Irish Edge Owls In Opener

Friday, February 16

Reckling Park

6:30 p.m.

Rice University

0-1

Notre Dame

1-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Notre Dame	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	3	0
RICE	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	2

Photo by: Joe Buvid

2/16/2024 10:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday

By: by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Reckling Park: Parker Smith, Jack Ben-Shoshan, and Davion Hickson combined to hold Notre Dame to just three singles, but a pair of unearned runs in the fifth proved to be the difference as the Fighting Irish took a 3-1 win in the opening game of the 2024 season on Friday night.

The Details: Smith fanned the first two batters of the season to open the top of the first and then worked around a two-out walk and a single. Jack Riedel singled with one out in the bottom of the first and one out later scored the season's first run on a single to right by Nathan Becker. Notre Dame answered with a run in the top of the second and the score remained tied until the fifth when the Irish loaded the bases thanks to an error, a walk, and an infield single. They took the lead on a hit batter and then added the game's final run on a double play. The Owls' last threat came in the seventh when Manny Garza led off with a walk and advanced to third on Ben Dukes two-out, pinch-hit single.

Up Next: The teams meet in the middle game of the season-opening series on Saturday at 2 p.m. with J.D. McCracken slated to throw for Rice.
Notes:

Smith struck out seven in four innings while taking the loss (4,2,3,1,4,7).
Attendance for the opener was 2,523.
The loss was the Owls' sixth consecutive in a season opener.
Rice fell to 1-2 vs. Notre Dame overall and 1-1 at Reckling Park
Jack Riedel collected two of the Owls four hits.
Davion Hickson worked a career-long four innings of hitless relief (4,0,0,0,3,1). The sophomore transfer from Florida State appeared in one game and worked one inning for the Seminoles last year.