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Rice Baseball grinds out hard-fought sweep at UAB

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Rice Baseball earned their second straight weekend sweep, this time taking all three games in their conference opening series at UAB.

FRIDAY | Rice 8 – UAB 1

Connor Walsh got the party started with a  three-run bast over the left field wall in the third inning to give starter Parker Smith some breathing room on the road. UAB would scratch across a run in the fifth on a single, but that would be the only damage ceded by the Rice pitching staff on the day.

More: Rice Baseball nonconference Stat of the Program

Leading 3-1 after seven, the Rice bats provided some extra insurance runs in the eighth and ninth. Graiden West picked up his first career hit, contributing to late inning boon. Manny Garza had RBI in both frames and Benjamin Rosengard and Walsh (again) drove in one apiece to round out the parade. Altogether Rice entered the bottom of the ninth with a commanding 8-1 lead and won by the same score.

SATURDAY | Rice 2 – UAB 1

JD McCracken earned the Saturday start and tossed a strong 4.1 innings of one-run ball, striking out five before ceding his turn on the mound to Justin Long who continued the impressive pitching run. He worked 3.2 scoreless innings and was credited with the win, thanks to an RBI single from Drew Holderbach in the seventh that broke an early 1-1 stalemate that had persisted since the third inning.

Krishna Raj was called upon to close out the game in the ninth. He allowed one walk, but struck out two, collecting his second save of the season and his first of the weekend.

SUNDAY| Rice 3 – UAB 1 (10 inn.)

Unlike most getaway days, this Sunday affair was a low-scoring slugfest that echoed Saturday’s nailbiter. It was UAB who took the early lead this time, chasing Rice starter Blake Brogdon from the game in the second inning and driving in the first run off Tom Vincent that same inning, although the blame lies on Brogdon’s box score.

Down 1-0 for most of the game, Rice finally had their chance in the seventh. Max Johnson drew a leadoff walk then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ben Royo moved him to third on a single to left field before Pierce Gallo’s sac-fly tied the game. The game would stay knotted at 1-1 until the 10th when Rice delivered the game-winning run courtesy of an RBI single from Manny Garza before he came around to add one more insurance run to secure the sweep.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball has now swept consecutive weekend series, something they never accomplished last season. It was also the Owls’ first series sweep to open conference play since 2015. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Being elite in one thing

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ON DECK | at Texas A&M (Tues),  vs UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball edges Tech, falls to TCU, A&M at Shriner’s Classic

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Rice Baseball won one of three games at the Shriner’s Classic, taking down Texas Tech for their first ranked win of the Jose Cruz Jr. era.

FRIDAY | Rice 3 – Texas Tech 2

Parker Smith further solidified his status as a bonafide Friday starter this weekend, tossing a fantastic outing against No. 24 Texas Tech at Minute Maid. Smith struck out a career-high eight batters in six innings, allowing just three hits, one walk and zero runs. His efforts were bolstered by a two-run home run from Connor Walsh in the fourth inning to give Rice the lead.

Matthew Linskey struggled to find his command in relief, allowing Texas Tech to tie the game on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly in the seventh. Jack Riedel answered in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot of his own which would prove to be the game winner, lifting Rice baseball to its first win over a ranked opponent in the Jose Cruz Jr. era.

SATURDAY | Texas A&M 13 – Rice 1 (7 inn.)

Texas A&M scored three runs in the first. They scored five runs in the second, chasing starting pitcher Mauricio Rodriguez in the process. Ryland Urbanczyk replaced him and was greeted with a rousing Ball-5 chant from the maroon-clad crowd.

The Aggies finished that second inning with an 8-0 lead. Rice stranded the bases loaded in the top half of the third, then watched Texas A&M tack on three more runs in the bottom half of the inning and another two runs in the fourth. After nearly two hours of game time, Texas A&M led 13-0 and the fifth inning hadn’t yet begun. It was that kind of night for Rice baseball.

SUNDAY| TCU 7 – Rice 0

The dwindling offensive numbers hit their bottom in the Sunday finale against TCU hurler Cam Brown, who had the Owls’ number from the start. He struck out eight in seven innings, allowing just three hits and the TCU bats did the rest. The Horned Frogs scored three on a home run in the second inning and another on a solo shot in the third. A sacrifice fly in the fifth and a two-run double in the eighth rounded out the scoring, more than enough to overcome the Owls’ bagel.

Rice was held to four hits for the afternoon. Starting pitcher Tom Vincent was relieved after 2.1 innings. Matthew Linskey was the only Rice pitcher that did not get charged with a run, while Cristian Cienfuegos, JD McCracken and Blake Brogdon were not as fortunate.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball concluded a stretch of seven consecutive games away from Reckling Park with a three-game stint at the Shriner’s College Classic. The Owls picked up one win in the process. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Who’s next on the mound?

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ON DECK | vs UTRGV (Tues),  vs Texas A&M (Wed), vs Houston Christian (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball shows sparks, but gets swept by Stanford

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Rice Baseball gave Stanford a fight at the Farm this weekend but left California without a win, falling to 2-5 on the season.

THE PLAY BY PLAY | Rice drops series 3-0

FRIDAY | Stanford 6 – Rice 3

Parker Smith cruised through the first several innings of the series opener against Stanford on Friday afternoon, giving up a hit or a walk here or there, but never really feeling like he was in any real danger early on. Part of that comfort was generated by Drew Holderbach, who delivered a two-out single through the left side to put Rice ahead 2-0 in the third inning. Stanford would get one run back in the fourth, but Rice was in control as the game went into the later innings.

More: Under the radar players for Rice baseball in 2023

Things got hairy in the sixth after Pierce Gallo committed a pair of errors that enable Stanford to tie the game. With runners on second and third and one two outs, the Owls went to Matthew Linskey, who gave up the go-ahead run and eventually two more after he lost command in the seventh. That would be it for the Owls’ who couldn’t claw back from the late deficit.

SATURDAY AM | Stanford 11 – Rice 1

With a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday, a string of bullpen games was expected. Mauricio Rodriguez got the start in the first game and gave up two earned runs in 3.2 innings. Unfortunately for him, the Owls’ offense would only score once, eventually saddling him with the loss

Stanford was able to get to almost every Rice reliever that followed. Tyler Hamilton got it the worst, allowing five runs on two hits and three walks in the eighth inning, more or less the unofficial white flag for a Rice team that had collected just four hits on the day.

SATURDAY PM | Stanford 7 – Rice 4

Headed to the bottom of the second inning tied 2-2, Rice has weathered Stanford’s first scoring strike and answered. Stanford would punch back, going up 4-2 only to see Rice respond in the fourth with two runs of their own. After going through much of Friday in an evenly matched game, the second half of the doubleheader had a similar feel.

Rice had the chance to break things open with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. They scored twice, one of which came on a bases-loaded walk to Trey Duffield. They couldn’t get a bigger number across, despite the fortuitous situation. Justin Long gave the Owls a chance with a masterful 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, but the lack of run production in that key moment would come back to bite them, with Stanford scoring three in the eighth to take the lead for good.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball made it into the sixth inning tied with the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal twice this weekend but walked away without any wins. The Owls had the muscle to hang around with the Cardinal but didn’t possess that extra oomph needed to close out either of their close games. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Rice baseball has a Friday night guy

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ON DECK | at Sam Houston (Tues),  Shriners Classic – vs Texas Tech (Fri), vs Texas A&M (Sat), vs TCU (Sun)

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Rice Baseball 2023: Names to Know — Pitching

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Entering Year 2 under head coach Jose Cruz Jr the Rice baseball roster is starting to take shape. Here are a few names to know on the mound.

Rice baseball will look to significantly retool its pitching staff this season. In addition to the hiring of Parker Bangs, a new pitching coach, this offseason, the Owls will also turnover a sizable portion of their staff and likely introduce a host of players to new roles.

Moving On

From purely an innings-pitched perspective, Rice will have to replace its top five arms from last year’s team. Cooper Chandler, Alex DeLeon, Roel Garcia, Thomas Burbank and Brandon Deskins have moved on, leaving a vacuum of mound time to back fill. That quintet accounted for 251 of 485.2 innings pitched, representing more than 50 percent of the innings worked by the entire 2022 staff.

Coming Back

While they are losing a lot of innings, the cupboard isn’t completely bare. Closer Matthew Linskey, who led the team with a 3.00 ERA last season, returns to the squad and could be stretched out to take advantage of his talents for more than an inning or two per weekend. Also back is Parker Smith, who made a strong case to be higher in the weekend rotation at the end of last season and throughout summer ball.

Blake Brogdon, who has been a weekend rotation guy in prior seasons, is back for his fifth season at South Main. It’ll be interesting to watch how his role plays out as well as a guy like Micah Davis that flashed his talents last year but lacked consistent command. Tom Vincent, Reed Gallant, Cristian Cienfuegos and Garret Zaskoda return as potential bullpen options.

Added to the Mix

The list of newcomers who will be in the mix is long. Rice added Mauricio Rodriguez from the JUCO ranks as well as Krishna Raj (Charleston Southern, Tulane), Hayden Durke (Louisiana), JD McCracken (Tennessee) and Tyler Hamilton (Texas Tech) from the Transfer Portal. Additionally, they converted Justin Long from catcher to hurler, and word of his development has been very positive throughout the offseason.

More: Expectations rise for Rice Baseball, Cruz Jr. in Year 2

Past that, there’s a strong compliment of freshman arms that will get looks. Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. singled out Ryland Urbanczyk and Garrett Stratton as early standouts at the onset of preseason practices, which would likely make the front runners in that regard. The Owls also added Marco Fuentes, Jake Crews and Tanner Fox in their incoming freshman class.

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Rice Baseball compiles complete performances in WKU series win

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Rice Baseball took a much-needed weekend series against Western Kentucky, staying alive in the race for the Conference USA Tournament.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball wins the series 2-1

Rice baseball dropped the opening game before storming back to take the series thanks to a pair of one-sided affairs that ended in landslide victories on Saturday and Sunday. The pitching was good, the defense was stellar and the bats were explosive.

The series win is the Owls’ first since taking two of three from Marshall in later March. Rice is now 13-30 overall and 6-15 in conference play. Here are a few takeaways from the weekend.

1. Bring out the bats

Rice baseball scored five runs against Southern Miss last weekend across three games. They followed that up with a three-run outing on Friday night. Then the bats woke up. And when they did, they shook Reckling Park for the remainder of the weekend. Rice scored 24 runs over the final 20 innings of the weekend.

While it was the usual suspects who led the charge, Rice got contributions up and down the lineup. That’s what enabled the Owls to cobble together so many crooked numbers. Rather than wait for Austin Bulman, Guy Garibay or Aaron Smigelski to deliver the big hit, the entire lineup contributed in key moments.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball swept by No. 6 Southern Miss on the road

Pierce Gallo went 4-for-5 on Saturday with four RBI while hitting from the sixth spot. Hal Hughes was a perfect 2-for-2 on Sunday, scoring twice and doubling along the way. Catchers Justin Long and Manny Garza each had RBI hits during the weekend. Great players can drive in runs here and there, but it truly takes a village to score like the Owls did this weekend.

2. Sneaky strong starting pitching

Despite not having Cooper Chandler on Friday night, Rice starting pitching produced one of their most competitive weekends of the season. Thomas Burbank had the shortest outing, only going 2.2 innings, but things would only get better from there.

On Saturday, David Shaw through five innings, allowing one earned run on just three hits. It was Alex DeLeon’s turn to dazzle on Sunday, hurling five innings of one-run ball himself. Both of those outings allowed the offense time to work on the Western Kentucky staff with tremendous results.

DeLeon tipped his cap to the herculean defensive efforts of his outfielders behind him like Connor Walsh. “It makes you kind of calm down out there, kinda relax and get back into a groove,” he said.

Few teams are able to turn in three quality starting outings from their weekend rotation on a consistent basis. That said, it’s hard to be upset with what the Rice staff was able to accomplish this weekend.

3. Building momentum?

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. acknowledge it would take some time to get the program to where he wanted it to be shortly after taking the job last year. The year has been filled with road bumps, but this weekend served as a positive note as the calendar turns to May. It’s too late to rewrite box scores from March and April — that damage has been done — but Rice still controls what happens from this point onward.

The teams that are remembered are the ones that win in May. To regurgitate an age-old sports adage, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Because they were able to take a series this weekend they’ll now have the opportunity to win back-to-back series for the first time this year. That’s how all good runs start, by winning the next game.

“We’re basically going to have to win every series to even have a chance,” Cruz Jr. said, aware of how large the task at hand is for his team. “We’re just going to have to show up and play the best ball we’ve played. Right now we’re trending in that direction.”

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | WKU 5 – Rice 3

Western Kentucky jumped out in front early on Friday night, scoring twice in the second inning off Rice starter Thomas Burbank, who went 2.2 innings before ceding to Brandon Deskins, who escaped a jam and kept WKU off the board for the remainder of his outing.

Rice would tally 11 hits on the afternoon but was unable to turn them into runs until the seventh inning. At that point, Western Kentucky had taken a 4-0 lead and Rice was forced to play catch up. Home runs by Austin Bulman and Manny Garza in the late innings helped narrow the gap, but Rice would fall 5-3.

SATURDAY | Rice 13 – WKU 8

Rice fell behind in the second game of the series, but they wouldn’t spend long trailing. The Owls took the lead with a two-run second inning. Then Rice exploded for 10 runs in the second inning, the most runs Rice has scored in a single inning in conference play since scoring 10 at Charlotte in 2019. Aaron Smigelski and Pierce Gallo each had multiple RBI hits in the frame, putting Rice in front 12-1.

Western Kentucky cobbled together seven additional runs over the course of the next seven innings, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Owls’ sizable early lead. Cristian Cienfuegos would come on to pitch the final two innings to preserve the win.

SUNDAY | Rice 8 – WKU 2

After swapping runs in the first inning, Rice took their first lead of the rubber game on a sacrifice fly from Guy Garibay in the third inning. Garibay would extend the lead himself in his next plate appearance, diving to right field to score one just before Austin Bulman delivered a two-run blast.

Leading 5-2 at that point, the Rice offense struck for three more in the sixth courtesy of doubles from Jack Reidel and Hal Hughes plus a wild pitch. Alex DeLeon was terrific on the mound, holding WKU to two runs in five innings. Matthew Linskey came on to close things out in the eighth, endured a 49-minute lightning delay, then finished out the ninth to lock down the win.

ON DECK | at Charlotte (Fri-Sun)

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