Silver Glove Returns on Tuesday

Rice's 17-game homestand passes the halfway mark with a familiar foe as the Houston Cougars step in for game one of the 2022 Silver Glove Series. First pitch is set for 6:30.

How to Follow:
Watch: CUSAtv
Listen: Online / Rice Mobile App
Live Stats

Rice Play-By-Play Audio On The Web
Every Rice baseball game is scheduled for a live audio broadcast on the Internet at RiceOwls.com or by using the Owls Mobile App. Tune in to the pregame show 10 minutes before first pitch. Jason Metko will man the microphone this weekend as JP Heath will be on the road with the Rice men's basketball team.

Live Stats Links Online at RiceOwls.com
Links to live play-by-play text and statistics from every game, home and away, are posted on RiceOwls.com. Look for the links on the Rice Athletics front page, the weekly series preview, as well as the baseball schedule page.

Follow The Tweeting Rice Owls
The official Rice baseball Twitter account is @RiceBaseball while the Rice Athletics department is @RiceAthletics. Twitter is perhaps the fastest way to get weather-related changes to the schedule/updated start times.

Rice-Houston Did You Know?
The schools first met on the baseball field in 1948The Cougars opened Reckling Park on 2/8/00 by defeating Rice 6-2, but Rice leads the overall series here 32-9. The schools have met here 38 times in the regular season, twice in NCAA Regional play and once during the Conference USA tournament.

Silver Glove Series
The Silver Glove series returns this season after a two-year hiatus due to the schedule disruptions during the pandemic. Rice and Houston began competing for the Silver Glove in 1998 and Rice has won the series in 17 of the previews 21 seasons while posting 61-28 record. The series has seen 59 of the 89 games decided by one run, with Rice holding a 30-29 advantage. After Houston left Conference USA prior to 2014, the three-game series had been played with home games on each campus and the final game at Constellation Field through 2019. -

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.

Starting Pitchers
#26 Parker Smith (6-3, 230, Freshman Houston, Texas)
Worked 0.2 innings in relief on Sunday after making his second career start vs. Baylor on 3/2. (4.2,8,6,1,1,2)... Made his collegiate debut in relief against Texas on 2/20 (2,2,1,1,0,0) and followed that with a midweek start at HBU in the first meeting between former Rice and Astros teammates José Cruz Jr. and Lance Berkman. Smith worked six shutout innings in which he allowed a pair of hits and struck out four while throwing just 56 pitches. Smith prepped at Houston's Bellaire HS, the same school that sent Cruz to Rice in 1992.

Quick Hits
• Aaron Smigelski has hit in his first seven collegiate games (9x21), the first two as a pinch hitter and the last five as a starter.
• Austin Bulman leads the Owls with 9 RBI and seven walks. He has reached base in 10 of 12 games.
• Guy Garibay Jr. has hit eight of his eight career homers at Reckling Park, He hit his first career homer at Louisiana on 2/28, hit five at home the remainder of 2021 and has kept up the streak in 2022... He leads Owls in homers (3) and doubles (5) and his eight extra-base hits in the first 12 games are just five from his season total in 48 games as a freshman (6 homers and doubles, 1 triple).
• Nathan Becker is hitting .380 in his starts (8x21).
• Connor Walsh made his 2022 debut on Saturday has hit in five of six starts (.300, 6x20).
• Drew Woodcox has reached base in seven straight games.

Quick Pitches
• Matthew Linskey has not allowed a run in his first five appearances and has struck out the side in each of his last two appearances while converting his first two save opportunities. He has nine strikeouts in four innings this year.

C-USA Preseason Poll
Conference USA coaches made Southern Miss their pick to win the conference in the annual preseason poll. USM will host the conference tournament on May 25-29.
(first place votes in parentheses)
1. Southern Miss (6)
2. LA Tech (2)
3. Old Dominion (1)
4. Charlotte (2)
5. Florida Atlantic
6. UTSA
7. FIU (1)
8. Rice
9. WKU
10. Middle Tennessee
11. UAB

Bixbys Endow Head Coaching Position
When José Cruz Jr. is introduced before tonight, he will do so as the Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach thanks to an endowed gift by Bob and Betty Bixby. The endowment is the second for a Rice Athletics coaching position and one of the few endowed head baseball coaching positions at the Division I level of NCAA Baseball. The Dunlevie Family Head Football Coach endowment was created in 2018. In addition to the head coaching endowment, the Bixby's gift also includes a portion dedicated to an operational endowment to support priorities of the head baseball coach. The endowments are the latest gifts from the Bixbys. In 2007, they provided the lead gift for the Robert E. and Elizabeth W. Bixby Academic Center located in Tudor Fieldhouse and in 2016 funded the Bixby Batting Barn at Reckling Park.

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Nathan Becker

Austin Bulman

Guy Garibay Jr.

Matthew Linskey

Aaron Smigelski

Parker Smith

Connor Walsh

Drew Woodcox

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