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Rice Baseball splits wire-to-wire series with USC

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Rice Baseball and USC played a pair of games that went down to the final innings, splitting a pair of games in dramatic fashion at Reckling Park.

FRIDAY | USC 7 – Rice 4 (11)

Davion Hickson worked through plenty of traffic on the bases in his five innings of action in the series opener but limited the USC offense to one run, notching seven strikeouts. His replacement, Von Baker, allowed two runs to score, putting Rice in a 3-2 hole, with both Owls’ runs driven in by Treyton Rank in the second and sixth innings, respectively.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball tops Sam Houston in Home Opener

The action started to pick up in earnest again in the ninth. Still trailing by one, pinch hitter Colin Robson drew a walk, moved up a single from Blaine Brown and scored on a sac fly from Landon West to tie the game. USC tacked on one in the top of the tenth before Gunnett Carlson leveled the score with a solo shot to right field.

The moment was electric, but was not long lasting. USC scored three runs in the top of the 11th off Reed Gallant before Rice went quietly in the bottom of the frame, dropping the opening game 7-4.

SATURDAY | Cancelled, Weather

SUNDAY | Rice 4 – USC 3

Rice struck first on Sunday, pushing across two in the first inning on an RBI single from Gunnett Carlson and an error allowing Brown to score from third. Robert Fernandez held the 2-0 advantage until USC scratched one run across in the third, eventually leveling the score via a sac fly charged to JD McCracken in relief.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Tobias Motley made sure the Owls’ time without the lead was short lived, walloping a pinch-hit home run over the right field wall to open the seventh inning. Blaine Brown and Garrett Stratton got Rice through the eighth before USC tied the game on sac fly off of Stratton in the ninth, putting the burden back on the bats to finish the game.

Michael Zito would be the hero, delivering a walk off home run — his first collegiate hit and the Owls’ first walk off home run since 2021 — to send the Owls’ off with a crowd-raising home win.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Women’s Basketball comes up short against UTSA

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Rice Women’s Basketball got within a last-second shot of league-leading UTSA but couldn’t get it to fall, dropping a heartbreaker to the Roadrunners.

A pair of three-pointers in the closing minutes of the first quarter staved off what looked to be a rout inside the confines of Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. Rice women’s basketball was hosting Senior Day and seemed to have been caught up in the festivities, sacrificing the opening minutes of a crucial game against top-seeded UTSA.

The Owls would eventually come to, though, playing the Roadrunners more or less even through the next two quarters. Rice runs would occasionally get the game back within seven or eight points, but UTSA would hold serve, keeping Rice at bay until things got interesting in the fourth quarter.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

Rice opened that last segment with a scoring burst, but it was the Owls’ defense that made the biggest difference. The Roadrunners made three field goals in the quarter and just one in the final seven minutes, allowing the Owls to claw back into the contest and turn it into a competitive game once more.

Dominique Ennis hit a jumper to make it a three point game with 2:55 to play. Then Sussy Ngulefac cut the deficit to one and the defense forced a jump ball to get the Owls the ball back in time for a final shot. Ennis got the look, but it wouldn’t fall. After a foul and free throws, Rice got one last-second heave, but that shot went wide, too.

Final Box | UTSA 57, Rice 55

Key takeaway | 40 minutes

Saturday’s fourth quarter against UTSA made it clear Rice women’s basketball could challenge the best of the AAC. The Owls outscored the Roadrunners by six in the fourth quarter as well as by one point in the third and were even with them in the second. UTSA won the first quarter by nine. And therein lies the problem Rice women’s basketball has yet to solve this season, the 40 minute game.

Every game is 40 minutes and it’s hard to play at 100 percent for a full 40 minutes. But the best teams tend to get a lot closer to that level of consistency than those in the middle of the standings.

A two-point difference at the final buzzer made that abundantly clear. UTSA isn’t so much more talented than Rice to the point where the back-and-forth action of the game has been rendered moot. On the contrary, Rice has the talent and the ability to play with these teams. They just aren’t consistent enough to be anywhere near the top of the standings, something that has generated an understandable level of frustration.

Up Next: vs UAB (Tues, 2/25)

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Rice Basketball roll past Tulsa

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Rice Basketball returned to the win column emphatically, maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the game against Tulsa on Saturday.

From the moment Denver Anglin drained the first three of the game to the successive baskets from Trae Broadnax to give Rice basketball a 7-0 lead, Saturday’s game against Tulsa felt different. There was no back-and-forth in this one like so many of the Owls’ other nailbiters of late, no, Rice outscored Tulsa 21-6 in the first 11 minutes and change, setting the tone for what would become a Rice romp.

Tulsa would eventually get things going offensively, but a pair of double-digit scorers from the Golden Hurricane was not nearly enough to overcome such a sizable early deficit.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

In fact, Tulsa would get back within single digits on the scoreboard just twice. The first time came in the latter portions of the first half to which Rice answered with a 7-0 run. The next was near the midpoint of the second half. Rice ripped off five in a row and that was that.

To eliminate any doubts this game was as one-sided as it felt, Rice would close things out on a 14-5 rally, scoring the final six points of the game and earning a much-needed AAC victory in the process.

Final Box | Rice 71, Tulsa 50

Key takeaway | Past due

Finally getting in the win column after too many painful, last-minute losses to count is a breath of fresh air to a Rice basketball squad that has been struggling to close out games. Head coach Rob Lanier mentioned as much in his comments after the game.

“A great sign of the resilience of the guys, and that’s been a consistent theme,” Lanier remarked. “The expectation is that we’re going to come out and play well and be competitive and we’re going to have to find a way to finish some of the games that we’ve been in. I think the group is getting tougher mentally and the bond is getting stronger through these experiences.”

Lanier could have stopped there, but chose not to. In a response to a later question, Lanier made it clear he viewed even this win as a learning experience for his team.

“My message at halftime and a little bit after the game is that we have a good group of kids. They stick together. There’s some comradery. There’s some positive energy flowing through our locker room,” he said. “But the next step is for us to add to that some bite. And I didn’t feel that tonight, that bite, that aggressiveness.”

Perhaps that killer instinct has kept this squad from a few more wins over the past month. Regardless of the reason, Lanier doesn’t seem content with the status quo and is pushing his team for more. That might be the most encouraging thing that happened for Rice basketball on Saturday, beyond just a win.

Up Next: at Memphis (Wed, Feb. 26)

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Rice Baseball 2025: MLB Owls Spring Training Update

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The 2025 MLB season is fast approaching and Rice baseball alums are busy on the mound and at the plate in Spring Training. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls.

In Camp

Dane Myers – Miami Marlins

A member of the Marlins’ 40-Man roster, Myers is in Spring Training with the Marlins, his third season with the club.

Tristan Gray – Chicago White Sox

Gray spent time with the Marlins and Athletics last season before singing a minor-league contract with the White Sox in February. He is a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Matt Canterino – Minnesota Twins

A member of the Twins’ 40-Man roster, Canterino participated in Spring Training with the club a year ago before a rotator cuff injury cost him the entire 2024 season. He’s full-go for Spring Training this year as he hopes to make the big league club as a reliever.

J.T. Chargois – Texas Rangers

Chargois signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers this offseason. He is a non-roster invite to Spring Training. 

Glenn Otto – Houston Astros

Otto signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros this offseason. He is a non-roster invite to Spring Training and hopes to make the big league club as a reliever.

Injury News

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

The Angels announced this week Anthony Rendon would have hip surgery that is expected to keep him out for an extended time, potentially the entire 2025 season. The injury is another tough blow for the Halos’ slugger who has battled several different maladies throughout his time in Los Angeles.

Around The World

Jon Duplantier – Japan

Duplantier initial signed a minor league contract with the Brewers this winter, but was granted his release so that he could sign with the Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball League (Japan).

Knocking on the Door (Potential AAA Call-Ups)

Evan Kravetz – Cincinnati Reds

Kravetz made his big league debut a season ago and looks to begin the 2025 season in AAA

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Rice Basketball suffers last-second loss to UAB

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Rice Basketball traded blows with UAB for 40 minutes but came up one point short in the final seconds resulting in yet another painful defeat.

There was barely time to exhale at media timeouts given the breakneck speed with which Rice basketball traded blows with UAB at Tudor Fieldhouse on Wednesday evening. The visiting Blazers couldn’t miss in the opening segments of the first half, shooting 69 percent from the floor through the first eight minutes of action. The Owls weren’t far behind, starting 4-of-7 from three to keep pace with the Blazers’ blitz.

The largest lead in the first half was seven points, held by UAB with nine minutes to play. The advantage disappeared almost as quickly as the visitors had amassed it. A quick 7-0 run brought the game back to level before UAB would eventually make it to the halftime buzzer in front by just three points.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

Jacob Dar would tie the game on his first shot out of the break, contributing to his second consecutive game north of 20 points and his game-leading 24 point outing that put the Owls in the driver’s seat to snap their losing skid.

With 5.7 seconds to play and Rice leading by three, Dar was on the wrong end of a foul that sent UAB to the line to shoot three. The Blazers missed the first, but another whistle on under the basket awarded additional free throws to the Blazers, who snuck ahead by one. Rice would get back to the line with less than two seconds to play, but two missed free throws sent Rice to another crushing defeat.

Final Box | UAB 90, Rice 89

Key takeaway | Unbreakable

After the three at the buzzer at Tulane, it felt as if this Rice basketball team had lost in every single heartbreaking way possible. Add one more to the list. A questionable foul call under the basket and two missed free throws to tie the game in the final seconds is about as aggravating of a gut punch as one could imagine.

But they haven’t given up. Not yet. Wednesday’s down-to-the-wire battle against the Blazers proved as much. Dar, who had every reason to despair along with his teammates, offered this rebuttal post game.

“This loss is tough for sure, but it’s not going to break us at all. We’ve been through this. Last game we went through this and we bounced back,” he said. “Nobody on our team is going to ever give up. We’re always going to give 100 percent. Every game we’re going to come out and compete. Every game we’re going to come out to win. That’s our mindset and it’s never going to drop.”

This squad is out of time to scream up the standings, but they’ve proven there isn’t anyone in this league they can’t go toe-to-toe with on the court. They’ll be the team nobody wants to play in the conference tournament in March. Before they get there, though, it would be nice to win a few basketball games.

Up Next: vs Tulsa (Sat, Feb. 22)

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