Rice baseball walked it off in the series opener but was run-ruled in the finale, dropping the series 2-1 to UTSA at Reckling Park.
THURSDAY | Rice 3, UTSA 2
Rice baseball struck first in a Friday night pitcher’s duel between Tanner Wiggins and a few Roadrunner arms. Colin Robson took advantage of a wild pitch to swipe home plate. UTSA tied it with a solo shot in the second inning, only for Rice to go back in front the next half inning on a ground out to the right side.
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UTSA got its equalizer in the fourth, tying the game on an infield error. Knotted up at two runs apiece, the score would stay there as Wiggins marched through seven innings, a career best. He handed the ball to Brayden Sharp, who racked up four strikeouts in three scoreless innings, setting the table for Paul Smith, who walked it off in the bottom of the tenth inning with a bases-loaded free pass.
FRIDAY | UTSA 8, Rice 0
Ethan Sanders did what he could to keep a feeble Rice offense in the game on Friday, hurling 6.1 innings with just two earned runs on his ledger with five strikeouts and six hits. The Owls had mustered just one hit by the time he exited the mound, something that became increasingly problematic as the Roadrunners lengthened their lead against the Owls’ bullpen.
Up by one after the second inning, UTSA got three more in the seventh when they knocked Sanders from the game, then they added three more in the eighth and one in the ninth, as Rice scrounged up the final eight outs, although it took five arms to do so. The offense offered no support as Rice was shut out at home for just the second time this season.
SATURDAY | UTSA 13, Rice 0
The offense didn’t fare much better in the rubber game as the pitching staff struggled to hold the line against the dangerous UTSA bats. Starter Ryland Urbanczyk got the hook after recording four outs as head coach David Pierce turned to Ty Thames to get out of a jam in the second inning. Thames did, and navigated the next frame without further incident, too.
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Even though three, UTSA broke through with two runs off Thames in the fourth before breaking the game open with a five-run fifth, which included a defensive error and two UTSA home runs. Thames was lifted for Carson Kuhn, who was removed for Ethan Atchley. When the dust had settled, that duo had allowed six more runs, giving UTSA a run-rule victory with no runs from Rice to offer any objection.
THREE FOR THE ROAD
