Rice pitcher Parker Smith has been invited to join 55 other premier players at the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.
Smith earned first-team All-Conference USA honors this past season for the Owls. He finished the regular season ranked second in C-USA with a 2.75 ERA and was tied for second in innings (85) and fifth in strikeouts (80), strikeouts looking (26) and opponent's batting average (.231).
He will be looking to join his head coach (Jose Cruz Jr.,1994) and associate head coach (Paul Janish, 2003) in representing his country. He would be the first Owl to do so since Matt Canterino in 2019.
The 2023 training camp will open June 23 with a pair of practices before the players are divided into two teams for a five-game Stars vs. Stripes intrasquad series from June 25-29. After the conclusion of the series, USA Baseball will name a final 26-man Collegiate National Team roster that will represent the United States in a friendship series against Chinese Taipei and Japan from June 30-July 12.