Rice University
Louisiana
Owls Host Louisiana Tuesday, Houston Wednesday
3/2/2020 3:24:00 PM | Baseball
Two More Games In Current Homestand
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Owls Host Ragin' Cajuns Tuesday Night; Silver Glove Series Begins Wednesday At 7 PM
Fresh off a weekend series win over visiting Missouri State last weekend, the Rice baseball team (2-8) closes-out its current homestand with a pair of games this week. The Owls host longtime foes Louisiana and Houston on Tuesday (Mar. 3) and Wednesday (Mar. 4), respectively. First pitch against the Ragin' Cajuns (4-8 overall) is set for 6:30 pm at Reckling Park. The Houston game is the opener of the annual season-long series for the Silver Glove Trophy. First pitch against the Cougars (3-7) is scheduled for 7 pm.
Fun & Games At Reckling Park
Wednesday (Water Bottle Giveaway): There is always a lot going on at Reckling Park. Note that on Wednesday early arriving fans can get a FREE Rice Water Bottle.
Watch Rice Games Online Via CUSAtv
Most Rice baseball 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 10 minutes before first pitch. Veteran J.P. Heath is in his 12th season as the voice of the Owls. Alex Del Barrio has the call for both Tuesday and Wednesday night. 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 474-433-2. 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 Pitcher
Coach Bragga announced Rice's starting pitcher for the Louisiana game as junior right-hander Ryan Rickett. The head coach will announce the remaining starters for the other games coming up this week at a later time.
• Newcomer Ryan Rickett (0-0, 9.82) has made three appearances out of the bullpen so far this season. His Rice debut was 1.1 innings in the finale of the Texas series (Feb. 16). The 6-foot-1 native of Richmond, Texas, also threw 1.1 shutout innings at UC Irvine, followed by 1.0 inning at Texas State a week ago (Feb. 26). Rickett joined Rice from Grayson College, where in 2019 he recorded 12-of-18 outs (6.0 innings) by strikeout. Though his Rice Owl debut may have been the opening weekend against the Longhorns, Rickett's Division I debut was in 2018 as a freshman in the SEC for the University of Missouri. He pitched in four games for the Tigers that year.
Last Time Out – Owls Take Weekend Series With 5-1 Win Sunday
HOUSTON – The Rice baseball team overcame an early deficit with five unanswered runs for a 5-1 victory over visiting Missouri State in Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park. With a 12-4 win over the Bears on Friday, the Owls claimed the weekend series two games to one. Rice is now 2-8 on the season. Missouri State dropped to 5-6 overall. The teams were meeting for the eighth time in the series since 1997. Rice was down 1-0, but there was still a lot of baseball left to play even under a constant threat of showers. The rain may have been held in check, but the Rice offense soon came alive. The Owls tied the score in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by Justin Collins to drive home Cade Edwards. The Owls took the lead, 2-1, in next inning on a RBI single by Aaron Beaulaurier to score Rodrigo Duluc. Trei Cruz led off the fifth with a walk and Austin Bulman followed with home run to left. The round-tripper was Bulman's team-leading second of the season, but the Blue & Gray wasn't quite finished in the run column. Collins started the seventh with single and his aggressive base-running helped stretch the lead to 5-1. Seven different Owls contributed to a nine-hit attack. Cade Edwards and Rodrigo Duluc both had two hits. Bulman and Beaulaurier both extended their respective hitting steaks to a season-best four games. True freshman pitcher Cristian Cienfuegos earned his first career victory with a career-long 4.1 innings out of the bullpen. The right-hander from Baytown, Texas, allowed just one hit and a pair of walks while posting a career-best three strikeouts against Missouri State. So far this season Cienfuegos has allowed just one run while striking out six in 9.1 innings over three appearances. He has held opposing hitters to a composite .129 batting average in his first season of Division I baseball... Junior right-hander Drake Greenwood started on the mound for Rice for the second time this season. Greenwood was just one out shy of being the pitcher of record, but his 4.2 innings was the longest of his collegiate career. The Houston native posted a career-high six strikeouts in a no decision... "It is good to get our first series-win of the season, especially against a good Missouri State program," said Rice head coach Matt Bragga. "We are continuing to work to get better, and a series win this weekend is something we can build on. The games that are coming up this week will be a big challenge, and it will be critical for us to play our very best baseball."
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. So far Rice's opponents have been very careful with the Owl slugger, walking him 11 times in the team's ten games. 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.
Uni-Watch
For the fashion-minded, Rice's 2020 W-L records while wearing the various uniforms is as follows:
1-1 in all-white
1-1 in blue jersey with pinstripe pants
0-1 in pinstripes
0-1 in blue/gray 'vest' jersey
0-2 in blue jersey with white pants
0-2 in all-gray
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.
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 W L T 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
