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Rice Baseball takes series from league-leading UTSA

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Rice Baseball took two out of three from league-leading UTSA, securing their third straight conference win to get back in the mix in the AAC.

FRIDAY | Rice 9 – UTSA 8 (10 innings)

Things were looking up when Tobias Motley and Ben Dukes each delivered two-run home runs in the second inning on Friday night, putting the Owls up 4-1 with Parker Smith on the mound. Smith would run into some trouble in the fourth, but leave the game in the sixth inning having staked Rice to a 7-3 advantage.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball sweeps USF

Tom Vincent and Davion Hickson got Rice to the ninth inning with a three-run lead, but Hickson suffered a rare blown save, allowing UTSA to tie the game in the top of the ninth. Garrett Stratton would come to the rescue, getting out of the ninth without allowing the Owls to fall behind and setting up a walk-off win. Motley led off the inning with a triple and scored on a squeeze bunt by Jacob Devenny.

SATURDAY | Rice 9 – UTSA 3

It was all Owls from the jump on Saturday. Rice loaded the bases with two outs in the first then picked up a pair of clutch hits: a bases-clearing RBI single from Nathan Becker to go up 3-0 and then a two-run home run from Trey Duffield.

As if that wasn’t enough, Rice followed that up with three runs in the second, taking advantage of errant UTSA pitching and an RBI single from Pierce Gallo to go up 8-0 midway through the second.

Handed a commanding lead, JD McCracken bore down and tossed another gem. He made it all the way to the ninth inning before being lifted for Jackson Blank, who picked up the final two outs.

SUNDAY | UTSA 4 – Rice 2

Seemingly out of nowhere, a pitcher’s duel broke out in the series finale. Rice’s Tucker Alch squared off with UTSA’s Ulises Quiroga for the better part of six innings with neither man ceding much to his opposition. Ben Dukes was able to sneak a two-run home run just inside the right-field foul pole in the third, but that was the only score either starter yielded on the day.

More: Jose Cruz Jr. and the trajectory of Rice Baseball

Rice maintained a slim 2-0 lead from that point onward, keeping the game in check until UTSA broke through with a four-run rally in the top of the eighth. The Roadrunners struck six hits in the frame, including a go-ahead two-run home run off Garrett Stratton. That would prove to be the deciding swing.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Loud and clear

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Rice Baseball soars past USF with resounding sweep

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Rice Baseball released weeks of pent-up frustration on the USF Bulls, routing their hosts in three straight games for their first-ever AAC sweep.

FRIDAY | Rice 13 – USF 4

Parker Smith had to earn every bit of his 6.2 inning outing on Friday night, allowing eight hits and two walks as he battled and worked through trouble, keeping USF to single runs in the first, second and fourth innings, respectively. While Smith did what he could to keep his team in the mix, the bats slowly got warmed up and began to contribute on their own.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball takes series from UAB

“After we went one round through everybody started to get a little bit better,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said. “We started to have better at bats.” Those at bats started with singular runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Treyton Rank opened the door wider with a three-run blast in the seventh before all doubts were erased with an emphatic five-run ninth to put the game out of reach.

SATURDAY | Rice 10 – USF 6

The Rice bats delivered a crooked number in the fourth inning on Saturday, culminating with a clutch two-out, two-RBI double from Rank to put the visitors in front 5-2.

With the Bulls on the ropes, JD McCracken picked up right where Smith left off, navigating through a potent USF lineup as best he could before being lifted in midway through the sixth inning after four runs had been charged to his ledger. That total didn’t grow thanks to Davion Hickson, who stranded two runners in McCracken’s final frame, getting the Owls back into the dugout with a chance to turn the tide.

USF would get back within two in the following innings until Rice broke things open with another four-run frame, this time in the eighth. Eric Correa, Tobias Motely and Rank delivered the RBI hits, putting Rice way in front and ensuring a series-clinching win.

SUNDAY | Rice 10 – USF 3

Seeking their first-ever AAC sweep, the Rice bats came ready to roll for the series finale. Pierce Galloe put Rice in front with an RBI double in the second before his teammates expanded that lead in the third, highlighted by a bases-clearing double from Trey Duffield and a follow-up RBI double from Manny Garza to put Rice in front 6-0 early.

USF would get to Rice starter Tucker Alch in the fourth, putting three runs on the board, but that would be all for the hometown team. Jackson Blank and Garrett Stratton put up zeroes for the remainder of the game as the offense added two more runs apiece in the eighth and ninth to secure the sweep.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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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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Rice Baseball returns to win column with victory over TAMU-CC

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Rice Baseball snapped a lengthy losing streak by emptying the bullpen in a cathartic win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Jacob Devenney set the tone with a resounding double to right center field, coming around to score two batters later on a single from Treyton Rank who, in turn, scored on a home run from Jack Riedel. In the span of minutes, Rice baseball had opened up a 3-0 lead against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Wednesday night.

The Islanders took advantage of an error to get one run back the following inning against Rice starter Karl Ralamb, who would be lifted when he ran intro trouble in the third frame. In came Davion Hickson who ended the threat, setting the stage for Rank to double in two more runs the following half inning. Staked to a 4-1 lead, Rice turned to its bullpen to get 18 more outs.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball squanders lead vs Incarnate Word

Mark Perkins, in just his fourth appearance of the season, got 10 of those. Reed Gallant, in his third outing, picked up the save. The seldom-used tandem was part of a seven-man pitching performance that stymied the Islanders bats and led the Owls to a much-needed home win.

What it means | Urgency

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. worked like a man tired of losing on Wednesday night. Avoiding a 10-game skid was paramount and he acted as such, making the bold move to deploy his best relief arm in the third of a two-run game.

Davion Hickson is, ostensibly, the Owls’ closer. But given the few save opportunities he’s been afforded in recent weeks, he’s become the go-to man in times of trouble. With runners on second and third and no out, it was a risky decision to burn his best bullpen arm, especially in the third inning. Cruz made the call. Hickson delivered, working three straight outs and escaping the jam without any further damage.

That’s the sort of urgency Cruz and company need to play with from this point onward. It’s not always going to work, but variance is your friend when you’re a club without a juggernaut roster that can roll through each and every opponent. Playing it safe hasn’t worked. Why not roll the dice? It might just end in a win.

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Rice Baseball wastes early lead vs Incarnate Word

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Rice Baseball got an early lead but was unable to hold it, falling to Incarnate Word in an afternoon tilt to avoid incoming rain.

Through three innings, everything was going right for Rice baseball. Jackson Blank had faced the minimum. The offense put up a four-spot in the third, mashing through a sacrifice bunt with a pair of two-run scoring doubles. Staked to a 4-0 advantage at home, the Owls were as well positioned as they could have imagined entering the fourth. Then things started to fall apart.

It was then that Blank allowed a two-out home run, allowing Incarnate Word to cut their deficit in half. Tyler Hamilton entered soon afterward and allowed the tying runs on back-to-back singles before being charged with the go-ahead runs an inning later.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball swept by Memphis

Incarnate Word would blow the game wide open in the eighth, overcoming consecutive strikeouts to start the inning with three consecutive extra-base hits, lengthening their advantage to 11-5 against Mauricio Rodriguez. The Owls would fall by that score, extending their current losing streak to nine games in a row.

What it means | Midweek Blues

Parker Smith and JD McCracken don’t pitch during midweek games. Top reliever Davion Hickson might make an appearance, but can’t be overexerted if Rice wants to have him available to work extended innings during the weekend.

That’s not to say the bullpen is irredeemable — the non-Hickson pieces were nothing short of phenomenal this past weekend against  Memphis — but it’s needed near-perfect performances from secondary and tertiary options with regularity. That’s not a reasonable ask.

High-leverage relievers don’t grow on trees and ever so often, even the better arms are going to get burned. Rice hasn’t scored more than five runs since March 22. Like it or not, a struggling offense and the back end of the bullpen are going to result in midweek losses like this.

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