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Rice Baseball powers past PVAMU, gets final midweek win

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Rice baseball roared out to a big lead against Prairie View A&M at home and held on to win their final midweek game of the season.

Even with a short rain delay pushing back the first pitch, it didn’t take long to for Rice baseball to make their presence known in their final midweek game of the 2023 season. A week removed from knocking off Houston 13-7, the Owls kept the offensive fireworks alive with a four-run first, three-run second, two-run third and a one-run fourth inning.

Rice surpassed double-digits in the hits column before the end of the third inning. By the time the fifth inning was in the books, six of the seven starters had multiple hits and all but two had either scored or driven in a run themselves.

Last Time Out: Bats stifled as Rice Baseball swept by WKU

On the mound, Garret Zaskoda was charged with a pair of runs in 2.1 innings, giving way in the third inning to a string of various bullpen arms that held the Owls’ advantage. Jack Ben-Shoshan lower his season-long ERA to 3.24. following a 1.2-inning scoreless outing.

The best bullpen outing was had by Krishna Raj, who bounces back from a tough weekend appearance with a flawless three innings, striking out five without allowing any hits.

What it means | The bats work!

Against UTSA, Rice scored 7 runs, 8 runs and 6 runs. Then they hung 13 on Houston. A tough weekend against the plate against WKU — who leads the league with a 3,52 ERA in conference games — looked to have erased most of that offensive momentum. However, Tuesday’s 18-run outburst proved the bats might still have some juice left to share. A season-high 23 hits echoed that hopeful tune.

The Owls’ upcoming opponent, FIU, ranks dead last in conference play with a staggering 7.35 ERA. The Praire View A&M staff entered Tuesday night with a 7.11 season-long ERA. If Rice can put up runs in bunches against this staff, they should be able to score this weekend in a do-or-die series.

ON DECK | vs FIU (Thr-Sat)

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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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Rice Baseball snaps skid with satisfying win over Houston

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Rice baseball snapped out of its funk, overcoming a costly individual relief outing with plenty of runs to earn a meaningful win over Houston

.The whiplash began in the first inning when Jack Riedel slugged a three-run bomb to right center, spotting starting pitcher Garrett Stratton to an early lead. Stratton did his part, twirling two shutout innings before being lifted for Mauricio Rodriguez who did not fair quite as well.

Rodriguez got the first man to fly out, but seven of the next eight Houston hitters reached base, including three two-out RBI hits. When the dust settled, the Cougars led 6-3 and the Owls’ early volly had been answered two-fold.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball suffers ninth consecutive loss, falls to IWU

Rice quickly answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning courtesy of a Guy Garibay home run. The game stayed close for several innings until the Owls had their moment. In the bottom of the seventh with the game tied, Ben Royo deposited a ball over the left field wall — a three-run blast.

Riedel added three more runs in the eighth via his second long ball of the game. Matthew Linskey, taking over for Garret Zaskoda who worked three shutout frames, struck out the side in the ninth to secure the win.

What it means | Not dead yet

Had Rice baseball lost this game they would have reached their first double-digit game losing streak since 1987. That’s not a marker a program on that seeks to elevate its status would want to emblazon itself with. Winning on Wednesday night was paramount. And for the first time in more than two weeks, Rice got it done.

At some point, the odds said the bullpen roulette was going to favor the blue and gray. At some point, the defense was going to put together an error-less outing. At some point, the relief was going to be good enough. That all happened on Wednesday. Now they’ve got to find a way to replicate it.

The top of the order was superb. Linskey looked like his old self. Someone stepped up and gave the team good innings out of the pen (Zaskoda) and head coach Jose Cruz trusted him enough to let him keep going, an equally important piece of the puzzle.

There are things to build on here. And Rice needs to get a few more wins to secure that conference tournament spot. No better time than the present to turn things around.

ON DECK | at WKU (Fri-Sun)

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Fast starts not enough as Rice Baseball is swept by UTSA

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Rice Baseball scored first in all three games against UTSA but left San Antonio reeling, suffering another sweep in painful fashion.

FRIDAY | UTSA 9 – Rice 7

Rice got the jump on UTSA ace Luke Malone in the early goings of the opener, scoring four runs in the first two frames and following that up with a three-spot in the fifth. The UTSA bats were ready to push back, however, cutting into a 4-0 Rice lead with two-run innings in the second and third, respectively, to tie the game back at 4-4.

The aforementioned three-run fifth — all runs courtesy of a Ben Royo home run — would give the Owls a lead, but again, the Roadrunners rallied back. UTSA would score four in the seventh and one more in the eighth, roughing up Justin Long and Cristian Cienfuegos, the latter of which took the loss, his first of the season.

SATURDAY | UTSA 10 – Rice 8

As they did on Friday night, Rice got to work early on Saturday afternoon. A pair of solo home runs in the top of the first inning staked the Owls to a 2-0 lead, which quickly grew to 5-0 in the second before a weather delay paused the game in the middle of Ben Royo’s second at-bat. Royo would fly out when play resumed, signaling a shift in momentum away from the Owls.

MORE: Roost Pod – Rice Football Spring Ball Recap and Basketball Recruiting

With Rice leading 6-1, UTSA went on the offensive. The Roadrunners ambushed JD McCracken for four runs in the fourth, then jumped all over Tyler Hamilton for three runs in the sixth to take the lead for good. Once again, Rice was unable to hold an early lead and fell, ceding the series to UTSA.

SUNDAY | UTSA 11 – Rice 6

A weekend of crooked numbers rounded into full form on Sunday. Ben Royo got things going with a solo home run in the second, answered quickly by a single run to tie the game by UTSA in the bottom of the inning. Then the fireworks really got going.

UTSA hung a four-spot in the third. Rice answered with five runs in the fourth with Guy Garibay providing an emphatic, go-ahead three-run blast. The lead was short-lived, though. UTSA answered with a six-run sixth, rocking Matthew Linskey with a grand slam to take a commanding 11-6 advantage. That would be the final score.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Another weekend down, but the same familiar result. Rice baseball is headed back to Houston with a bad taste in its mouth. Here are three takeaways from a tough weekend on the road.

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1. Building blocks

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ON DECK | vs UIW (Tues), vs Houston (Wed), at WKU (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball falls to UH in 21-pitcher midweek nail-biter

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Rice baseball and Houston each emptied their respective bullpens on Wednesday night, but the Cougars’ staff lasted one inning longer.

Things couldn’t have gotten off to much more of an inauspicious start for Rice baseball on Wednesday night against Houston. A leadoff single was followed by another single, neither struck particularly hard. Back-to-back walks put Rice in a 1-0 hole before Guy Garibay’s diving snag turned the tide and kept Rice in the game.

Rice would then fight back from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to tie the game. A smattering of relievers combined to hold the Houston offense at bay, with two of the Cougars’ first five runs scored on wild pitches with two outs remaining in the inning.

Mark Perkins came on in relief shortly afterward and kept the Cougars’ run total at five, giving the Rice offense a chance. The Owls squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the eighth but cashed it in during the ninth, forcing extra innings.

Ultimately it was Tom Vincent who got his bell rung in the 12th, ceding three runs before ceding the mound to Garet Zaskoda, the 20th pitcher of the game — Houston would throw No. 21 in the bottom of the inning — as the game ticked past the four-hour mark. Houston went on to win, clinching the Silver Glove series victory.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball suffers heartbreaking sweep vs DBU

“It stinks to be on the losing end of a game like this. We were very competitive, it just seems like there’s there’s one thing that happens, or two things, four things today that happened that makes life difficult for us and we end up having to talk about not winning again. It’s getting annoying,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said.

“I mean, I know we’re close. [We’ll] just keep showing up, keep grinding, keep game planning like we are and just have faith that things are going to turn around.”

Cruz singled out the wild pitches, errors and missed RBI opportunities as key moments that turned the course of the game.

The Owls won’t have much time to lick their wounds. They hit the road tomorrow for a three-game tilt with UTSA before returning home where they’ll face Houston again in one of two midweek games.

ON DECK | at UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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