Baseball On The Road For C-USA Rematch At UTSA

Rice Owls Baseball
Game 38 | at UTSA, Friday, April 23, 6 pm
Game 39 | at UTSA, Saturday, April 24, 2 pm
Game 40 | at UTSA, game two of Saturday DH, start time tba
Game 41 | at UTSA, Sunday, April 25, 1 pm
Location: Roadrunner Field; San Antonio
Rice Game Day Program: Online
Video Stream: CUSAtv
Listen Online: Audio
Live Stats: Here (all games this series)
Series vs. UTSA: Rice leads 24-11 since 1994; Complete series listing

The Rice baseball team (15-21-1 overall, 3-12-1 Conference USA) is back on the road for a second-straight weekend April 23-25. The Owls travel to C-USA West Division foe UTSA (15-15, 7-8) for a four-game series in San Antonio. Friday's series opener is set for a 6 pm first pitch at Roadrunner Field. Saturday's double-header of two seven-inning games begins at 2 pm. Sunday's series finale is scheduled for 1 pm.

Watch League Games Online Via CUSAtv
Conference USA league games are slated for a live online video broadcast via CUSAtv. The broadcast is a subscription 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.

Rice 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 13th season as the voice of the Owls.

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.

OWL IN
The Owl In logo represents the continued commitment of Rice Athletics' student-athletes, coaches, and staff to come together for positive change throughout our department, campus, and world. With increased efforts in education, policy development, and action as it relates to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, members of the Rice Athletics community will become better equipped to ensure we can fulfill our department's desire to be a more inclusive and welcoming place. To learn more about being Owl In, visit RiceOwls.com/OwlIn.

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. The Owls were 2-14 when the 2020 season came to an abrupt end, but consider Rice's (non-conference) schedule featuring road series at Texas Tech and UC Irvine, plus another four games against Texas and Texas A&M, was rated as the 11th-toughest in all of Division I. 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 489-460-3. Bragga is aided by assistant coaches Cory Barton (Memphis, 2007, third year), Paul Janish (Rice, 2004; fourth year), and Trevor Putzig (Tenn Tech, 2018; first year).

Possible Starting Pitchers
Coach Bragga announced Rice's starting pitchers for the first two games of the UTSA series the veteran right-handed duo of senior Roel Garcia (1-2, 5.45) and grad transfer Mitchell Holcomb (4-4, 7.20). Coach Bragga will announce the remaining starters at a later time.
• It may have taken a long time in finally arriving, but Roel Garcia (1-2, 5.45 ERA) is back in 2021 and working in his first full collegiate season since 2018. By design this year Garcia has gradually increased his work load. He pitched just 4.0 innings in his first two starts against HBU and Louisiana. He moved up 5.0 innings against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 6 and had 4.0 frames in a 7-inning game vs. UTSA in C-USA's opening weekend (March 27). A week ago at Old Dominion Garcia was tabbed for his first series-opening start of a C-USA weekend this year. This season Garcia has maintained a 5.45 ERA with 30 strikeouts and 12 walks in 36.1 innings. In 2020, Garcia had just one outing where he struck out three of the eight batters he faced in 2.0 innings at west coach power Cal Irvine. Things were looking up, but then the 2020 season came to an unexpected end and he had to replay the waiting game. The Deer Park, Texas, native is a veteran in his fifth year with the program, but he was sidelined all of 2019. Even without pitching in a single game in 2019, that did not stop the Toronto Blue Jays from selecting him in the 27th round of that year's MLB Draft. The 6-foot-4 right-hander had an improved second season of Division I baseball in 2018, finishing among the Rice staff leaders in starts (tied second), wins (tied third), innings (fourth), strikeouts (fifth) and opponents' batting average (fifth). He made 15 pitching appearances with 11 starts, including six times in C-USA league games. Garcia totaled 52.0 innings with starts against high-RPI teams Texas A&M, TCU, Southern Miss and Florida Atlantic (twice). He pitched at least 5.0 innings in a game six times. Garcia was tabbed to be a significant part of Matt Bragga's debut Rice season in 2019, but the big right-hander was lost for the year in a preseason practice in January.
• Mitchell Holcomb (4-4, 7.20 ERA) is a graduate transfer from the Ivy League (Penn) who is originally from Georgetown, Texas. Holcomb started the opening game of the 2021 season vs. HBU and due to a quirk in the schedule he wound up with the demanding assignment of starting three games in a 12-day stretch. In an earlier stretch of four starts he has maintained a 2.20 ERA, a .226 opponents' batting average and a 9.3-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio in a combined 28.2 frames. On April 1 against Middle Tennessee, Holcomb notched his and the staff's second complete game in as many weeks. By simply joining Rice he became one of the most experienced Division I pitchers on the Owl staff, already owning a total of 31 career appearances, including 28 starts, totaling 163.0 innings prior to Rice. In four years at Penn he maintained a 4.03 career ERA and averaged 7.8 strikeouts per 9.0 innings of work. Holcomb made two starts on the mound for the Quakers in abbreviated 2020 season totaling 13.0 innings. He fired 8.0 shutout innings scattering four hits and striking out eight for a road victory at Conference USA foe FIU. In the 2020 season he held opposing hitters to a composite .213 batting average. A highlight from earlier in his career was fanning 12 batters at Yale in 2018. The Texas native is a 2016 graduate of Meridian High School (located between Fort Worth and Waco). He was a two-time first team All-State selection who led the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back 2A state titles in 2015-2016.

Previously: Owls Drop Series Finale At Red Hot Old Dominion
NORFOLK, Va. — Blake Brogdon held Old Dominion in check for the final 6.2 innings, but it was not enough as Rice fell to ODU, 4-1, in the series finale last Sunday afternoon in Norfolk, Va... ODU took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning but Owls got it back in the second. Will Karp and Nathan Becker walked and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Hal Hughes. Ben Dukes then brought in Karp on a ground ball to tie the game. Old Dominion retook the lead in the second. Blake Brogdon then came in and after a leadoff double in the third inning, retired 10 consecutive Monarchs... However, in the sixth, ODU got to Brogdon. Three straight one out singles followed by a fielder's choice brought in two runs to extend its lead to 4-1. Rice had runners on base in five of the final six innings, but could not cut into the lead. Blake Brogdon held the Monarchs in check, pitching the final 6.2 innings, striking out four... Rice fell to 15-21-1 overall and 3-12-1 in Conference USA. Old Dominion improved to 27-7 overall and 13-3 in C-USA.
• Matthew Linksey made his first career start, throwing 1.2 innings.
• Blake Brogdon set down 10 straight Old Dominion batters from the third to the sixth innings.

Winning Is Always In Fashion
For the fashion-minded, Rice's 2021 W-L records while wearing the various uniform combinations is as follows:
2-1 in white jersey, 'Rice' in blue Old English
4-3 in gradient white jersey
1-1 in gradient blue jersey with white pants
1-1 in blue jersey, 'Rice' in white Old English and gray pants
3-4 in pinstripes
2-3-1 in blue top, 'Rice' in Old English and pinstripe pants
1-2 in all gray ('Rice' in blue Old English)
1-2 in gray "R" top
0-1 in blue top, 'Rice' in Old English and white pants
0-3 in gradient blue jersey with gray pants

Here's Who's Hot
Shortstop Hal Hughes enters the weekend with a season-long six-game hitting streak where he is 7-of-21 (.333) with a double, four RBI and three runs scored... Versatile OF/1B Bradley Gneiting is batting .409 (9-for-22) over the last six sames while grad transfer Will Karp is 6-for-15 (.400) with four RBI, four runs scored and three walks for a .500 on-base average... Senior Cade Edwards is batting a team-best .328 with seven home runs in 16 C-USA league games.

Preseason Accolades For Comeaux
Rice's Braden Comeaux was selected to 2021 Preseason All-Conference USA Baseball Team in the league's annual head coaches' poll, the C-USA office announced on Feb. 11. The Rice graduate who is playing with an added year of eligibility led the Owls in hitting (.349) and slugging percentage (.535) in 2020. He was also second on the on the squad in runs scored (7), on-base average (.404) and home runs (1) – all while playing in just ten of the team's 16 games during that abbreviated collegiate season. Comeaux reached base safely in eight of his ten games played and batted .333 with runners in scoring position. Comeaux has long-had the full attention of the C-USA head-coaches, but now his reputation is growing. On Feb. 10 he was one of just 48 players from across the country named to the preseason watch list for the prestigious 2021 Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award. From its headquarters in the DFW Metroplex, the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation has combined a passion for baseball and providing youngsters with the incentive and opportunity to pursue a college education for more than 25 years. At the conclusion of the season one position player will be presented with the foundation's Slugger Award. Since its inception in 2017 the award is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity.

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 22 years. Here's a closer look at the country's winningest programs from 1999-2020 (note: this listing will not be updated to include games played in 2021):
Team              Years   Wins Loses Ties   PCT
Florida State        22   1019   391   1   .723
North Carolina       22   948   406   1   .700
LSU                  22   950   432   6   .687
South Carolina       22   938   438   0   .682
Coastal Carolina   22   896   418   2   .682
Rice                 22   924   435   2   .680
Miami (Fla.)         22   894   421   3   .679
Oral Roberts         22   849   416   0   .671
Cal St. Fullerton   22   881   434   0   .670
Texas                22   894   450   1   .665
Oregon St.           22   811   422   3   .657
Louisville           22   866   453   1   .656
Arizona St.          22   805   422   2   .656
Georgia Tech         22   858   456   1   .653
Virginia             22   840   446   3   .653
Florida              22   888   474   2   .652
Clemson              22   891   478   1   .651

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