Owls Complete Sweep with 10-3 Win on Sunday

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Baseball

vs McClennan JC

Oct 26

Noon

Reckling Park

Tampa, FL: Trey Duffield keyed an early explosion with a three-run, pinch-hit double, and Jackson Blank delivered 3.1 innings of shutout relief to lift Rice to a 10-3 win over South Florida on Sunday and complete a three-game sweep of the weekend series by the Owls.

The Details: Rice broke out on top with a run in the second when Pierce Gallo doubled home Jack Riedel who had opened the frame with a walk. They exploded for five runs in the third when Jacob Devenny reached on a fielder's choice after the original call of a double play was overturned after a video review. Devenny moved to third when he knocked the ball out of the shortstop's glove on a steal attempt and scored on a ground out by Ben Dukes. Treyton Rank followed with a double and the Bulls then chose to intentionally walk Riedel. Both runners moved up on a double steal and Gallo worked a walk to load the bases. After a pitching change, Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach Jose Cruz Jr. called on Duffield to pinch hit against the lefthander and Duffield drilled the second pitch into the leftfield corner to clear the bases. Manny Garza followed with a double to bring home Duffield. USF scored three in the fourth after two outs without the ball leaving the infield. The Bulls collected their first hit on a grounder that struck the first base bag scoring a runner who had reached on an error. Their second run came on chopper just off Tobias Motley's glove. A bases-loaded walk brought in their third run of the inning before Blank came in to end the inning with a strikeout. The Bulls loaded the bases again in the next inning against Blank, but he slammed the door on the threat with another strikeout. While Blank and Garrett Stratton kept the potent USF offense off the board over the final five innings, the Owls extended the lead with two runs in the eighth and ninth innings. In the three games vs. South Florida, Rice scored 15 runs in the final two innings after scoring just 32 all season while topping double figures in each game.

Up Next: The Owls will be back in action next weekend when they host UTSA at Reckling Park. The series opens at 6:30 on Friday, April 26, followed by day games on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1.

Rice has won six of its last seven overall and five of its last six in AAC play.
The Owls scored in double figures in three consecutive games for the first time since 2017 when they defeated Texas State. 10-1 on May 16 and then defeated UAB 12-4 and 26-17 on May 18 & 19.
The sweep in a conference series, road or home, was the first for Rice since taking all three at UAB last season.
Rice stole six bases in the game, the most by the Owls since they swiped six vs. East Carolina on April 23, 2010.
The Owls came into the weekend with 19 steals but stole 11 in the series.
Thanks to his bases-loaded double, Duffield became the fifth Owl to have at least three RBI in the series.
The Owls' last sweep of a conference series, home or road, was in 2023 when they took all three at UAB from 3/17-19.
Rice was 16x44 with runners in scoring position in the three games.
Blank picked up his second win of the year and struck out a career-high five while matching his longest career outing.
Rank was 8x14 with eight RBI in the series.
Garza hit .571 in the series (5x12) and reached base in nine of 15 plate appearances… He is hitting .471 (8x17) in his last five games.
Duffield tied his career high with three hits and four RBI.

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