Owls Open C-USA Championship Play Against #17 DBU

Owls Face DBU to Open C-USA Championship
Rice returns to the Conference USA Championship for the first time since 2019 and the 15th time in 17 full seasons in the conference by facing top-seed DBU at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The winner of Wednesday's first-round game will face the winner of Wednesday's final first-round game between WKU and FAU on Thursday at 7 p.m. while the losers of the two games will meet in an elimination game at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Broadcast Schedule
All games prior to Sunday's championship will be available through ESPN+ while the championship game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network. All Rice games will also be available online at RiceOwls.com or through the Varsity Network app with J.P. Heath calling the action.

Watch ESPN+
Listen: Online / Varsity Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast

Complete Game Notes

Conference Postseason Play
Rice has posted a 63-33 overall record in conference tournament play since the Owls made their postseason debut in 1982 at the Southwest Conference Championship in Austin. After going 0-2 in their first two SWC appearances, the Owls registered their first conference tournament win on May 12, 1984 with an 8-1 win over Arkansas. Rice captured the SWC tournament title in the final event in the conference's history in 1996 with a 16-8 win over Texas and finished with a 12-17 record at the SWC Championship.   The Owls won three consecutive WAC baseball tournament titles while never losing a game (12-0) in their first three years in the league (1997-99) before the conference discontinued the postseason tournament. Rice returned to conference tournament play after joining C-USA and has an all-time record of 39-16 in the championship, capturing seven tournament titles (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2017) and playing in two additional championship games (2010 & 2016).

Postseason Experience
First baseman Drew Holderbach is the only current member of the Owls with prior postseason experience. He played in who Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament (2021&22) Last season, he slashed .408/.496/.597 with seven homers and 61 RBI to help lead the Pioneers to their first Super Regional and DIII World Series appearance.

Probable Pitchers
Wednesday; RHP Parker Smith (2-2, 2.75/1.13)
Thursday: LHP J.D. McCracken (1-4, 5.13/1.34)

#26 Parker Smith
6-4 230 So. Houston, Texas
vs. DBU (season & career) 0-0, 5.06/0.75)
Making his 15th consecutive start of the year, the most since Matt Canterino started 15 in 2019.
*1-1 with a 3.46 ERA in six home starts this year (41.2, 35, 19, 16, 10, 46)
*1-4 with a 4.35 ERA in 13 home games (12 starts) in his career (62.0, 65, 40, 30, 20, 60)
*2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 14 career C-USA appearances (13 starts) (73.2, 71, 34, 26, 18, 68).
Second in C-USA with a 2.75 ERA ... Tied for second in innings (85), fifth in strikeouts (80), and strikeouts looking (26), and opponent's batting average (.231), and tied for fourth with four home runs allowed.. Owls have scored 37 runs for him in his 14 starts, 24 in 10 C-USA starts (20 in his last 7)... Has left seven of his starts with the lead and trailed in just two... Rice is 6-8 in his starts...Saw his streak of 10 straight series-opening starts end at MTSU when he was pushed back to Saturday due to a forecast of rain on Friday... Has four starts against ranked opponents (#2 Stanford on 2/24; #15 Texas Tech on 3/3, #19 DBU on 4/28 and #22 UTSA on 5/5) and had no decision in either while posting a 2.45 ERA in those outings (6 ER in 22.0 IP)... First Owl since 2019 to earn C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors (see page two)... Fanned a career-high 14 vs. Charlotte on 4/14, but took a tough 1-0 loss... Earned his first win of the year over HCU on 3/10, 5-1 (5,5,1,1,3,4)... Averaging 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings this year (80 in 85.0), compared with 4.8 as a freshman (23 in 43)... 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)... 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)... 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 HBU… Worked six shutout innings to earn both his and his head coach Jose Cruz Jr.'s first career wins.

.#29 J.D. McCracken
6-3 202 So. Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Will make his 13th start of the year (second on the team) and 11th consecutive when he pitches in the second game of the C-USA Championship... Earned C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors for his start vs. FIU... Has set a career-high for innings in each of his last two starts... Carried a one-hitter into the eighth vs. FIU on 5/19 and finished with 7.2 innings (7.2,1,1,1,2,6)... Worked six innings at WKU on 5/13 @WKU (6, 9, 5,4,1,3)... Struck out a career-high seven in his start vs. DBU... Holding opposing batters to a .398 slugging percentage (80 bases in 201 at-bats)... Struck out five in a start vs. UTSA on 3/25 (third time this year he has reached that mark) while picking up his first career win and the second by an Owls' starter this year... Matched his career high with five strikeouts (4.1 innings) in a start vs. UAB on Saturday... Set career highs with 5.1 innings and five strikeouts vs. Texas A&M on 3/8... Transfer from Tennessee who made three appearances for the Vols in 2022.

Formidable Slate
Rice's 2023 schedule ranked as the 50th toughest in Division I in 2023. The Owls faced the 52nd toughest schedule in the nation last year, the highest since they faced the 24th toughest in 2018. This year's lineup of 34 teams averaged 33 wins last year, highlighted by three games at Stanford (2022 CWS), three vs. Texas A&M (2022 CWS) and three-game series against NCAA tournament teams Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and DBU.

Long Balls
Rice hit four home runs in a game in the win over Houston on 5/10, the third time this year the Owls have hit at least four in a game this year. The last time the Owls hit at least four home runs in three games in a season was in 2017 when the Owls had two games with four long balls in addition to a seven-homer game at UAB. They have hit 16 in the last eight games and have hit 57 homers this year matching their best total since the NCAA adopted new bat standards in 2011 (55 in 2017).

Double Figures
Ben Royo leads the Owls with 13 homers, followed by Connor Walsh (10), Guy Garibay (8) and Jack Riedel (7). The last time the Owls had more than one player reach double figures in home runs in the same season was 2010 (Anthony Rendon 26, Rick Hague 16, Jeremy Rathjen 13, Michael Ratterree 10).

In Good Company
Ben Royo is tied for eighth in C-USA with 13 homers overall and has moved into a tie for third with his head coach, Jose Cruz Jr., for the most home runs by a freshman in school history.

           1.     Anthony Rendon     20 2009
           2.     Aaron Luna                16               2006
           3.     Jose Cruz Jr.              13 1993
                   Ben Royo                  13 2023

Frosh Shortstop Sluggers
Royo is third the nation in home runs by freshmen shortstops. Alex Lodise of North Florida leads the pack with 16 while Wehiwa Aloy of Sacramento St. has 14. His 13 homers are the most for an Owl since Andrew Dunlap hit 13 in 2019. The last Owls with more than 13 in a season were Anthony Rendon (26) and Rick Hague (16) in 2010.

Plunkings
Rice has hit 97 batters this season, including at least one in 23 consecutive games. The Owls rank 11th nationally in the category, which is led by Iona which has hit 121 in 51 games this year.

Speeding it Up
Rice has played 13 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 went at least three hours last year, 13 of them clocking in at 3:30 or longer, compared with just three 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.

New vs. Old
Rice is 18-21 playing on artificial surfaces, 3-14 when playing on grass.

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