Baseball Plays Wednesday Night At Texas State

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Owls Conclude Road Swing At Texas State; Rice Returns Home To Host Missouri State Fri.-Sun.
The Rice baseball team (0-6) wraps up a stretch of four-straight road games on Wednesday (Feb. 26) when the Owls play at longtime rival Texas State (5-3 overall). Start time at the Bobcat Ballpark is set for 6 pm. After returning from San Marcos Rice opens a five-game homestand beginning on Feb. 28. The Owls host Missouri Valley Conference power Missouri State in a three-game weekend series. First pitch Friday at Reckling Park is set for 6:30 pm.

Watch Wednesday's Game On ESPN+
Wednesday's contest is slated for a live webcast on ESPN+. Check the game day links at RiceOwls.com for the call from broadcasters Brandt Freeman and Ty Harrington.

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 10 minutes before first pitch. Veteran J.P. Heath, now in his 12th season as the voice of the Owls, has the call Wednesday from San Marcos. Note some different broadcasters are scheduled to announce 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.

Follow The Tweeting Rice Owls
The official Rice baseball Twitter account is @RiceBaseball while the Rice Athletics department is @RiceAthletics. Twitter is perhaps the fastest way to get weather-related changes to the schedule/updated start times.

Head Coach Matt Bragga
A 20-year veteran of the head coaching ranks, Matt Bragga was named the 21st head coach in Rice baseball history on June 15, 2018. He went 26-33 at Rice in his first season in 2019. Prior to Rice Bragga sent 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 10 years while reaching 40 or more wins in four of six seasons from 2013-2018. 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 472-431-2. 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).

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 third year with the program as a coach. 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 second 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.

Possible Starting Pitchers
Coach Bragga announced Rice's starting pitcher for the Texas State game as sophomore left-hander Brandon Deskins. Bragga will announce the weekend rotation vs. Missouri State at a later time.
• Two weeks into the season sophomore southpaw Brandon Deskins (0-0) has shown to be one of the steadiest arms on the Owl staff. In his two previous relief appearances vs. nationally-ranked Texas and west coast power UC Irvine, Deskins has posted a 0.00 ERA without a decision. He's allowed just two base hits to the 12 batters he has faced in 3.0 innings of work. Wednesday's outing would mark his first collegiate start. As a true freshman last season Deskins worked his way into seven spot appearances. A year ago the 6-foot-1 native of Friendswood, Texas, recorded seven strikeouts without a decision in 5.2 innings.

Last Time Out – Owls Fall Sunday At West Coast Power UCI
IRVINE, Calif. – A six-run inning in the bottom of the fifth lifted UC Irvine to an eventual 9-4 win over the visiting Rice baseball team Sunday afternoon in Irvine, Calif. UCI scored three runs in the bottom of the second before the big fifth inning to stretch the margin to 9-0 that lasted through the seventh. The Owls continued to fight. Rice came alive for three runs in the eighth and pushed across another score in the ninth for a 9-4 final. Rice tied its season high with ten base hits, three of which went for extra bases. Senior third baseman Braden Comeaux paced the Blue & Gray with three hits. Four different players finished the day with two hits each. On the defensive side Rice recorded a season-high three double plays on the day.

The UCI Weekend Series
For the three-game weekend series Comeaux was a combined 5-for-13 (.385) with a double, a walk, a RBI and two runs scored. Senior Rodrigo Duluc was a combined 2-for-6 with a double. He started Sunday's game in right field. As a staff the Owl pitchers recorded 26 strikeouts in 24 innings of work.

Roel's Return
Rice's biggest takeaway from the UCI series was the long-awaited return of senior right-hander Roel Garcia, who started on the mound Friday (Feb. 21) in what was his first appearance since the 2018 season. By design Garcia worked just 2.0 innings, but he struck out three of the eight batters he faced. He also made a nice defensive play to throw out the lead runner on a bunt. He finished without allowing any runs nor walks.

Dunlap's Return
Roel Garcia's start was certainly in the spotlight, but the Owls were also happy to have sophomore Justin Dunlap return to action later in the same game. In 2019 Dunlap had just worked his way into a starting role in the outfield when in March he was sidelined for the remainder of the season. Dunlap entered the Friday UCI game as a defensive replacement in the outfield. He drew a walk and scored Rice's lone run in the top of the eighth inning. He started on Saturday in the outfield and was able to reach base in four at bats.

Cruzin' To Preseason Accolades
On Feb. 18 Rice junior shortstop Trei Cruz was named to the initial watch list for the 2020 Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats. Since its inception in 2017 the award is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity. Earlier Cruz was also selected as the Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year in the league's annual head coaches' poll. After batting .307 in the prestigious Cape Cod League over the summer and being tabbed as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year by D1Baseball.com, the Rice shortstop has the full attention of the league's head coaches for 2020. By training under the direction of head coach Matt Bragga, Cruz batted .305 with nine home runs, 11 doubles and 44 RBI. He tied for 15th in the nation with six triples, the eighth-highest single season total in school history and the most by any Owl in the last decade. He also topped the team with 121 total bases and 50 runs scored, while placing among the C-USA leaders in at-bats (sixth) and total plate appearances (seventh). Last summer Cruz was drafted by the Washington Nationals but opted to return to South Main for his third season. In the opening weekend series vs. Texas the Longhorns were very careful with the Owl slugger, walking him four times in the three-game series. On a side note give some credit to the C-USA coaches recognizing individual talent. In 2019 the league coaches selected Matt Canterino as the C-USA Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and the Owl right-hander indeed claimed that honor in the postseason voting. The previous Rice position player to be selected as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year was shortstop Ford Proctor in 2017.

The C-USA Preseason Poll
In the 2020 C-USA head coaches preseason poll Rice was selected fifth behind Southern Miss, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion, respectively.

Cutting Edge Tech
Some of the cutting-edge technology Matt Bragga and his staff are introducing this year includes:
• Hit Trax: Software which evaluates swing and mechanics with a powerful video analysis to increase exit velocities and optimize launch angles by capturing real-time metrics and observing results immediately after impact.
• Win Reality: A virtual reality training aid that allows the player to see the game at real time speed from a batters perspective. 2019 CWS champion Vanderbilt was one of three Division I schools to use Win Reality last year and has dedicated an entire room as a lab for Win Reality.
• Rapsodo: A compact, portable pitching monitor with indoor/outdoor capability that has a proprietary radar and camera system which measures ball flight, spin rates and efficiency, release points, velocity, and strike zone analysis.
• Synergy: Software that allows users to watch video of their past games and filter it by pitch, swings, locations, situations, etc., along with spray charts. It is a great tool for scouting upcoming opponents.

So Many New Faces You Might Need A Program!
There are some Rice newcomers to keep an eye on in 2020. The Owls started a newcomer, Alex DeLeon, on Opening night. Other new pitchers like Austin Kane, Cristian Cienfuegos, Ryan Rickett and Mathew Santos could have a role on the mound this year. Transfers Austin Bulman, Daniel Hernandez and Brayden Combs likewise had solid seasons a year ago playing in the junior college ranks.

Take A Closer Look At Last Year
Rice had 33 losses in 2019, but a closer look is in order. The final margin in 13 of the team's losses was two runs or less. The Owls were playing close games in a tough schedule while a number of the team's star players (including Justin Collins, Roel Garcia, Addison Moss, Justin Dunlap, and Dominic DiCaprio) were all sidelined for extended points during the season. Justin Collins played the final third of the season with a broken hand. So just how tough was the 2019 schedule? Rice's final Strength of Schedule rating last season was No. 67 in the nation, the highest in C-USA. A year ago the young Owls' squad played 17 games against nine different teams that either made it to the NCAA Tournament or who were nationally ranked at the time Rice played them.

Rice Since 1999
Using the 1999 season as the starting point (the year the NCAA expanded the postseason tournament field to 64 teams with the current Super Regional format), Rice baseball has maintained one of the nation's top win percentages over the last 21 years. Here's a closer look at the country's winningest programs from 1999-2019 (note: this listing will not be updated to include games played in 2020):
Team                Yrs   Wins Loses Ties   PCT
Florida State        21   1007   386   1   .723
North Carolina       21   936   399   1   .701
LSU                  21   938   427   6   .686
Rice                 21   922   421   2   .686
Coastal Carolina   21   885   413   2   .682
South Carolina       21   926   434   0   .681
Miami (Fla.)         21   882   417   3   .679
Cal St. Fullerton   21   877   422   0   .675
Oral Roberts         21   843   406   0   .675
Texas                21   880   447   1   .663
Oregon State         21   806   413   3   .661
Louisville           21   853   449   1   .655
Arizona State        21   792   418   2   .654
Stanford             21   823   437   2   .653
Georgia Tech         21   847   451   1   .652
Virginia             21   826   442   3   .651
Clemson              21   877   475   1   .649
Florida              21   872   473   2   .648
TCU                  21   833   462   0   .643
Dallas Baptist       14   536   298   0   .643
Florida Atlantic   21   809   450   3   .642
East Carolina        21   820   456   4   .642
Texas A&M            21   838   476   4   .637
Kent State           21   782   447   0   .636
Southern Miss.       21   811   465   1   .635
Vanderbilt           21   831   478   1   .635
Nebraska             21   794   461   3   .632
Col. of Charleston   21   776   458   2   .629
Oklahoma State       21   795   471   1   .628
Ole Miss             21   815   492   1   .623
Arkansas             21   817   494   0   .623
St. John's (NY)      21   740   448   3   .623
NC State             21   791   485   0   .620
Tulane               21   783   488   2   .616
Louisiana            21   786   493   2   .614
Ohio State           21   760   484   2   .611
Mississippi State   21   788   507   3   .608
Creighton            21   705   460   1   .605
UNC-Wilmington       21   755   494   1   .604
UC Irvine            18   632   416   2   .603
Wichita State        21   772   509   1   .603
Texas Tech           21   751   501   2   .600
Arizona              21   735   491   1   .599
Notre Dame           21   734   495   5   .597
UCF                  21   746   504   0   .597
VCU                  21   719   487   1   .596
Oklahoma             21   760   523   3   .592
Baylor               21   744   517   0   .590
Ga. Southern         21   738   516   0   .589
Liberty              21   717   505   3   .587
Minnesota            21   712   503   0   .586
San Diego            21   702   498   4   .585
Alabama              21   741   529   1   .583
Stony Brook          20   631   452   1   .583
Missouri St.         21   709   510   0   .582
Jackson St.          21   644   464   2   .581
UConn                21   700   504   5   .581
Houston              21   742   535   1   .581
FGCU   10   333   241   1   .580
South Alabama   21   718   524   0   .578

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