Rice University Athletics
Owls and Roadrunners Resume Series
5/4/2023 10:33:00 PM | Baseball
First pitch at 6 p.m. Friday
Owls Head West To Complete Series with Roadrunners
Rice will travel to San Antonio to open the second half of a home-and-home series with UTSA on Friday at 6 p.m. at Roadrunner Field. The series is the first of two consecutive weekends on the road for the Owls who will travel to WKU next weekend before wrapping up the 2023 C-USA regular season schedule by hosting FIU.
Watch CUSAtv
Listen: Online / Varsity Network
Live Stats: Sidearm
Complete Game Notes
Pitching Matchup
Friday: RHP Parker Smith (2-2, 2.14/1.01) vs. RHP Luke Malone (6-3, 3.13/1.25)
Saturday: LHP J.D, McCracken (1-3, 5.11/1.34) vs. TBA
Sunday: Both teams TBA
Owls on the Hill
#26 Parker Smith
6-4 230 So. Houston, Texas
Vs. UTSA (season & career) 0-0, 2.84 ERA (6.1, 5, 3, 2, 1, 6)
Making his 12th consecutive start of the year, 11th in a series opener... 12 consecutive starts are the most since Matt Canterino started 13 in a row in 2019...1-1 with a 1.16 ERA in five road starts this year (31, 27, 7, 4, 6, 31) and 3-1 with a 1.68 ERA in eight career starts away from Reckling Park (53.2, 46, 18, 10, 8, 40)... 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 three starts against ranked opponents (#2 Stanford on 2/24; #15 Texas Tech on 3/3, #19 DBU on 4/28) and had no decision in either while posting a 2.12 ERA in those outings (4 ER in 17.0 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... Owls have scored 23 runs for him in his 10 starts, 10 in six C-USA starts (6 in his last 4)... Ranks ninth in the nation and second in C-USA with a 2.12 ERA ... Third in the conference in innings pitched (67.1) and strikeouts (71), fifth in CUSA in opponent's batting average (.216), and second with three home runs allowed.. Rice is 5-6 in his starts...3-2 with a 2.60 ERA in 11 career appearances (10 starts) vs. C-USA foes (48.1, 42, 18, 14, 12, 50)... Earned his first win of the year over HCU on 3/10, 5-1 (5,5,1,1,3,4)... Averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings this year (71 in 67.1), 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 2/20/22 and his starting debut three days later against HBU… Worked six shutout innings, allowed a pair of hits, and struck out four to earn both his and his head coach Jose Cruz Jr.'s first career victories.
#29 J.D. McCracken
6-3 202 So. Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Making his 10th start of the year (second on the team) and eighth consecutive... Seventh in the conference with a .218 opponents' batting average and second with 14 hit batters... Holding opposing batters to a .310 slugging percentage (50 bases in 161 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.
Familiar Foes
This will be the third series meeting between Jose Cruz Jr. and UTSA head coach Patrick Hallmark as opposing head coaches, with UTSA taking two of three in each of the first two. Their baseball careers began together when Hallmark's father (Jim) coached them in youth baseball. The two were high school rivals (Cruz at Bellaire, Hallmark at Westbury) while playing together on summer league teams. They were reunited as teammates at Rice in 1995 when Hallmark joined the Owls after two seasons at Alvin JC and both earned All-Southwest Conference honors that season Along with HCU's Lance Berkman, who was a freshman (and Cruz's roommate on road trips that year), the 1995 Owls featured three future D1 head coaches in their starting lineup.
All Hands on Deck
Rice and Houston combined to use 21 pitchers in Wednesday night's 12-inning game. The Owls used 11 pitchers and the Cougars 10.
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 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.
Long Balls
Ben Royo's home run vs. Houston Wednesday night was the Owls' 40th of the season, one more than they hit in 2022. They are 10 away from matching their total from 2021.
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 35 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 8.7 per nine innings (375 in 389.1 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 a 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
Ben Royo 10 2023
Rice will travel to San Antonio to open the second half of a home-and-home series with UTSA on Friday at 6 p.m. at Roadrunner Field. The series is the first of two consecutive weekends on the road for the Owls who will travel to WKU next weekend before wrapping up the 2023 C-USA regular season schedule by hosting FIU.
Watch CUSAtv
Listen: Online / Varsity Network
Live Stats: Sidearm
Complete Game Notes
Pitching Matchup
Friday: RHP Parker Smith (2-2, 2.14/1.01) vs. RHP Luke Malone (6-3, 3.13/1.25)
Saturday: LHP J.D, McCracken (1-3, 5.11/1.34) vs. TBA
Sunday: Both teams TBA
Owls on the Hill
#26 Parker Smith
6-4 230 So. Houston, Texas
Vs. UTSA (season & career) 0-0, 2.84 ERA (6.1, 5, 3, 2, 1, 6)
Making his 12th consecutive start of the year, 11th in a series opener... 12 consecutive starts are the most since Matt Canterino started 13 in a row in 2019...1-1 with a 1.16 ERA in five road starts this year (31, 27, 7, 4, 6, 31) and 3-1 with a 1.68 ERA in eight career starts away from Reckling Park (53.2, 46, 18, 10, 8, 40)... 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 three starts against ranked opponents (#2 Stanford on 2/24; #15 Texas Tech on 3/3, #19 DBU on 4/28) and had no decision in either while posting a 2.12 ERA in those outings (4 ER in 17.0 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... Owls have scored 23 runs for him in his 10 starts, 10 in six C-USA starts (6 in his last 4)... Ranks ninth in the nation and second in C-USA with a 2.12 ERA ... Third in the conference in innings pitched (67.1) and strikeouts (71), fifth in CUSA in opponent's batting average (.216), and second with three home runs allowed.. Rice is 5-6 in his starts...3-2 with a 2.60 ERA in 11 career appearances (10 starts) vs. C-USA foes (48.1, 42, 18, 14, 12, 50)... Earned his first win of the year over HCU on 3/10, 5-1 (5,5,1,1,3,4)... Averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings this year (71 in 67.1), 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 2/20/22 and his starting debut three days later against HBU… Worked six shutout innings, allowed a pair of hits, and struck out four to earn both his and his head coach Jose Cruz Jr.'s first career victories.
#29 J.D. McCracken
6-3 202 So. Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Making his 10th start of the year (second on the team) and eighth consecutive... Seventh in the conference with a .218 opponents' batting average and second with 14 hit batters... Holding opposing batters to a .310 slugging percentage (50 bases in 161 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.
Familiar Foes
This will be the third series meeting between Jose Cruz Jr. and UTSA head coach Patrick Hallmark as opposing head coaches, with UTSA taking two of three in each of the first two. Their baseball careers began together when Hallmark's father (Jim) coached them in youth baseball. The two were high school rivals (Cruz at Bellaire, Hallmark at Westbury) while playing together on summer league teams. They were reunited as teammates at Rice in 1995 when Hallmark joined the Owls after two seasons at Alvin JC and both earned All-Southwest Conference honors that season Along with HCU's Lance Berkman, who was a freshman (and Cruz's roommate on road trips that year), the 1995 Owls featured three future D1 head coaches in their starting lineup.
All Hands on Deck
Rice and Houston combined to use 21 pitchers in Wednesday night's 12-inning game. The Owls used 11 pitchers and the Cougars 10.
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 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.
Long Balls
Ben Royo's home run vs. Houston Wednesday night was the Owls' 40th of the season, one more than they hit in 2022. They are 10 away from matching their total from 2021.
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 35 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 8.7 per nine innings (375 in 389.1 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 a 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
Ben Royo 10 2023
Players Mentioned
WBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02