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Rice Baseball swept by Wichita State

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Easter weekend began with a gut-punch for Rice baseball, who dropped all three games at Wichita State to fall to 1-5 in league play.

THURSDAY | Wichita State 7 – Rice 5

In an effort to keep Parker Smith and JD McCracken on regular rest, Rice baseball turned to Tucker Alch in the series opener, hoping to use him as an opener to bridge a few innings to other members of the bullpen. He went three innings, allowing four runs, ceding work to Ryland Urbanczyk who gave up three runs in 3.1 innings before Tom Vincent finished the game.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops Silver Glove Series to Houston

The Rice bats were able to help the arms out in this instance, rallying from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning to take a 5-4 lead by the middle of the fourth inning. Eric Correa was instrumental in the comeback bid, knocking in the first run in the second and authoring his first collegiate home run in the fourth to put the Owls in front. Wichita State tied it in the bottom of the inning before going ahead for good in the seventh on a two-run single off Vincent.

FRIDAY  | Wichita State 10 – Rice 3

Parker Smith labored through six innings, including a damaging four-run third inning that put Rice in a 5-1 hole from which they would never recover. Smith was able to give the Owls length despite the down outing, but four more runs allowed by the bullpen and limited offensive production made the hopes of a comeback shortlived.

Rice got solo home runs from Ben Royo in the seventh and Jack Riedel in the ninth, but it wouldn’t make up for the pair of crooked numbers Wichita State put on the board, costing Rice the series.

SATURDAY | Wichita State 15 – Rice 3

Rice struck first, taking a brief lead in the finale with a two-run first inning. Wichita State responded with a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning, tacking on a fourth run against JD McCracken in the second.

While the bats stayed silent, McCracken ran into further trouble in the fifth, loading the bases before being lifted to Tyler Hamilton, who allowed all three inherited runners to score. Things would only get worse in the sixth. Wichita State sent 12 men to the plate, scoring seven runs, including two runs by bases-loaded hit batsman. Down by 12, the game would be called before reaching the originally scheduled nine innings.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Self-inflicted wounds

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ON DECK | at Houston (Tues), vs Memphis (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball falls to SHSU in midweek bout

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Rice Baseball saw a five-game winning streak over Sam Houston snapped on Tuesday, falling in Huntsville by the score of 6-2.

The first two Rice baseball hitters reached base on Tuesday against Sam Houston, but only one of them came in to score with the second stranded at third base. That inability to push runs across despite having chances would prove to be the theme of the night in a game that was low-scoring until the home team broke things open in the middle innings.

Rice led 1-0 after one inning. It wasn’t until the fourth frame that Sam Houston was able to tie the game on a throwing error on a dropped third strike. Things slowly began to unravel from there. The Bearkats scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth, doing the bulk of their damage against Garrett Stratton and Tom Vincent after start Robert Fernandez was charged with three unearned runs in 4.2 innings of work.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball wins one of three against Tulane

Trailing 6-1 after six, the Owls didn’t have much of a response. Brendan Cumming tacked on an additional run in the ninth to narrow the deficit by a slim margin but the result was the same, a loss, which snapped a five-game winning streak for Rice in their all-time series against Sam Houston.

What it means | Converting Opportunities

It’s hard to boil an entire game down to one statistic, but on Tuesday night there was one glaring gap in the numbers that had an outsized impact on the game. Sam Houston hit .143 on the night, but a staggering .429 (3-0f-7) with runners in scoring position. Two of those three big hits came in the sixth inning when Sam Houston hung a three spot on the board, doubling their lead and putting Rice away.

In comparison, Rice hit an equally uninspiring .188 for the game but just .143 (1-of-7) with runners in scoring position. Looked at another way, Sam Houston converted two more run-scoring opportunities than Rice did and Sam Houston won the ball game. Rice stranded seven base runners, including two in the sixth, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Both sides had their chances. The one that took advantage of them won.

ON DECK | at Wichita State (Thr-Sat)

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Rice Baseball drops Tulane series but notches first-ever AAC win

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Although they dropped the series to Tulane two games to one, Rice baseball was able to salvage the finale and earn its first-ever AAC win.

FRIDAY | Tulane 14 – Rice 7 (11 innings)

Treyton Rank got Rice baseball off to the right foot on Friday night. His first big hit came in the third inning, a double to left center which put the Owls in front 2-0. Just two innings later, a triple gave the home team a 4-0 advantage. A big lead with Parker Smith on the mound had Rice feeling good, but trouble loomed as soon as Smith left the game.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops Silver Glove Series to Houston

Tulane forced Smith to exit in the sixth, scoring two runs credited to his ledger in the frame. The Green Wave tied it up in the seventh then took a 6-4 lead in the eighth. Jacob Devenny leveled the score with a clutch, two-out single in the eighth. The score stayed there for a while until the 11th inning. Garrett Stratton lost command and loaded the bases before ceding the mound to Jack Ben-Shoshan, who was battered and left with a large deficit and no outs recorded.

SATURDAY | Tulane 10 – Rice 1

JD McCracken labored through 5.2 innings on Saturday, working through base runners to give Rice a chance, allowing just three runs (all unearned) on six hits and four walks. The offense gave him one run of support while he was on the mound, a solo home run in the fifth from Jack Riedel.

McCracken gave way to Mauricio Rodriguez who got out of the sixth inning without further damage then allowed one run in the seventh before things went south in the eighth. Tulane struck for five in the inning, expanding their lead to 9-1 against the Owls who didn’t manage any additional runs for the afternoon, falling 10-1.

SUNDAY | Rice 4 – Tulane 2

Little by little, Rice built a lead in the series finale. An RBI groundout from Nathan Becker put Rice in front in the first, then a fielder’s choice and a single from Kyte McDonald added two more to the Owls’ total in second inning before Becker pushed the Rice lead to 4-0 with a single in the fifth.

As the bats methodically tacked on runs, the pitching trio of Tucker Alch, Ryland Urbanczyk and Tyler Hamilton were able to limit the Tulane bats, which had vexed the Owls’ relievers throughout much of the weekend. Hickson entered in the ninth inning to slam the door, notching the first-ever American Conference win for Rice baseball.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Fridays have to be for the Owls

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ON DECK | at Sam Houston (Tues), at Wichita State (Thr-Sat)

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Houston claims Silver Glove Series with pair of wins over Rice Baseball

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Rice baseball dropped the first two games of the Silver Glove series this week, narrowly being outscored by Houston by a combined score of 8-3.

TUESDAY | Houston 4 – Rice 1

Houston had one strong inning with the bat on Tuesday, but they made the production count. The Cougars struck for three runs in the second inning off Rice starter Robert Fernandez, who pitched relatively well, all things considered, going five innings and allowing three runs, the final two of which came across on a bases-clearing triple in that fateful second frame.

Last Time Out: Bats wake up as Rice Baseball sweeps Houston Christian

Trailing 3-0, Rice would manufacture one run in the eight. Kyte McDonald walked and stole second, moving into scoring position for Treyton Rank who drove him in with a single. Houston tacked on an insurance run in the eighth and that would be that.

WEDNESDAY | Houston 4 – Rice 2

A true bullpen game featuring 15 pitchers saw consistent traffic on the base paths for both teams. But despite the accumulation of pitches, hits and free passes, runs trickled in here and there, rather than flowing in droves.

Houston got on the board first with a solo home run in the third. Rice tied things in the fifth on a sac fly from Manny Garza that felt a few feet short of a game-changing grand slam. Instead, the game was back to even for a few more innings until Houston scratched across three more to take a 4-1 lead midway through the eighth. The Cougars would hold on to claim the series, which concludes next week.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Not so fast

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ON DECK | vs Tulane (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball battles through rain to sweep Houston Christian

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Rice baseball picked up its first home series sweep of the season, battling through the rain to take all three games against Houston Christian at Reckling Park.

It was all smiles at Reckling Park following a weekend sweep of a team from across town. Rice baseball moved to 8-11 on the season with conference play looming ahead. “All in all, it was an excellent weekend for us. We were challenging the guy on the offensive side to be more than they have been, get on the plate and create some more issues on the offensive side and they really did,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr said.

“They took it personally and they were swinging the bat. They were confident. They battled with two strikes. They got hits with guys on base. They had more stolen base attempts, executed bunts. All that was really good. That’s the kind of attitude that we just need to have moving forward.”

FRIDAY | Rice 10 – HCU 7

It became evident this would not be a pitcher’s duel when Rice ace Parker Smith was lifted after three innings that required 62 pitches to get through. The Owls were in front 4-3 when Smith departed, but ceded that advantage in the fifth inning when Smith’s relief, Tom Vincent, surrendered a pair of two-out RBI hits.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops series to Hawaii

Trailing 7-6, Rice went quietly in the sixth before getting something going in the seventh. The first three batters reached, setting up a bases-loaded situation with no outs. Two strikeouts later, the burden fell to Trey Duffield who delivered in style, mashing the two-out delivery over the left field fence for a grand slam. Vincent followed with a scoreless eighth before Davion Hickson stepped in for the ninth, earning his second save of the season.

SATURDAY | Rice 7 – HCU3

Rice were visitors in their home park after weather forced the Saturday contest, previously scheduled to be played at Houston Christian, back to South Main. They found themselves trailing after the first inning, giving up a pair to HCU via a pair of errors in the infield, before rallying back in the top of the second.

The Owls hung three on HCU starter Parker Edwards, who they’d knock out of the game early in the fourth. JD McCracken settled in quickly, working through five allowing just two earned runs as the bats continued to tack on runs, steadily increasing their advantage. Treyton Rank’s two-RBI double in the eighth left plenty of cushion for Tyler Hamilton, who earned the last six outs and his first save of the season.

SUNDAY | Rice 10 – HCU 6

There was no Rice deficit to be seen in the series finale. The Owls struck for two in the first inning before hitting around in the second, sending 11 to the plate in a seven-run outburst that gave the home team a commanding 9-0 lead entering the third. At that point, all Ryland Urbancyzk had to do was hold the line. He worked 4.2 innings in relief, handing the ball to Mauricio Rodriguez who earned the win.

Kyte McDonald, Jack Riedel and Nathan Becker all had three-hit games as Rice baseball unloaded the bench and was able to get a host of position players into the game in the later innings. HCU was eventually able to get a bit closer, threatening with bases loaded in the ninth, but Davion Hickson came in and shut the threat down quickly, earning the save and clinching the sweep.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball needed a weekend to get right and did just that against Houston Christian. Three straight wins, regardless of opponent, are a boon for morale. Here are three takeaways from the series:

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1. Left on Board

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