Friday, March 24
Houston, Texas
3 PM
Rice University
11-11, 0
3
vs
4
UTSA
19-4, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
R
H
E
UTSA
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
4
9
0
RICE
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
3
8
1
Roadrunners Edge Owls in 11
3/24/2023 8:03:00 PM | Baseball
Game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday
Reckling Park: UTSA pushed across one run in the 11th to spoil a late Rice rally and take the opening game of the weekend series 4-3 in on Friday afternoon.
The Details: In a matchup of Conference USA's top two starters in terms of ERA, UTSA's Luke Malone (1.67) and Rice's Parker Smith (2.03), both offenses struck for a pair of first-inning runs on home runs. UTSA's Antonio Valdez lofted a ball over the fence in left-center in the top of the first as Smith allowed his first runs of the year in the first inning. Rice countered in the bottom half of the inning when Pierce Gallo doubled and Guy Garibay Jr. drilled a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right. Smith and Moore settled into a groove after the first and rolled through four scoreless innings in which both faced only two of the minimum. The Roadrunners re-took the lead on an unearned run in the sixth and by the seventh, the game was in the hands of relievers Simon Miller and Matthew Linskey who kept the score at 3-2 until the Owls staged a two-out rally for the first run of Miller in his last 24 innings this season. After a pair of strikeouts to open the inning, Manny Garza and Aaron Smigelski each singled with two outs. Freshman Paul Smith pinch hit for Jack Riedel and lined a 2-1 pitch to right to score pinch runner Max Johnson to tie the game. The Roadrunners scored the go-ahead run in the 11th and Rice put its leadoff runner on in the bottom half of the inning but was unable to score.
Notes
The Details: In a matchup of Conference USA's top two starters in terms of ERA, UTSA's Luke Malone (1.67) and Rice's Parker Smith (2.03), both offenses struck for a pair of first-inning runs on home runs. UTSA's Antonio Valdez lofted a ball over the fence in left-center in the top of the first as Smith allowed his first runs of the year in the first inning. Rice countered in the bottom half of the inning when Pierce Gallo doubled and Guy Garibay Jr. drilled a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right. Smith and Moore settled into a groove after the first and rolled through four scoreless innings in which both faced only two of the minimum. The Roadrunners re-took the lead on an unearned run in the sixth and by the seventh, the game was in the hands of relievers Simon Miller and Matthew Linskey who kept the score at 3-2 until the Owls staged a two-out rally for the first run of Miller in his last 24 innings this season. After a pair of strikeouts to open the inning, Manny Garza and Aaron Smigelski each singled with two outs. Freshman Paul Smith pinch hit for Jack Riedel and lined a 2-1 pitch to right to score pinch runner Max Johnson to tie the game. The Roadrunners scored the go-ahead run in the 11th and Rice put its leadoff runner on in the bottom half of the inning but was unable to score.
Notes
- Rice is now 3-3 on Fridays. 2-3 in series openers
- The loss snapped Rice's six-game C-USA winning streak.
- Smith worked a career-high 6-1 innings (6.1,5,3,2,1,6) and had his fourth no-decision in six starts this season.
- The Owls held Roadrunners, who came into the game leading C-USA with a .336 average, to nine hits in 40 at-bats (.225).
- Over the last five games, the Owls bullpen is 3-2 with two saves and a combined 1.31 ERA (41.1, 22, 8, 6, 15, 43).
- Garibay's home run was the seventh for the Owls over the last five games, their best stretch since they hit seven in three games last year between UAB, A&M and Marshall.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: MILLER, Simon (6-0)
L: Ben-Shoshan, Jack (2-1)
S: SHAFER, Daniel (4)
Batting:
2B: KILLEEN, Josh 1 ; SMITH, Taylor 1
HR: VALDEZ, Antonio 1
RBI: VALDEZ, Antonio 2 ; ODOM, Tye 1
Base Running:
RUNS: SIRDASHNEY, Shane 1 ; BARRY, Leyton 1 ; VALDEZ, Antonio 1 ; TAUSSIG, James 1
HBP: SIRDASHNEY, Shane 1 ; HILL, Caleb 1
Batting:
2B: Gallo, Pierce 1
HR: Garibay Jr., Guy 1
RBI: Garibay Jr., Guy 2 ; Smith , Paul 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
CS: Smigelski, Aaron 1
HBP: Holderbach, Drew 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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