Rice Baseball scored 38 runs across three games, sweeping UAB at home to rocket back up the conference standings.
SATURDAY 1 | Rice 16, UAB 9
Rice baseball fell behind in the series opener after three of the first four hitters UAB sent to the plate were able to reach base. Tanner Wiggins got out of the frame without further damage and then the Rice bats went to work. Garet Boehm tied the score, setting up Landis Davila, who blasted his first home run of the season to put the home team in front.
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The second and third were quiet, with both teams putting up zeroes before the scoring broke out in earnest in the fourth. UAB plated nine runs, eight coming between the fourth and ninth innings. Rice hung an eight-spot in the sixth inning alone, including home runs in three of four plate appearances. Up 14-5 after that big inning, Rice held on, taking the opener by a final score of 16-9.
SATURDAY 2 | Rice 12, UAB 2
The second half of the doubleheader followed a similar script as the first. UAB struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning off of Rice starter Ethan Sanders. Then the Owls answered with a vengeance, making the third inning their big crooked number this time around.
Rice sent 10 to the plate, scoring six times as UAB pitcher Carter Samuelson walked four straight and was lifted following a 2 RBI single from JC Davis. Sanders would hold the Blazers down for the next several innings, but UAB did not receive the same boost from its pitching staff. Rice added one more run in the fifth, three in the sixth and two more in the seventh. The last hit, a single from Boehm to make it 12-2, ended the game via run-rule decision.
SUNDAY | Rice 10, UAB 3
Any hopes that the Blazers might earn a respite from the Owls’ blisteringly hot bats were put to rest early on Sunday. After UAB went in front with one run in the first inning, Rice strung together four hits in the second to take a 3-1 lead.
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Then the Owls more than doubled their total in the next inning, parlaying two bunts and some well-placed singles into a 7-1 edge, which would further balloon to a 10-1 edge with three more runs home in the fourth. UAB would get two runs back on a home run in the eighth, but the result was never in doubt as the Owls secured the sweep.
THREE FOR THE ROAD
