Baseball Opens Seven-Game Homestand Thursday

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Apr. 18 (Thurs.) 6:30 pm; Middle Tennessee at Rice Watch online Live Stats
Apr. 19 (Fri.) 6:30 pm; Middle Tennessee at Rice Watch online Live Stats
Apr. 20 (Sat.) 12 Noon; Middle Tennessee at Rice Watch online Live Stats

Rice Baseball Opens Seven Game Homestand Thursday vs. Middle Tennessee
The Rice baseball team, 15-23 on the season and tied for seventh in the Conference USA standings with a 6-9 league record, returns to C-USA action this week. The Owls host a three-game home series April 18-20 vs. Middle Tennessee at Reckling Park. Start times against the Blue Raiders (15-21 and 9-6 C-USA) are set for 6:30 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday, followed by 12 noon first pitch in Saturday's series finale.

Fun & Games At Reckling Park - Check out the promotions this week.
   Thurs. (Dollar Dog Night): In honor of the team's first Thursday evening game of the season all hot dogs will be just $1 (while supplies last).
   Friday (Mini Bat Night): The first 100 fans can receive a free souvenir Rice Owls mini bat at the marketing table inside the main entrance of Reckling Park.
   Sat. (Baseball For Babies): The sixth annual Baseball For Babies event returns to Reckling Park April 20 at 12 noon. There will be autographed items up for auction, including a signed George Springer framed photo and signed Rice memorabilia. All proceeds will go to Baseball For Babies, a charity with close ties to the Rice Baseball program that helps families with children born prematurely. There will also be an Easter Egg Hunt prior and during the game on the third base side grass picnic area of the stadium, so bring the whole family for Saturday's game.

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 platforms can alter the 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.

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 461-415-2. 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.

Power Surge
Rice already has 13 triples this year to surpass its full-season total from a year ago. The Owls have also hit almost as many home runs this year (34) as the team did all last season (35). The team is close to matching its 2018 home run total in just 67.6-percent of the at-bats. The squad's team slugging percentage is also higher this season (.418) than a year ago (.386).

Probable Pitchers
Coach Bragga announced the first two Rice starting pitchers for the Middle Tennessee series as the veteran tandem of Matt Canterino (4-4, 3.32) and Evan Kravetz (2-2, 4.78), respectively. The third and final starter will be announced at a later time.
• This year Matt Canterino garnered a host of preseason attention in college baseball circles. The junior right-hander was 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 has notched wins each of his last three starts, including a career-high tying 12 strikeouts in 6.0 innings at Old Dominion (March 29) and the first complete game of his collegiate career with 9.0 frames against FIU (April 5). At Rice he has posted 293 career strikeouts in 249.2 innings. Canterino is close to joining the 11 Owls in program history to reach the 300 career-K plateau. He could have used some offensive support in his other outings, such as at Minute Maid Park when he was tagged with a loss despite allowing just one run (which was unearned) in 7.0 innings.
• In the opening weekend of the season senior left-hander Evan Kravetz made late-notice start on the mound when Addison Moss was scratched from the lineup. All Kravetz did was fire a career-high 10 strikeouts while matching a (then) career long 5.0 innings of work. On March 2 at Minute Maid Park the veteran battled for a win over No. 12 ranked Baylor by striking out nine in 6.2 innings. At Old Dominion the southpaw posted a new career long outing (8.0 IP) for his second win of the season. Kravetz enters the week ranked second on the staff in strikeouts (64). He has been averaging 11.8 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 Charlotte, April 13)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte won both games of a Conference USA double-header April 13 on the road in North Carolina, taking the first game 6-5 and the nightcap 4-0.
Dodging Mother Nature: Due to weather conditions in the area the start time of Saturday's (first) game was changed twice on the fly, including as the Owls were about to leave the hotel for the field. The game that was originally scheduled for Sunday was not officially moved to Saturday (to become a double-header) until after Saturday's first game was completed. As per C-USA rules both teams made completing the league series the priority.
Triple Double: Rice has now played a double-header in each of its last three C-USA weekends. The Owls swept the first twinbill at Old Dominion three weeks ago but have dropped both of the last two to FIU and Charlotte.
Braden On Base: A number of Owls saw their hitting streaks come to end Saturday. Junior third baseman Braden Comeaux has reached base in each of the last 14 games.
On The Bump: Evan Kravetz started game one on the mound and was sensational allowing just one earned run on five hits in 7.0 innings while striking out eight. The senior left-hander earned a no-decision as Charlotte rallied for the one-run win in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jackson Parthasarathy started the second game and posted a career-high 11 strikeouts in 5.1 innings. For the full three-game series nine Rice pitchers struck out 26 Charlotte batters in 25.2 innings and the staff combined to maintain 3.7-to-1 strikeouts-to-walk ratio.

Here's Who's Hot
Junior second baseman Cade Edwards is 6-for-16 (.375) during a current four-game hitting streak. He also has a triple and a double for a .625 SLG%... Senior catcher Brandt Frazier went 4-for-11 (.364) with four RBI during the Charlotte series. He also drew three walks for a .500 OB%... Sophomore outfielder Dominic Cox is 5-for-15 (.333) while hitting safely in each of his last four games. He's also drawn three walks for a .421 OB% and scored four times... Junior third baseman Braden Comeaux has reached base in 14-straight games.

25 Career Homers For Andrew Dunlap
Andrew Dunlap launched another home run on April 12 at Charlotte, his team-leading 11th homer of the season and the 25th of 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 nine home runs at Reckling Park and 16 other four-baggers at 12 different ballparks. The non-Reckling round-trippers includes: UTSA, U.H., Western Kentucky, LSU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, FAU, Texas A&M, Minute Maid Park, Charlotte (twice), 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 is second in the league in plate appearances (180), tied for second in triples (4), and third overall in at bats (150). The former Houston prep star is tied for third in home runs (7), tied for fifth in total bases (79) and tied for sixth in walks (25). Cruz is tied for seventh in the league in runs scored (31) and he is eighth overall in RBI (31).

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 all-gray
5-5 in blue Old English jersey with pinstripe pants
2-3 in all-white
2-4 in all-pinstripes
2-4 in blue & gray "R" jersey with gray pants
1-2 in blue 'flag' jersey with pinstripe pants
1-2 in blue 'flag' jersey with white pants
0-1 in blue Old English jersey with white pants
0-1 in blue & gray "R" jersey with pinstripe pants

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