Rice baseball secured a season-best six-game winning streak while taking two of three from Abilene Christian over the weekend, improving to 9-7 overall.
FRIDAY | Rice 5, ACU 4
Paul Smith got Rice baseball off on the right foot in the opener, hammering a two-run shot over the left field wall to put the Owls in front in the first inning. The lead would be short-lived, though, as Abilene Christian was able to knock Rice starter Brayden Sharp out of the game in the third inning, striking for three runs in the third inning, the last of which was charged to Anthony Diaz who had come on in relief.
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Once he was freed of the jam he inherited from Sharp, Diaz was electric. He went six innings in relief, striking out nine and allowing just four hits. His steady hand opened the door for the Owls’ offense, which rumbled back to life in the later innings.
Jacob Devenny tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh. Garet Boehm delivered the go-ahead RBI on a single of his own in the eighth. Finally, Landis Davila secured a crucial insurance run in the ninth on a well-executed bunt. That extra run would be the difference with ACU scoring one against Marco Fuentes in the ninth before Tanner Wiggins entered for a one-pitch, one-out save.
SATURDAY | Rice 8, ACU 6
ACU began the back-and-forth on Saturday, opening the scoring with a sacrifice fly against Ryland Urbanczyk in the second to take an early edge. The lead would go on to flip-flop in the third, the fourth and the fifth innings before the home team equalized the score at 5-5 in the sixth.
The Wildcats looked to have delivered the decisive blow with a pair of two-out RBI against Ty Thames in the eighth inning, but Rice would respond with a thrilling finale. Boehm tied the game with a double in the ninth, coming around soon after on a fielder’s choice as the game’s decisive run with Thames closing things out for the win.
SUNDAY | ACU 4, Rice 1
Ethan Sanders delivered another dazzling performance in the series finale, with a two-run homer in the fourth inning the only hiccup in an impressive 11-strikeout performance. Those runs broke a scoreless pitcher’s duel with ACU hurler Cade McGarrh, who allowed just one run of his own.
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ACU led 2-1 when both starters exited the game in the seventh with the Wildcats bullpen getting the better of the Owls’ relief corps, too. Rice was kept off the scoreboard for the final three innings, but ACU struck for two runs against Ty Baker, more than enough offense to overcome the quiet, five-hit showing from Rice in the series finale.
THREE FOR THE ROAD
