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Rice Baseball posts emphatic series win over USF

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For Rice baseball, their first series win of the season was a big one, taking two of three from South Florida which entered the weekend atop the AAC standings.

FRIDAY | USF 14, Rice 3 (7 inn)

With Davion Hickson completing his suspension, JD McCracken drew the Friday night start for Rice baseball this week. He worked calmy through the first and the second inning before USF ambushed him with a three-run, four-hit third inning. He’d managed just one more out before being lifted in the fourth in favor of Garrett Stratton with the Owls trailing 4-1.

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

Landon West had done his part to get Rice on the board with a solo home run in the second and proceeded to cut the deficit in half with a sac fly in the fourth. Stratton kept the Owls in the game, working into the seventh before surrendering a three-run home run to put Rice behind 7-2.

Treyton Rank got one back with a home run in the bottom of the frame before USF opened the floodgates in the eighth. Nolan Roycraft recorded one out and was charged with seven runs. Micah Davis gave up two of those, enough to push the Owls’ deficit to 11 and end the game via a run rule.

SATURDAY | Rice 15, USF 3 (7 inn)

Tucker Alch delivered 4.1 innings of no-hit baseball, leaving the game with a 4-0 advantage after hitting the first two South Florida batters to open the fifth. His relief came in the form of Davion Hickson, who collected the next two outs, albeit with USF scoring on an overthrown ball from catcher Aric Anderson on a stolen base attempt.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball swept at Tulane

Hickson would work through an uneventful top of the sixth before spending a lengthy time on the bench as he watched the Rice bats pile on seven more runs. Anderson, Graiden West, Colin Robson, Blaine Brown and Michael Zito had RBI in the inning, setting Rice up for a potential run-rule win. They’d earn that early ending with a walk-off grand slam from Brown.

SUNDAY | Rice 5, USF 2

Perhaps still reeling from Saturday’s shellacking, South Florida didn’t play clean baseball in the rubber game and Rice baseball took advantage of those miscues. Graiden West scored on an error in the second to put Rice in front, setting up another unearned run in the same frame. The Bulls got one back in the top of the third, but another error in the bottom half of the inning allowed Rice to add two more to its total.

On the mound, Jackson Blank worked through traffic to allow just two runs in four innings, giving way to Jack Ben-Shoshan in the fifth who would allow just two hits in his five innings of relief, stymying the USF offense. Neither side would score after the fifth as Ben-Shoshan slammed the door, earning the win and clinching the first series win for Rice baseball under head coach David Pierce.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball swept at Tulane

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Rice baseball was able to manufacture more timely hits, but couldn’t get enough of them as the Owls were swept in three games on the road at Tulane.

FRIDAY | Tulane 7, Rice 5

Things were going just fine for Rice baseball starter Davion Hickson on Friday… until they weren’t. Hickson breezed through two innings before a leadoff home run to left greeted him in the third and Tulane proceeded to square him up much more often over the next two and a half innings.

Tulane led 3-0 entering the fifth before Rice responded in earnest, driving in four in the top of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead, courtesy of big hits from Hiram Bocachica and Michael Zito. The feeble lead was quickly erased by a Tulane grand slam in the bottom of the inning. Shortly thereafter, Hickson was ejected, forcing Jackson Blank into the game on little notice.

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

Blank did all he could to give Rice a chance, turning in 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit to the 11 Tulane batters he faced. The Owls’ last-ditch effort in the ninth saw the would-be tying run get into scoring position with one out, but Rice would come up two runs short.

SATURDAY 1 | Tulane 10, Rice 3

Tucker Alch drew the start in the first game of the Saturday double-header and despite being staked to a 1-0 early lead on a Tobias Motley home run found himself working from behind following three runs from the home Green Wave across the next two frames. Alch got another dose of run support in the fifth on RBI hits from Blaine Brown and Jacob Devenney before allowing the leadoff man to reach and ceding the mound to Tom Vincent.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball swept by “three clean games” from ECU

Vince got out of the fifth unscathed but ran into trouble in the sixth and was quickly lifted for Garrett Stratton, who got roughed up a bit as well. Tulane was tally 10 runs against the Owls’ staff in the game, striking 20 hits to the Owls’ 10 base knocks.

SATURDAY 2 | Tulane 6, Rice 5

JD McCracken was competitive in the series finale, but still saw three runs charged to his ledger across 5.1 innings of work. He would depart the diamond with the lead, though, supported by a run scoring double from Aric Anderson in the fifth and two-run home run from Zito in the sixth, the latter followed soon after by a go-ahead single to center by Jacob Devenny three batters later.

Jack Ben-Shoshan entered the game in the sixth with the lead and got through the remainder of the inning and the next without issues before Tulane tied things up with a solo home run in the eight. For a moment, the Owls appeared to have landed a sufficient counterpunch with a go-ahead hit from Bocachica in the ninth, but Tulane walked it off with a two-out, two run shot over the right-field wall.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball swept by “three clean games” from East Carolina

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Rice baseball dropped three close games to East Carolina over the weekend, making progress while still making it clear this team has a ways to go.

FRIDAY | ECU 4, Rice 2

Davion Hickson set the tone on Friday night, reaching season-highs in innings (eight), pitches (121) and strikeouts (9), battling against ECU. He allowed four runs, three earned, and while not a perfect night, the length was instrumental in limiting the Owls’ bullpen exposure for the remainder of the weekend.

More: Why Wait? David Pierce hired as Rice baseball head coach

Hickson’s lone run support came in the fifth inning via a two-run home run from Blaine Brown, turning a 4-0 deficit into a more manageable two run game. That margin would stay at two, though, with Rice producing just one more base runner for the remainder of the game, unable to do further damage against ECU starter Ethan Norby or his relief, Brad Pruett.

SATURDAY | ECU 5, Rice 3 (11 inn)

Rice baseball had every chance to even the series on Saturday, opening the game with two runs in the first inning to support JD McCracken, who turned in a marvelous outing. McCracken kept ECU off the board until the eighth, but still left the game as the pitcher of record in line for the win. McCracken had reached that place thanks in part to a crucial sac fly from Blaine Brown in the seventh, the difference in the score to that point.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball takes one of three from FAU in Pierce’s AAC debut

Unfortunately, the bullpen could not close things out as ECU tied the game off Jack Ben-Shoshan in the ninth. Rice got the winning run into scoring position with one out in the bottom of the inning, but couldn’t bring him around. ECU would take the game with two runs in the 11th, their first lead of the game.

SUNDAY | ECU 8, Rice 5

It was death by paper cut in the early innings for Rice in the series finale. ECU leaned on bunts and singles to cobble together a 3-0 lead through three, not delivering an extra-base hit until a double that made it 5-0 in the fourth. All of those runs were charged to Rice starter Tucker Alch.

On the brink of falling out of the game, head coach David Pierce turned to pinch hitter Jacob Devenny with two outs and two men on in the fourth. Devenny responded with a three-run shot down the right field line to get the Owls back within two.

Both teams traded runs in the fifth before ECU tacked on two more in the seventh, leaving Rice in a three-run hole by the time the bottom of the ninth arrived. Rice would load the bases for Michael Zito who drove a ball to right center field but saw it fall harmlessly into the glove of an ECU outfielder to end the game.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball splits weekend series with HCU

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Led by interim manager Parker Bangs, Rice Baseball split a four-game set with Houston Christian this weekend, winning back-to-back games for the first time this year.

FRIDAY | HCU 4, Rice 3 (11 inn)

The pitching tandem of Garrett Stratton and Marco Fuentes delivered a marvelous nine innings of work on Friday night, combining to allows two runs with nine strikeouts, keeping Houston Christian at bay and giving the Owls’ bats every opportunity to make a difference.

More: Jose Cruz Jr. out as Rice Baseball head coach

HCU went in front with an RBI single and a RBI groundout in the fourth. Rice countered with RBI from Trey Duffield and Tobias Motley in the sixth to bring things even. Deadlocked at 2-2, Jack Ben-Shoshan got through the 10th unscathed before HCU struck for two more in the 11th. The Owls would get some traffic on the bases in the bottom half of the inning, but came up one run short.

SATURDAY AM | HCU 6, Rice 2 (7 inn)

In the first seven-inning game of a Saturday double-header, Houston Christian hit home runs in the second and third inning off Rice starter JD McCracken to take a 4-0 lead. Motley got one of those runs back with an RBI single in the fourth, but HCU tagged McCracken for two more runs in the fourth, jumping out to a 6-1 lead.

The shortened game left the Owls without much time to mount a comeback. Although the Huskies wouldn’t score again, another RBI single from Motley in the sixth was all the Owls could muster in response. The defeat marked the 12th straight defeat for Rice baseball.

SATURDAY PM | Rice 7, HCU 4 (7 inn)

The Rice bats finally got going in the second half of the double-header, exploding for seven runs in the first three innings, highlighted by a five-run second and a home run from Trey Duffield. That early onslaught put the Owls in the drivers seat and gave starter Tucker Alch a cushion to work with as the game progressed.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball swept by Yale

Houston Christian would get to Alch for four runs in the fourth, but Alch returned to put up a couple of additional zeroes in the subsequent frames. Von Baker entered in the seventh and closed out the game, earning his first save as an Owl and the securing the first win for Rice Baseball since February 23.

SUNDAY | Rice 6, HCU 2

Both sides swapped single runs in the first inning as the pitching staffs navigated some early trouble. Rice baseball settled in quite nicely on the mound when interim manager Parker Bangs went to Reed Gallant who took the ball in the third inning and went to work, mowing down seven Huskies across seven innings of one-run ball.

With Gallant hurling a gem, the bats went to work. Trey Duffield’s solo home run in the fourth put Rice in front. Blaine Brown extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI single in the fifth. Then Jacob Devenny and Max Johnson went deep in the eighth to stretch the lead to five, giving the Owls’ plenty of breathing room to help them secure the series split.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball suffers sweep by Yale

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The losses continue to mount for Rice Baseball, which suffered a series loss to Yale, dropping the Owls’ overall record to 2-13 on the season.

FRIDAY | Yale 8, Rice 3

Rice baseball starter Davion Hickson found himself in early trouble on Friday night when a hit by pitch and an error thrust him into a jam. Yale would capitalize, striking for two in that inning before threatening in the second and breaking through in earnest in the third. Yale made it 5-0 after three, taking advantage of free passes and defensive errors to force Hickson out of the game before the fifth inning.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball winless at Astros College Classic

The Rice bats got three back but two more runs charged to Von Baker made it 8-3 heading to the sixth. Even with an impressive four-inning, no-hit, six-strikeout showing form Garrett Stratton in relief, the deficit proved too large to overcome with the Owls falling in the series opener by a final score of 8-4.

SATURDAY | Yale 11, Rice 8

JD McCracken got Rice off to a much improved start on Saturday afternoon, mowing down Yale batters through six scoreless innings before the Bulldogs finally got to him with a solo home run to open the seventh. Even with the blemish, McCracken had done enough to put the Owls in a position to win, along with 3 RBI from Michael Zito and Graiden West’s first career home run at the plate.

“He was spectacular. He was amazing,” Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said of McCracken’s showing. “He does set the tone. And he pitches to contact. There’s a lot of action out there. We’re happy to have him. As long as he’s healthy, he’ll be out there as long as he can go.”

McCracken’s brilliance would fizzle quickly when he left the mound. It didn’t matter who came through the door, Tucker Alch, Jackson Blank and Caleb Williams were each responsible for runs that turned a significant Rice lead into an agonizing loss as Yale scored 11 in the final three innings. Rice would get three back, but it wouldn’t be enough to salvage the game.

SUNDAY | Yale 7, Rice 4

Yale struck first in the series finale, getting two runs in the first and two more in the second, forcing Rice starter Robert Fernandez from the game early on. This time, the Owls’ bats offered some resistance, though. Rice scored three in the bottom of the first, one run via an error and the final two coming on the first home run from freshman Blaine Brown.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Trailing 4-3 after two innings, both bullpens kept the game close until Yale broke through in the seventh with one insurance run and two more in the eight. Down 7-3, Brown added another RBI on a single in the eighth but that would prove to be the end of the scoring for both teams on the weekend and Rice dropped the final game 7-4.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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