HOUSTON – The No. 18 Louisiana Tech baseball team will look to continue its strong month of April this weekend, taking on Conference USA foe Rice in a three-game series from Reckling Park in Houston, Texas.
 
LA Tech (28-13, 12-6 C-USA) will enter the weekend looking to move forward from a destructive tornado that hit Ruston and J.C. Love Field early Thursday morning – rendering the facility unplayable for the rest of the 2019 season.
 
The Bulldogs enter this weekend's set as one of the hottest teams in C-USA play, having clinched five consecutive league series. Tech currently sits in third place in the league standings with a 12-6 record, just two games behind league leaders Southern Miss and Florida Atlantic – both at 14-4.
 
Tech continued the climb the national rankings this week, moving up to no. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30, while entering Perfect Game's Top 25 Poll at no. 25. Tech is also receiving votes in both the USA Today Coaches Poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division I Poll, and currently sits at 38 in the most recent NCAA RPI release.
 
Meanwhile, Rice (18-23, 9-9 C-USA) most recently swept Middle Tennessee last weekend, sliding up to sixth place in the conference standings.
 
Last season, Tech took a three-game weekend sweep over the Owls. Tech has won six of the last 10 meetings between the two programs dating back to 2016.
 
The Bulldogs have been road warriors this season, especially in conference play, having clinched both of their road league series this season (at Middle Tennessee and at FAU), and own the most overall road wins in C-USA with 11. Tech's road record is the 11^th best in all of college baseball.
 
The Bulldog offense has been on a tear as of late, and among C-USA, currently ranks fifth in batting average (.285), third in slugging percentage (.440), fifth in on-base percentage (.377), first in runs scored (280), first in RBI (260), third in triples (13), first in home runs (41) and first in HBPs (68).
 
Sophomore leadoff man Taylor Young continues to be one of the top table-setters in all of college baseball, sparking a Tech offense with five everyday starters hitting .295 or better. Young leads the team and is first in C-USA with 31 walks. The West Monroe product owns the third best quality at-bat percentage (QAB includes hits, walks, HBP, sacrifices, reach via error, run scored via contact and 7+ pitch PA) in all of college baseball at .608.
 
 
Tech will stick with its normal weekend rotation of senior right-hander Matt Miller (5-0, 2.95 ERA, 58.0 IP, 68 K, 23 BB), senior left-hander Logan Robbins (3-2, 6.31 ERA, 45.2 IP, 39 K, 23 BB) and senior left-hander Logan Bailey (5-4, 5.88 ERA, 52.0 IP, 50 K, 20 BB) in that order.  
 
Rice is slated to throw right-hander Matt Canterino (504, 2.97 ERA) and Evan Kravetz, respectively. A third starter for Sunday has yet to be announced.