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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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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.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M CC, vs UAB (Fri-Sun)

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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.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M CC, vs UAB (Fri-Sun)

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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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Rice Baseball 2024: MLB Owls Update – Apr 3

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The 2024 MLB season is underway and Rice baseball alums are busy on the mound and at the plate. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls.

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendon marks the only Rice baseball alum to notch an Opening Day start this season. This marked his fifth season with the Los Angeles Angels and his 12th season in the big leagues. He debuted in 2013 with the Washington Nationals. Through April 2, Rendon has yet to collect a hit, but has walked once, struck out five times and scored once.

Injured List

J.T. Chargois – Miami Marlins

Chargois was placed on the 15-Day Injured List retroactive to March 25 with neck spasms.

Glenn Otto – San Diego Padres

Otto was placed on the 15-Day Injured List on March 19 with a right teres major strain.

Knocking on the Door

The following Owls are starting the season in AAA:

  • Matt Canterino – St Paul Saints (Twins)
  • Tyler Duffey – Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals)
  • Jon Duplantier – Syracuse Mets (Mets)
  • Tristan Gray – Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins)
  • Evan Kravetz – Louisville Bats (Reds)
  • Lucas Luetge – Worcester Red Sox (Red Sox)
  • Dane Myers – Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins)
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