretch of five-straight road games lasting until April 5.
Fun & Games At Reckling Park - Check out the promotions this weekend.
Friday (Star Wars Night): Come out for Star Wars Night at Reckling Park and get your photo taken with Star Wars characters on the concourse! Additionally, the first 200 fans will receive a free lightsaber and exclusive Rice Baseball Star Wars poster!
Saturday (Hometown Heroes Day / Touch-A-Truck): Rice Baseball salutes it's hometown heroes. All first responders, active military & veterans receive two free tickets and can purchase additional tickets at a discount. The first 500 fans will receive a free Rice Baseball American Flag themed hat. Come early to witness a flyover from two US Army Blackhawks. For Touch-A-Truck all fans can interact and take photos with big tractors, police and fire vehicles and a helicopter!
Sunday (Kids Take Over The Ballpark, "Part I" / Jewish Community Day): It's always one of the biggest home events on the schedule! Kids will have a chance to do everything at the stadium from ticket-taking to announcing on the public address system. Also for this game each ticket purchase includes a Rice Jewish Community Day shirt.
Watch League Games Online Via CUSAtv
All Conference USA league games are slated for a live online video broadcast via CUSAtv. The broadcast is a subscription-based service which matches the play-by-play audio with a video feed to create a television-like production on the Internet (either live or in an archived format). Games that have been selected for TV broadcasts can alter the online availability.
Play-By-Play Audio On The Web
Every Rice baseball game is scheduled for a live audio broadcast on the Internet at RiceOwls.com. Tune-in to the broadcast's pregame show 15 minutes before first pitch. Veteran J.P. Heath returns to the booth for his 11th season as the Voice of the Owls. Note that different broadcasters are scheduled to call some of the upcoming games until the completion of the respective Rice men's and women's basketball seasons.
Live Stats Links Online at RiceOwls.com
Links to live play-by-play text and statistics from every game, home and away, are posted on RiceOwls.com. Look for the links on the Rice Athletics front page, the weekly series preview, and/or the baseball schedule page.
Head Coach Matt Bragga
A 19-year veteran of the head coaching ranks, Matt Bragga was named the 21st head coach in Rice baseball history on June 15, 2018. Bragga has spent the last 15 years as the Head Coach at Tennessee Tech, building that program into one of the best in the Ohio Valley Conference. The four-time OVC Coach of the Year led the Golden Eagles to three NCAA Tournament appearances, winning six OVC championships in the past 10 years while winning 40 or more games in four of the past six seasons. In 2018 he helped Tennessee Tech to its best season in school history, amassing a school and OVC-record 53 wins, the most in the country, while leading the team to the league's regular season title and its first-ever trip to the NCAA Super Regionals. The Jefferson, Ohio, native who played collegiately at Kentucky before a pro playing career, owns a Division I coaching record of 454-407-2. Bragga is aided by assistant coaches Cory Barton (Memphis, 2007, first year), Paul Janish (Rice, 2004; second year), and Connor Teykl (Rice, 2017; first year).
Two Owls Coaching On The Corners
There are two former Rice Owls on Matt Bragga's 2019 coaching staff. Former major leaguer and 2003 Rice National Champion Paul Janish is in his second year with the program. Janish (Wiess College) played professionally for 13 years with nine seasons in the major leagues, most recently in 2017 with the Baltimore Orioles. Rice graduate Connor Teykl (Baker College 2017) is in his first season as an assistant coach at his alma mater. As a four-year letterman from 2013 to 2016, Teykl helped lead the Rice baseball program to three Conference USA regular season championships and two league tournament titles. On game days Janish coaches at third base and Teykl coaches at first.
Probable Pitchers
Coach Bragga announced Rice's starting pitchers for the UTSA series as Matt Canterino (1-3, 2.40), Jackson Parthasarathy (2-3, 3.75), and Evan Kravetz (1-1, 5.40). The veteran trio have been the same weekend starters since the opening series vs. Rhode Island (Feb. 15).
• Now a two-year letterman in 2019, Matt Canterino has garnered a host of preseason attention in college baseball circles. The junior right-hander has been voted the Conference USA Preseason Pitcher of the Year by the league head coaches, a preseason All-American by Baseball America and the baseball writers (NCBWA), and to the initial watch list for the Golden Spikes Award as the best amateur player in the country. Last summer Canterino was selected to pitch for the United States collegiate national team and he was later the winning pitcher of the Cape Cod League All-Star game. The Southlake, Texas, native was a prep star at Carroll H.S. and has been the Owls' Friday night ace almost his entire career. He notched his first victory two weeks ago with 6.0 innings against Big 12 power Oklahoma. Canterino could have used some offensive support the week before that at Minute Maid Park when he was tagged with a loss despite allowing just one run (which was unearned) in 7.0 innings of work. At Rice he has posted 263 career strikeouts in 220.0 innings.
• Consider that when head coach Matt Bragga first arrived at Rice all the players on the roster were essentially new to him, and all the Owls were given an equal opportunity to play their way into a starting role for 2019. After the fall training program and preseason practices it was senior Jackson Parthasarathy who worked his way into one of the top three starting pitching spots for the opening weekend. The senior right-hander has been sound and solid in his starts, maintaining a 3.75 ERA and holding opponents to a composite .240 batting average. Parthasarathy has long been a dependable pitching option against elite opponents. A year ago 64.7 percent of his innings (25.0 of his 38.2) were against teams that went on to play in the NCAA Tournament.
• In the opening weekend of the season Evan Kravetz made an (almost) unexpected start on the mound when junior right-hander Addison Moss was a late scratch from the lineup. All Kravetz did was fire a career-high 10 strikeouts while matching a (then) career long 5.0 innings of work. Three weeks ago at Minute Maid Park the senior left-hander battled for a win over No. 12 ranked Baylor by striking out nine in a new career long 6.2 innings. Kravetz enters the weekend series as the staff leader in strikeouts (37). He has been averaging 13.3 strikeouts per 9.0 innings of work. A year ago the Miami, Fla., native led the Owls and finished sixth in the conference in pitching appearances.
Matt Bragga Show Set For Monday Nights During The Season
The Matt Bragga Show, the live weekly Rice baseball show featuring the Owls' new head coach, debuted on March 18 at Christian's Tailgate Bar & Grill (located close to campus at 5114 Kirby). The show is available around the world on RiceOwls.com. Every Monday Coach Bragga reviews games from the previous weekend and previews upcoming series. In addition to discussions on college baseball's national rankings and chase for the C-USA championship, each week's show will include current members of the team, former Owl players and special guests. Fans can catch the show on their phone by downloading the "Tune In" app. The show is a unique opportunity for baseball fans to get direct insight from the Owls' head coach.
Last Time Out: No. 13 Texas A&M Defeats Rice Tuesday, 8-3
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Senior Andrew Dunlap went 2-for-3 with a home run, but No. 13 ranked Texas A&M claimed an 8-3 win over the Owls Tuesday evening in College Station... Six different Texas A&M pitchers combined to hold the Rice hitters in check. Andrew Dunlap had two of the Owls' three hits to extend his hitting streak to a season high six games. He blasted the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the seventh inning for a two-run homer. The veteran slugger shares the team lead with five round-trippers... Cade Edwards' hustling double in the sixth was Rice's only other hit of the contest. The Owls scored a run in the top of the third after a pair of walks, a grounder that advanced the runners and a sac fly by Trei Cruz for his 23rd RBI of the season... Relief pitcher Garrett Gayle was sensational. The junior right-hander fired 2.2 scoreless innings against the nation's No. 13 team without allowing any hits nor walks. He helped the Owls get out of a tight spot with two men on base in the bottom of the second inning and went on to post a total of five strikeouts over the next two frames.
That's 22 Games In 31 Days
Rice has finished an early portion of the schedule that featured playing 23 games in a 33-day span. As of March 21 (Thurs.) Rice shared the Division I lead in games played with Florida, Texas and Texas A&M.
Cruzin' Among The C-USA Leaders
Sophomore shortstop Trei Cruz has jumped out to the Conference USA lead in a host of statistical categories. Cruz leads C-USA in triples (3) and the respected hitter shares the league lead in walks (17). He is also tied for second in total bases (52) and tied for third in runs scored (21) and RBI (23). Cruz is also tied for fifth with 28 hits in 23 games played.
Winning Is Always In Fashion
For the fashion-minded, Rice's 2019 W-L records while wearing the various uniforms is as follows:
1-0 in blue 'flag' jersey with pinstripe pants
4-4 in blue Old English jersey with pinstripe pants
1-1 in blue 'flag' jersey with white pants
1-3 in all-white
1-4 in all-pinstripes
0-1 in blue Old English jersey with white pants
0-1 in blue & gray "R" jersey with gray pants
0-1 in all-gray
Here's Who's Hot
Andrew Dunlap has been red hot the last four games. The Owl veteran is 7-for-15 (.467) with two home runs and eight RBI. He also has a double for a .933 slugging percentage over the last four outings.
19 Career Homers For Andrew Dunlap
Andrew Dunlap's Tuesday home run at Florida Atlantic was his fifth of the season and the 19th of his collegiate career. That's the most homers for an active Rice player, and the most by an Owl since Michael Ratterree reached 31 in 2013. So far Dunlap has belted seven home runs at Reckling Park and 12 other round-trippers at eleven different ballparks.
20th Year At Reckling Park
Other schools have tried to follow Rice baseball's lead, building bigger and more expensive stadiums, but Reckling Park remains among the best venues in college baseball. The 2019 season is now the Owls' 20th at the stadium. Rice has won an eye-opening 76 percent of its more than 630 games at Reckling Park since opening for the 2000 season.
Oklahoma Boy, Cinderella Story
Consider the true college baseball tale of Rice senior Daniel Russell. Four years ago Russell played high school baseball in his hometown of Stillwater, Okla., then enrolled at Rice and pursue a double-major in History and Religious Studies. Russell completed three years at Rice, plus the 2018 fall semester, as an exemplary student. He then decided for the final half of his senior year he would serve the baseball program as a much-needed bullpen catcher for the Owls' 2019 season. The role was set up as bullpen catcher, but sometimes life throws you a curve. A month into the season Russell has not only worked his way into playing in five Division I games, he's collected three base hits in six at bats (.500), has two RBI and scored a run. The former bullpen catcher has also drawn a walk and been hit by a pitch for a .625 on-base percentage.
