Silver Glove Series Shifts to Reckling on Wednesday

Owls Close Out Homestand with Game Two of Silver Glove Series
Rice closes out its current four-game homestand by hosting Houston in the second game of the Silver Glove Series on Wednesday at Reckling Park and the first of three consecutive non-conference home games. After the Owls travel to San Antonio to take on UTSA this weekend, they will be back on familiar synthetic sod next Tuesday and Wednesday for games with Incarnate Word and Houston. They close out the 2023 road schedule the following weekend at WKU (May 12-14) before concluding the regular season by hosting Prairie View on May 16 and FIU (May 18-20).

Watch: CUSAtv
Listen: Online / Varsity Network
Live Stats: Sidearm

Pitching Matchup
RHP Krishna Raj (2-2, 5.68/1.86) vs. RHP Graysen Drezek (1-1, 12.08/1.98)

Owl on the Hill
#45 Krishna Raj
6-2 176 Gr. Wellington, Florida
Making his first start of the season, and the 14th of his collegiate career. Made one start last season at Charleston Southern (vs. Gardner Webb on 4/22), six at Charleston Southern in 2021 and six at Tulane in his freshman year (2019)... Tied for eighth in C-USA with a career-high four saves and leads the Owls with 18 relief appearances and 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings (40 in 25.1)... Saved the final two games at UAB with back-to-back scoreless final innings... Credited with his first win as an Owl vs. Sam Houston on 2/22 working 1.2 innings... Struck out the side in his first inning as an Owl (2/17 vs. Louisiana) and fanned five in a season-high three innings... Grad transfer from Charleston Southern... Appeared in 17 games (one start) and posted a 2-1 record with three saves and 28 strikeouts in 26.1 innings 2022... Worked a career-best 19 games (six starts in midweek games) and 43.1 innings as a freshman at Tulane in 2019

Returning Silver Glovers
Six current Owls were named to the 2022 All-Silver Glove Series team. Parker Smith was joined last year by outfielders Guy Garibay Jr. and Connor Walsh pitcher Garret Zaskoda, catcher Manny Garza and infielder Jack Riedel for their performance in the series. Smith started all three games of the series for Rice, working 10.2 innings and posting a 4.22 ERA. Zaskoda appeared in relief in each game of the series, compiling a 1.29 ERA in seven innings. He picked up the win in the finale, tossing 3.0 shutout innings as the Owls won 5-4 in 12 innings. Walsh hit .500 (4x8) and slugged 1.125 thanks to two doubles and a home run while scoring four runs. Garza started the final two games of the series and hit .375 (3x8) with a double and a triple and also threw out a pair of base runners.   Riedel, who was selected at first base, hit .273 (3x11) with a double and his first career homer in the opening game of the series.

Return to Midweek action
After two weeks without any midweek games, the Owls have four non-conference games in the final three weeks of the regular season (Houston tonight and on 5/10, Incarnate Word on 5/9 and Prairie View on 5/16). Rice is 5-6 in weeknight games this season.

Speeding it Up
Rice has played 12 games this year in 2:30 or less, compared to only five in all of 2022. The Owls played a total of 29, nine-inning games that lasted at least three hours last year, 13 of them clocking in at 3:30 or longer, compared with just two this season. They had streaks of 11 and eight consecutive nine-inning games of longer than three hours in 2022 and have done that just twice this year.

Long Balls
Christian Salazar's first career home run in the ninth inning vs. DBU on Saturday was the Owls' 39th this season, matching their final total in 56 games last year.

Battling the Best
Rice held C-USA leader DBU to a combined 229 batting average last weekend after the Patriots entered the series hitting a combined .295 in conference play. The Owls led all three games through seven innings and had two-run leads in the ninth in two of the three games.

Punchouts
In addition to holding DBU to a .229 average last week, Rice pitchers also struck out 355 Patriots in the three games, their highest total since they fanned 37 in three games vs. Southern in 2021. As a staff, the Owls have struck out an average of 8.8 per nine innings (366 in 377.1 IP).

In Good Company
Ben Royo is tied for fifth in C-USA with five homers in conference games and he needs one more long ball to join a select list of Owls who have hit 10 or more homers as freshman:

                1.             Anthony Rendon       20            2009
                2.             Aaron Luna               16            2006
                3.             Jose Cruz Jr.              13            1993
                4.             Bubba Crosby           12            1996
                                Vincent Sinisi            12            2002
                6.             Michael Ratterree     10            2010

Same Point in the Schedule
Rice is 17-26 through 43 games. They were 13-30 through 43 games last year and faced Houston in the 44th game, falling 8-2 at Schroeder Park on 5/4. The Owls went on to finish the year 17-39, thanks to a season-ending, four-game winning streak that began with their 12-inning win at Schroeder Park on 5/17. The Owls have faced the 55th toughest schedule in the country through games of 5/2.

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