Owls eliminated in no-hitter

BILOXI, Miss. — Southern Mississippi’s Gabe Shepard, Cody Carroll and Hunter Stanley combined to no-hit Rice in a 6-0 victory in the Conference USA tournament semifinals on Saturday.

The Owls (26-33) managed only one baserunner on a walk to catcher Justin Collins in the sixth inning.

Shepard (2-0) went 71⁄3 innings, allowing the one walk while striking out 12 and retiring 22 of the 23 batters he faced.

“You never want to be on this side of a game like that but you also have to tip your cap to Southern Miss, especially that freshman (Shepard),” Rice coach Matt Bragga said. “That kid threw the heck out of the baseball. He beat us with the fastball today. He threw 98 (mph), and was still 97 in the seventh inning. We knew he was very good, and he had a special day today.”

Bryant Bowen hit a pair of home runs for Southern Mississippi.

Rice starter Jackson Parthasarthy (4-8) gave up two runs on two hits and five walks in three innings.

“Jackson Parthasarthy allowed only one earned run, and another was after an umpire’s interference call,” Bragga said. “It was still only 3-0 after six innings. Our pitchers were giving it all they could to keep the game close.”

Southern Mississippi (37-19) advances to Sunday’s Championship Final against Florida Atlantic, which beat UTSA 11-4.

The last time Rice finished a game without a base hit was a seven-inning Southwest Conference game against Texas A&M in 1988. In 1992, a University of Houston pitcher threw 10.1 no-hit innings, but Rice went on to win that game 1-0 in 13 innings.