Owls Welcome Roadrunners on Historic Weekend

Rice welcomes UTSA to Reckling for the opening of the final Conference USA home schedule on a weekend when the Owls will welcome back the members of the 2003 College World Series Champions for a pair of special events. Friday's opening game with has been moved up to 3 p.m. to avoid conflict with the formal reception on Friday evening. Members of the team and their families will also be the guests of honor at a pregame tailgate on Saturday all members of the team will be introduced on the field in pregame ceremonies before Saturday's 2 p.m. first pitch.

How to Follow:
Watch: CUSAtv
Listen: Online / Varsity Network JP Heath
Live Stats: Sidearm
Game Notes

Promotions
There are several themed promotions for this weekend. Fans will receive a replica 2003 Rice jersey t-shirt while supplies last. The following day fans will receive a jersey Koozie and a voucher for a replica 2003 CWS champion Coke bottle that will be distributed as fans leave the ballpark.

Home and Home
This weekend's series is the first to two between the schools during the C-USA regular season as they will meet again in San Antonio, May 3-6. The schools played a similar home-and-home weekend series format in 2021 while under CoVID protocols. The Roadrunners took three of four at Reckling while the schools split the four games in San Antonio.

Pitching Matchups

Friday: RHP Parker Smith vs. RHP Luke Malone (2-2, 1.67/1.11)
Saturday and Sunday: TBA vs. TBA

Owl on the Hill
#26 Parker Smith
6-4, 230 So. Houston, Texas
Making his sixth start of the year, all as the Friday starter... Third in C-USA with a 2.03 ERA and tenth with 26.2 innings... Rice is 3-2 in his starts...Earned his first win of the year over HCU on 3/10, 5-1 (5,5,1,1,3,4)... Did not face UTSA last season... 1-1 with a 3.52 ERA in five career appearances (four starts) vs. C-USA foes (15.1, 19, 9,6,8,12)... Named to the 2023 Shriners Children's College Classic All-Tournament team after he tossed six shutout innings against Texas Tech, which came into the game hitting .351 and scoring 12.1 runs per game (6,3,0,0,1,8).... Averaging 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings this year (26 in 26.2), compared with 4.8 as a freshman (23 in 43)... 26 strikeouts are a career-high... Went 5.2 innings against #2 Stanford on 2/24, allowed six hits, four runs (one earned), walked one, and struck out five… Worked six innings against Louisiana in his debut in the Friday starting slot (6,5,3,31,5)... Appeared in 13 games with 10 starts (tied for second on the team) in his freshman campaign… Finished the season with a 2-3 record and a 4.19 ERA, tops among the starters… Was 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA in four games (three starts) in Conference USA action… Winning pitcher in the Owls' first and last wins of 2022… Made his collegiate debut at Texas on 2/20 and his starting debut three days later against then-HBU… Worked six shutout innings, allowed a pair of hits, and struck out four while throwing just 56 pitches to earn both his and his head coach Jose Cruz Jr.'s first career victories... Closed the season with a win at FIU in the season finale, (5.1, 3,1,0,1,0)… 2-0 with a 2.38 ERA in seven games (five starts) on the road while holding hitters to a .226 batting average.

Familiar Foes
This will be the fourth meeting between Jose Cruz Jr. and UTSA head coach Patrick Hallmark as opposing head coaches, with UTSA taking two of three last year. Their baseball careers began together when Hallmark's father (Jim) coached them in youth baseball. The two were high school rivals (Cruz at Bellaire, Hallmark at Westbury) while playing together on summer league teams. They were reunited as teammates at Rice in 1995 when Hallmark joined the Owls after two seasons at Alvin JC and both earned All-Southwest Conference honors that season.

Last Weekend: First Sweep of a Conference Opener since 2015
Rice scored a pair of runs in the 10th inning on Sunday to complete a sweep of UAB with a 3-1 win, the Owls' first sweep of an opening weekend of conference play since they won all three games at Charlotte in 2015. Rice held UAB to a single run in each game, the fewest runs allowed by the staff since holding FIU to three runs in the final three games of last year. Rice relievers worked 18.0 scoreless innings in the series (18, 7, 0,0,6,20) while picking up three wins and two saves. The Owls held UAB to three runs in three games despite allowing at least one baserunner in 22 of 27 innings over the weekend. Outfielder Benjamin Rosengard, who came into the game 6x53 in two seasons on South Main, was 6x13 in the series and the bottom three spots in the order were 9x34 with five walks, a homer and four RBI

Before My Time
Seven current members of the Owls were born after June 23, 2003 when Rice captured college baseball's national title: Jacob Devenny, Trey Duffield, Ben Royo, Christian Salazar, Paul Smith. Garrett Stratton and Ryland Urbanczyk and an eighth (Aaron Smigelski) was just one month old.

Power Surge
Rice slammed four home runs on Tuesday night at Texas A&M, the first time the Owls have hit four in a game since 2/27/19 vs. Prairie View. They have hit six in the last four games, the most since they hit seven over three consecutive games last year vs. UAB, Texas A&M and Marshall, which was part of a stretch that saw them hit 10 over five games.

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