Rice Rolls into Austin before Returning to Reckling to Host Herd

The Owls attempt to notch rare win versus Longhorns on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

After taking two out of three games from Southern Miss in their first C- USA series of the season, Rice has another busy week in store with a top-10 battle in Austin on Tuesday, and their first home conference series of the year.

On Tuesday, the 8 th ranked Owls will be taking on 9 th ranked Texas in an in-state battle of baseball powers. Texas is coming off of taking 2 out of 3 games from Kansas St. this past weekend. The Longhorns have absolutely dominated the series with Rice, posting an all-time record of 214-46-2 against the Owls, including nine straight wins. The Longhorns eked out a 3-2 win last season at home.

The Owls will once again have their work cut out for them as they face a stacked Texas team, which has been firing on all cylinders, coming into the contest with a 22-8 record. Offensively a pair of sophomores leads the Longhorns: Bradley Suttle and Kyle Russell. Suttle leads the Big 12 with a .440 batting average, while also blasting eight home runs and driving in a team best 38 RBIs. Russell has been the power source for Texas, having already broken the single-season sophomore home run record by slugging 15 dingers thus far this season. With a .373 batting average and 37 RBIs and its clear that Russell is a very dangerous player at the plate. As a whole, the Longhorns are batting .340 as a team while having scored 234 runs.

Texas hasn’t simply out hit opponents though; they have shut them down with a very strong pitching rotation. Sophomore Austin Wood is the probable starter for Tuesday’s game and has had a solid season so far. Wood has started five games, but has done most of his work in relief, and has compiled a record of 3-0 with a 3.65 ERA in 37 innings of work. The sophomore will be a tough opponent for the Owls, having earned First-team Freshman All-American honors last season.

Rice should be able to do some damage to the southpaw, though. The Owls have scored five or more runs in seven out of their last nine games and have been swinging the bat very well. The key for Rice, though, will be junior pitcher Chris Kelley who will be making the start against the explosive Longhorn lineup.

Kelley will be making his seventh start of the season and has posted a 0-1 record with an ERA of 4.62. Kelley has struggled though going for long outings, only throwing 25 1/3 innings in 7 appearances this year. He does a solid job mixing up his pitches and keeping hitters guessing, and will need to do so against Texas.

Prediction:
Despite having won 7 of their last 9 games, Rice’s pitching will be overmatched by the offensive firepower of the Longhorns and fall in a high scoring affair.

Rice returns home on Friday for a three-game series with Marshall. The Thundering Herd is 14-8 on the season and was swept this past weekend by Tulane in their initial CUSA series. Rice holds the all-time series advantage, having won all three previous match-ups between the two teams, including a 12-0 thumping last season.

Marshall has posted modest numbers on the season, batting .273 as a team, led by junior Matt Helm who is batting .323. Where the Herd is lacking offensively is power. Marshall has only 22 extra base hits on the year and has hit just 12 home runs.

The Marshall starting pitching rotation hasn’t been particularly impressive, but junior lefthander Brian Chrisman is having a strong year so far at 3-1 with a 2.43 ERA, while striking out 34 batters in 33 1/3 innings of work.

The real strength for the Herd has been its relief pitching, particularly senior Nick Wolle and sophomore Andrew Blain. Wolle and Blain have combined for a 4-1 record out of the bullpen in 21 appearances, only allowing eight runs in 31 innings of work, striking out 23 batters in the process.

Prediction:
Strong relief pitchers won’t do Marshall much good when they enter the game already trailing. The Thundering Herd is no better than an average hitting team, and aside from Chrisman, haven’t gotten much from their starting pitching. The Owls will bounce back from a loss to highly ranked Texas and take 2 out of 3 from Marshall, continuing their winning ways in early CUSA play.