SMHS BASEBALL
Leaving your hometown for a new place in an environment that is on the opposite side of the spectrum isn’t easy.
But for Kutter Gage Webb, a San Marcos High School graduate and former Texas State baseball player, the opportunity to play at Rice and help rebuild their program was the right choice for him.
“Transferring from Texas State and the hometown school, obviously wasn’t easy,” Webb said. “But God had a plan for me and he put me in the right position. Now I’m here at Rice and having a lot of fun while I’m playing baseball here.”
Webb has found his way into the Rice starting lineup, having started in 21 games for the Owls this season with a batting average of .318.
Though Webb’s lone season at Texas State was during a redshirt year, he ended up learning more about the game, which has translated his success at Rice.
“Redshirting at Texas State I didn’t think was a good thing at first,” Webb said. “But looking back at the big picture. I think it helped me a lot just watching people play and learning a lot just from the bench part of it. Going on all those road trips, seeing a full 56 games of just learning and watching, I think that helped a lot.
“Then coming over here to Rice, it was my time to go. I’ve watched, learned and I’ve been kindled up for a while. It was time to get out the candle and go play. So it was a good learning experience.”
One of the reasons Webb transfered to Rice is Owls Head Coach David Pierce.
After coaching at Texas for eight seasons, Pierce was briefly on the Texas State coaching staff as an assistant before being hired at Rice in March, where he immediately took over the program.
The brief stint at Texas State allowed both Webb and Pierce to form a connection so when the San Marcos graduate jumped into the transfer portal, Rice was at the top of the list.
“Leaving Texas State was just a kind of mutual agreement,” Webb said. “Then I got in the transfer portal and you know how crazy that can get, but called Coach Pierce up and because he was a mentor for me at Texas State while I was going through the red shirt freshman season.
“Called him up and he said, ‘Would you want to play for the Owls?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir, absolutely.’ He pulled some strings and got me in here. Now it is just playing ball for a good coaching staff and trying to turn rice around to get back to where they were,” Webb said.
On playing for Pierce, Webb enjoys learning from the former Texas coach and knowing what he can do to become a better player.
“He’s going to tell you the truth, whether you like it or not, and that’s kind of what I like,” Webb said. “I want to know the truth, and that just makes you a better ball player. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything.
“He’s just a good mentor and he’ll tell you when you do good, but he’ll for sure tell you when he knows you can do better. I think that the best way to go about coaching is being a little tough on your players, but also loving them when they do good.”
Along with having his college mentor as a head coach, Webb has also enjoyed the staff at Rice.
“The structure is really good here and I think it fits the players’ routine,” Webb said. “We’re always in a routine. You know what you’re going to do at practice, and I think that just helps the players get in a routine.
“When you’re in a routine, it’s a lot easier to just go out there and perform instead of thinking about what I got to do, what are we doing today and all that stuff along the line. So, I just think the routine and the structure is really good here and the coaching staff is amazing. They have a lot of knowledge about the game.”
But switching colleges, especially ones that are vastly different from one another is a challenge in itself, which Webb quickly found out.
“Texas State was really fun,” Webb said. “You had a blast in everything you did. So you come to Rice, now you have a really strict structure on classes to attend, where to be at and what time. It’s a lot more mature over here and you have to grow up quickly. You have to just be a student athlete and the student is a big part of Rice University. But it’s a great institution with a great degree that you have to earn for sure.”
One of the biggest challenges Webb has faced off the field is time management with Rice being notoriously strict on their high academic standards.
“The classes are a little more challenging here,” Webb said. “We have great academic advisors, and they’ll get you a tutor or somebody to help you whenever you need it, no matter what time it is. They get that we’re really busy, but I think just figuring out a structured schedule was the biggest difference between here and Texas State.
“I’ve overcome it pretty well, with help from the academic advisors office, and it’s just emphasizing the student in the student athlete part is huge.”
Along with conquering academics, Webb has also conquered the baseball diamond at Rice.
In 21 games for the Owls, Webb has earned a batting average of .321 with 18 RBIs. During the Owls season-opener against Northwestern, Webb was able to accomplish a feat that he had only done once at San Marcos High School. Hit a home run over the fence which marked his first college baseball hit.
“It was opening day, so you know, the juices were flowing a lot,” Webb said. “My first at-bat. I had a really good at bat, but didn’t get a hit and that’s just baseball. But went up there to the second at-bat, just trying to hit the ball hard somewhere, and it happened to go over the fence.
“For your first collegiate hit to be a home run it was special. I only hit one home run in high school at San Marcos, so I’m not really used to it, but it was super cool, and the energy after that was unreal. I’ve just been trying to build off of that and keep it going.”
As the Owls approach conference play this weekend, Webb is confident his team’s style of play will help the program compete in the American Conference this year.
“This team is a bunch of good kids and they are real gritty,” Webb said. “I wouldn’t say we were the most talented in any aspect, but we’re going to go out there and we’re going to play as hard as we can. It’s just going to be a hard-nosed brand of baseball. We’re going to try to get it done, and it puts us in a spot to win the game. So I think we’ll have a really good showing in the American.”
