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Rice Baseball hangs on to beat Lamar on the road

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Rice Baseball struck early and executed down the stretch to take down a 34-win Lamar squad on the road.

Rice baseball continued its recent them of strong starts, jumping on top of the hosting Lamar Cardinals with a 4-run second inning on Wednesday night. Kyle McDonald got the first run across in his return to the lineup after battling injuries, scoring Jack Riedel on a sacrifice fly. Tobias Motley and Jacob Devenny added RBI hits of their own in the inning. Pierce Gallo tacked on one more run in the third.

Staked to a 5-0 lead, Rice pitching was tasked with fulfilling their end of the bargain. Karl Ralamb drew the start, but quickly ceded the mound to Mauricio Rodriguez in what would become a true bullpen game. No Rice pitcher worked more than 1.2 innings.

Rodriguez, Jackson Mayo and Mark Perkins were each charged with two runs apiece, but by the time Perkins was charged with his second run and Reed Gallant had entered the game, the Owls had built enough of a cushion to weather a few missteps from the back end of the bullpen.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball tops AAC-leading UTSA in best of three

Leading 8-6 after six innings, head coach Jose Cruz Jr. turned the ball over to his most trusted options. Jackson Blank, Tom Vincent and Davion Hickson finished the game, allowing no more runs and securing the win.

What it means | Just keep winning

Lamar is a good baseball team and, by record, a better baseball team than Rice baseball has proven itself to be to this point, at least on paper. But Rice hasn’t been playing like the team that got off to such a slow start, quite the contrary. This version of the Owls looks as good as it has ever looked under Cruz. Winning games like this further solidifies that notion.

Rice has won nine of their last 11 including back-to-back midweek contests against Lamar and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. They’ve got a tough road ahead of them, including a rematch with Lamar next week and a trip to play at No. 1 Texas A&M. But the more wins they can stack along the way, the better.

ON DECK | at Charlotte (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football Recruiting: OL Cole Principe commits to Owls

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The first offensive line pledge of the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class is on the board. Cole Principe has committed to the Owls.

Since head coach Mike Bloomgren arrived at South Main building from the trenches up has been a theme of every Rice football recruiting class. The 2025 group is no expectation. That’s why it comes as no surprise that one of the first pledges of the upcoming class will put his hand in the dirt and be ready to protect. Orange Lutheran offensive lineman Cole Principe has committed to the Owls.

The Owls were one of the first to offer Principe, who also held offers from Air Force and Cornell before making his decision to commit to Rice. “After my visit, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” Principe told The Roost.

Principe’s time on campus was impactful. He got a better appreciation for the Owls’ offensive scheme in his time sitting in on meetings and enjoyed his conversations with the coaching staff. All in all, the atmosphere around the program proved to be one he wanted to join.

“I love to win,” he said. “I am excited to be a part of a program who has been on an upward trajectory of winning and I hope to help take it to the next level.

As it stands, Principe is the third commitment of the 2025 class and the second to make their pledge official in the month of April. North Shore running back D’Andre Hardeman committed two weeks ago. Prior to their additions, Madison Prep (LA) athlete Semaj Pierre had been the lone commitment, dating back to November 2023.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

The 6-foot-3, 285-pound Principe is a people mover with experience at both guard and tackle. His film shows good balance and quickness off the ball, both things that will help him tremendously at the collegiate level. Principe frame and athleticism are exciting, making him a great bet to be a productive player at the next level.

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AAC Baseball: Standings tight entering the home stretch

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Three weeks remain in the regular season and the  AAC Baseball conference title race is beginning to take shape.

SCHOOL CONF OVERALL

Notable storylines results

1. ECU’s title to lose

The Pirates entered the year as the unquestioned favorite to win the American Conference crown. Through the majority of the regular season, there’s been no reason to doubt their place atop the league standings. Only three regular-season losses have the Pirates in the hunt for a National Seed. While it’s still mathematically possible for UTSA to catch them, the odds are certainly in their favor to finish the job.

2. Rice is cooking (more)

Rice baseball is one of the reasons ECU is currently enjoying a two-game lead in the standings. While the Pirates were taking care of business against Memphis over the weekend, Rice was taking a series from UTSA, who entered the weekend tied atop the league standings with ECU. Now the Roadrunners are two games back and the Owls are in the mix to make the field as winners of eight of their last ten.

3. Who will avoid the chopping block?

There are 10 teams in the league this year and only eight spots in the conference tournament. That means two teams are going to be staying home in a few weeks and the battle for those last spots is going to come down to the wire. Three games separate the 3-seed and the last-place team in the standings (Memphis). And even if the Tigers have another tough weekend, we could be looking at seven teams for six spots.

4. What’s on deck?

There are a host of hugely important series this weekend between those middle-of-the-pack teams. Charlotte hosts Rice and FAU hosts FAU. Memphis might be in a do-or-die set with Tulane and if UTSA has any hopes of contending for a regular season title, they absolutely have to beat Wichita State at home. USF at ECU rounds out the conference slate.

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NFL Draft: WR Luke McCaffrey selected No. 100 Overall by Commanders

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Former Rice football wide receiver Luke McCaffrey was selected No. 100 overall by the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL Draft.

A steady riser throughout the pre-draft process, Luke McCaffrey didn’t have to wait long to learn his pro destination. The former Rice football wide receiver was selected with the final pick of the third round, going No. 100 overall to the Washington Commanders.

McCaffrey enters the NFL following a season in which he led the AAC in touchdown receptions (12), racking up 68 receptions and 963 receiving yards in the process.

He’ll follow in the footsteps of a family flush with NFL bloodlines. Luke’s brother, Christian, is a standout running back with the San Francisco 49ers. His father, Ed, was a third-round pick to the Denver Broncos who would go on to play 13 seasons in the league and win three Super Bowls.

In Washington, McCaffrey joins a robust Commanders’ roster which includes newly drafted quarterback Jayden Daniels from LSU. He’ll step into a receiver room that includes Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson and others.

McCaffrey is the first Rice player to hear his name called in the NFL Draft since Christian Covington was selected by the Houston Texans in 2015 and the first top-100 selection for the Owls since Phillip Gains was drafted by the Chiefs in 2014. He’s the Rice wide receiver drafted since Jarett Dillard was selected by the Jaguars in the fifth round in 2009 and the first Rice player drafted by Washington since Tony Barker in the 10th round of the 1992 draft.

McCaffrey was named The Roost’s Offensive Player of the Year for Rice football in back-to-back seasons, his first two years playing wide receiver at the collegiate level following a transition from quarterback. If he can excel to that degree in such a short time, the sky might truly be the limit for him at the next level.

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Rice Basketball Recruiting: G Denver Anglin commits to Owls

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A familiar face has followed Rob Lanier to South Main. SMU transfer Denver Anglin is the newest member of the incoming 2024 Rice Basketball recruiting class.

The roster restocking continues. Following a busy week of new additions from the Transfer Portal, the 2024 Rice Basketball Recruiting class has added a more familiar face. Guard Denver Anglin, who was with current Owls’ head coach Rob Lanier at SMU, has committed to the Owls.

During Lanier’s introductory press conference, he was asked whether or not the Transfer Portal would help him add some “familiar faces” to the Owls’ current roster, clearly imploring Lanier to divulge whether or not he would have interest in bringing any additional players beyond his son Emory with him from SMU to Rice. Lanier’s offered a one-word response: “Yes”.

Lanier’s response wasn’t a promise that he’d be bringing his roster with him. And those players had their own choices to make, too. But it was clear from that point the family atmosphere he’d created in Dallas might see some of his former players seek to reunite with their former coach. Anglin is the first former Mustang to make the leap.

A former four-star recruit, Anglin is a New Jersey native who signed with Georgetown out of high school. He transferred to SMU in the summer of 2023 with three seasons of eligibility remaining but did not see action for the Mustangs this past season as he was forced to take a redshirt due to injuries.

Anglin is the seventh offseason addition to the roster, which is slowly beginning to take shape. The Owls should have room for a couple more additions before the frenzy of additions slows down.

More: Rice Basketball Roster Tracker

Anglin doesn’t have a ton of tape to review, but what is out there impresses. He’s a good shooter with tremendous athleticism. His arrival on South Main is clearly indicative of how much the coaching staff believes in his ability.

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