Rice University
14-16, 0
LA Tech
15-15, 0
LA Tech Takes Series Opener
4/8/2023 12:08:00 AM | Baseball
Saturday doubleheader starts at 3 p.m.
The Details: After seeing Thursday night's original series opener postponed due to rain, the two teams had to wait nearly two hours for the rain to clear the Houston area on Friday before they could begin the series. The Bulldogs struck for a pair of first-inning runs off Owls' starter Parker Smith who struggled with his control inride and retired the next nine in a row while the Owls bats came to life for the first time in three starts against LA Tech starter Jonathan Finc the early going before avoiding any further damage with a double play. He allowed the first two runners in the second to reach base, but found his sther. The Bulldog senior came into the game with wins in each of his two previous starts vs. the Owls while not allowing a run over 15 innings, but the Owls ended that streak in the bottom of the second. Aaron Smigelski led off with a walk and scored on Ben Royo's frst career triple. Manny Garza followed with an RBI single to tie the game 2-2. Pierce Gallo gave Rice its first lead of the night with his first home run since the opening game of the Stanford series. The Bulldogs scored single runs in the seventh and eighth to move ahead 4-3, by Smigelski smashed his third home run and his second in as many games to tie it 4-4.
Notes:
- Rice is now 4-4 on Fridays and 3-4 in series openers.
- Tech won for the eighth consecutive time in the series and the fifth straight time at Reckling Park.
- Gallo and Smigelski's home runs gave the Owls their ninth multi-homer game this season, matching their season total from 2022.
- The Owls have homered in nine of the last 10 games overall (19 total) and in eight of 10 conference games, six of them being multi-homer games.
- Ben Royo's RBI triple drove in his 15th run in the last 11 games and gave him 40 total bases in his last 47 at bats (.851 slugging percentage).
- Gallo has hit in six straight (.435, 10x23).
- Smigelski is hitting .451 over his last nine games (14x31) and has seven RBI in his last seven games.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: TOMKINS, Landon (4-0)
L: Ben-Shoshan, Jack (2-2)
S: BATES, Ethan (6)
Batting:
2B: BATES, Ethan 1 ; DAVIS, Dalton 1
HR: MATULIA, Philip 1 ; DROST, Brody 1
RBI: MATULIA, Philip 1 ; DAVIS, Dalton 2 ; DROST, Brody 1 ; MYERS, Adarius 1
SH: BATES, Ethan 2
SF: DAVIS, Dalton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BATES, Ethan 1 ; MATULIA, Philip 3 ; DROST, Brody 1 ; SAFFORD, Will 1
HBP: DAVIS, Dalton 1 ; CORONA, Jorge 1 ; MCLEOD, Logan 1 ; SAFFORD, Will 1
Batting:
2B: Smigelski, Aaron 1
3B: Royo, Ben 1
HR: Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Smigelski, Aaron 1
RBI: Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Smigelski, Aaron 1 ; Royo, Ben 1 ; Garza, Manny 1
SH: Smith , Paul 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Smigelski, Aaron 2 ; Royo, Ben 1
HBP: Riedel, Jack 1
