Wednesday, May 22
Clearwater, Florida
12 PM
Rice University
23-35
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UAB
26-29
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Rice
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UAB
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Photo by: American Athletic Conference/Conor Kvatek
Owls Blank Blazers for First AAC Tournament Win
5/22/2024 6:06:00 PM | Baseball
First 9-inning shutout in a conference tournament in school history
Clearwater, FL: Parker Smith combined with two relievers to throw the first nine-inning shutout in a conference tournament game in school history while Jack Riedel blasted a pair of homers to lead Rice to a 9-0 win over UAB in an elimination game at the 2024 American Baseball Championship presented by Regions on Wednesday.
Details: Rice rebounded from a stunning late-inning loss in its AAC postseason debut on Tuesday to take an early lead and ride Smith's stellar effort through the middle innings before a late offensive explosion put the game away. Just as they had on Tuesday, the Owls took the early lead and carried a 4-0 advantage into the late innings. Riedel opened the scoring by taking a 2-1 pitch the opposite way over the wall in left for his 16th home of the season. Manny Garza led off the third with a double off the wall and advanced to third on a bunt single by Max Johnson before coming home with the second run on a double play. Treyton Rank opened the fourth with a single and stoles second. After a walk to Riedel, Rank stole third and scored on a throwing error by the Blazer catcher. Smith worked out of a jam in the fourth to preserve the 3-0 lead, striking out a pair on seven pitches after allowing a pair of baserunners with one out. Kyte McDonald extended the lead to 4-0 with an RBI single in the seventh and the Blazers mounted one last challenge in the bottom of the inning, putting runners at second and third with one out. Smith came back from a 3-1 deficit to strike out leadoff hitter Daryll Buggs before he was relieved by Garrett Stratton to get the final out of the inning. Riedel led off the eighth win a single, the seventh consecutive inning the Owls leadoff hitter reached, but was retired a ground ball by Nathan Becker who moved to second on a throwing error. Pierce Gallo and Jacob Devenny followed with walks and Becker scored on a sacrifice fly by Garza. Johnson then brought both Gallo and Devenny home with a double in the right centerfield gap. In the ninth, Riedel closed out the scoring with his second home run of the game, scoring Treyton Rank who reached on his third hit of the game.
Up Next: Rice will have a day off on Thursday before returning to action at 12 pm (central) against the loser of Thursday's winner's bracket game between East Carolina and Wichita State.
Notes:
Details: Rice rebounded from a stunning late-inning loss in its AAC postseason debut on Tuesday to take an early lead and ride Smith's stellar effort through the middle innings before a late offensive explosion put the game away. Just as they had on Tuesday, the Owls took the early lead and carried a 4-0 advantage into the late innings. Riedel opened the scoring by taking a 2-1 pitch the opposite way over the wall in left for his 16th home of the season. Manny Garza led off the third with a double off the wall and advanced to third on a bunt single by Max Johnson before coming home with the second run on a double play. Treyton Rank opened the fourth with a single and stoles second. After a walk to Riedel, Rank stole third and scored on a throwing error by the Blazer catcher. Smith worked out of a jam in the fourth to preserve the 3-0 lead, striking out a pair on seven pitches after allowing a pair of baserunners with one out. Kyte McDonald extended the lead to 4-0 with an RBI single in the seventh and the Blazers mounted one last challenge in the bottom of the inning, putting runners at second and third with one out. Smith came back from a 3-1 deficit to strike out leadoff hitter Daryll Buggs before he was relieved by Garrett Stratton to get the final out of the inning. Riedel led off the eighth win a single, the seventh consecutive inning the Owls leadoff hitter reached, but was retired a ground ball by Nathan Becker who moved to second on a throwing error. Pierce Gallo and Jacob Devenny followed with walks and Becker scored on a sacrifice fly by Garza. Johnson then brought both Gallo and Devenny home with a double in the right centerfield gap. In the ninth, Riedel closed out the scoring with his second home run of the game, scoring Treyton Rank who reached on his third hit of the game.
Up Next: Rice will have a day off on Thursday before returning to action at 12 pm (central) against the loser of Thursday's winner's bracket game between East Carolina and Wichita State.
Notes:
- The nine-inning shutout was the first for Rice in a conference tournament in school history. The Owls' two previous shutouts in 83 conference postseason games were in games shortened by the run-rule (13-0 vs. Marshall in seven innings in 2009 and 18-0 in seven innings vs. Marshall in 2010).
- The last postseason shutout by Rice in any postseason round was an 8-0, three-hitter by Taylor Wall over Kansas State in the 2009 Regional at Reckling Park.
- The Owls improved to 23-35 on the season, 40-18 vs. UAB overall and 4-2 in the postseason.
- The margin of victory was the largest for the Owls at a conference tournament since they defeated Florida Atlantic 13-2 in 2017.
- Rice's starting pitchers (Smith and J.D. McCracken) have not allowed a run in 12.2 innings at the AAC Championship… They have pitched a combined 12.2 innings, allowed eight hits, no runs, five walks and struck out 12.
- Rice has shutout its first two opponents in 16 of 17 innings at the AAC Championship.
- The Owls' double play in the eighth inning was their 61st of the year…. They came into action on Tuesday tied for the national lead in double plays.
- Smith improved to 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA in three career starts vs. UAB (16.2 IP, 15 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB,18 SO).
- Smith's eight strikeouts were the most by a Rice pitcher at a conference tournament since Matt Canterino struck out nine vs. Southern Miss in 2019.
- Riedel hit two homers in a game for the third time in his career and became the first Owl to hit two homers in a conference tournament game since Chad Mozingo and Steven Sultzbaugh both hit two vs. Marshall in an 18-0 win at the C-USA Championship in 2010.
- Riedel's 17 home runs lead the AAC and are one shy of reaching the Rice single season top ten… Mark Quinn hit 18 in 1995 when he was a teammate of current Owls' head coach Jose Cruz Jr.
- Garza's two doubles were the most by an Owl in the post season since Braden Comeaux had a pair vs. Southern Miss on May 22, 2019.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smith, Parker (5-5)
L: BLAZYE BERRY (9-3)
Batting:
2B: Rank, Treyton 1 ; Garza, Manny 2 ; Johnson , Max 1
HR: Riedel, Jack 2
RBI: McDonald, Kyte 1 ; Riedel, Jack 3 ; Garza, Manny 1 ; Johnson , Max 2
SF: Garza, Manny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rank, Treyton 2 ; Riedel, Jack 2 ; Becker, Nathan 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Devenny, Jacob 2 ; Garza, Manny 1
SB: Dukes, Ben 1 ; Rank, Treyton 2 ; Devenny, Jacob 1
HBP: Devenny, Jacob 1
Batting:
2B: TYLER WAUGH 1
Base Running:
HBP: DARYLL BUGGS 1 ; AUSTIN YOUNG 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
3b
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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