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Rice Baseball 2025 Season Review: Starting Pitching

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The Rice baseball starting rotation kept the Owls afloat, grinding through ups and downs and giving the team a chance more often than not.

The pitching staff went through many shifts and changes as David Pierce took over for Jose Cruz Jr. as the ice baseball head coach midseason. Pitching coach Parker Bangs did his best to piece things together, ultimately settling on a few different variations for the weekend rotation as the year progressed.

More: Rice Baseball embarks on crucial offseason

For the purposes of this discussion, the two pitchers who were mainstays in the weekend rotation, with three others seeing a meaningful run as starters that warranted inclusion in this discussion. Here’s a rundown of how those starters fared this season.

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** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte

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Davion Hickson persevered through the elements on Friday, tossing a complete-game one-hitter that set the tone for a Rice Baseball series win over Charlotte.

FRIDAY | Rice 2, Charlotte 0

In a rare occurrence during the 2025 Rice baseball season, a pitcher’s duel broke out at Reckling Park on Friday night. Despite a mid-game weather delay and the ominous threat of further impending storms, Davion Hickson spun a marvelous complete game one hitter against the 49ers in the series opener. Charlotte manage just a single in the third inning as Hickson racked up nine strikeouts.

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

With Hickson dealing on the mound, the Rice bats were only required to do a little to push the team over the top in game one of the series. Blaine Brown broke the 0-0 deadlock with a double to right center in the sixth, scoring one. Then Paul Smith homered to right in the eighth to provide a bit of insurance before Hickson returned for the ninth to slam the door.

The one-hit shutout by Hickson was the first by a Rice baseball pitcher since Matthew Reckling defeated East Carolina 2-0 at Reckling Park in 2012, striking out 10 in the process.

SATURDAY | Rice 7, Charlotte 6

Scoring was much more prevalent in game two. Charlotte wasted no time, jumping in front with a two-run homer in the first inning off Rice starter JD McCracken. Rice rallied with three of their own in the second inning on a groundout and home run from Cole Green before Charlotte knocked McCracken out of the game with another pair of runs in the third.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball drops series at UAB

Garrett Stratton relieved McCracken and combined with Jack Ben-Shoshan to limit the 49ers to two more earned runs in the final six innings, rendering a smattering of Charlotte hits fruitless. As they grinded on the mound, the Rice bats delivered a two-run sac fly in the fourth from Green to tie the game and a go-ahead two-run home run from Landon West in the eighth. Ben-Shoshan closed things out and earned his third win of the season.

SUNDAY | Charlotte 12, Rice 2

Multiple days of frustration were taken out against Jackson Blank and the remainder of the Rice bullpen in the series finale. After the Owls went in front on a solo home run from Michael Zito in the first inning, Charlotte took control of things with a five-run fourth inning, which knocked Blank from the ballgame.

Austin Eppley, Marco Fuentes and Tucker Alch each gave up at least one run in relief as the 49ers scored 12 unanswered runs to take a commanding lead in the finale. By that point the damage had been done and the 49ers won the finale by run-rule.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball avoids sweep, but drops series to UAB

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Rice Baseball salvaged the series finale against UAB after dropping the first two games behind a largely quiet offense that went off for 12 runs on Sunday.

FRIDAY | UAB 3, Rice 0

Back in the Friday night role after several weeks in the bullpen, Davion Hickson delivered what was unquestionably his best performance of the season. Hickson went 7.2 innings, striking out a career-high 10 while limiting the Blazers to three hits.

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

UAB snuck the first run across in the opening inning with a single, a stolen base and a groundout. Hickson put things in cruise control after that, getting through the first two outs of the eighth before allowing two runners to reach and exiting the game. The last two runs charged to his ledger were allowed by Jack Ben-Shoshan in relief. The Rice bats did little to help the cause, tallying three hits, no runs and 13 strikeouts.

SATURDAY | UAB 8, Rice 6

Rice baseball did not get its typically sharp start from JD McCracken in Game 2, a reality that proved fateful as the bats struggled to produce. UAB scored three in the first, two in the second and on in the third before McCracken was lifted in favor of Von Baker and eventually Mark Perkins. By the time the fourth inning came to a close, Rice was trailing 8-0.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball takes two of three from Memphis

The Owls most encouraging offensive inning of the weekend would soon follow. The Owls loaded the bases off Braxton Shelton with one out, then proceeded to rattle off five consecutive hits, scoring six runs before a double-play ended the inning. Back within two runs, Rice would manage just two base runners for the remainder of the game, dropping the series.

SUNDAY | Rice 12, UAB 10

The Rice bats woke up for the series finale, scoring three times in the first off UAB starter Isaac Warrick, who would then be the victim of two Rice home runs in the second, putting the Blazers in a 6-0 hole after two frames. UAB gave Rice a scare with a five-run third, with Ben-Shoshan getting a strikeout to strand the would-be tying run in scoring position.

A three-run home run from Blaine Brown, his second long ball of the afternoon, gave Rice some breathing room before the Owls added another insurance run in the sixth and the seventh before UAB began a comeback of their own. UAB scored five straight to get back within one.

Rice pushed one run across in the ninth, turning the ball over to Jackson Blank in the bottom of the inning. Blank got two outs, but loaded the bases. Marco Fuentes entered and coaxed a fly out to right field to extinguish the threat and end the game.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball takes two of three at Memphis

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Rice Baseball took two of three against Memphis, wining a second-straight AAC series and improving their overall record to 11-4 in games at Memphis all-time

THURSDAY | Rice 10, Memphis 5

Rice baseball struck first with a two-run first, setting up Tucker Alch with breathing room in the series opener. He’d allow Memphis to level the score in the first inning and make his way through several uneventful innings after that as the Rice bats continued to produce. Leading 6-2 in the fifth, Alch ran into trouble and was replaced by Davion Hickson, making a second consecutive relief appearance.

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

Hickson got out of the jam with just one run allowed and made quick work of Memphis until the Tigers loaded the bases in the eighth with no outs. Austin Eppley would come on in relief, notching a strikeout and double-play to get extinguish the threat. The Owls added three insurance runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

FRIDAY | Rice 9, Memphis 5

Memphis made JD McCracken battle through 5.2 grueling innings on the road. The Owls’ starter surrendered eight hits and five runs, but got through 26 batters with only two extra base hits against him and giving his own hitters a chance to keep pace. The Rice batters did one better, matching Memphis score for score and eventually taking the lead outright in the fifth.

The first two runs for Memphis came via a single and an error in the second. An error allowed Rice to even the score in the next half inning. Memphis scored one in the third. Rice got it back on a sac fly from Blaine Brown in the next frame. Memphis got another in the fourth. Then Rice broke through with two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, spotting McCracken a 6-5 lead when he left the mound.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball posts emphatic series win over USF

Jack Ben-Shoshan came on in relief and retired the next seven batters he faced, allowing the first hit against him in the ninth, but Rice had scored three more insurance runs at that point, giving plenty of cushion as Ben-Shoshan worked through traffic to post another scoreless frame, earning the save.

SATURDAY | Memphis 13, Rice 2

For the second consecutive series, Rice baseball turned to Jackson Blank in the final game. This time around, Blank ran into some trouble early in his outing. Leading 1-0 by way of a Landon West sac fly, Blank allowed two hits, a walk and a run in the second before being forced from the game with a home run and two more singles in the third.

Garett Stratton held the line for a while, but ran into trouble in the fifth, forcing David Pierce to reach deeper into his bullpen. Then the dam broke. Rice pitchers allowed nine runs in the next three innings as the offense watched quietly. The game was ended by run rule in the seventh with Memphis leading 13-2.

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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