Saturday, March 20
Houston
1 pm
Rice University
10-8
13
vs
4
Southern
5-12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
4
10
1
Rice
1
0
0
0
6
1
5
0
X
13
11
2
Owls Defeat Jaguars 13-4 Saturday
3/20/2021 6:17:00 PM | Baseball
Series Finale Set For 1 PM Sunday
HOUSTON — The Rice Baseball team scored at least 13 runs for the second straight game and pitcher Mitchell Holcomb provided a solid start on the mound for 13-4 victory over visiting Southern University Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park.
Owls Get Offensive 2.0
Less than 24 hours before Rice scored 14 runs on 17 hits in the Friday night series opener. The Owls were back on the offensive in Saturday's second meeting, pushing across 13 runs on 11 hits, highlighted by a pair of home runs. Bradley Gneiting blasted his team-leading fourth homer in the bottom of the first inning. Newcomer Hal Hughes slugged his first Rice round-tripper as the team batted around in a five-run seventh inning.
The big inning was the key for Rice Saturday, and the Owls had two of them. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth the Blue & Gray batted around for six runs on two hits. The Owls were able to take advantage as Southern walked five in the inning. Rice plated a run in the sixth before adding five in the seventh for the baker's dozen runs on the day.
Holcomb Sound & Solid.
Before Rice could breakaway in the fifth inning the first half of the contest was a tight 1-1 duel. Owl graduate transfer Mitchell Holcomb posted another sound and solid outing to keep Southern in check. The right-hander allowed just two runs on eight hits while registering a season-high nine strikeouts and no walks in 7.0 innings of work - his second straight start to complete 7.0 frames.Relievers Drake Greenwood and Micah Davis each had 1.0 inning in the 13-4 final.
For The Record
Rice improved to 10-8 on the season. Southern is now 5-12 overall.
Head Coach Matt Bragga Said
"Mitchell had another nice outing today like he had last week (vs. Northern Illinois)," Bragga said. "He's a good pitcher and already has so much experience. He did have some mistakes in the middle of the game but with Mitchell he knows how to right the ship. Some guys can't do that. Mitchell knows how to pitch.
"It's the same with hitting, and having that veteran experience just helps a lot," Bragga explained. "Bradley is a veteran guy who has improved so much since I got here. That home run he hit today was a big, big hit. He clubbed that one. I am excited to see Bradley doing what he's doing. He's a catalyst and a leader."
Notes & Stats
• Gneiting led all players with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. He drove in three runs, scored twice and his home run was the seventh of his collegiate career.
• For the two games this weekend Gneiting is 5-for-8 with a homer, double, three RBI, four runs scored and stolen base.
• As a team Rice is hitting a combined .384 (28-of-73) against the Jaguars with a .658 slugging percentage.
• On Saturday the Owls tallied a season high 12 walks, the most for the team since drawing 13 against Marshall in the 2019 C-USA Tournament.
• Rice scored 13 runs, but also left 12 runners on base and was 6-of-26 (.231) when batting with runners on base.
• In his last two starts Mitchell Holcomb is 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA, and he has 13 strikeouts without allowing any walks in a combined 14.2 innings.
Finale 1 PM Sunday
The same teams conclude the weekend series on Sunday. First pitch against the Jaguars is set for 1 pm at Reckling Park.
Owls Get Offensive 2.0
Less than 24 hours before Rice scored 14 runs on 17 hits in the Friday night series opener. The Owls were back on the offensive in Saturday's second meeting, pushing across 13 runs on 11 hits, highlighted by a pair of home runs. Bradley Gneiting blasted his team-leading fourth homer in the bottom of the first inning. Newcomer Hal Hughes slugged his first Rice round-tripper as the team batted around in a five-run seventh inning.
The big inning was the key for Rice Saturday, and the Owls had two of them. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth the Blue & Gray batted around for six runs on two hits. The Owls were able to take advantage as Southern walked five in the inning. Rice plated a run in the sixth before adding five in the seventh for the baker's dozen runs on the day.
Holcomb Sound & Solid.
Before Rice could breakaway in the fifth inning the first half of the contest was a tight 1-1 duel. Owl graduate transfer Mitchell Holcomb posted another sound and solid outing to keep Southern in check. The right-hander allowed just two runs on eight hits while registering a season-high nine strikeouts and no walks in 7.0 innings of work - his second straight start to complete 7.0 frames.Relievers Drake Greenwood and Micah Davis each had 1.0 inning in the 13-4 final.
For The Record
Rice improved to 10-8 on the season. Southern is now 5-12 overall.
Head Coach Matt Bragga Said
"Mitchell had another nice outing today like he had last week (vs. Northern Illinois)," Bragga said. "He's a good pitcher and already has so much experience. He did have some mistakes in the middle of the game but with Mitchell he knows how to right the ship. Some guys can't do that. Mitchell knows how to pitch.
"It's the same with hitting, and having that veteran experience just helps a lot," Bragga explained. "Bradley is a veteran guy who has improved so much since I got here. That home run he hit today was a big, big hit. He clubbed that one. I am excited to see Bradley doing what he's doing. He's a catalyst and a leader."
Notes & Stats
• Gneiting led all players with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. He drove in three runs, scored twice and his home run was the seventh of his collegiate career.
• For the two games this weekend Gneiting is 5-for-8 with a homer, double, three RBI, four runs scored and stolen base.
• As a team Rice is hitting a combined .384 (28-of-73) against the Jaguars with a .658 slugging percentage.
• On Saturday the Owls tallied a season high 12 walks, the most for the team since drawing 13 against Marshall in the 2019 C-USA Tournament.
• Rice scored 13 runs, but also left 12 runners on base and was 6-of-26 (.231) when batting with runners on base.
• In his last two starts Mitchell Holcomb is 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA, and he has 13 strikeouts without allowing any walks in a combined 14.2 innings.
Finale 1 PM Sunday
The same teams conclude the weekend series on Sunday. First pitch against the Jaguars is set for 1 pm at Reckling Park.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Holcomb, Mitchell (3-1)
L: Bohannon, J. (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Burgos, O 1 ; Moore, Z. 1 ; Nelson, W. 1
RBI: Moore, Z. 1 ; Nelson, W. 1 ; Hendricks, J 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Burgos, O 1 ; Porter, T. 2 ; Spears, T. 1
SB: Hendricks, J 1
HBP: Moore, Z. 1 ; Porter, T. 1
Batting:
2B: Becker, Nathan 1
HR: Gneiting, Bradley 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
RBI: Gneiting, Bradley 3 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Cruz, Antonio 2 ; Becker, Nathan 1 ; Walsh, Connor 2 ; Long, Justin 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bulman, Austin 1 ; Gneiting, Bradley 2 ; Comeaux, Braden 2 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 3 ; Edwards, Cade 1 ; Cruz, Antonio 1 ; Walsh, Connor 1 ; Long, Justin 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
SB: Gneiting, Bradley 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Long, Justin 1
HBP: Hoyle, Johnny 1 ; Walsh, Connor 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
3
H
2
RBI
1
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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Inf.
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