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Rice Baseball 2024: Names to Know — Lineup

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Entering Year 3 under head coach Jose Cruz Jr the Rice baseball roster is starting to take shape. Here are a few names to know at the plate.

The primary lineup for the 2024 Rice baseball season should feature a solid mix of old and new. Veteran players, incoming transfers, up-and-coming home-grown players and everything in between will see action on the diamond at Reckling this season. Here are the key pieces the Owls will have to work with at the plate and in the field this season.

Moving On

Losing Connor Walsh stands to be the biggest hurdle to overcome at the plate for this team. Walsh led all regulars in average, slugging and on-base percentage last season. Drew Holderbach and Aaron Smigelski re the other two notable contributors at the plate who won’t be with the Owls this coming season.

Coming Back

Fortunately, the list of returning players is longer than those headed out. Jack Riedel flirted with a 300 average last year and showcased a decent amount of power. The plan had been for him to hold down third base, instead, he’ll be moving across the diamond to play first base. That transition is necessary because Guy Garibary suffered an ACL injury in practice and announced this week he will miss the entirety of the 2024 season.

More: Potential the word for Rice Baseball in Year 3 under Cruz

Going around the horn, Pierce Gallo will handle second with Ben Royo, fresh off a fantastic freshman season, holding down shortstop. Max Johnson is a utility guy who could potentially backfill at third in place of Riedel. Manny Garza will be the primary catcher.

Nathan Becker and Ben Dukes are potential reserve bats and designated hitter options, Becker especially, after seeing a more limited role a year ago. As things stand, designated hitter and third base appear to have the greatest amount of uncertainty.

Added to the Mix

The outfield should be flush with new faces. Wichita State transfer Kyte McDonald has the potential to be a middle-off-the-lineup guy in center field. He’ll be sandwiched by Florida State transfer Treyton Rank and Princeton transfer Brendan Cumming. On paper, that trio looks to be one of the most potent outfields the Owls have fielded in quite some time.

Like Royo did last year, someone will undoubtedly emerge and force their way onto the lineup card. Freshman Landon West might be the best bet right now. He’s impressed during his limited sample size and could see some at bats in the near future.

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Rice Baseball 2023 Season Review: Lineup

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The offense was underwhelming for Rice baseball in 2023, posting the second-lowest OPS in Conference USA with over 500 strikeouts.

It wasn’t a good year at the plate for Rice baseball. The 2023 season saw the Owls finish in the bottom three in the league in batting average, runs, RBI, total bases and OPS, among other offensive measures. There were individual highlights — described in more detail below — but for the most part, the offense struggled.

More: Rice Baseball Season Review – Bullpen
More: Rice Baseball Season Review – Starting Pitching
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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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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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