Louisiana Tech (28-13, 12-6 CUSA) will hit the road for a three game Conference USA series at Rice (18-23, 9-9 CUSA) this weekend.

Series Info:

Game Times: Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m.

Where: Reckling Park

TV: CUSA.tv (subscription required)

Radio: KNBB 97.7FM

RPI Watch:

Tech | 39

Rice | 136

Tech Starting Pitcher Probables:

Friday: RHP Matt Miller (5-0, 2.95 ERA, 58 IP, 47 hits allowed, 23 BB, and 68 K)

Saturday: LHP Logan Robbins (3-2, 6.31 ERA, 45.2 IP, 59 hits allowed, 23 BB, and 39 K)

Sunday: LHP Logan Bailey (5-4, 5.88 ERA, 52 IP, 71 hits allowed, 20 BB, and 50 K)

Bulldogs Need Wins

After dropping a midweek contest to McNeese on Wednesday night, Louisiana Tech is in need of wins in a major way. With 14 games remaining in the regular season, Tech needs 38 or 39 wins before the conference tournament to put themselves in a good spot for a NCAA Regional. The Bulldogs need to take care of a Rice team that is certainly not the Rice team that has been to a regional in 23 of the last 24 years.

Scouting the Owls:

Matt Bragga is in his first season as the skipper of the Rice Owls. Bragga spent the previous 15 seasons as the head coach at Tennessee Tech. Rice enters this weekend’s series with Louisiana Tech coming off a sweep of Middle Tennessee.

Pitching Probables:

Friday: RHP Matt Canterino (5-4, 2.97 ERA, 66.2 IP, 47 hits allowed, 13 BB, and 76 K)

Saturday: LHP Evan Kravetz (3-2, 4.18 ERA, 56 IP, 44 hits allowed, 19 BB, and 77 K)

Sunday: TBA

Key Relievers:

RHP Kendal Jefferies (2-2, 3.23 ERA, 30.2 IP, 30 hits allowed, 7 BB, and 29 K)

RHP Blair Lewis (2-0, 4.56 ERA, 23.2 IP, 29 hits allowed, 2 BB, and 14 K)

RHP Garrett Gayle (0-2, 5.46 ERA, 28 IP, 31 hits allowed, 13 BB, and 30 K)

Dunlap Leading Most Offensive Rice Team in Years:

Rice has been known for its pitching for the last 15 years. However, in 2019, the Owls offense has been quite potent. Andrew Dunlap has certainly done his part. The right-handed hitting designated hitter is hitting .329 with 11 home runs and 49 RBI. Dunlap has 19 RBI in his last 13 games.

Statistical Comparison (Tech | Rice):

Batting Average: .285 | .278

Slugging Percentage: .440 | .424

On-Base Percentage: .377 | .379

Home Runs: 41 | 37

Runs per Game: 6.8 | 6.5

ERA: 4.49 | 5.09

WHIP: 1.42 | 1.44

Strikeout to Walk Ratio: 2.44 | 2.59

Fielding Percentage: .974 | .957

SB per Game: 1.3 | 0.3

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