Rice University
Texas
Owls Play Tuesday Night At Texas
5/17/2021 8:33:00 PM | Baseball
Start Time Set For 6:30 PM
Game 54 | at Texas, Tuesday, May 18, 6:30 pm
Location: UFCU Disch-Falk Field; Austin
Rice Game Day Program: Online
TV: Longhorn Network
Watch Online: Here
Listen Online: Audio
Live Stats: Here
TV Broadcast On The Longhorn Network
The game at Texas is scheduled for a live broadcast on The Longhorn Network. Broadcasters Lowell Galindo (play-by-play) and Greg Swindell (analysis) have the call Tuesday night.
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.
Did You Know?
Tuesday's clash is Rice's first trip to UFCU Disch-Falk Field since 2019. The Owls are 3-3 against Longhorns in the previous six games played in Austin dating back to 2014. There was a stretch from 1959 to 1977 in the old Southwest Conference where the Owls did not beat the Longhorns in Austin. Finally, on March 27, 1977 behind a sensational 13.0 inning pitching effort by Owl great Allan Ramirez, Rice beat Texas at the two-year old Disch-Falk Field by a score of 4-3 in 14 innings.
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 497-468-3. 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).
Rice's Possible Starting Pitcher
Coach Bragga will announce the starting pitcher of the Texas game at a later time.
Here's Who's Hot
The old veterans are really stepping up and producing in the home stretch! Braden Comeaux enters the Texas game on a .409 hitting pace (18-of-last-44) with a .490 on-base percentage and nine runs scored over the last 13 games... Over the last two C-USA weekend series totaling eight games three Owls, Will Karp, Bradley Gneiting and Hal Hughes, have stood out. Hughes is 10-for-24 (.417) with a grand slam and .pair of doubles for .625 slugging percentage. He's also maintained a .516 on-base average and scored six runs. Gneiting is batting .357 (10-for-28) with a .571 slugging percentage and nine RBI over the last eight games. Karp is 8-for-23 (.348) with seven RBI, seven walks, six runs scored and five steals to help the Owls go 5-3... Veteran Austin Bulman went 5-for-14 (.357) vs. Charlotte with a homer and a double (.643 SLG%)... Freshman Nathan Becker is 8-for-his-last-25 (.320) with two home runs and two doubles (.640 SLG%).
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 blue jersey, 'Rice' in white Old English and gray pants
4-3 in gradient white jersey
5-5 in pinstripes
3-3 in white jersey, 'Rice' in blue Old English
4-5 in all gray ('Rice' in blue Old English)
3-4-1 in blue top, 'Rice' in Old English and pinstripe pants
1-2 in gradient blue jersey with white pants
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
Previously: Owls Defeat Charlotte Sunday To Split C-USA Series
HOUSTON — After the Rice baseball team jumped on the scoreboard for six runs in the bottom of the first inning, inclement weather in the Houston area forced an early conclusion to Sunday's Conference USA contest vs. Charlotte making the 6-0 score after 4.5 innings stand as the final outcome... The game entered a lightning/weather delay in the bottom of the fifth inning with the Owls batting and holding a 6-0 lead. The teams were not able to return to the field for the remainder of the day. Charlotte completed its five offensive innings, making it an official league game... Rice improved to 23-29-1 overall and 11-20-1 in C-USA games. Charlotte is now 37-18 on the season and 24-8 in conference... Keeping a watchful eye that an inclement weather system was approaching the Houston area, Rice dutifully moved the game from its originally scheduled 12 noon start and had the first pitch at 10:33 am. The game went into the weather delay at 12:17 pm... Early morning hours or not, Rice was quick to light up the scoreboard. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning freshman designated hitter Nathan Becker beat a shifting Charlotte defense with a hard single to an open left side of the infield. Two runs were in, but the Owls weren't quite finished. Freshman Guy Garibay drew a walk to reload the bases, this time for graduate transfer Hal Hughes. Hughes launched the first pitch he saw over the wall in left for a grand slam home run. His third round-tripper of the year extended the Rice lead to 6-0 after just one inning... Though not as flashy as the grand slam blast, senior pitcher Alex DeLeon ended up posting a sound and solid outing in his first start of the year. The right-hander from Lago Vista, Texas, scattered three singles and a walk and struck out two while pitching a season-long 5.0 scoreless innings. A reward for the steady mound work when his team needed him is that DeLeon officially gets credit for a pitching complete game shutout.
* Rice and the No. 18 ranked 49ers split the four-game weekend series 2-2.
* As a team the Owls hit .304 with five home runs for the four games. Senior Braden Comeaux went 6-for-13 (.462) with a .588 on-base percentage.
* Hal Hughes' grand slam was the team's second of the season and the first since Connor Walsh vs. Southern om March 19.
* The Owls' pitching staff has posted six shutouts this season.
* Rice is now 12-7 in its all-time series vs. Charlotte.
The Deal On Steals
Almost under the radar is that Rice has posted 43 stolen bases (in 53 games) this season, the most for the program dating back to 2013. The Owls stole 44 bases that year in a 64-game season. In 2021 grad transfer Will Karp is 13-for-13 in his stolen base attempts and the squad is a steady 43-of-52 overall. Karp has the most steals by an Owl since Ryan Chandler swiped 13 bags in 2018.
Hail Seniors!
On Sunday vs. Charlotte a total of 14 Rice seniors, including some who did not get to have a game day presentation a year ago when the season was canceled due to Covid-19, were recognized in a pregame ceremony. The honorees included Aaron Beaulaurier, Rodrigo Duluc, Brayden Combs,
Braden Comeaux, Dominic Cox, Alex DeLeon, Cade Edwards, Roel Garcia, Bradley Gneiting, Mitchell Holcomb, Will Karp, Josh Larzabal, Ryan Rickett, Will West and Adam Gurin (manager).
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
