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Rice Baseball 2024 Season Review: Bullpen

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The bullpen made improvements as the 2024 Rice baseball season progressed, turning into a dependable unit by season’s end.

It was a rocky start for the Rice baseball bullpen. It took a few weeks for the staff to figure out who they could trust in the most high-leverage moments and for the players put into those positions to feel comfortable in their own shoes. Once everything came together, though, this pitching staff really excelled, providing plenty of backing for the starting pitching and give the Owls a shot to win some ballgames. For the purposes of this discussion, we focused on players who through at least 20 innings this season.

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Rice Baseball 2024 Season Review: Starting Pitching

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The Rice baseball starting rotation was imperfect, but productive in 2024, paving the way for much of the team’s successes.

For the first time under head coach Jose Cruz Jr, the Rice baseball starting rotation was truly set it and forget it. The Owls kept the same triumvirate of arms almost every weekend of the regular season and never had to truly consider demoting any of the three because of poor performance. The rotation was deployed without any hiccups.

For the purposes of this discussion, the three pitchers who were mainstays in the weekend rotation were included as the Owls tended to rotate through midweek guys as injuries cropped up and players produced. Here’s a rundown of how the starters faired this season.

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** Photo credit: Maria Lysakar **
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Rice Baseball swept by Wichita State

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Easter weekend began with a gut-punch for Rice baseball, who dropped all three games at Wichita State to fall to 1-5 in league play.

THURSDAY | Wichita State 7 – Rice 5

In an effort to keep Parker Smith and JD McCracken on regular rest, Rice baseball turned to Tucker Alch in the series opener, hoping to use him as an opener to bridge a few innings to other members of the bullpen. He went three innings, allowing four runs, ceding work to Ryland Urbanczyk who gave up three runs in 3.1 innings before Tom Vincent finished the game.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops Silver Glove Series to Houston

The Rice bats were able to help the arms out in this instance, rallying from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning to take a 5-4 lead by the middle of the fourth inning. Eric Correa was instrumental in the comeback bid, knocking in the first run in the second and authoring his first collegiate home run in the fourth to put the Owls in front. Wichita State tied it in the bottom of the inning before going ahead for good in the seventh on a two-run single off Vincent.

FRIDAY  | Wichita State 10 – Rice 3

Parker Smith labored through six innings, including a damaging four-run third inning that put Rice in a 5-1 hole from which they would never recover. Smith was able to give the Owls length despite the down outing, but four more runs allowed by the bullpen and limited offensive production made the hopes of a comeback shortlived.

Rice got solo home runs from Ben Royo in the seventh and Jack Riedel in the ninth, but it wouldn’t make up for the pair of crooked numbers Wichita State put on the board, costing Rice the series.

SATURDAY | Wichita State 15 – Rice 3

Rice struck first, taking a brief lead in the finale with a two-run first inning. Wichita State responded with a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning, tacking on a fourth run against JD McCracken in the second.

While the bats stayed silent, McCracken ran into further trouble in the fifth, loading the bases before being lifted to Tyler Hamilton, who allowed all three inherited runners to score. Things would only get worse in the sixth. Wichita State sent 12 men to the plate, scoring seven runs, including two runs by bases-loaded hit batsman. Down by 12, the game would be called before reaching the originally scheduled nine innings.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Self-inflicted wounds

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ON DECK | at Houston (Tues), vs Memphis (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball drops Tulane series but notches first-ever AAC win

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Although they dropped the series to Tulane two games to one, Rice baseball was able to salvage the finale and earn its first-ever AAC win.

FRIDAY | Tulane 14 – Rice 7 (11 innings)

Treyton Rank got Rice baseball off to the right foot on Friday night. His first big hit came in the third inning, a double to left center which put the Owls in front 2-0. Just two innings later, a triple gave the home team a 4-0 advantage. A big lead with Parker Smith on the mound had Rice feeling good, but trouble loomed as soon as Smith left the game.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball drops Silver Glove Series to Houston

Tulane forced Smith to exit in the sixth, scoring two runs credited to his ledger in the frame. The Green Wave tied it up in the seventh then took a 6-4 lead in the eighth. Jacob Devenny leveled the score with a clutch, two-out single in the eighth. The score stayed there for a while until the 11th inning. Garrett Stratton lost command and loaded the bases before ceding the mound to Jack Ben-Shoshan, who was battered and left with a large deficit and no outs recorded.

SATURDAY | Tulane 10 – Rice 1

JD McCracken labored through 5.2 innings on Saturday, working through base runners to give Rice a chance, allowing just three runs (all unearned) on six hits and four walks. The offense gave him one run of support while he was on the mound, a solo home run in the fifth from Jack Riedel.

McCracken gave way to Mauricio Rodriguez who got out of the sixth inning without further damage then allowed one run in the seventh before things went south in the eighth. Tulane struck for five in the inning, expanding their lead to 9-1 against the Owls who didn’t manage any additional runs for the afternoon, falling 10-1.

SUNDAY | Rice 4 – Tulane 2

Little by little, Rice built a lead in the series finale. An RBI groundout from Nathan Becker put Rice in front in the first, then a fielder’s choice and a single from Kyte McDonald added two more to the Owls’ total in second inning before Becker pushed the Rice lead to 4-0 with a single in the fifth.

As the bats methodically tacked on runs, the pitching trio of Tucker Alch, Ryland Urbanczyk and Tyler Hamilton were able to limit the Tulane bats, which had vexed the Owls’ relievers throughout much of the weekend. Hickson entered in the ninth inning to slam the door, notching the first-ever American Conference win for Rice baseball.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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1. Fridays have to be for the Owls

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ON DECK | at Sam Houston (Tues), at Wichita State (Thr-Sat)

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Bats go cold as Rice Baseball drops series at Hawaii

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Rice baseball got things started with a Friday night win, but couldn’t hang on, dropping the four-game series 3-1 at Hawaii.

FRIDAY | Rice 5 – Hawaii 2

Treyton Rank and Brendan Cumming picked up RBI hits in the second inning to stake Parker Smith to an early lead on Friday night. The Owls’ ace would allow one run on three hits, working five innings before giving way to the bullpen. The pitching staff would be given a bit more cushion as the offense tacked on an additional run in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings, getting to the bottom of the ninth with a 5-2 lead.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball  tops PVAMU in midweek battle

It was at that point that Davion Hickson, in his second inning of work, ran into a bit of trouble. With the potential tying run at the plate and one out, he was lifted in favor of Garrett Stratton. After walking a batter to load the bases, Stratton induced a game-ending double-play, the Owls’ fourth of the game.

SATURDAY | Hawaii 4 – Rice 3

Rice starter JD McCracken battled through five innings and pitched rather well on Saturday, with one tough inning that would prove problematic for the Owls. Hawaii tagged McCracken for three runs in the fourth, collecting four hits, only one of which left the infield.

Trailing by three, Rice chipped away. Jack Riedel doubled in one run in the sixth before Kyte McDonald’s third home run in the eighth, his third of the season, tied the game. The deadlock wouldn’t last long. Tyler Hamilton allowed a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, which proved to be the difference in the one-run game.

SUNDAY | Hawaii 12 – Rice 1

Following a pair of tight games, the third rendition was anything but close. Hawaii struck for seven runs in the first inning, knocking starter Ryland Urbaczyk from the game quickly and taking out the rest of their fury against reliever Mauricio Rodriguez. Rice would never recover.

The rest of the bullpen struggled with free passes, walking a combined 11 batters on the afternoon and surrendering additional crooked numbers in the fifth and eighth innings. Rice scored their only run of the day in the second on a home run from Trey Duffield.

MONDAY | Hawaii 7 – Rice 5

Things looked dire early on in the series finale when Rice starter Robert Fernandez was ambushed for three runs in the first inning via a bases-clearing double. Fernandez settled in and got through another inning and change, giving way to Tom Vincent who got the Owls through five innings without further damage.

The fifth was when Rice offense started to wake up. Kyte McDonald and Treyton Rank each delivered RBI doubles, one in the fifth and another in the sixth, give Rice a 4-3 lead. Hawaii would answer with a three-spot of their own in the bottom of the sixth, taking a 6-4 advantage. Rice would not lead again, dropping the game and the series.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball leaves another weekend with a series loss, turning in several competitive outings with only one win to show for it. Here are three takeaways from the series:

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1. Doubled-up

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ON DECK | vs Houston Christian (Fri-Sun)

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