Rice University
LA Tech
Bulldogs Open Eight-Game Homestand for Owls
4/6/2023 8:40:00 PM | Baseball
Friday night followed by Saturday doubleheader
Rice opens a revamped eight-game homestand schedule with a three-game series with Louisiana Tech that opens on Friday at 6:30 and wraps with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. The schedule was revised after Thursday's original opening game was postponed by rain. The homestand continues next week with mid-week games against McNeese and Lamar and wraps up with a three-game weekend series vs. Charlotte.
How to Follow:
Watch: CUSAtv
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Game Notes
Pitching Matchup
Friday: RHP Parker Smith (2-1, 1.73/1.13) vs. LHP Jonathan Fincher (5-2, 3.52/1.15)
Saturday Game One: TBA vs. RHP Alec Sparks (2-1, 5.46/1.68)
Saturday Game Two: TBA vs. TBA
Owl on the Hill
#26 Parker Smith
6-4 230 So. Houston, Texas
Making his seventh start of the year, all as the Friday starter...First Owl since 2019 to earn C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors in his last start (see below)... Second in C-USA with a 1.73 ERA , eighth in innings (41.2), ninth in strikeouts (41), tenth with in opponent's batting average (.240) and tied for the lead with only one home run allowed.. Rice is 4-2 in his starts...3-1 with a 2.37 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) vs. C-USA foes (30.1, 31, 12, 8, 9, 27)... Earned his first win of the year over HCU on 3/10, 5-1 (5,5,1,1,3,4)... Named to the 2023 Shriners 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.
Smith Honored for FAU Gem
Parker Smith's sparkling effort at FAU last Friday allowed him to become the first Rice pitcher to earn C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors in nearly four years. Smith worked a career-best 8.2 innings and struck out a career-high nine before Matthew Linskey came on to retire the final hitter and close out a 1-0 win. The shutout was the first at home in conference action for FAU since 2017. Smith scattered seven hits and did not walk a batter to earn the Owls' first weekly pitching honor from the conference since Evan Kravetz on May 13, 2019.
Series Notes
Rice and LA Tech have met 27 times since the Bulldogs joined Conference USA in 2014 (22 in the regular season and five times at the C-USA Championship). Rice leads the overall series 14-13 (10-6 at Reckling) , but LA Tech has won the last seven, sweeping a four-game series at Reckling in 2021 and a three-game series in Ruston in 2022. Rice's last win came in 2019 at the C-USA Championship in Biloxi, Mississippi. Rice is 4-1 in C-USA postseason action against the Bulldogs. The schools met 24 times as members of the WAC with Rice winning 22. Rice swept two nonconference, three-game series between the schools in 2011 & 2013
Making Progress
Rice is 14-15 through 29 games, compared with an 8-21 record at the same point last year and finished 2022 at 17-39.
No Lengthy Lapses
The Owls have not lost more than three consecutive games this season. Last year they had streaks of four, five and then a nine-game streak which was snapped by a season-ending four-game winning streak.
Long Balls
The Owls have homered in eight of the last nine games (17 total) and have six multi-homer games over that stretch (eight for the season). They only had nine multi-homer games in 2022. They have homered in seven of nine conference games, four of them with multiple long balls.
