HOUSTON – No. 5 Florida Atlantic eliminated No. 8 Rice with a 6-1 win in the third game of day two of the 2023 Conference USA Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon from Reckling Park in Houston on the campus of Rice University.
 
Starting pitcher Hunter Cooley was dominant for Florida Atlantic, tossing a complete game with 12 strikeouts and no walks, allowing just one run and scattering five hits. The 12 strikeouts are tied for the fifth-most in a C-USA tournament game.
 
Florida Atlantic struck first, plating four runs in the bottom of the second, courtesy of a Spencer Rich RBI double over the head of the center fielder to take a 1-0 lead. Caleb Pendleton then hit a two-out, three-run homer to left-center to make it 4-0.
 
Jackson Ross extended the lead with a two-run blast to left-center with two outs in the bottom of the fourth that stretched things out to 6-0.
 
Rice scratched across one run in the top of the ninth, but ultimately fell 6-1.
 
Florida Atlantic moves on to Friday night’s 5:30 p.m. CT game to play the losing team from Thursday night’s matchup between DBU and WKU.