Friday, April 12
Reckling Park
6:30 p.m.
Rice University
4
vs
2
UAB
Devenny and Smith Spark Owls Past Blazers
4/12/2024 9:54:00 PM | Baseball
Game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday
Reckling Park: Jacob Devenny collected three hits and Parker Smith evened his record with his first home win in over a year as Rice downed UAB 4-2 in the series opener between the teams on Friday night.
The Details: Blazers' starter Blayze Berry came into the game ranked second among AAC starting pitchers with a 2.37 ERA, but the Owls struck for two runs in the first and another in the second to take an early 3-0 lead. Devenny led off the game with a single, stole second then scored on Treyton Rank's RBI single. Rank advanced to second on the throw to the plate as Devenny scored and then to third on a passed ball before scoring on an RBI single by Pierce Gallo. Eric Correa led off the second with a single and scored the Owls' third run when Rank was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Smith retired the first 10 Blazers he faced before giving up a run in the top of the fourth on a pair of doubles. UAB tacked on a second run after an error before Smith ended the threat with a fly ball to center. After Smith ended the top of the sixth with a strikeout and the tying run at third, Rice extended the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning when Devenny doubled home Correa. Tom Vincent and Davion Hickson held the Blazers off the board over the final three innings, with Hickson closing out his fifth save of the year with a game-ending double play.
Up Next: The series continues on Saturday at 2 p.m. before wrapping up with a 1 p.m. finale on Sunday.
- Rice improved to 11-24, 2-8 in AAC play, 4-5 on Fridays and won its fourth straight against UAB.
- The game-ending double play was the Owls' 36th of the season, which leads the conference. The Owls came into the night ranked fifth in the nation in twin killings.
- Smith snapped a streak of 10 consecutive starts at home without a win and picked up a career-best third win of the season.
- He has posted a 2.79 ERA in his last three starts at home (6 ER in 19.1 IP)
- Hickson lowered his ERA at Reckling Park to 0.38 (1 ER in 23.2 IP) while collecting his fourth save at home this season.
- Devenny and Ben Dukes extended their hitting streaks to seven games.
- Devenny's three this are a career-high and raised his average in AAC games to .423 (11x26)… He is hitting .407 during his seven-game hitting streak with four doubles and has scored at least one run in six of the seven games.
- Dukes is hitting .440 during his seven-game streak (11x25).
- Gallo has hit in his last five (10x20), with four multi-hit games.
- Rank has eight RBI in his last six games.
- Correa tied his career high with two hits.
Players Mentioned
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