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Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte

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Davion Hickson persevered through the elements on Friday, tossing a complete-game one-hitter that set the tone for a Rice Baseball series win over Charlotte.

FRIDAY | Rice 2, Charlotte 0

In a rare occurrence during the 2025 Rice baseball season, a pitcher’s duel broke out at Reckling Park on Friday night. Despite a mid-game weather delay and the ominous threat of further impending storms, Davion Hickson spun a marvelous complete game one hitter against the 49ers in the series opener. Charlotte manage just a single in the third inning as Hickson racked up nine strikeouts.

More: 59 Minutes — David Pierce Challenges Rice baseball to grow

With Hickson dealing on the mound, the Rice bats were only required to do a little to push the team over the top in game one of the series. Blaine Brown broke the 0-0 deadlock with a double to right center in the sixth, scoring one. Then Paul Smith homered to right in the eighth to provide a bit of insurance before Hickson returned for the ninth to slam the door.

The one-hit shutout by Hickson was the first by a Rice baseball pitcher since Matthew Reckling defeated East Carolina 2-0 at Reckling Park in 2012, striking out 10 in the process.

SATURDAY | Rice 7, Charlotte 6

Scoring was much more prevalent in game two. Charlotte wasted no time, jumping in front with a two-run homer in the first inning off Rice starter JD McCracken. Rice rallied with three of their own in the second inning on a groundout and home run from Cole Green before Charlotte knocked McCracken out of the game with another pair of runs in the third.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball drops series at UAB

Garrett Stratton relieved McCracken and combined with Jack Ben-Shoshan to limit the 49ers to two more earned runs in the final six innings, rendering a smattering of Charlotte hits fruitless. As they grinded on the mound, the Rice bats delivered a two-run sac fly in the fourth from Green to tie the game and a go-ahead two-run home run from Landon West in the eighth. Ben-Shoshan closed things out and earned his third win of the season.

SUNDAY | Charlotte 12, Rice 2

Multiple days of frustration were taken out against Jackson Blank and the remainder of the Rice bullpen in the series finale. After the Owls went in front on a solo home run from Michael Zito in the first inning, Charlotte took control of things with a five-run fourth inning, which knocked Blank from the ballgame.

Austin Eppley, Marco Fuentes and Tucker Alch each gave up at least one run in relief as the 49ers scored 12 unanswered runs to take a commanding lead in the finale. By that point the damage had been done and the 49ers won the finale by run-rule.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 8: Defensive Takeaways

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Now led by defensive coordinator Jon Kay, the Rice football defense made strides this spring. Here are a few things that stood out the most.

The Rice football defense lost a lot of leaders to graduation this offseason. Having a familiar face in Jon Kay take over as the coordinator helps, but there was still plenty of dust to knock off as the Owls went through spring practices over the last several weeks. With new staff and new players, the program had plenty to work on from a defensive perspective.

More: Rice Football Spring Game Takeaways

“I think there’s a fair amount of new,” Kay said, addressing those changes during the offseason. This spring practice review tackles some of that new, some of the old and takes a more holistic look at what this side of the ball looks like with spring practices complete.

Ty Morris, you’re up

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Rice Baseball avoids sweep, but drops series to UAB

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Rice Baseball salvaged the series finale against UAB after dropping the first two games behind a largely quiet offense that went off for 12 runs on Sunday.

FRIDAY | UAB 3, Rice 0

Back in the Friday night role after several weeks in the bullpen, Davion Hickson delivered what was unquestionably his best performance of the season. Hickson went 7.2 innings, striking out a career-high 10 while limiting the Blazers to three hits.

More: 59 Minutes — David Pierce Challenges Rice baseball to grow

UAB snuck the first run across in the opening inning with a single, a stolen base and a groundout. Hickson put things in cruise control after that, getting through the first two outs of the eighth before allowing two runners to reach and exiting the game. The last two runs charged to his ledger were allowed by Jack Ben-Shoshan in relief. The Rice bats did little to help the cause, tallying three hits, no runs and 13 strikeouts.

SATURDAY | UAB 8, Rice 6

Rice baseball did not get its typically sharp start from JD McCracken in Game 2, a reality that proved fateful as the bats struggled to produce. UAB scored three in the first, two in the second and on in the third before McCracken was lifted in favor of Von Baker and eventually Mark Perkins. By the time the fourth inning came to a close, Rice was trailing 8-0.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball takes two of three from Memphis

The Owls most encouraging offensive inning of the weekend would soon follow. The Owls loaded the bases off Braxton Shelton with one out, then proceeded to rattle off five consecutive hits, scoring six runs before a double-play ended the inning. Back within two runs, Rice would manage just two base runners for the remainder of the game, dropping the series.

SUNDAY | Rice 12, UAB 10

The Rice bats woke up for the series finale, scoring three times in the first off UAB starter Isaac Warrick, who would then be the victim of two Rice home runs in the second, putting the Blazers in a 6-0 hole after two frames. UAB gave Rice a scare with a five-run third, with Ben-Shoshan getting a strikeout to strand the would-be tying run in scoring position.

A three-run home run from Blaine Brown, his second long ball of the afternoon, gave Rice some breathing room before the Owls added another insurance run in the sixth and the seventh before UAB began a comeback of their own. UAB scored five straight to get back within one.

Rice pushed one run across in the ninth, turning the ball over to Jackson Blank in the bottom of the inning. Blank got two outs, but loaded the bases. Marco Fuentes entered and coaxed a fly out to right field to extinguish the threat and end the game.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Football Recruiting: QB Aiden Smalls commits to Owls

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The 2026 Rice Football recruiting class has its quarterback in the fold. Playmaking signal caller Aiden Smalls has committed to the Owls.

Getting the right triggerman in place is paramount for success and the 2026 Rice Football recruiting class has found its solution at that all-important position. Quarterback Aiden Smalls has committed to the Owls.

Landing Smalls represents a massive recruiting win for the Owls’ new staff. To this point in his recruiting process, the bulk of Smalls’ offers have come from regional schools, including a wide array from the Power 4. He picked Rice over offers from NC State, Duke, Boston College and Virginia Tech, as well as Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, James Madison, Liberty and others.

To get Smalls to Texas and away from schools of that caliber is impressive and required several supporting factors. First, there was some existing familiarity between the Smalls family and Rice head coach Scott Abell, who formerly coached football at the same high school as Small’s father coached basketball, with Abell coaching a relative of the family during that time.

Additionally, part of the Owls’ pitch was where Smalls would play. Some of those programs viewed Smalls as an athlete, typecasting his athleticism into a skill position — although Smalls did confirm at least one of those P4 programs and all of the Group of 5 programs interested in him were recruiting him at quarterback — whereas Rice had remained adamant the entire time that they wanted Smalls at quarterback where he can use those abilities to impact the game on a down-to-down basis.

“I like the fact the offense will utilize my ability to use my legs and my arm. I feel like I am the true definition of dual threat. This offense allows me to showcase that part of my game,” Smalls said. “I also like the offense is read based. That tells me that whatever the defense try’s to do, there is a counter. It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities that’s there. I can see us putting up big numbers offensively.”

The commitment to put Smalls at quarterback and the intrigue of being the point man for Abell’s electric offense were enough for Smalls to pull the trigger, further solidifying the Owls’ 2026 class, already at three commitments and growing. Smalls joins tight end Colten Cole and offensive lineman Clay Mitchell in the fold thus far.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

Turn on the tape and get ready for a show. Smalls can chuck it deep, make plays on the move and, of course, use his legs to make defenders look silly. He’s the ideal quarterback to run this offense. To get him on board this early is huge for the Owls and will enable them to build around their potential QB1 of the future.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 198 – Rice Football Spring Review

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The first set of Rice football spring practices under head coach Scott Abell have come to an end and y’all have questions. We field them in this show.

After reviewing an intra-season coaching hire for Rice baseball, The Roost podcast pivots back to Rice football, discussing the Spring Game and general takeaways from the first spring under head coach Scott Abell. Rather than reiterate things we’ve mentioned before, we opened the mailbag and solicited questions from our listeners.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 198.

Episode Notes

DCTF

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner.

Homefield

We’re thrilled to partner with Homefield Apparel, the premier proprietor of college football clothing. First-time buyers can use the code ROOST for 15% off their order. The Owls hoodie is a personal favorite as is the Luv-Ya-Owls shirt. Make sure you check out the brand-new sailor hat (pictured below) as you shop the Rice collection or pick up something else (or both)!

Homefield

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Get exclusive insight on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes practice updates, analysis and more. Your support matters and makes The Roost better. Join our discussion on Discord here.

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Rice Football Spring Q&A from our listeners. Topics include:

  • The passing game
  • Injuries
  • Depth charts
  • The quarterback battle
  • Scheme and tempo
  • The offensive line
  • Surprises, standouts and closing thoughts

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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