Saturday, March 13
Houston
6 pm
Rice University
7-7
4
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1
Northern Illinois
1-10
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8
9
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H
E
Northern Illinois
0
0
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7
3
Rice
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1
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X
4
11
1
Photo by: Maria Lysaker
Owls Split Two Games Saturday
3/13/2021 11:33:00 PM | Baseball
Sunday Finale vs. Kansas State Set For 12 Noon
HOUSTON — Right-handed pitcher Mitchell Holcomb fired a season-best 7.2 shutout innings to help the Rice Baseball team defeat visiting Northern Illinois 4-1 in the nightcap of a split twinbill Saturday evening at Reckling Park. In the Owls' first game of the day Kansas State defeated Rice 8-3.
Schedule Update
Sunday's Rice-Kansas State finale has been moved to a new 12 noon start time. Any updates to the game time will be posted on social media and the Owls 2021 Online Schedule.
The Stories
Rice rode a veteran style of outing from Mitchell Holcomb, a graduate transfer in his first year with the program, to claim a 4-1 victory over NIU in the day's multi-game finale. Holcomb scattered five singles without allowing any walks as he worked into the eighth inning of a crafty shutout. He posted four strikeouts on the way to earning his second win of the season, but giving the bullpen a pit of a breather was the real silver lining as Rice pulled back to .500 through the first 14 games. Relief pitchers Cristian Cienfuegos and Guy Garibay both contributed 0.2 innings on the night, with Garibay earning his second save of the season as the Huskies rallied for a run in the top of the ninth.
Every Owl starter in the batting order recorded a base hit in an 11-hit attack. The duo of Braden Comeaux and Cade Edwards both went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
In Rice's first game of the day Bradley Gneiting connected on a pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning for a mammoth home run to centerfield that tied the score with visiting Kansas State 1-1. The Wildcats, however, came right back and broke the deadlock with a total of five runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings for 6-1 advantage. The Owls continued to fight and pushed across runs in the eighth and ninth. K-State recorded double-digit hits in an 8-3 final score.
For The Record
Rice moved to 7-7 overall. Northern Illinois is now 1-9 on the season. Kansas State improved to 11-4 with its fifth-straight win.
Head Coach Matt Bragga Said
"The NIU win was a great bounce-back game after our first game this afternoon," said Rice head coach Matt Bragga. "Coming back for a second game tonight and being able to win the way that game the we did was awesome. We are going to play a lot of double-headers moving into conference games coming up and the lesson is to not let one loss suddenly turn into getting swept. You stay focused, keep working, and you find a way to bounce back.
"How about Holcomb tonight?," the head coach asked to beat the postgame media to the questioning punch. "That was a poised, mature, effort when we needed one. I am very proud of him.
"I am going to be honest that we left too many guys on base today," coach Bragga added. "We left 12 on base in the second game and left 10 on in the first game against K-State. That is simply too many and we could have helped ourselves a lot more than we did. It's an area where we will get better."
Notes & Stats
• The 10 runners Rice left on base vs. KSU tied the season-high the Owls had already reached four other times. The 12 runners left on vs. Northern Illinois is the new season high.
• Cade Edwards had two hits in each of Saturday's games to extend his streak of reaching base to 13-straight games.
• In three games this weekend at Reckling Park Bradley Gneiting is a combined 5-for-12 (.417) with a home run.
• Braden Comeaux recorded his team leading sixth multi-hit game vs. NIU.
• The Owls turned a pair of double plays vs. NIU to tie a season high.
• Freshman Guy Garibay earned his second career save by closing out the top of the ninth vs. the Huskies.
• Coach Bragga announced that left-hander Brandon Deskins would get the start in Sunday's game vs. Kansas State.
Schedule Update
Sunday's Rice-Kansas State finale has been moved to a new 12 noon start time. Any updates to the game time will be posted on social media and the Owls 2021 Online Schedule.
The Stories
Rice rode a veteran style of outing from Mitchell Holcomb, a graduate transfer in his first year with the program, to claim a 4-1 victory over NIU in the day's multi-game finale. Holcomb scattered five singles without allowing any walks as he worked into the eighth inning of a crafty shutout. He posted four strikeouts on the way to earning his second win of the season, but giving the bullpen a pit of a breather was the real silver lining as Rice pulled back to .500 through the first 14 games. Relief pitchers Cristian Cienfuegos and Guy Garibay both contributed 0.2 innings on the night, with Garibay earning his second save of the season as the Huskies rallied for a run in the top of the ninth.
Every Owl starter in the batting order recorded a base hit in an 11-hit attack. The duo of Braden Comeaux and Cade Edwards both went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
In Rice's first game of the day Bradley Gneiting connected on a pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning for a mammoth home run to centerfield that tied the score with visiting Kansas State 1-1. The Wildcats, however, came right back and broke the deadlock with a total of five runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings for 6-1 advantage. The Owls continued to fight and pushed across runs in the eighth and ninth. K-State recorded double-digit hits in an 8-3 final score.
For The Record
Rice moved to 7-7 overall. Northern Illinois is now 1-9 on the season. Kansas State improved to 11-4 with its fifth-straight win.
Head Coach Matt Bragga Said
"The NIU win was a great bounce-back game after our first game this afternoon," said Rice head coach Matt Bragga. "Coming back for a second game tonight and being able to win the way that game the we did was awesome. We are going to play a lot of double-headers moving into conference games coming up and the lesson is to not let one loss suddenly turn into getting swept. You stay focused, keep working, and you find a way to bounce back.
"How about Holcomb tonight?," the head coach asked to beat the postgame media to the questioning punch. "That was a poised, mature, effort when we needed one. I am very proud of him.
"I am going to be honest that we left too many guys on base today," coach Bragga added. "We left 12 on base in the second game and left 10 on in the first game against K-State. That is simply too many and we could have helped ourselves a lot more than we did. It's an area where we will get better."
Notes & Stats
• The 10 runners Rice left on base vs. KSU tied the season-high the Owls had already reached four other times. The 12 runners left on vs. Northern Illinois is the new season high.
• Cade Edwards had two hits in each of Saturday's games to extend his streak of reaching base to 13-straight games.
• In three games this weekend at Reckling Park Bradley Gneiting is a combined 5-for-12 (.417) with a home run.
• Braden Comeaux recorded his team leading sixth multi-hit game vs. NIU.
• The Owls turned a pair of double plays vs. NIU to tie a season high.
• Freshman Guy Garibay earned his second career save by closing out the top of the ninth vs. the Huskies.
• Coach Bragga announced that left-hander Brandon Deskins would get the start in Sunday's game vs. Kansas State.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Holcomb, Mitchell (2-1)
L: LANGREDER, Connor (1-2)
S: Garibay Jr., Guy (2)
Batting:
RBI: SCHROEDER, Jacob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LONTEEN, Dylan 1
CS: MCKERMITT, Paddy 1
HBP: SCHROEDER, Jacob 1
Batting:
3B: Cruz, Antonio 1
RBI: Edwards, Cade 1 ; Karp, Will 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
SH: Edwards, Cade 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Comeaux, Braden 1 ; Edwards, Cade 1 ; Cruz, Antonio 1 ; Karp, Will 1
SB: Karp, Will 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
CS: Gneiting, Bradley 1
HBP: Hughes, Hal 1
PO: Bulman, Austin 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
cf/p
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
Inf.
/ BaseballInf.
/ Baseball
P
/ BaseballInf.
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
OF/Inf.
/ Baseball
P
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