The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Rice
No. 14 Baseball preview: Rice
04.08.2019 | Baseball
Longhorns open five-game home stand against Rice.
No. 14 TEXAS (21-13) vs. Rice (14-20)
April 9, 2019
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series: Texas leads, 228-58-2
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
TUESDAY—Texas TBA vs. Rice TBA
GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP—Texas begins a five-game homestand with a midweek game against Rice Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns won the first match-up with the Owls, 11-4, at Reckling Park on Feb. 19. Rice took a 1-0 lead before Texas scored five in the third and three in the fourth. Six Longhorns had multiple-hits in the game. Relievers Cole Quintanilla, Donny Diaz and Kamron Fields combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings pitched.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—With Sunday's rain out, Texas and Baylor split two games in Waco over the weekend. The Longhorns rallied from down 5-0 to win Game 2, 8-6. Texas is led offensively by a pair of freshman, Eric Kennedy and Lance Ford. Kennedy is batting .286 with a team-high 31 runs scored. Ford is batting .280 with 16 runs scored and seven RBI.
PIERCE AND THE OWLS—Texas head coach David Pierce served nine seasons as an assistant coach at Rice from 2003-11, helping lead the Owls to the 2003 National Championship and four College World Series appearances. Since becoming a head coach in 2012, Pierce has faced his former employer 12 times and has an 8-4 record. At Sam Houston State from 2012-14, Pierce faced Rice annually and went 5-2 with a win in the 2012 NCAA Regional at Reckling Park. In his first season at Texas, Pierce and the Longhorns hosted Rice for four games to open the season and split the series.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE—Through eight weeks of the season, the Longhorns have not produced big numbers at the plate. But what they have done is show incredible patience, with the 10th-most walks in the NCAA this season (185). Duke Ellis has been one of the nation's best at taking a free pass, ranking sixth in the country with 34 walks in 34 games played.
YOUNG GUNS—Head Coach David Pierce's 2019 pitching staff is likely the youngest he has ever head, featuring seven freshmen (one redshirt) and five sophomores (one redshirt). All 12 of the underclassmen pitchers have been called upon several times this season and seven of Texas' nine pitchers to have started a game are underclassmen. The true freshmen have accounted for 89 1/3 innings pitched and 14 starts, while the underclassmen as a whole have logged 217 innings out of the team's 305 2/3 total innings pitched.
EFFECTIVELY WILD—The young pitching staff has had its ups and downs this season, with the most walks (147) and wild pitches (45) in the Big 12 Conference. The Longhorns have had two games in which they struck out 14 batters. On the other side, Texas pitching walked 10 against UTSA and there have been three games that saw Longhorn pitchers throw four wild pitches.
WILDLY EFFECTIVE—The Longhorns' weekend rotation is anchored by two pitchers who have arguably been the most consistent arms on the staff. Bryce Elder has been outstanding, with a 2.40 ERA and a team-high 49 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings pitched. Blair Henley started slow but with his last six starts, has lowered his ERA to 3.86. He is second on the team with 35 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings pitched. Freshman Coy Cobb was lights out against Xavier on March 31, pitching seven innings and allowing just one earned run with eight strikeouts.
NEXT UP—Texas continues its five-game home stand at UFCU Disch-Falk Field by hosting Kansas State for a three-game series this weekend. The Longhorns will end the home stand with a midweek contest against Lamar on March 16 at 6:30 p.m.
PACKING THE HOUSE—This season, Texas has set and re-set attendance records at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Longhorn fans showed up in droves to see Texas host Texas A&M on April 2, establishing a new regular season record crowd of 7,952. The April 2 crowd topped the previous regular season record of 7,879, set earlier in the season against Texas Tech (3/16). The total attendances for the three-game series against LSU (22,434) and Texas Tech (22,729) are also program records. Texas ranks sixth in the country, and first in the Big 12, in total attendance (121,512) and average attendance (6,076) this season.
RANKED—Texas remains in the national rankings heading into the ninth week of the season. The Longhorns' rankings are: D1Baseball (#14), Baseball America (#9), NCBWA (#13), USA Today Coaches Poll (#17) and Collegiate Baseball (#26).
WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS—Five Texas players have received weekly awards from the Big 12 Conference this season, including a pair of multiple-time honorees – Bryce Elder (Pitcher, Feb. 18), Coy Cobb (Newcomer, Feb. 25), Austin Todd (Player, March 4), Eric Kennedy (Newcomer, March 4), Masen Hibbeler (Player, March 18), Bryce Elder (Pitcher, March 25) and Eric Kennedy (Player, March 25).
MARCH MADNESS—During the month of March the Longhorns tested themselves against some of the best teams in the country, playing 15 games against nationally ranked teams. The Longhorns swept LSU, won the series over Texas Tech, dropped series on the road at Stanford and TCU and split a pair of midweek games against Arkansas. Texas finished the month of March with a 13-8 record that included eight wins over ranked teams.
PIERCE TO THE POSTSEASON—Head Coach David Pierce has reached the NCAA postseason in each of his seven seasons as a head coach at Texas, Tulane, and Sam Houston State. Last season marked the skipper's first trip to the College World Series as a head coach. Pierce advanced to the College World Series four times as an assistant coach at Rice, including winning the 2003 National Championship.
PRO PARKS—Texas plays a pair of regular season games in professional ballparks this season. The Longhorns played Incarnate Word at Nelson Wolff Stadium, home of the Triple-A San Antonio Missions, on March 26. Texas plays at Whataburger Field, home of the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 30. Also for the 19th time, the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship will be played in Oklahoma City. The Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers, plays host to the event.
DRAFTED—Texas saw five players selected in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft: INF Kody Clemens (Tigers, 3rd round, No. 79), RHP Nolan Kingham (Braves, 12th round, No. 354), RHP Chase Shugart (Red Sox, 12th round, No. 370), LHP Josh Sawyer (Cubs, 16th round, No. 488) and INF Andy McGuire (Blue Jays, 28th round, No. 836).
WATCH 'EM—All but one Texas home game will be broadcast on Longhorn Network this season. The team of Lowell Galindo, Keith Moreland, and Greg Swindell will return to the booth to call the action.
HEAR 'EM—In partnership with IMG-College, Texas games will be broadcast on the Austin Radio Network, primarily on 104.9 The Horn and AM 1260. Craig Way handles primary play-by-play duties alongside Roger Wallace and Quan Cosby.
