Owls Open Three-Game Series Friday At Texas Tech

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Owls Play Series At No. 2 Ranked Texas Tech; Rice Baseball Makes First Trip To Lubbock Since 1999
After five consecutive home games the Rice baseball team (2-10) returns to the road for a three-game weekend series at No. 2 Texas Tech (13-1). Game times in Lubbock are set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 3 p.m. on Saturday and 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. Saturday's start time is a change from some earlier listings.

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 now in his 12th season as the voice of the Owls. Different broadcasters are scheduled to announce some upcoming games until the completion of the respective Rice men's and women's basketball seasons. Matt Pedersen has the Rice call this weekend from Lubbock.

Watch Sunday's Game On FSSW+
Sunday's contest is slated for a live webcast on FSSW+. Check the above link.

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 474-435-2. 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 pitchers for the Texas Tech series as the right-handed duo of junior Alex DeLeon and sophomore Blake Brogdon. Bragga will announce Sunday's starter at a later time.
• Newcomer Alex DeLeon enters the weekend ranked second on the staff in both starts (2) and innings (14.2). A week ago he earned his first D-I victory in a home start against Missouri State. DeLeon was tabbed as the Rice starting pitcher for the opening game of the season vs. nationally-ranked Texas. He played both of the past two seasons at baseball power McLennan College in Waco. The 6-foot-0 native of Lago Vista, Texas, posted a career record of 14-4 with a 2.88 ERA in his previous two seasons with the Highlanders. He struck out a total of 92 batters and maintained a 2.8-to-1 strikeouts-to-walk ratio in 128.1 career innings. DeLeon led the staff with 14 starts in 2019 and he finished the year with five complete games while holding opposing hitters to a composite .231 batting average. A former prep star at Lago Vista H.S., DeLeon was the Austin American-Statesman CenTex Player of the Year as a senior in 2017. He was also a member of National Honor Society.
• After a total of 1.1 innings and just one outing in his debut season of collegiate baseball a year ago, Coach Bragga might have raised a few eyebrows when he selected Blake Brogdon as the Game 2 starter for the season-opening series against the nationally-ranked Texas Longhorns (Feb. 15). The head coach got it right. Brogdon was sound and solid in his collegiate starting debut, scattering just three hits while working into the sixth inning. He finished with a career-long 5.2 innings vs. Texas, but was tabbed with a loss as his teammates on the offensive side did not support him with so much as one single run. The week after that he struck out eight in 5.0 innings at UC Irvine (Feb. 22). He pitched 5.0 innings last week against Missouri State (Feb. 29). In three outings so far this year Brogdon has held opposing hitters to a composite .214 batting average with 9.2 strikeouts per 9.0 innings of work. The sophomore's improvement over the summer and the hard work he put in during the Owls' 2019 fall training program caught the coaches' attention. Prior to Rice the 6-foot-2 Brogdon was a local prep standout at Cypress Woods High School just northwest of Houston.

Longtime Foes Meet Again
Texas Tech holds a narrow 57-56 lead in the overall series with Rice that dates back to 1958. The foes were regular opponents from 1968 to 1996 while members of the Southwest Conference. This is the first meeting between the teams since 2014.

Some Fond Memories Of Lubbock
Even though Lubbock is one of the most challenging places to play in the entire country, Rice baseball has had some fond memories of the Hub City over the years. In a game in 1983 Rice posted a 23-2 victory in just seven innings, nearly breaking the school record for runs (at that time). The Owls had a sensational run of games on the way to winning the final Southwest Conference Championship held in Lubbock in May of 1996. A year later, the Owls won the NCAA Lubbock Regional to advance to the College World Series for the very first time. In 1999 the Owls rallied out of the losers' bracket of the NCAA Lubbock Regional to advance to the College World Series for the second time in three years.

That Time In 1972 When Rice-Tech Moved Indoors!
Over the years Rice and Texas Tech have played at some neutral college sites, such as Disch-Falk Field in Austin and UH's Cougar Field, and also some non-campus venues like Minute Maid Park/Enron Field and Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi. In 1972 the Owls and Red Raiders were scheduled to play a SWC series at Rice, but rain in the Houston area made the field unplayable. The teams found a solution by moving indoors to The Astrodome. The Owls went on to sweep that weekend set 3-0.

Last Time Out – Houston Tops Rice Wednesday, 6-4
HOUSTON – The visiting Houston Cougars chipped away for runs in four of the first five innings before holding off a Rice rally in the sixth for a 6-4 win over the Rice baseball team in the opening game of the annual Silver Glove Trophy series Wednesday evening at Reckling Park.
• Records/Series: Rice is now 2-10 overall. Houston improved to 4-7. The crosstown rivals were meeting for the 191st time dating back to 1948.
• Silver Glove Fact: Rice may have dropped the opening game of the season-long series for the Silver Glove Trophy, but there have been three times in the last seven years where the team to lose the opening game of the series has bounced back to win the trophy.
• Hit Leaders: Rice outhit Houston 10-9 in the game. Junior shortstop Trei Cruz tied a career high with four hits while Cade Edwards registered a season-high three hits. Both Owls had a double and drove in two runs each.
• A Career Night: After playing for the first time Tuesday against Louisiana, freshman catcher Cullen Hannigan made his first career start against U.H. The rookie receiver from Stratford H.S. caught four different-style pitchers Wednesday who combined for nine strikeouts, but that's not all. Hannigan notched his first collegiate hit in the bottom of the fourth and then singled and scored in the sixth for a 2-for-4 night.
• Reaching Base: Austin Bulman saw his five-game hitting streak come to an end, but he patiently drew two walks to extend his streak of reaching base to eight-straight games.
• Big Chances: Rice was a steady 4-for-13 (.308) when batting with runners in scoring position, but an 0-for-3 night in at bats with the bases loaded which could have made a difference in a close game against a longtime rival.
• Mound Men: Sophomore left-hander Brandon Deskins made his second career start. He allowed one run in 3.0 innings of work and finished with a career-high five strikeouts. Freshman Garrett Zaskoda tallied a career-high three strikeouts in a career-long 3.0 innings. Andrew Kane had a strikeout in 1.2 innings of relief. Freshman Mathew Santos pitched 1.1 innings for his second-straight scoreless outing.

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.

Record By Uniform
For the fashion-minded, Rice's 2020 W-L records while wearing the various uniforms is as follows:
1-2 in all-white
1-2 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

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              Years   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
North Florida        10   327   241   0   .576
Grand Canyon          7   221   163   1   .575
UCLA                 21   727   539   1   .574

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