Cruz believes Owls are ‘good enough to win’ in his 2nd year
Last baseball season was a difficult one for Rice.
The Owls played poorly in Jose Cruz Jr.’s debut season as head coach. The team was not fundamentally sound in a 17-39 season that included a 9-21 mark in Conference USA, giving away too many outs defensively. The pitching was subpar as well.
“One of the things I wanted to harp on this year was to be really good at the routine play,” Cruz said. “We expect to be better than a year ago. We expect to keep progressing. We are good enough to win. The pitching is different. The guys have been taught how to use their arsenal a little differently.”
Sophomore righthander Parker Smith gets the start on Friday when the Owls debut their new synthetic turf playing surface at Reckling Park in a three-game series against Louisiana, a 2022 NCAA regional qualifier.
“We’re going to come out firing on Friday,” said Smith, a Bellaire product who made 10 starts in 2022, compiling a team-low 4.19 ERA. “I’m excited to see what this team can do, and I’m happy to be a part of that.”
After four seasons at Davidson, Parker Bangs became the new pitching coach after the Owls had the 10th-highest ERA in the C-USA at 6.04. Rice was last among 12 C-USA teams in fielding percentage and 10th in batting average (.251).
Sophomore infielder Aaron Smigelski connected on eight home runs as a freshman. Junior Connor Walsh hit .319 over the last 11 games, with all four of his homers coming in that stretch. After a productive 2022 season that included leading the club in runs (40) and walks (32) and sharing the team lead with 14 doubles and two four-hit games, Guy Garibay has made an even bigger jump.
“All around we’ve gotten better,” said Garibay, a lefthanded-hitting outfielder from Dickinson. “From a pitching standpoint, we’ve got more guys throwing strikes in intersquads. If that translates to the game, it’s going to be a great season. From a hitting standpoint, we have a much better approach in driving in runs.”
Indiana transfer Max Johnson should make an impact in the infield. Justin Long has transitioned from catcher to pitcher and is excelling.
Newcomers are expected to bolster the pitching staff. Lefthander J.D. McCracken is a transfer from Tennessee, righthander Mauricio Rodriguez is a transfer that is being noticed and freshman righthander Garrett Stratton (Strake Jesuit) should get innings.
“We’re starting to bring in the guys that we like in a baseball player,” Cruz said. “There’s a buy-in immediately when they come in. These guys want to maximize themselves. That’s good for us, we don’t need to motivate anyone.”
Freshman infielder Ben Royo has shown promise in the offseason, and infielder Jack Riedel (Memorial) is markedly improved from a year ago, when he made 40 starts.
An overall upgrade in talent, as well as player development, should prove beneficial to the Owls for the 2023 season.
“The record will come,” Garibay said. “This game is about having fun, and that’s one thing we overlooked last year, we were so worried about being perfect that a lot of guys were overthinking.
“This year, we’re going to come with the mentality of, we’re out to win, but we’re out to have fun.”