Monday, February 22
Houston, Texas
1:30 PM
Rice University
2-1
1
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0
Houston Baptist
1-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Houston Baptist
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
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3
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Rice
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
7
1
Rice Rallies For Walk-Off Win Monday
2/22/2021 7:12:00 PM | Baseball
Owls Blank Huskies In Series Finale, 1-0
HOUSTON — Freshman Connor Walsh delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning to help rally the Rice baseball team to a 1-0 victory over visiting crosstown foe Houston Baptist in the finale of the three game series Monday afternoon at Reckling Park.
Owls Claim Season Opening Series
Rice won the season opening series two games to one. HBU won first game (Saturday) 8-7 in 10 innings. The Owls bounced back with a big 9-3 win on Sunday and 1-0 duel Monday.
The Story
The highly anticipated return of senior right-hander Roel Garcia, making his first appearance at Reckling Park since 2018, did not disappoint with a scoreless outing. Garcia was sharp in scattering three hits without any walks in a predetermined 4.0 innings of work. He gave way to true freshman Reed Gallant to start the top of the fifth, who proceeded to register an eye-opening Division I debut. The right-handed rookie from Flower Mound, Texas, fired 5.0 shutout innings with five strikeouts for the staff's early season lead. There were two occasions when Gallant had to get four outs in the inning. The first time was after an Owl fielding error in the sixth and the other was when the defense just missed turning what could have been an inning-ending double play in the ninth.
For as well as Rice was pitching against the same HBU hitters that came into the game with a .343 average on 24 hits in the first two games of the series, the Huskies' pitching staff was likewise recording of shutout effort of its own. The Owls stranded runners in scoring position in the second, sixth and eighth innings.
Cade Edwards drew a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the ninth and pinch hitter Johnny Hoyle was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Redshirt freshman Connor Walsh followed with a rocket base hit to right-center to score Edwards for the dramatic walk-off victory.
Hitting Stars
Graduate transfer Will Karp led all players in the game with a pair of hits. He batted .364 (4-of-11) for the series was joined by Braden Comeaux (7-for-13, .538) and Justin Dunlap (4-for-11) to have a hit in every game.
Coach Bragga Said
"I am happy for our team to get this win in a tight, tight, game," coach Bragga said. "It was nice to see us bounce back after that very first game, an extra inning loss, with wins yesterday and today. There is still a lot of areas for us to get better, but I am happy for the guys. Conner needed to get that hit today and his teammates were very happy for him.
"Roel and Reed were both special today, giving us nine shutout innings," coach added. "We know the talent Roel is and we had him on a limited amount of work. There is no need to rush him back on the first weekend. For Reed's outing today he did a lot of things very well, with the biggest thing being that he competed. He battled on every pitch to every hitter. That's what we like to see."
Notes & Stats
• For the three-game series Rice pitchers allowed just six walks in 28.0 innings.
• Another rookie in the lineup was catcher Justin Long making his Division I debut. The true freshman was a local prep standout at Kingwood High School.
• Playing on Monday is a bit of a rarity in college baseball, but maybe the Owls should do more of it? Rice has won six of its last seven Monday games dating back to 2009.
Next Up
The homestand is completed, but there is a slight change to the upcoming schedule. Rice's scheduled midweek game at Lamar is now canceled due to Covid contact tracing within the Cardinals' program. Rice's next game is now the opener of Friday's three-game weekend series at Louisiana. Start time against the Ragin' Cajuns is set for 6 pm in Lafayette, La.
Owls Claim Season Opening Series
Rice won the season opening series two games to one. HBU won first game (Saturday) 8-7 in 10 innings. The Owls bounced back with a big 9-3 win on Sunday and 1-0 duel Monday.
The Story
The highly anticipated return of senior right-hander Roel Garcia, making his first appearance at Reckling Park since 2018, did not disappoint with a scoreless outing. Garcia was sharp in scattering three hits without any walks in a predetermined 4.0 innings of work. He gave way to true freshman Reed Gallant to start the top of the fifth, who proceeded to register an eye-opening Division I debut. The right-handed rookie from Flower Mound, Texas, fired 5.0 shutout innings with five strikeouts for the staff's early season lead. There were two occasions when Gallant had to get four outs in the inning. The first time was after an Owl fielding error in the sixth and the other was when the defense just missed turning what could have been an inning-ending double play in the ninth.
For as well as Rice was pitching against the same HBU hitters that came into the game with a .343 average on 24 hits in the first two games of the series, the Huskies' pitching staff was likewise recording of shutout effort of its own. The Owls stranded runners in scoring position in the second, sixth and eighth innings.
Cade Edwards drew a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the ninth and pinch hitter Johnny Hoyle was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Redshirt freshman Connor Walsh followed with a rocket base hit to right-center to score Edwards for the dramatic walk-off victory.
Hitting Stars
Graduate transfer Will Karp led all players in the game with a pair of hits. He batted .364 (4-of-11) for the series was joined by Braden Comeaux (7-for-13, .538) and Justin Dunlap (4-for-11) to have a hit in every game.
Coach Bragga Said
"I am happy for our team to get this win in a tight, tight, game," coach Bragga said. "It was nice to see us bounce back after that very first game, an extra inning loss, with wins yesterday and today. There is still a lot of areas for us to get better, but I am happy for the guys. Conner needed to get that hit today and his teammates were very happy for him.
"Roel and Reed were both special today, giving us nine shutout innings," coach added. "We know the talent Roel is and we had him on a limited amount of work. There is no need to rush him back on the first weekend. For Reed's outing today he did a lot of things very well, with the biggest thing being that he competed. He battled on every pitch to every hitter. That's what we like to see."
Notes & Stats
• For the three-game series Rice pitchers allowed just six walks in 28.0 innings.
• Another rookie in the lineup was catcher Justin Long making his Division I debut. The true freshman was a local prep standout at Kingwood High School.
• Playing on Monday is a bit of a rarity in college baseball, but maybe the Owls should do more of it? Rice has won six of its last seven Monday games dating back to 2009.
Next Up
The homestand is completed, but there is a slight change to the upcoming schedule. Rice's scheduled midweek game at Lamar is now canceled due to Covid contact tracing within the Cardinals' program. Rice's next game is now the opener of Friday's three-game weekend series at Louisiana. Start time against the Ragin' Cajuns is set for 6 pm in Lafayette, La.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gallant, Reed (1-0)
L: Tinker, Daxton (0-1)
Batting:
SH: Soriano, Nathan 1 ; Talbot, Chase 1
Batting:
RBI: Walsh, Connor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Edwards, Cade 1
SB: Edwards, Cade 1 ; Hoyle, Johnny 1
HBP: Hoyle, Johnny 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
Inf.
/ BaseballInf./OF
/ Baseball
Inf.
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/ Baseball
P
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P
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/ Baseball
Inf./OF
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