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Rice Football 2024 Spring Notebook 8: Defensive Takeaways

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A veteran Rice football defense showcased plenty of up-and-coming talent. Here’s what we learned from that side of the ball during spring practices.

The offense won the first scrimmage, but it was the Rice football defense that stood tall in the spring game, stonewalling the Owls’ best offensive weapons when pitting best against best. What did we learn about the defensive side of the ball and which players positioned themselves the best for the upcoming fall season?

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Personnel evolution

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Rice Baseball edges UAB for first-ever AAC series win

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Rice Baseball narrowly missed a series sweep, settling for two wins over the weekend against UAB, their first-ever AAC series victory.

FRIDAY | Rice 4 – UAB 2

The Rice bats wasted no time on Friday night, staking staff ace Parker Smith to an early lead. RBI singles from Treyton Rank and Pierce Gallo put the Owls in front 2-0 in the first. Rank drove in another run when he was hit by a pitch in the second inning.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball tops TAMU-CC in midweek action

Leading 3-0, Smith cruised through six innings. He briefly ran into trouble in the fourth, allowing the Blazers to score twice, but was otherwise unscathed. Jacob Devenney added an insurance run on an RBI double in the sixth. Tom Vincent took over in the seventh and bridged 1.1 innings to closer Davion Hickson, who earned the save.

SATURDAY | Rice 4 – UAB 3 (15 inn.)

JD McCracken delivered a quality start in Game 2, his lone blemish coming via an unearned run when a defensive error allowed the Blazers to get on the board in the third inning. McCracken avoided having a loss tacked on his ledger when Devenny delivered a sac fly in the eighth inning to tie the game. That would be the last run for quite a while as the game entered extra innings and stayed deadlocked at 1-1 until the twelfth.

UAB went in front with two runs in the top of the inning and it might have been more had the potential third run not been tagged out at the plate. That proved to be significant soon after as Rice tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a single and a sac fly. Level at 3-3, Eric Correa provided the final dramatics, delivering a walk-off double to right field to clinch the series.

SUNDAY | UAB 4 – Rice 3

The two sides traded runs in the early innings, completing the third inning tied at one and the fourth inning tied at three before UAB went out in front in the fifth, 4-2. Rice starter Tucker Alch was lifted for the tandem of Garrett Stratton and Mauricio Rodriguez, who combined to throw five scoreless innings, giving the offense a chance to claw back.

Rice got one run in the eight on a two-out, RBI single from Ben Dukes. They then had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the ninth, but squandered a leadoff triple from Jack Riedel, failing to get him home. With the running run 90-feet away, the Owls fell by one run.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. It’s Time for a Devenny/Dukes Dialogue

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ON DECK | at USF (Fri-Sun)

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Defense shines, Offense responds in 2024 Rice Football Spring Game

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Rice Football concluded its spring practices with the annual Blue and Gray Spring Game. Here’s what we learned from the exhibition on Saturday.

A productive spring for Rice football wrapped up on Saturday afternoon at Historic Rice Stadium. By score, the offense defeated the defense 48-23, but the real story was a dominant defensive showing by the Owls’ starters with some encouraging moments from some playmakers on both sides and a strong finish by potential starting quarterback EJ Warner. Here’s what we learned on Saturday:

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Defense shines

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Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 6: Wideout Roundup

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Wide receiver has been an interesting position to follow in Rice football spring practice. What have we learned from the relatively young room?

It’s been a spring of change for the Rice football wide receivers. Bobby Kennedy is the Owls’ only new position coach, taking over in the room for Mike Kershaw, who departed in the winter. Also on the way out is standout Luke McCaffrey, a likely NFL Draft selection in a few weeks. Where does that leave the rest of the room? In the midst of change lies an opportunity several have used to their advantage.

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Fresh eyes

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Rice Baseball falls flat in sweep by Memphis

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Rice Baseball out-hit Memphis but was swept in its three-game set at Reckling Park this weekend, falling to 9-23 on the season.

FRIDAY | Memphis 4 – Rice 3 (15 inn.)

Parker Smith delivered one of his best starts of the season, guiding Rice baseball through 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. Only one of those runs came on a ball that left the infield. “He looked in control,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said. “He froze a lot of guys.” Despite the strong start, Smith would exit the game trailing 3-2 in need of some help to avoid being saddled with the loss.

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

Eric Correa provided the support he needed, lifting a double off the left field wall in the bottom of the ninth and coming around to score on a sacrifice fly hit to right field by Tobias Motely. That evened the score at 3-3 and sent the game to extras. Davion Hickson delivered six scoreless from there, but the Rice offense was silent. Memphis scored the go-ahead run off Tyler Hamilton in the 15th to win it, 4-3.

SATURDAY | Memphis 5 – Rice 4

The Rice bats were at their best to open the game Saturday afternoon, putting up a three-spot in the first inning on a series of four consecutive two-out hits with Nathan Becker, Ben Dukes and Tobias Motley each registering an RBI. That advantage evaporated quickly, though, as Rice starter JD McCracken loaded the bases with no outs in the subsequent frame, allowing three runs to score before escaping the inning.

An RBI double from Treyton Rank in the second put the Owls in front for a while until McCracken loaded the bases with no one out once again in the fifth. He was lifted for Robert Fernandez, who limited the damage to two runs, but that proved to be enough. Rice offered no more scores of their own, falling 5-4.

SUNDAY | Memphis 2 – Rice 1

Memphis got on the board first in the series finale, getting two across in the second inning against Tucker Alch, who otherwise delivered a great outing. Those two hits allowed in that frame were the only ones he allowed that afternoon, delivering 5.2 innings of quality work before ceding to the bullpen.

The offense, once again, did not hold up its end of the bargain. Rice scratched across its lone run in the third inning by way of a Treyton Rank sacrifice fly. Despite opportunities to tie or even win in the eighth and ninth, Rice squandered every subsequent opportunity, scoring just one run in defeat.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Davion delivers

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ON DECK | vs Incarnate Word (Tues), vs TAMU-CC (Wed), vs UAB (Fri-Sun)

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