Rice University
Texas A&M
Aggies Close Out Lengthy Homestand
3/21/2022 6:15:00 PM | Baseball
First pitch at 7 p.m.
Rice wraps up an 18-game homestand by welcoming Texas A&M to Reckling Park. The Owls will unpack their road uniforms for the first time since February 23 this weekend when they open their 2022 C-USA road schedule at Marshall. Rice will start LHP Thomas Burbank (0-2, 7.71) and he will face the Aggies RHP Khristian Curtis (2-0. 0.98)
Broadcast On ESPN+
Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Garrett Jones (PxP) and Jason Metko (Color) on the call.
How to Follow:
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Online / Rice Mobile App
Live Stats
Rice-Texas A&M Did You Know?
Rice and Texas A&M last met at Reckling Park on March 10, 2020 in what would prove to be the final game for both schools that season as the sporting world shutdown days later due to the pandemic. The schools have met 17 times at Reckling since the stadium opened in 2000, with Rice leading the series 10-7. The Aggies hold a 6-5 lead in the regular season meetings at Reckling, but Rice's series lead comes from sweeping the Aggies in back-to-back Super Regionals in 2007 & 2008 to earn the Owls most recent trips to the College World Series. The schools split two games in the 2004 Regional at Reckling, with the Aggies eliminating the defending CWS champion Owls in a winner-take-all seventh game, 7-5. The schools have also played seven games at the other baseball stadium to open in Houston in 2000 (Minute Maid Park), with Rice holding a 4-3 lead in those contests.
Rice-Texas A&M at Reckling Park (10-7)
3/10/2020 L 2 - 6
3/20/2018 L 4 - 13
4/5/2016 W 4 - 3
6/1/2014# L 8 - 9 (7)
4/22/2014 L 5 - 6
4/12/2011 W 2 - 0
4/14/2009 L 3 - 7
6/8/2008# W 6 - 5
6/7/2008# W 9 - 7
6/9/2007# W 5 - 2
6/8/2007# W 3 - 2 (10)
3/20/2007 L 9 - 10 (11)
4/12/2005 W 5 - 3
6/6/2004# W 3 - 1
6/6/2004# L 5 - 7
4/8/2003 W 8 - 0
4/3/2001 W 5 - 1
#NCAA Championship
Bixby Family Head Coach José Cruz Jr.
One of the cornerstones of Rice's rise to prominence in college baseball, José Cruz Jr. was named the 22nd head baseball coach at Rice on June 9, 2021. Cruz returned to the Owls from the Detroit Tigers, where he was in his first season with the club as a coach, focusing on hitting instruction and working with the outfielders under manager A.J. Hinch. He is the first former Rice player to be named as the Owls head baseball coach since Harold Stockbridge (1949-52). Cruz's association with Rice began in 1992 when he chose to remain home and sign with the Owls after leading Houston's Bellaire High School to the top ranking in the country in 1992. The signing of the local standout, whose father, Jose Cruz Sr., remains one of the most popular players in Houston Astros history, was a turning point in legendary coach Wayne Graham's efforts to attract top talent to Rice. Cruz shared national freshman of the year honors from Collegiate Baseball and one year later was the consensus conference player of the year and first-team All-America. In his final season at Rice, Cruz hit .377 in 1995 with 16 home runs and 76 RBIs before Seattle made him the third overall pick in the 1995 MLB Draft. He made his major league debut with Seattle on May 31, 1997 but was traded to Toronto at the trade deadline. He went on to finish second to Nomar Garciaparra in the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year voting, slamming 26 homers and driving in 68 runs in a combined 104 games. He played the next five years with the Blue Jays, twice topping 30 home runs and he became a member of the 30-30 Club in 2001. He became a free agent after the 2002 season and signed with San Francisco where he helped lead the Giants to the playoffs, hitting .250 with 20 homers and 68 RBI and winning a Gold Glove. He went on to play five additional seasons with the Rays, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Dodgers and Padres before retiring as a member of the Houston Astros in 2008. While he was with the Astros, Cruz was reunited with a pair of former Rice teammates (Lance Berkman and Tim Byrdak), the first time three Owls were teammates at the major league level.
Cruz is aided by associate head coach and fellow former Owl, Paul Janish (Rice, 2004; fifth year), first year pitching coach Colter Bostick (St. Mary's 2014) and Trevor Putzig (Tenn Tech, 2018; second year).
Houston All the Way
Jose Cruz Jr. is one of three former Owls to have played baseball at the high school, college and Major League levels in Houston. Philip Barzilla was the first to do so, playing at Dulles HS and Rice before appearing in one game with the Astros in 2006. Cruz completed the list when he joined the Astros in 2008. Lance Pendleton (Kingwood HS) become the most recent, appearing with the Astros in 2011.
Tuesday's Pitcher
Thomas Burbank will make his fifth start of the year and second straight in a midweek assignment. Rice is 2-2 in his starts, including a 13-5 win over Sam Houston last Wednesday (4.2,9,3,2,13). He opened the year with Sunday starts at Texas and vs. Lamar and Harvard. He also made one relief appearance, working three innings and striking out a season-high four vs. Texas Tech...A sophomore on the field, but enrolled in MBA
online program after graduating from Texas.. NJCAA All-American, Region XIV South Pitcher of the Year, and a unanimous All-Regional selection after posting a 12-0 record, 1.88 ERA, 1.23 WHIP while fanning 79 in 71.2 innings at San Jacinto… Win total tied for fourth nationally...Originally signed with Texas but did not appear in a game with the Longhorns as a freshman in 2019…A member of the Texas Silver Spurs while enrolled at UT.
About This Time Last Year...
Rice won the last meeting in the series with the Aggies, 2-1 Blue Bell Park on 3/23/21. Guy Garibay Jr. was 3x4 at the plate before entering the game in the ninth to pick up his third save of the season. Garret Zaskoda made the start for the Owls and earned the win (5.1,1,0,0,4,4). Connor Walsh was 1x3 and scored a run, Justin Dunlap was 1x5 while Antonio Cruz and Justin Long were 0x4 in starting assignments.
In Good Company
Aaron Smigelski homered twice on Sunday, the second time in the last three games the freshman has homered in consecutive at bats in a game. The last Owl to have multiple games with at least two home runs in the same season was Anthony Rendon in 2010. Rendon had three, two-homer games during the regular season and hit three in a game against Rider in the Austin Regional on his way to winning the Dick Howser Trophy and being named player of the year by Baseball America and Rawlings Sporting Goods.
Explosive Middle of the Week
After scoring 56 runs in their first 16 games, the Owls scored 32 in midweek wins over SFA and Sam Houston. The 32 runs in two games were the most for the Owls in consecutive games since they scored 38 at UAB on May 18-19, 2017.
Coming in Bunches
Rice has scored at least three runs in an inning 10 times in the last five games after doing it only six times in the first 16 games.
Midweek Magic
Rice improved to 3-2 this year in midweek games with the wins over SFA and Sam Houston. The Owls were 5-1 last year in the non-conference midweek action.
Punchouts
Owls pitching topped double figures in strikeouts in three consecutive games last week (Houston 11 & Texas Tech 10 & 13) for the first time since they did it in each game of the series vs. Southern last year (March 19-21) and have reached double digits in five of the last six games. In their last 81innings (9 games), Owls pitchers have fanned 93.
Getting it Done in a Pinch
Rice pinch hitters are 9x21 so far this year and have already surpassed their total from 2021 (7x36) and are the most for the Owls since they had nine in 2019. The last season Rice reached double figures in pinch hits was when the Owls were 10x45 in 2015... Nathan Becker (3x4) leads the team, matching Ben Dukes (3x10) total as the team leader last year. On the other side of the diamond, Rice pitchers have held opposing pinch hitters to a .227 average so far (5x22).
Clearing the Bases
The Owls are hitting .355 with the bases loaded in the early going (11x31) including three grand slams. The Owls have hit their last five slams here at Reckling Park:
- Nathan Becker, 5th inning vs. SFA 3/15
- Guy Garibay Jr. 2nd inning vs. SFA 3/15
- Austin Bulman, 8th inning vs. Lamar 2/27
- Hal Hughes. 1st inning vs. Charlotte 5/16/21
- Connor Walsh, 8th inning vs. Southern 3/19/21
Rice's last grand slam on the road came on April 12, 2019 when Justin Collins and Andrew Dunlap each slammed one in the first inning at Charlotte.
Quick Hits
- Nathan Becker has reached base in a career-best 16 consecutive games, the longest streak by an Owl since Branden Comeaux's 20-game streak in 2019. Three times he has extended his streak with a pinch hit single.
- Jack Ben-Shosan has stolen three bases in as many attempts and is tied with Connor Walsh for the team lead.
- Austin Bulman is second on the team with 15 hits and 10 walks, tied for second with 10 runs and two homers and third with hits (14) and is second with 10 RBI and eight walks.
- Antonio Cruz has three hits in his last two starts (8 AB) and also scored four runs in his last three games.
- Pierce Gallo drove in a career-high four runs vs. Sam Houston and has RBI in six straight games (12 total).
- Guy Garibay Jr. Leads the team hits (26), runs (16), doubles (6) and RBI (18). Collected a career-best four hits vs. SFA and matched it the next night vs. Sam Houston... He is hitting .579 in his last five games (11x19)....After hitting his first career homer at Louisiana on 2/28/21 he has hit his last nine homers at Reckling Park.
- Johnny Hoyle Has collected six hits in nine at bats in the last three games along with four runs and three RBI and stolen bases... Three hits in a start vs. Sam Houston were his career high.
- Justin Long leads the team with 14 walks... Picked up his first multi-RBI game of the year vs. Sam Houston driving in a pair on a sac fly when his bases-loaded drive to center was snagged by the diving Bearkats centerfielder.
- Jack Riedel has hit in eight of his last 10.
- Aaron Smigelski has hit in 15 of his first 15 games of his college career (19x51), the first two as a pinch hitter and the last 13 as a starter... He has five homers in his last five games and homered in three consecutive at bats (his last vs. SFA and his first two vs. UAB)... His first homer against the Blazers was measured by StatCast at 444 feet, the longest by an Owl.
- Connor Walsh leads the Owls with five steals and is second with 12 walks.
- Drew Woodcox Has hit in six straight (.355, 11x31), scored eight runs, driven in seven... Six of his 11 hits have been for extra bases (4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR) not having an extra-base hit in his first 46 at-bats.
Quick Pitches
- Brandon Deskins Has worked thee innings in a start and relief appearance vs. the Aggies in his career... Made the start in the final game of the 2020 season, and threw two scoreless innings.. Also worked in relief in 2019, allowing an unearned run in one inning.
- Matthew Linskey Has not allowed a run in his first nine appearances and has struck out 20 in 8.2 innings,.. Tied for fourth in C-USA with three saves, including a career-long 1.2 inning effort vs. UAB in the conference opener.
- Mark Perkins Picked up his first career win with a career-long three innings against SFA on 3/15. After being touched for a pair of doubles and walking a batter without recording an out in his debut at Texas, he's allowed two runs in 7.2 innings (five appearances).
- Tom Vincent Picked up his first career win in relief against Sam Houston.
- Garrett Zaskoda Matched his career-high with four K's (in three innings) vs. Houston... Has worked at least an inning in eight of nine appearances.
Long Ball Numbers
Distance
- Aaron Smigelski 3/18 444
- Austin Bulman 2/27 413
- Jack Riedel, 3/8 410
- Guy Garibay Jr. 2/27 404
- Nathan Becker 3/15 403
HR Exit Velocity*
- Guy Garibay Jr. 2/27 104.4
- Nathan Becker 3/15 104.0
- Aaron Smigelski 3/18 103.0
- Austin Bulman 2/27 102.4
- Drew Woodcox 3/20 100.0
Familiar Branding
Jose Cruz Jr. made it a point of emphasis to return the Owls uniforms to the classic Old English format most fans immediately recognized. Because everything is tracked these days, here are the Owls 2022 W-L records while wearing the various uniform combinations:
- 1-1 in blue jersey, 'Owls' in white Old English and gray pants
- 1-1 in blue jersey, 'Owls' in white Old English and white pants
- 1-1 in blue jersey, 'Owls' in white Old English and pinstripe pants
- 0-2 in gray jersey, 'Rice' in blue Old English and gray pants
- 1-3 in pinstripes
- 2-7 in white jersey, 'Rice' in blue Old English, white pants
