Final Set of Home Games Opens with Louisiana

Rice will wrap up its 2022 home schedule this week with a five-game homestand that opens with a pair of games against Louisiana. First pitch is set for 6:30 each night.

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End of an Era
This week's five games will the final ones played on natural grass at Reckling Park as Rice University has approved plans to replace the natural grass field with a state-of-the-art Act Global TM NR34 synthetic turf playing surface in time for the opening of drills in the fall of 2022. The renovation of the 23-year-old facility's playing surface was made possible by a lead gift from former Owl and World Series champion Anthony Rendon and his wife Amanda, through their foundation Husky Owl, along with support from Rice alumni JC and Jen Kneale, the RBI Club and Rice University. Texas- based sports field construction company Ryan-Sanders Sports Services, (RS3 Turf) will be the installer for the project. Rice will become the RS3 Turf signature NCAA Division I baseball field featuring its new NR34 system manufactured by Act Global. Features of the NR34 system include a natural ball bounce, reduced infill splash, and a ball pace that closely simulates a natural grass playing surface. The feature infill will be an organic Brockfill (wood chips as opposed to rubber) specifically designed to reduce surface heat in the summer. A Brockpad will also be featured to help reduce surface impact and promote player safety. RS3 (parent company Ryan Sanders) has been based in Texas for the past 22 years.In addition to serving as the home field for five of the Owls' seven College World Series teams, Reckling Park has hosted 10 NCAA Regional, five NCAA Super Regionals, and a pair of Conference USA Championships since it first opened in 2000. The original field was renovated after the 2007 season to install an upgraded drainage system that vastly increased the facility's ability to withstand the impact of thunderstorms.

Pitching Matchups
Tuesday: Garret Zaskoda (0-1, 5.61) vs. RHP David Christie (1-0, 2.31)
Wednesday: TBA vs. TBA

Owl on the Hill
#38 Garett Zaskoda
6-0 195, So. Sealy, Texas
Making his first start of the year and first since 4/16/21 vs. Incarnate Word (18 straight relief appearances). Made four starts in 2021, with his best effort a midweek start at Texas A&M on 3/23/21. Tossed 5.1 shutout innings, allowing just one hit while walking four and striking out four in a 2-1 Rice win... Worked a season-high 3.2 innings vs. UTSA on 4/15 (3.2,5,1,1,0,2) and has three outings this year of at least three innings. Tied his career-high with four K's (in three innings) vs. Houston... Has worked at least an inning in 13 of 16 appearances.

Rice-Louisiana Did You Know?
The Owls and Ragin Cajuns have met a total of 30 times overall, with Rice leading the series 17-13, with Louisiana having won the last seven.   They have played 25 times in the regular season (Rice leads 15-10) and five times over the course of two NCAA Regional appearances (1999 & 2015) with the Ragin Cajuns holding a 3-2 lead. They have met 21 times in Houston, with those games spread over five different venues (Rice Baseball Field, Cameron Field, The Astrodome, Reckling Park, and Minute Maid Park. The series began in 1974 when the Owls hosted Southwestern Louisiana at the Rice Baseball Field for three games followed by a pair in 1975 (Rice won four of five). They next met in 1982 at the Owls' new home, Cameron Field where the Owls won all five games between 1982 and 1996—including sweeping three games in 1993 when freshman Jose Cruz Jr. was 3x10 with a double and two RBI. In 1999, the two schools advanced to the inaugural Super Regional round of the NCAA championship, and the Owls, who were ranked No. 1 heading into the postseason, needed to find an alternate hosting location as Cameron Field had already been demolished to make way for Reckling Park. While it had not been available for the regional round, the Astrodome was available the following week and become the first major league park to host a portion of the NCAA tournament. Rice dropped the opening game but came back to win the next two and advance to its second College World Series. The series made its debut at Reckling Park in 2002, the first of five games through 2020 (Rice leads 3-2).   The schools also met twice in the 2015 Regional hosted by Houston at Cougar Field. The Cajuns defeated the Owls in their opening game 7-6 and then met again less than 12 hours after the Owls had outlasted Houston in 20-innings, with Rice falling 5-2. They met at their fifth venue (and second major league ballpark) in 2016 during the Astros Shriners' Classic with Louisiana taking a 4-2 decision.

Rice vs. Louisiana in Houston (14-7)
   3/3/2020 Reckling Park L    2 - 11
   2/28/2016 Minute Maid Park L    2 - 4
   6/1/2015# Cougar Field L    2 - 5
   5/29/2015# Cougar Field L   6 - 7
   4/5/2011 Reckling Park L    0 - 2
   5/12/2009 Reckling Park W    7 - 2
   3/19/2008 Reckling Park W    17 - 6
   2/22/2002 Reckling Park W    10 - 7
   6/6/1999* The Astrodome W    8 - 3
   6/5/1999* The Astrodome W    10 - 1
   6/4/1999* The Astrodome L    8 - 12
   3/1/1996 Cameron Field W    7 - 5
   2/10/1993 Cameron Field W    7 - 4
   2/9/1993 Cameron Field W   8 - 2 (7)
   2/9/1993 Cameron Field W   6 - 4 (7)
   2/22/1982 Cameron Field W   13 - 12
   2/24/1975       Rice Baseball Field W    16 - 6
   2/24/1975       Rice Baseball Field   L    1 - 3
   2/27/1974       Rice Baseball Field   W    8 - 4
   2/25/1974       Rice Baseball Field   W   3 - 1
   2/25/1974       Rice Baseball Field   W    8 - 7
#Regional *Super Regional

Solid Up the Middle
As a team, Rice leads C-USA with 36 double plays this season, thanks in large part to the play of Pierce Gallo who has started 46 of 47 games this season (27 at short and 19 at second base). He opened the year at short and then moved to second for 19 games when Hal Hughes returned from an injury and moved back to shortstop for the Charlotte series. Gallo leads Conference USA with 142 assists and is tied for second with 27 double plays.

Lights Out Linskey
Matthew Linskey is 10th in C-USA with four saves, which is two shy of the Owls' team total from 2021... He did not allow a run in his first 14 appearances and has struck out 43 in 20.2 innings (18.7 per nine innings)... He worked a career-best three innings at LA Tech on 4/10 and struck out eight (also a career-high and one less than the season-high for any Owl in 2021). On the season, he is holding opposing hitters to a .151 batting average (11x73). Opposing hitters are hitting .156 (5x32) with runners on base.

Doubling Up
Owls hitters have 85 doubles in 47 games, 18 more than they totaled in 53 games last year.

Getting it Done in a Pinch
Rice pinch hitters are hitting .324 (12x37) the Owls' most pinch hits since they collected 19 in 2007 (19x57). Nathan Becker (4x6) leads the team. The last Owl to have four pinch hits in a season was Grayson Lewis (4x15). The last to have more than four was Keenan Cook, who was 5x9 in 2012.   On the other side of the diamond, Rice pitchers have held opposing pinch hitters to a .176 average so far (6x34).

Coming in Bunches
Rice has scored at least three runs in an inning 25 times in the last 31 games after doing it only six times in the first 16 games.

Quick Hits
• Nathan Becker 2x12 with an RBI at Charlotte... Leads the Owls with a .329 average and a .421 on-base percentage and is tied for third with a career-high 46 hits... Opened the season by reaching base in 26 games (the longest streak by an Owl since 2017) and has reached in 33 of his 36 starts while also going 4x6 as a pinch hitter, the most pinch-hits by an Owl since 2015.
• Jack Ben-Shoshan 0x1 in one game at Charlotte and also scored as a pinch-runner in a second game... Moved into the starting role in center vs. UTSA and singled in his first at-bat, breaking an 0-22 streak after singling in his first career at-`bat on 2/19. Hit safely in all three games vs. UTSA (4x12) along with his first two RBI and his fourth stolen base (tied for the team lead)... Has started five of the last six in center.
• Austin Bulman 3x12 with a double, a triple and an RBI at Charlotte... Leads the Owls in homers (9), RBI (35) extra-base hits (23), slugging percentage (.500) and total bases (92) and second with 12 doubles... Has hit in 21 of 24 conference games and has five of his seven multi-RBI games in C-USA action... Slammed a pair of homers at Marshall in his return to his home state. Owls' active career leader with 16 homers... Has three of the Owls' nine homers on the road...12-game hitting streak this year was the longest by an Owl since 2018.
• Antonio Cruz 2x5 with two doubles (career-best) and three RBI (tied career-best) after entering the game vs. Texas A&M CC... Has scored five runs in his last seven games.
• Justin Dunlap Made his first start since 3/12 at Southern Miss on 4/24 and was 1x3 with a walk... Started vs. Houston on Wednesday and was 1x5.
• Pierce Gallo 4x12 with two RBI and three doubles at Charlotte... Leads the Owls with a .316 average in C-USA games (30x95) and with nine steals (five in the last three games)... Became the second Owl this season with a pair of four-hit games when he was 4x5 vs. WKU on 4/30... Collected four RBI in the same game and leads the team with three games with four RBI (two of them in C-USA play)... Has driven in 29 runs in his last 32 games after driving in just one in the first 14.. Has started 27 games at short and 19 at second base.. Leads C-USA with 146 assists overall... Tied for 2nd with 27 double plays in all games.
• Guy Garibay Jr. 3x11 at Charlotte including his first road home run since his career opening series against Louisiana last season... Has gone 113 at-bats on the road without a homer since connecting for the first of his career at Louisiana on 2/28/21… Leads the team in hits (52), multi-hit games (15), doubles (13), walks (28) and runs (35) and tied for second with 31 RBI... All totals are career highs... Collected a career-best four hits vs. SFA and matched it the next night vs. Sam Houston... After hitting his first career homer at Louisiana on 2/28/21 he has hit his last nine homers at Reckling Park.
• Manny Garza 2x9 in three starts at Charlotte... Has hit in fi six of nine starts (13x29) since returning to action after missing 30 games with an injury... Hit his first career triple and added a double vs. Houston on 5/3... Started two of three at Southern Miss and threw out all three attempting to steal... Returned to the lineup vs. UTSA on 4/16 with a splash, collecting a career-high four hits (4x4), including his first career double.
• Johnny Hoyle Has made 13 starts this year (4 at 3B, 6 at 2B, 2 in CF, 1 at 1B). Three hits in a start vs. Sam Houston were his career-high.
• Justin Long 0x6 in three games at Charlotte, including two starts at third (three for the season)...Has hit in four of his last six starts (6x22)... 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 who was unable to regain his footing in time to hold the runners.
• Jack Riedel 3x7 with an RBI at Charlotte... Has started 14 of the last 18 at third... Has collected three hits in a game three times (tied for third on the team).
• Benjamin Rosengard Started at third vs. Houston on Wednesday and was 1x2 with a walk and a sac fly... Has an RBI in each of his last two starts... Nine starts this season (5 at third, 3 at second and one at short)...
• Aaron Smigelski 0x6 with three walks in two starts at Charlotte… Leads the team with eight multi-RBI games and is tied for second in RBI (31) and homers (6) ...Looking to become the first freshman to lead the Owls in RBI since Trei Cruz tied for the lead with 45 in 2018... Drove in a career-high five while going 3x5 vs. HBU on 4/5… Singled twice and drove in three runs in the Owls' 11-run fifth innings… Broke an 0x13 stretch with a double vs. A&MCC on 3/30... Collected a hit in 15 of the first 17 games of his college career (19x51), the first two as a pinch hitter and the last 13 as a starter... Slugged homers 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 at home this season.
• Connor Walsh 4x9 with a pair of homers and five RBI at Charlotte… Set career-highs for hits (4), runs (3), home runs (2) and RBI (5) on Saturday vs. Charlotte… Homers were his first in over a year and the second, which drew the Owls to within one at 14-13, was measured by StatCast at 466 feet.
• Drew Woodcox Tied for fifth on the team with six doubles and has eight extra-base hits in his last 17 games after collecting none in his first 13 games.

Quick Pitches
• Thomas Burbank Worked a career-best 3.2 innings in relief to close out the game at Charlotte on 5/6 (3.2,3,1,1,1,4). His four strikeouts were his most as a reliever. Made his first career Friday start vs. WKU on 4/29 and took the loss (2.2,2,2,2,2,3)… Picked up his first career win in a start vs. HBU on 4/5 (5,1,0,0,2,5) and came back five days later to work five innings in a start vs. LA Tech (5,7,3,3,0,2) to take a tough 3-1 loss.. Worked three innings in relief against Texas Tech on 3/11 and struck out a season-high four (3,2,1,1,1,4)... Made three starts on the weekend to open the year and started a pair of Sunday games (UTSA, @Southern Miss)... Also started three midweek games.
• Micah Davis Worked a season-high two innings vs. Houston on 5/3 (2,2,0,0,1,2) .
• Brandon Deskins Has made a career-high 20 appearances this season, including four starts… Second on the team with 50 strikeouts... Broke a four-game losing streak by picking up the win in relief vs. UTSA on 4/17, matching his season-high with 3.2 innings out of the pen while giving up one hit and fanning three... Worked a scoreless eighth in the win at Sam Houston on 4/12.
• Roel Garcia Third on the team with 44 strikeouts... Tossed two scoreless innings out of the pen at Sam Houston on 4/12... Worked a team-high 4.0 innings in relief vs. FAU on 4/2 (4,5,2,2,0,4) but was tagged with the loss... Picked up his first win of the year with three shutout innings in relief at Marshall on 3/26 (3,1,0,0,2,3)... Fanned six in two innings at LA Tech on 4/9... Opened the year with a relief outing at Texas and then made four weekend starts… Struck out a career-high nine in four innings in a start vs. Texas Tech on 3/12 (4,2,2,0,1,9).
• Mark Perkins   Worked a career-best four innings in relief at Charlotte on 5/7 (4,3,2,2,2,1) Pitched two scoreless innings in relief vs. UTSA on 4/16 and has allowed just three runs over his last 13.0 relief innings (eight appearances).. Made his second start at Sam Houston on 4/12 (2.2, 2,1,1,4,0)... .Made his starting debut in his last outing (vs. A&MCC on 3/30: 2.1,1,3,3,3,2)... 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).
• Parker Smith Returned to the mound vs. Houston on 5/3 for his first start since 3/26 at Marshall (2,3,1,1,1,2) and then made a relief appearance at Charlotte on 5/7... Has started both games of the Silver Glove Series... Has made seven starts (three in the weekend rotation) and three relief appearances... Started game one of the Silver Glove on 3/8, but was not involved in the decision (3.1,4,5,3,1,2)... 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 on 2/23 in the first meeting between former Rice road roommates/Astros teammates José Cruz Jr. and Lance Berkman. Smith worked six shutout innings, allowed a pair of hits and struck out four while throwing just 56 pitches. Joined his head coach in earning his first career collegiate win in a 6-2 win... Smith prepped at Houston's Bellaire HS, the same school that sent Cruz to Rice in 1992.
• Tom Vincent Picked up his first career win in relief against Sam Houston on 3/16.
• Garret Zaskoda Worked a season-high 3.2 innings vs. UTSA on 4/15 (3.2,5,1,1,0,2) and has three outings this year of at least three innings. Tied his career-high with four K's (in three innings) vs. Houston... Has worked at least an inning in 13 of 16 appearances.

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