Friday, February 23
Lafayette, LA
6:00 p.m.
Rice University
2-3
2
at
1
Louisiana
3-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
RICE
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
8
0
Louisiana
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
5
1
Strong Pitching Sparks Owls to 2-1 over Ragin' Cajuns
2/23/2024 11:23:00 PM | Baseball
Game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday
Lafayette, LA: Parker Smith and Davion Hickson combined on a four-hitter, and Manny Garza drove in both runs as Rice took the series opener over Louisiana at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park on Friday night.
The Details: For the fourth time in five games, Rice scored in the top of the first as the Owls loaded the bases. Treyton Rank set the early tone by grinding out an eight-pitch walk, fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches. One out later, Pierce Gallo and Nathan Becker followed with walks to set up Garza, whose sacrifice fly scored Rank and extended his RBI streak to four games. Smith breezed through the Ragin' Cajun lineup in the early going, striking out five and facing only one over the minimum in the first five innings. The Owls doubled his run advantage with three consecutive singles in the third, with Garza's single to center scoring Gallo. Louisiana finally broke through against Smith in the sixth, scoring once before the Owls' righthander ended the threat and stranded two runners in scoring position. He rebounded in the seventh, needing just four pitches to complete the inning, highlighted by a leaping grab of a liner by Gallo. Hickson was called on to finish the game and the sophomore transfer from Florida State worked around a one-out hit batter and a single in the eighth and then retired the side in the ninth to earn his first career save.
Next Up: Game two of the weekend series is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday with a battle of lefthanders, Rice's J.D. McCracken and Louisiana's Chase Morgan.
Notes:
The Details: For the fourth time in five games, Rice scored in the top of the first as the Owls loaded the bases. Treyton Rank set the early tone by grinding out an eight-pitch walk, fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches. One out later, Pierce Gallo and Nathan Becker followed with walks to set up Garza, whose sacrifice fly scored Rank and extended his RBI streak to four games. Smith breezed through the Ragin' Cajun lineup in the early going, striking out five and facing only one over the minimum in the first five innings. The Owls doubled his run advantage with three consecutive singles in the third, with Garza's single to center scoring Gallo. Louisiana finally broke through against Smith in the sixth, scoring once before the Owls' righthander ended the threat and stranded two runners in scoring position. He rebounded in the seventh, needing just four pitches to complete the inning, highlighted by a leaping grab of a liner by Gallo. Hickson was called on to finish the game and the sophomore transfer from Florida State worked around a one-out hit batter and a single in the eighth and then retired the side in the ninth to earn his first career save.
Next Up: Game two of the weekend series is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday with a battle of lefthanders, Rice's J.D. McCracken and Louisiana's Chase Morgan.
Notes:
- Rice improved to 2-3 on the season and 19-17 all-time vs. Louisiana
- The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Owls at "The Tigue". Rice's last win in Lafayette was by an identical 2-1 score in 2011 thanks to an eighth-inning solo homer by current Florida Marlins reliever JT Chargois.
- Rice has now outscored the opposition 6-1 in the first inning this year.
- Smith allowed just one run in seven innings to lower his ERA to 1.64 in his first two starts.
- He threw 17 first-pitch strikes (24 batters faced) and retired six of seven leadoff hitters.
- He improved to 4-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 15 career games (12 starts) on the road as an Owl.
- Hickson added his first career save to his first career win in Tuesday's win over Sam Houston. He has a 1.13 ERA while appearing in three of the first five this year.
- Garza has driven in a run in four consecutive games and has three multi-RBI games during his streak.
- Ben Dukes extended his season-opening hitting streak to five games which is also a career high.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smith, Parker (1-1)
L: Martinez (0-1)
S: Hickson, Davion (1)
Batting:
2B: Becker, Nathan 1
RBI: Garza, Manny 2
SH: Rank, Treyton 1
SF: Garza, Manny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rank, Treyton 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1
SB: Royo, Ben 1
HBP: McDonald, Kyte 1
Batting:
RBI: Yuhasz 1
SF: Yuhasz 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Torres 1
SB: Stelly 1
HBP: Taylor 1 ; Amedee 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
Inf.
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RHP
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LHP
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P
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