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2023 Rice Baseball Transfer Portal Updates and Analysis

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Several Rice Baseball players have entered the Transfer Portal since the end of the season. Who are they? What will their losses mean for the Owls?

The College World Series has yet to be played, but that hasn’t stopped players around the country from making decisions about their futures. Rice Baseball has had some attrition in the Transfer Portal of its own. Here’s the latest on that front with some analysis on which potential moves would impact the Owls the most.

It’s worth noting players could still choose to make the decision to withdraw from the portal and return to school, assuming that’s something the coaching staff was amenable to. There’s at least one prominent transfer the staff would assuredly welcome back if they were given the opportunity.

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A quick programming note. We’ll have postseason updates on the entire roster coming over the next few days. From the starting rotation to the back end of the lineup, we’ll dig into how each player contributed to the team this season and how they’ll fit into the mix moving forward.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Post-spring additions

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There have been a few additions on the Rice Football Recruiting front since the Owls broke camp this spring. Here’s the latest.

The vast majority of the 2023 Rice football recruiting class was completed before the Owls started spring practices. Still, it was always understood the program would make a handful of additions in the months that followed. There were scholarships ready for the right transfers and the walk-on program tends to pick up a few late acquisitions this time of year, too.

Here’s a quick rundown of the players that have made their pledges since the Owls wrapped up spring practices in mid-April as well as a bit more on how they fit in with the program. Rice probably isn’t completely done just yet, but this should serve as a good litmus test before summer workouts begin soon.

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Transfers

OL Netane Fehoko, JUCO

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Rice Soccer Recruiting Updates: May 2023 Patreon Q&A

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The recruiting cycle never stops in college sports, and that includes Rice soccer, too. The Owls are on track to add some impact players for next season.

Even though Rice soccer finished with an undefeated conference record last season, head coach Brian Lee wasn’t about to sit around on his hands and wait for the 2023 season to arrive. He and the Owls have been busy on the transfer front, the focus of this month’s Patreon Q&A.

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Rice Baseball punches ticket to C-USA Tournament with series win vs FIU

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Rice Baseball took two out of three against FIU, punching their ticket to the 2023 Conference USA Tournament at Reckling Park later this week.

THURSDAY | Rice 9  – FIU 7

Parker Smith was not his best in the series opener, allowing six runs (four earned) through 5.1 innings. He fell behind in the first inning, allowing a three-run home run and forcing the Owls to play catch-up, something that wouldn’t take very long at all. Connor Walsh evened the score in the bottom half of the inning and the back-and-forth began.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball bounces back with run-rule win over PVAMU

Jack Riedel put Rice ahead with a two-run double in the second. FIU answered in the fourth. Both teams added a few more in the middle innings and the teams entered the bottom of the eighth with the score tied 7-7. Drew Holderbach scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and Walsh delivered an insurance run in that same at bat. Matthew Linskey sat down three in order in the ninth to secure the win.

FRIDAY | Rice 2 – FIU 1

After a slugfest in the opener, runs were at a premium on Friday night in large part because of the stellar pitching of JD McCracken. He delivered a pristine 7.2 innings with six strikeouts allowing just one run and one hit. That lone score came in the first inning and staked FIU to a narrow lead until Drew Holderbach leveled the score with an RBI double in the seventh.

Both teams put up zeros in the eighth and Linskey shut down FIU in the ninth, giving Rice a chance for their first walk-off win in conference play this year. Ben Royo opened the inning with a single then later came around to score on a two-out error by the FIU shortstop.

SATURDAY | FIU 10 – Rice 7

Rice struck first in the series finale but spent much of the afternoon trailing FIU, which took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second and extended their advantage with one run in each of the third and fourth innings, respectively.

Things changed quickly in the fifth, though. Ben Dukes, Ben Royo and Guy Garibay reached picked up RBI hits, propelling the Owls to a 6-4 advantage. FIU caught back up in the sixth and took the lead for good on a three-run home run in the eighth, going on to win 10-7.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Down to their final weekend, Rice baseball found a way to get the wins they needed to extend their season. The Owls are Conference USA Tournament bound. Here are three takeaways from the Owls’ clutch weekend series win.

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1. Best for last

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Rice will face DBU in the first round of the conference tournament. Despite being swept by the Patriots earlier this season, Rice led all three games after seven innings. The complete seeding list is as follows:

  1. DBU
  2. UTSA
  3. Charlotte
  4. WKU
  5. FAU
  6. Louisiana Tech
  7. Middle Tennessee
  8. Rice

ON DECK | 2023 Conference USA Baseball Tournament

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Rice Baseball swept by WKU, extending Owls’ C-USA slump

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Rice Baseball was swept for the third consecutive weekend, this time falling in three games to Western Kentucky on the road.

FRIDAY | WKU 5  – Rice 4 (10 inn.)

Rice baseball ace Parker Smith was met with a forceful greeting on Friday night in Bowling Green, allowing four runs in the first two innings, more than he typically allows over the course of a full start. Even with the rocky beginning, though, Smith settled in and was able to pitch into the eighth, allowing no further runs as he waited for the offense to arrive.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball snaps losing skid with win over Houston

The Owls got on the board for the first time in the fifth, using three doubles to score three runs, followed a frame later by a solo home run from Drew Holderbach to even the score. Smith left without a decision, but the game was within reach. He had done his job. Justin Long would be less fortunate. He pitched a scoreless remainder of the eighth and a flawless ninth before WKU walked it off against him in the tenth.

SATURDAY | WKU 10 – Rice 2

With JD McCracken on the bump, Rice and WKU moved quickly through a pitching-centric game in the early goings on Saturday. Both starters had allowed just one run through four innings and it wasn’t until McCracken ran into some trouble in the fifth that the bats on either side began to wake up. McCracken would battle through another two innings, leaving in the seventh in a one-rune game.

Jack Ben-Shoshan was called upon for just one batter — he walked him — before handing the ball to Krishna Raj. That would turn out to be a fateful decision. Raj was handed the disservice of entering the game with the bases loaded an no outs, but he was pelted to the tune of seven runs (four charged to him) as Rice fell behind 10-2. That would be the eventual final score.

SUNDAY | WKU 5 – Rice 2

Rice struck first in the finale on a Guy Garibay RBI single in the top of the second, but the lead was short-lived. WKU took the lead back in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice. The Hilltoppers added single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to cautiously extender their advantage. Much of those insurance runs would prove unneeded.

Jack Riedel, who saw his 16-game hit streak snapped, delivered an RBI groundout in the top of the seventh, scoring the Owls’ only other run of the afternoon. Rice simply had no answer for WKU hurler Dawson Hall who earned the win with six innings of one-run ball, tallying as many strikeouts (five) as hits allowed.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball couldn’t afford to be swept this weekend, but they were handed three-straight losses nonetheless. Here are three takeaways from a tough weekend on the road.

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1. Fast start fizzles again

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ON DECK | vs PVAMU (Tues), vs FIU (Thr-Sat)

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