Owls Play C-USA Weekend Series At Old Dominion

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Mar. 29 (Fri.) 5 pm; Rice at Old Dominion Watch ESPN+ online Live Stats
Mar. 30 (Sat.) 2 pm; Rice at Old Dominion Watch online Live Stats
Mar. 31 (Sun.) 10 am; Rice at Old Dominion Watch online Live Stats
(Start times listed are Central Time.)

Rice Plays C-USA Weekend Series at Old Dominion
The Rice baseball team, 9-18 overall and 1-5 in Conference USA, continues its five-game road swing this weekend. The Owls play a three-game C-USA weekend series at Old Dominion March 29-31. Game times against the Monarchs (16-8, 1-5) are set for 5 pm Friday, 2 pm Saturday and 10 am in Sunday's series finale. All start times listed are Central Time.

Watch Friday's Game On ESPN+
Friday's series opener at Old Dominion is slated for a live webcast on ESPN+. Check the game day links at RiceOwls.com for the call from broadcasters Doug Ripley and Tim Wentz.

Watch League Games Online Via CUSAtv
The remaining Conference USA games at Old Dominion 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 and other platorms 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 455-410-2. 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).

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.

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 Old Dominion series as Matt Canterino (1-4, 2.79), Addison Moss (1-1, 6.75), and Evan Kravetz (1-1, 5.52).
• 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 on March 8 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 272 career strikeouts in 228.2 innings.
• Veteran Addison Moss was sidelined for the first part of the season, but he has worked his way back to a starting spot in the weekend rotation for the first time this weekend. The junior right-hander has made only one other start this year, a gem on the road against heavy-hitting crosstown rival Houston (March 5). In that game against the Cougars Moss fired a season-long 5.0 innings, scattering three hits without a walk for his first win. He enters the weekend tied for fourth on the staff with 13 career starts.
• 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. Four 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 ranked second on the staff in strikeouts (40). He has been averaging 12.3 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.

News & Notes From Previous Appearance At Texas State
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State pushed across a run in the bottom of the tenth inning for a 7-6 win over the visiting Rice baseball team March 26 in San Marcos, Texas.
• Battling Back: Rice trailed 5-0 to start the fifth but battled back with runs in four consecutive innings to tie the contest 6-6. The Owls then held off two bases-loaded rallies by the Bobcats in both the seventh and eighth innings on the way to extra frames.
• Season High Doubles: Rice hit a season high five doubles. Bradley Gneiting was 3-for-6 with two doubles, the second of which drove in Rice's first two runs. The junior right fielder hit two doubles in a game last season at home vs. Old Dominion.
• Hitting Streak: Junior Cade Edwards singled in the top of the second inning to extend his hitting streak to seven straight games. He has reached base in each of the last ten games.
• On the mound: Sophomore right-hander Kel Bordwine started and worked 2.0 innings. He allowed one run which was unearned due to an Owl fielding error. A total of seven Owl pitchers saw action in the midweek clash. True freshman Blake Brogdon made his collegiate debut to start the bottom of the third. Brogdon is the 17th different Owl, and the fifth freshman, to pitch for Rice this season.

Here's Who's Hot
Andrew Dunlap has been red hot. The Owl veteran is 12-for-30 (.400) with three home runs, 10 RBI and seven runs scored in the last eight games. He also has a double for an .733 slugging percentage and has been reaching base at a .500 pace over the last eight outings. When going back over the last 19 games, Dunlap is 27-of-73 (.370) with six home runs and five doubles for a steady .712 slugging percentage... Not only did junior second baseman Cade Edwards extend his hitting streak to seven games Tuesday at Texas State, he drew two walks to reach base in 4-of-5 trips to the plate. In Sunday's series finale vs. UTSA Edwards matched his career-high with three base hits. Over the last seven games the Houston native is 11-for-26 (.423) with three doubles, a triple and a home run for a .731 slugging percentage... Sophomore outfielder Dominic Cox has chipped-in some nice outings the last three games, going a combined 4-for-10 with a double, five runs scored and four walks for a .571 on-base percentage.

20 Career Homers For Andrew Dunlap
Andrew Dunlap's March 23 home run vs. UTSA was his team-leading sixth of the season and the 20th 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 eight home runs at Reckling Park and 12 other four-baggers at eleven different ballparks. The non-Reckling round-trippers includes: UTSA, U.H., Western Kentucky, Charlotte, LSU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, FAU, Texas A&M, Minute Maid Park and UAB (twice).

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 pursued a double-major in History and Religious Studies. Russell completed three years 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-only, 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.

Winning Is Always In Fashion
For the fashion-minded, Rice's 2019 W-L records while wearing the various uniform combinations is as follows:
4-4 in blue Old English jersey with pinstripe pants
1-1 in blue 'flag' jersey with pinstripe pants
2-4 in all-pinstripes
1-2 in blue 'flag' jersey with white pants
1-3 in all-white
0-1 in blue Old English jersey with white pants
0-1 in blue & gray "R" jersey with gray pants
0-1 in blue & gray "R" jersey with pinstripe pants
0-1 in all-gray

It was 23 Games In 33 Days
Rice has finished an earlier portion of the schedule that featured playing 23 games in a 33-day span. As of March 25 Rice was tied for second among Division I teams in total in games played (a total of 26 with Florida and Texas A&M). Texas leads the nation with 27 games played.

Comeaux Named Bragan Slugger Award Watch List
Braden Comeaux been named to the initial watch list for the 2019 Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award. From its headquarters in the DFW Metroplex, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation has combined a passion for baseball and providing youngsters with the incentive and opportunity to pursue a college education for more than 25 years. One position player from a Division I baseball school in the five-state region of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico will be presented with the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award. Since its inception in 2017 the award is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity. The winner of the award will be announced in May and honored at a gala in the fall. This year Comeaux is hitting .307 with six doubles, 19 runs scored and three stolen bases in 21 games. As one of just four Owls to start all 59 of Rice's games last spring, Comeaux finished third on the team, and tied for ninth in Conference USA overall, with 76 hits. He shared the team lead and tied for eighth in the conference, in at bats (238) and ranked eleventh in C-USA in total plate appearances (278). The Lake Charles, La., native hit safely in a team-best 16-consecutive games during one stretch and he collected two or more hits in a game 22 times.

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