A ninth-inning rally in the opener, followed by a dominant Saturday, notched Rice Baseball its first series win at East Carolina since 2013.
FRIDAY | Rice 10, ECU 5
A pair of solo home runs lifted Rice baseball to an early lead on the road against East Carolina, but things turned sharply for the Owls’ starter Tanner Wiggins after those early blasts. The Pirates struck for three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth, taking a 5-3 lead which they would carry into the eighth inning.
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Landis Davila got Rice back within two with a home run, setting the stage for a do-or-die ninth with the visitors trailing by two. Landon West led things off with a single, the first of seven hits in the inning for the Owls, who exploded for seven runs in the frame, the last of which was driven in by Hiram Bocachica, who initially entered the game as a pinch-runner for West. Ty Thames entered to collect the final three outs.
SATURDAY | Rice 5, ECU 3
The middle game of the series looked oddly similar in the early goings. Rice struck first, again via the long ball, taking a 2-0 advantage in the second, courtesy of JC Davis putting one over the right field fence. East Carolina found the equalizer two innings later, tying the game on a home run from Michael Kalinich.
This time, though, Rice didn’t wait to fire back. Cole Green broke the deadlock in the seventh, launching a three-run jack over the left field wall to put the Owls up by three. Ethan Sanders would close out the bottom of that inning, allowing one additional run to score, but delivering a seven-inning quality start. He then handed the ball to Thames, who procured a six-out save, his sixth of the season, to clinch the series.
SUNDAY | ECU 3, Rice 0
Runs were much harder to come by in the series finale. Both pitching staffs worked through trouble, with a solo home run surrendered by Ryland Urbanczyk in the second inning the only scoring through the first seven frames.
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Both starters were out of the game by the middle of the seventh and East Carolina used that as their chance to extend their edge, adding two more runs in the eighth against Anthony Diaz before Ethan Atchley entered to record the final out. By then, it was 3-0 in favor of the home team. Rice went quietly in the ninth, ceding the series finale to East Carolina.
THREE FOR THE ROAD
