Rice University
21-26, 12-11
Western Kentucky (Game 2)
22-22-1, 13-9-1
WKU Takes Both Games Friday
5/3/2019 11:39:00 PM | Baseball
Owls Fall To Fifth In C-USA Standings; Series Finale 1 PM Sunday
Records: Rice saw its streak of six-straight C-USA wins come to an end as the team fell to 21-26 on the season and 12-11 in C-USA games. WKU improved to 22-22-1 overall and 13-9-1 in conference games.
Standings Update: With a bit of an imbalance in Friday's number C-USA of games played, and of course still many more games to be completed by Sunday evening, Rice fell from third to fifth in the 'Saturday morning' C-USA standings. WKU vaulted past Rice and Louisiana Tech into third place.
Home Run Tracker: The Owls added two more home runs Friday to give the team a total of 40 this year. Rice has already zoomed past its 2018 total of 35 home runs in just two-thirds of the at bats. The squad entered the weekend tied for third in the conference in home runs and has been mashing the taters at a rate of one every 41.35 at bats as well as just under one per game (0.851), both percentages are the best the program has done in the last two years. Overall the squad's slugging percentage is higher this season (.413) than a year ago (.386). Rice also already has 14 triples to surpass its full-season total from one year ago.
Canterino The Career K Climber: Junior Matt Canterino started in game one and finished the day with 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings for a no-decision. The Southlake, Texas, native now has 324 strikeouts in his collegiate career to rank seventh on Rice's all-time strikeout list. Canterino now needs 26 to tie left-hander Mario Ramos (350 strikeouts from 1997-1999) for sixth in the Rice ledgers.
Nine More Ks For Kravetz: Senior Evan Kravetz also posted a big strikeout day starting the second game of the doubleheader. The left-hander fanned nine in 5.0 innings of a no-decision to give him 93 strikouts this year.
How Tough? Collins-Tough: Not only did sophomore catcher Justin Collins catch every defensive inning of the double header, he also went a combined 2-for-5 and patiently drew three walks for a .625 on-base percentage.
Cox Collects Three Hits: Sophomore Dominic Cox finished the day with three hits, one of which was a double. In game two he made his first start of the season in right field.
Doubleheaders: The doubleheader was Rice's fifth of the season. All have been in the C-USA part of the schedule with the theme of making every effort to get the league game completed. Consider that the Blue & Gray is a combined 2-8 on doubleheader days but 10-3 when playing just the lone conference game.
On Deck: With the doubleheader completed there is no game scheduled for Saturday (May 4). The series is set conclude with the regularly-scheduled 1 pm game on Sunday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Troy Newell (3-3)
L: Lewis, Blair (2-1)
S: Jacob Green (1)
Batting:
2B: Duluc, Rodrigo 1
HR: Edwards, Cade 1 ; Duluc, Rodrigo 1
RBI: Edwards, Cade 3 ; Duluc, Rodrigo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cruz, Trei 1 ; Dunlap, Andrew 1 ; Edwards, Cade 1 ; Duluc, Rodrigo 2
SB: Cruz, Trei 1
CS: Collins, Justin 1
HBP: Gneiting, Bradley 1
Batting:
2B: Matt Phipps 1 ; Collin Hopkins 1
HR: Ray Zuberer III 1 ; Jake Sanford 1
RBI: Ray Zuberer III 1 ; Jack Wilson 3 ; Jake Sanford 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Ray Zuberer III 2 ; Jack Wilson 1 ; Jake Sanford 1 ; Jackson Swiney 1 ; Nick Brunson 1 ; Cody Hartness 1 ; Collin Hopkins 2
SB: Jake Sanford 1
HBP: Jack Wilson 1 ; Kevin Lambert 1 ; Sam McElreath 1
