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Rice Baseball rockets past Sam Houston to sweep season series

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Hitless through five, the Rice Baseball bats caught fire late, pulling away from Sam Houston late to sweep the season series two games to none.

A walk, stolen base and a Sam Houston error put Rice baseball in the driver’s seat in their rematch with the Bearkats on Tuesday night. The Owls were able to plate two runs in the first inning, taking advantage of Sam Houston mistakes and putting some pressure on their hosts in the early goings.

Staked to a 2-0 lead, Jackson Blank turned in 4.1 clean innings of work, weaving through three walks and three hits, but keeping Sam Houston off the scoreboard. Neither team would interfere with that meager two run Rice advantage until Max Johnson opened the sixth inning with a home run, which oddly enough was the Owls’ first hit of the game.

Last Weekend: Rice baseball swept by East Carolina despite strong pitching performances

Once Johnson broke the seal, his teammates followed. Hiram Bocachica walked in the next at bat, passing the baton to Blaine Brown, who lifted the first pitch he saw over the fence in right center field. Suddenly, it was 5-0 and the Owls were in control.

Rice reliever Marco Fuentes was tagged for one run before Jack Ben-Shoshan ended the next two innings with punchouts — two of a career-high nine strikeouts on the night — to keep Sam Houston at arm’s length until three insurance runs in the eighth, aided by more Sam Houston mishaps, gave Rice a commanding 8-1 lead, which they’d pad further in the ninth.

What it means | Ready to hit late

Having a lead certainly helped, but the fight showcased by this team in the late innings on Tuesday was crucial. Hitless through five innings, a quiet final four frames wouldn’t have been shocking. The team could have chalked things up to another “not their night” at the plate and looked ahead to UTRGV.

Instead, they got their best sequence of plate approaches of the evening and built up much needed margin for a bullpen still working through its own challenges. From that point onward, it was Sam Houston playing timid, not Rice.

Podcast: Unpacking the Pierce hire and midseason start

Colin Robson reached on what should have been a routine ground ball in the eight and Trey Duffield made the Bearkats pay with an RBI single, padding the lead. These are the sort of avalanche-type moments Rice baseball has been searching for and might finally be on the cusp of finding.

Up Next: at Sam Houston (Tues), vs UTRGV (Wed), at Tulane x3 (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball drops 4-2 decision to Incarnate Word

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Rice Baseball came up two runs short, falling to Incarnate Word in a midweek bout, their final game managed by interim skipper Parker Bangs.

The final game under the management of Rice baseball interim head coach Parker Bangs got off to an inauspicious start with the visiting Incarnate Word Cardinals scoring two in the first off freshman opener Blaine Brown. Jack Ben-Shoshan entered and prevented further damage, giving the Owls a chance to get back in the game, which they did an inning later.

A groundout from Treyton Rank scored one before Max Johnson singled to right field, leveling the score at two runs, apiece. Things would were quickly for both teams in the third before Incarnate Word got Jackson Blank for for the go-ahead run in the fourth and added one more insurance run off Von Baker in the seventh.

More: Rice baseball hires David Pierce as head coach

Rice would have their chances, getting runners to second and third with one out in the seventh but failing to score. A leadoff walk in the ninth was spoiled by a double-play, followed by back-to-back singles. But even though Rice tallied 10 hits, they were limited to just the two runs, falling by a final score of 4-2.

What it means | Bring on the David Pierce era

Parker Bangs ends his time as skipper with a 2-3 record across four games. That’s not too shabby considering the 2-14 team he inherited and the whirlwind of stress and emotions that have surrounded the program this week. It’s what comes next that is most important, though, more specifically, who comes next.

Podcast: Unpacking the Pierce hire and midseason start

On Wednesday, former Rice baseball assistant David Pierce will be introduced as the Owls’ next head coach and get to work immediately. He’ll fly with the team to Boca Raton and coach the Owls for the first time on Friday night against FAU.

To say this season has been unusual would be an understatement, but both Pierce and these players hope their second act is one worth remembering. We’ll all find out whether or not that’s for the better soon enough.

ON DECK | vs Florida Atlantic x3 (Fri-Sun)

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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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2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

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Rice Baseball is set to enter Year 4 under Jose Cruz Jr with what he believes to be the Owls’ most talented team of his tenure. Can Owls take flight this season?

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. was quick to not promise the moon when he arrived on campus in the summer of 2021. He spoke then about building things the right way, acquiring talent and developing that talent within the Rice baseball culture. From there, the next step was winning games. It was always a long term plan, at least, that’s how the message was conveyed.

Three seasons in, Cruz and the Rice faithful are hoping enough of a foundation has been laid to turn those aspirational ideals into tangible wins. “We’re getting better every year, we’re getting better. The mentality is better. The athletes are better. The physiques are better,” Cruz said. “Every year we’re just going to keep getting better.”

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Rice Baseball 2024 Season Review: Lineup

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The offense was underwhelming for Rice baseball in 2024, posting the second-lowest OPS in the AAC while leading the league in strikeouts.

Rice baseball took a while to figure out the bats in 2024, but even when the Owls did get things going at the plate, the lineup remained fairly hot and cold. Fortunately for the Owls, having the league’s top home run hitter and some veteran pieces helped keep them competitive at the plate through the hard times. Through it all, there were individual highlights — described in more detail below — but for the most part, it was another challenging year with the sticks.

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