Rice University
UAB
Owls Face UAB On The Road This Weekend
5/6/2021 6:56:00 PM | Baseball
First Pitch Friday Set For 6 PM In Birmingham, Ala.
Game 46 | at UAB, Friday, May 7, 6 pm
Game 47 | at UAB, Friday, May 8, 1 pm (Game 1 of DH)
Game 48 | at UAB, Saturday, May 8, tba (Game 2 of DH)
Game 49 | at UAB, Sunday, May 9, 12:30 pm
Location: Young Memorial Field; Birmingham, Ala.
Rice Game Day Program: Online
Friday & Sunday Video Stream: CUSAtv
Saturday Video Stream: ESPN+
Listen Online: Audio
Live Stats: Here (all games this series)
Series vs. UAB: Rice leads 30-14 since 2006; Complete series listing
Watching The Games Online This Weekend
Note the update to this week's online broadcast schedule. The games Friday and Sunday are on CUSAtv, while the Saturday doubleheader is set for a webcast on ESPN+.
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.
Update To Next Week Schedule
The May 14 game vs. Charlotte (Friday) has been changed to a new 1 pm start time. The new time is to accommodate the University's commencement scheduled for later that evening. The C-USA league game is scheduled for nine innings, and there are no other changes to the weekend's baseball schedule at Reckling Park. The Owls and 49ers will play a doubleheader on Saturday (May 15) starting at 1 pm. Sunday's series finale is set for 12 noon. Tickets are still available for purchase to next weekend's games, the Owls' final home series at Reckling Park. To purchase tickets, please visit Ticketmaster.com or call the Rice Ticket Office at (713) 348-6957.
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 492-465-3. 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 Pitchers
Coach Bragga announced Rice's starting pitchers for the first two games of the UAB series as the veteran right-handed duo of grad transfer Mitchell Holcomb (5-4, 6.71) and senior Roel Garcia (1-4, 5.76). Coach Bragga will announce the remaining starters at a later time.
• Mitchell Holcomb (5-4, 6.71 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 string of four starts he 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 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.
• It may have taken a long time in finally arriving, but Roel Garcia (1-4, 5.76 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). At Old Dominion Garcia was tabbed for his first series-opening start of a C-USA weekend this year. Two weeks ago on the road at UTSA he took all the necessary steps of preparing for a start, but then had the hard luck having it changed due to an extended lightning delay before he took the mound. This season Garcia has maintained a 5.76 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 13 walks in 45.1 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.
Series History
Rice leads the all-time series vs. UAB 30-14, including five wins in the last seven meetings. The Owls hold a narrow 10-8 edge over the Blazers when playing at Young Memorial Field. Due to the cancellation of all league games in 2020 because of Covid-19, this weekend's series is Rice's first trip to Birmingham since 2017.
Here's Who's Hot
Veteran Austin Bulman enters the weekend hitting .444 (8-of-last-18) with two home runs, a double, six RBI and three runs scored... Versatile OF/1B Bradley Gneiting is batting .375 (6-for-16) over the last four games... Keep an eye on freshman catcher Justin Long, who has hit safely in each of his last three at bats.
Winning Is Always In Fashion
For the fashion-minded, Rice's 2021 W-L records while wearing the various uniform combinations is as follows:
4-3 in gradient white jersey
2-2 in white jersey, 'Rice' in blue Old English
1-1 in blue jersey, 'Rice' in white Old English and gray pants
4-5 in pinstripes
3-4 in all gray ('Rice' in blue Old English)
2-3-1 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 Drop Series Finale vs. Southern Miss
HOUSTON — The Rice baseball team dropped the series finale to No. 22 Southern Miss, 8-1, Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park... After a scoreless first inning, Southern Miss grabbed an early lead in the second, scoring four times on four hits and an error. The Owls got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Austin Bulman led off with his fifth home run of the year, sending it over the left field wall... In the third, USM led off with three straight singles to load the bases. They then scored on a wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly knocked starter Guy Garibay out of the game. Blake Brogdon came on to strand the runner at second. Southern Miss added another run in the fourth... Rice threatened in the fifth inning. With one out, Hal Hughes and Justin Long both singled up middle, putting runners on first and second. But Cade Edwards fouled out to the catcher and Johnny Hoyle hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning... Southern Miss added a run in the sixth to complete the scoring... Rice falls to 18-25-1 overall and 6-16-1 in Conference USA. Southern Miss improves to 28-14 overall and 15-7 in C-USA
• Guy Garibay made his first career start on th mound, going 2.1 innings.
• Bulman was 2-for-4 on the day, his seventh multi-hit game of the year.
• Bulman now has a season-high five-game hitting streak.
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
