Rice Continues Homestand Friday vs. LA Tech

Rice Continues Homestand Friday With Key Conference USA Series vs. LA Tech
The Rice baseball team, 18-23 on the season and tied for fifth in the Conference USA standings with a 9-9 league record, returns to C-USA action this weekend. The Owls host a three-game home series April 26-28 vs. Louisiana Tech at Reckling Park. Start times against the Bulldogs (27-12 and 12-6 C-USA) are set for 6:30 pm Friday, 2 pm on Saturday, and 1 pm in Sunday's series finale.

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Apr. 21 (Fri.) 6:30 pm; Louisiana Tech at Rice Watch online Live Stats
Margaritaville Night: Calling all Parrotheads! It's Margaritaville Night at the Ballpark on April 26. The first 200 fans will receive an exclusive Margaritaville Night T-shirt. Additionally, there will be free margarita samples on the Hill in left field courtesy of Fajita Pete's.

Apr. 27 (Sat.) 2 pm; Louisiana Tech at Rice Watch online Live Stats
Crawfish Boil & Teacher Appreciation Day: Join the Rice Alumni Association for the annual Crawfish Boil in Lot 6 from 11:30 am - 2 pm. Tickets start at $15 and note that walk-up registration is available. Additionally, Saturday is our annual Teacher Appreciation Day and all Rice faculty and Houston area teachers can get in FREE! You can claim your free teacher ticket and purchase additional tickets at riceowls.com/teacher2.

Apr. 28 (Fri.) 1 pm; Louisiana Tech at Rice Watch online Live Stats

Kids' Day: Be sure to visit RiceOwls.com to see how all elementary school kids get in FREE to Sunday's game. Additionally, all children 12 and under can run the bases one time following the game. Note that this special ticket value is online-only here, and not available at the stadium box office on game day.

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 464-415-2. 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.

Probable Pitchers
Coach Bragga announced the first two Rice starting pitchers for the LA Tech series as the veteran tandem of Matt Canterino (5-4, 2.97) and Evan Kravetz (3-2, 4.18), respectively. The third and final starter will be announced by coach Bragga 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 four 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). Last week against Middle Tennessee he became the 12th player in program history to reach the 300 career-K plateau. Canterino finished that game with 303 career strikeouts to tie for 11th on Rice's all-time list. He now needs six strikeouts to tie Austin Kubitza (309K from 2011-2013) for tenth and 11 to tie Eddie Degerman (314 from 2004-2006) for ninth in Rice history.
• 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 (then) 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. A week ago against Middle Tennessee he turned in a performance earned him National Pitcher of the Week honors (see below). Kravetz enters the weekend leading the staff in strikeouts (77). He has been averaging 12.4 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.

Power Surge
Rice added another three home runs last weekend to give the team a total of 37 this year, surpassing 35 round-trippers the squad had all last season. The Blue & Gray zoomed past its 2018 home run total in just 72.8-percent of the at-bats. The Owls are tied for third in the conference in home runs and have been blasting the taters at a rate of just under one per game (0.91), the best the program has done in the last nine years. Overall the squad's slugging percentage is higher this season (.424) than a year ago (.386). Rice already has 13 triples to surpass its full-season total from one year ago.

Honors Abound For Kravetz
TUCSON, Ariz. – Evan Kravetz has been named both a National Pitcher of the Week by Collegiate Baseball, and the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week by the league office, the respective organizations announced on Monday (April 22)... Kravetz fired a career-high 13 strikeouts in 7.0 innings, tying for the highest strikeout total by a C-USA pitcher this season, on the way to a league victory over visiting Middle Tennessee on April 19 (Friday). The senior left-hander picked up his third win of the season by allowing just one hit and scattering three walks in 7.0 shutout innings. Kravetz held all opposing hitters to composite .043 batting average. His 13 strikeouts were the most by a Rice pitcher in a single game since 2016... It is the first time in his career for Kravetz to be named the National or C-USA Pitcher of the Week. This year Rice Owls have now been named both a National Pitcher and National Hitter of the Week (with Trei Cruz earning the position player accolades on Feb. 18).

News & Notes From Previous Appearance (vs. Middle Tennessee)
HOUSTON – Sophomore Justin Collins' two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning helped Rice rally for a 7-5 C-USA victory over Middle Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park. The Owls trailed by as many as four runs early in the contest but rallied for the lead late and held on for the win to complete the weekend series sweep of the visiting Blue Raiders.
Top Third: Rice's first three batters in the lineup, Braden Comeaux, Bradley Gneiting and Trei Cruz, were an offensive force Saturday and all weekend long. The three Owls went a combined 8-for-15 (.533) Saturday with six runs scored and three RBI. The trio was 18-for-41 (.467) with 12 runs scored and nine RBI in the weekend sweep.
Streaks: Cade Edwards went 1-for-3 with a double to extend his hitting streak to seven games (currently the longest active mark on the team). Braden Comeaux knocked a home run and a double Saturday. He has reached base in each of the last 17 games, the longest streak by any Owl this season.
Plus Side On Runs: Rice has out-scored its opponents 266-256 for the full season and 119-108 in C-USA games. Eight of the team's losses this season have been by a narrow margin of two runs or less.
Quoting Coach Bragga: "The way the guys competed all weekend were just spectacular," said Rice head coach Matt Bragga. "We played extremely well both Thursday and Friday, then less so today but the great thing about today was they just continued to compete when faced with some adversity. We got behind 4-0 early but I give our guys a lot of credit. They kept battling and won an important conference game."

Here's Who's Hot
Junior second baseman Cade Edwards is 12-for-26 (.462) during his current seven-game hitting streak. He has a home run, a triple and four doubles for an .808 SLG% to go with a .484 OB%. Edwards has also driven in six runs and scored six times in the last seven games... Not only has Braden Comeaux reached base in 17-straight games, the junior third baseman went 7-for-15 (.467) with a home run and a double for a .733 slugging percentage, while also scoring five runs, in the Middle Tennessee series... Sophomore shortstop Trei Cruz is 10-for-24 (.440) with a home run and three doubles (.667 SLG%), but he has also drawn five walks for a .517 OB%... Junior Bradley Gneiting went 5-for-13 (.385) with five runs scored last weekend... The duo of Justin Collins and Andrew Dunlap both went a matching 4-for-11 (.364) with a walk during the Middle Tennessee series.

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 offensive categories. Cruz is tied for second in the league in triples (4), third overall in plate appearances (194), and fifth overall in both at bats (163) and total bases (87). The former Houston prep star is also tied for sixth in the league in runs scored (35) and tied for eighth in RBI (34). Cruz is ninth in home runs (7) and tied for tenth in walks (26).

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
3-3 in all-white
2-2 in blue 'flag' jersey with pinstripe pants
3-4 in all-pinstripes
2-4 in blue & gray "R" jersey with gray 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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