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.

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

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