Rice Baseball waded through another postseason nail-biter in Clearwater, but this time its ninth-inning magic ran out and the Owls fell to East Carolina, 4-3.
Whether it was because of the early morning start or the heightened stakes of the moment, neither Rice baseball nor their Friday morning foes, East Carolina, were particularly sharp as they vied for a spot in the winner’s bracket of the American Conference Baseball Tournament. Two first inning errors from the Pirates directly contributed to the Owls’ first inning run.
On the other side, Ethan Sanders labored through his first postseason start, walking two and throwing three wild pitches in 3.2 innings of work. He was lifted midway through the fourth after three consecutive doubles had lengthened the Owls’ deficit to 4-1, putting the burden on the bullpen to go the rest of the way.
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Just like they did the day against Wichita State on Thursday after an early exit by starter Tanner Wiggins, the bullpen stepped up in a big way against East Carolina. Anthony Diaz entered with a man on in the fourth and proceeded to retired seven straight batters before passing the baton to Ty Thames, who twirled a 1-2-3 seventh and eighth.
Meanwhile, the slow-starting Rice offense began to stir. The Owls collected their first hits of the game in the fifth and their first RBI in the sixth, making the score 4-2 on a double down the line from Garet Boehm. The Owls put a couple on in the seventh and another in the eighth, but did not score as East Carolina turned to starter Ethan Norby to quell a potential rally.
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Once more, Rice would ask its bats to deliver some ninth inning magic and they nearly did. Back-to-back walks put the tying run on base. Colin Robson bunted them over before a wild pitch got speedster Zachary Daigre to third base with two away. Norby recovered to strike out Smith and send Rice to the loser’s bracket.