Rice Concludes Road Swing Tuesday At Sam Houston

Listen online (pregame show 15 min. before start)
Rice Game Notes PDF

April 2 (Tues.) 6:30 pm; Rice at Sam Houston State Watch online Live Stats

Rice Concludes Road Swing Tuesday Night At Sam Houston
The Rice baseball team, 12-18 overall and 4-5 in Conference USA, wraps up a five-game road swing on April 2. The Owls play longtime foe Sam Houston State (17-8 overall) Tuesday in Huntsville, Texas. The first pitch at Don Sanders Stadium is set for 6:30 pm. Rice then returns home for a three-game C-USA weekend series against FIU on April 5-7. Game times against the Panthers (11-17, 2-7) are set for 6:30 pm Friday, 2 pm Saturday and noon in Sunday's series finale at Reckling Park.

Watch Tuesday's Game On ESPN+
Tuesday's game at Sam Houston State is slated for a live webcast on ESPN+. Check the game day links at RiceOwls.com for the call from broadcasters Matt Pedersen and Matt Trent.

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.

Watch Conference Games Online Via CUSAtv
Conference USA 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 and other platorms can alter the online availability.

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 458-410-2. 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 Pitcher
Coach Bragga announced Tuesday's starting pitcher at Sam Houston State as sophomore right-hander Kel Bordwine (1-2, 5.24). After a solid debut outing against Rhode Island on the opening weekend of the year, Bordwine made his first collegiate start against No. 24 Arizona (Feb. 20) where he worked 3.0 innings. He has started each of the last two midweek games, including No. 14 ranked Texas A&M on the road (March 19). Bordwine now ranks fourth on the staff with four starts, all in midweek action. The Cypress, Texas, native has also pitched in relief against Oklahoma, Florida Atlantic and Sam Houston State to name just a few of elite programs and competitive situations he has already faced.

News & Notes From Previous Appearance Old Dominion
NORFOLK, Va. – The Rice baseball team won both games of a C-USA road double-header at Old Dominion by the scores of 14-10 in game one and 11-2 in the nightcap Saturday evening March 30) in Norfolk Va. With the two wins the Owls also claimed a sweep of the three-game conference series.
On The Rise: What a difference 24+ hours can make. Prior to Friday's opening game of the series Rice was tied for 11th in the C-USA standings. With the three-game series sweep at ODU the Owls vaulted into a tie for seventh place in the standings.
Owls Get Offensive: Rice lit up the scoreboard with a big 14-run total in game one and followed it up with double-digit runs (11) in game two. For the two games the Owls hit a combined 28-of-78 (.359) with seven doubles, a triple and five home runs for a composite .667 slugging percentage. The Blue & Gray also patiently drew 13 walks and was hit by a pitch eight times for a .490 on-base average.
Individual Honors: Where all the Owls in the lineup made a contribution in the 25-run day, four really stood out. Senior Andrew Dunlap was a combined 5-for-8 (.625) with three home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored; Sophomore Dominic Cox was 4-for-8 with three doubles and a grand slam (to account for his first career home run) for a total of nine RBI; Junior Braden Comeaux was 4-for-9 (.444) with two doubles, five runs scored, and two walks & two HBP for a .615 on-base percentage; and Sophomore Justin Collins was 3-for-7 (.429) with a home run, five runs scored and three walks & a HBP for a .636 on-base percentage.
Premium Pitching: Two pitchers were sound and solid on the way to registering their career longest outings in each of the games. In game one senior Jackson Parthasarathy came out of the bullpen and worked a career-long 7.0 innings to earn his third win of the season. In the nightcap senior Evan Kravetz was sensational in a career-long 8.0 innings, allowing just two runs on three hits while striking out eight. Where Kravetz and Parthasarathy accounted for 15.0 of the day's 18.0 innings, Old Dominion used a total of nine different pitchers to try and contain the Owl hitters.
Steady 'D' All Day: Almost lost in all the offensive fireworks was that the Owls were error-free in the field in 75 total chances and turned three double plays. Justin Collins caught all 18 innings behind the plate Saturday and did not miss a beat on the offensive side.
Ouch x 8!: In the early game Rice batters were hit by a pitch a total eight times, the most the Owls have been plunked in a single game since the keeping track of that particular occurrence. Going back to 1996 there were nine different times when the Owls were hit by a pitch five times in one game, but never more than that. Rice made good use of the free passes as four of the hit batters made their way around to score. That was essentially the winning margin in the 14-10 final.

Here's Who's Hot
In the double-header Saturday Andrew Dunlap was a combined 5-for-8 (.625) with three home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored, but there is a little more to his hot streak than that. When going back over the last 22 games, Dunlap is 32-of-85 (.376) with nine home runs, a triple and five doubles for an eye-opening .776 slugging percentage. He's also been reaching base at a .490 clip over the last 22 games... Sophomore outfielder Dominic Cox has posted some big numbers hitting safely in the last six games, going a combined 10-for-22 (.455) with a grand slam and five doubles for an .818 slugging percentage. The Richmond, Texas, native has also drawn seven walks (.586 OB%) and scored seven times in the last six games... In addition to a six-game hitting streak of his own, junior Braden Comeaux is 9-for-23 (.391) with a home run and three doubles for a .652 slugging percentage. Comeaux has scored nine runs in the last five games batting in his familiar spot at the top of the order... In Rice's four games last week catcher Justin Collins was 5-for-13 (.385) with two home runs for an .846 slugging percentage. He's also drawn six walks and been hit by a pitch for a .600 on-base percentage on the way to seven runs scored... A third Owl with an active six-game hitting streak, junior Bradley Gneiting, is 7-for-19 (.368) with two doubles to go along with a steady .455 on-base percentage.

23 Career Homers For Andrew Dunlap
Andrew Dunlap's three home runs in the double-header at Old Dominion was his team-leading 7th, 8th & 9th homers of the season to give him 23 for his collegiate career. That's the most home runs 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 15 other four-baggers at 12 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, UAB (twice) and Old Dominion (three times).

Cruzin' Among The C-USA Leaders
Sophomore shortstop Trei Cruz has jumped out to rank among the C-USA statistical leaders in a host of categories. Cruz shares the conference lead in triples (4). The productive Owl slugger is also tied for fourth in the league in home runs (5), tied for fifth in RBI (24), and tied for sixth in walks (19). The former Houston prep star is fifth in total bases (53) and second overall in total plate appearances (142).

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:
2-1 in blue & gray "R" jersey with gray pants
4-4 in blue Old English jersey with pinstripe pants
1-1 in blue 'flag' jersey with pinstripe pants
1-1 in all-gray
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 pinstripe pants

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 .333 with eight doubles, 25 runs scored and three stolen bases in 24 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.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results