Rice baseball came one hit-shy of a combined no-hitter on Sunday, but still managed a three-game sweep of Harvard.
FRIDAY | Rice 11, Harvard 7
Rice baseball couldn’t have envisioned a much better start than they got on Friday night. After Brayden Sharp set the Harvard Crimson down in order, the trip of Colin Robson, Paul Smith and Cole Green each hit a home run in the bottom of the first inning. Then, already in front by a decent margin, Rice stretched its advantage with a four-run second.
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Some hard contact off Sharp cut the gap to 7-3 in the third, but Rice would get two of those runs back in the bottom of the frame. Ahead 9-3, Harvard’s last scare came in a four-run outburst in the eighth as they chased reliever Jackson Blank from the game. Marco Fuentes closed out the inning then delivered a scoreless ninth to secure the save and a series-opening win.
SATURDAY | Rice 2, Harvard 1
A pitcher’s duel broke out in Game 2 between Harvard’s Luca Alagheband and Rice’s Ryland Urbanczyk, both of whom kept opposing bats in check while they were on the bump. Urbanczyk juggled four walks, but allowed just one unearned run while Alagheband struck out seven, allowing just four base runners in six innings.
Both starters turned things over to their bullpens, but it was the Owls’ backend which proved more capable than the Crimsons’. Anthony Diaz earned the win with 3.2 scoreless innings of relief while a tandem of Harvard relievers allowed a solo home run apiece, the first to Garet Boehm which tied the game and the second to Paul Smith to put Rice in front. Ethan Atchley entered with two outs in the ninth and earned the save.
SUNDAY | Rice 9, Harvard 0
Freshman hurler Ethan Sanders picked up right where he left off in the finale. After retiring the last 14 batters he faced against USC in his prior outing, Sanders sat down the first 11 he faced on Sunday against Harvard, combing for a streak of 25 consecutive batters retired across the two outings. While he kept the Crimson off the bases, his teammates gave him run support to work with.
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Rice turned two bunt singles, some sharply hit balls on the infield and a sacrifice fly into a 2-0 lead in the first inning before Colin Robson added one more run on an RBI double in the second. The 3-0 margin would become 5-0 by the time Sanders left the game in the sixth with cramps, still with no hits charged to his ledger.
Tanner Wiggins record two more no-hit frames, handing the ball to Ty Baker who retired all three batters he faced. He watched from the dugout as Carson Kuhn record the final three outs, with Harvard sneaking a hit to shallow right field to breakup the no-hit bid.
THREE FOR THE ROAD
