Devenny Delivers as Rice Rebounds to Down UTSA

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at Louisiana

Oct 11

1 PM

Baseball

vs McClennan JC

Oct 26

Noon

Reckling Park

Reckling Park: Jacob Devenny's bunt single brought home Tobias Motely with the winning run as Rice rallied to down UTSA 9-8 in 10 innings on Friday in the opener of a three-game series between the schools.

The Details: After UTSA stunned the crowd of 3,828 by tying the game with three runs in the top of the ninth, the Owls answered in the bottom of the 10^th to win their seventh game in the last eight and their sixth conference game in the last seven. Motely, who earlier had sparked a four-run second inning with his first career home run, sent a fly ball to right with one out in the 10^th that eluded the UTSA outfielder and he sprinted to third with his first career triple. Devenny then bunted the next pitch between third base and the pitcher's mound to drive in the winning run. UTSA put early pressure on Rice starter Parker Smith, as five of the first nine Roadrunner batters reached against him in the first two innings, but the only run scored on a sacrifice bunt in the second. Rice answered with four, two-out runs in the bottom of the inning on a pair of career-first home runs. Manny Garza slapped a single to right and one out later Motley turned on a 2-2 pitch to drive it over the left field wall for his first career home run. Devenny followed with a single off UTSA shortstop Matt King's glove and then Ben Dukes jumped on a 1-2 pitch with a line drive homer to right for the first of his career. UTSA tied the game up in the fourth, scoring one run on a bases-loaded hit batter, a second on a sacrifice fly on a ball Dukes raced deep to center to catch, and the third on a fielder's choice. After saving runs with his defensive play in the top of the fourth, Dukes reclaimed the lead for the Owls in the bottom of the fourth, lashing a two-run single to left, scoring Motley and Devenny. Garza extended the lead to 7-4 in the fifth with his second homer of the season and first since February 20. After UTSA cut the margin to 7-5 in the top of the eighth, Treyton Rank extended the Owls lead to 8-5 with his ninth RBI in the last four games, but the Roadrunners tied it with three runs in the ninth and had two runners in scoring position with one out before Garrett Stratton came on in relief and, after a walk, ended the threat with a 3-2-3 double play. Stratton held the Roadrunners scoreless in the 10^th to set the stage for the Owls' bottom of the inning and picked up his first career victory.

Up Next: The series continues on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.

Rice has won seven of its last eight overall and six of its last seven in AAC play.
The Owls improved to 29-20 vs. UTSA and snapped a four-game losing streak in the series.
The crowd of 3,828 was the second-largest of the season, trailing only the 4,610 for the game vs. LSU on February 28.
The Owls have played extra innings in three of the last four conference home series-opening games, and have played an extra-inning game in each of their inaugural four home AAC series.
The Owls have scored four or more runs in an inning in the last four games and five times in the last seven. They had scored four or more twice in the first 34 games.
The homers by Motely and Dukes in the second inning marked the second time this year the Owls have hit two homers in the same inning. Jack Riedel and Nathan Becker each homered in the first inning vs. Houston Christian on March 17.
Garza's homer in the fifth gave the Owls three homers in a game for the first time since they had three in a 13-10 loss to Notre Dame at Reckling on February 18.
The Owls' 7-9 hitters (Garza, Eric Correa, and Motley) were 4x13 on the night and reached base six times in 15 plate appearances. They have combined to hit .313 (15x48) and score 15 runs over the last four games. In the first 34 games of the season, the lower third of the Owls' batting order hit a combined .197 and scored 35 runs.
Garza is hitting .455 (10x22) in his last six games and his now hitting .470 in nine career games vs. UTSA (16x34).
Dukes, who had never driven in more than one run in a game, drove in four with his home and single. He raised his average in conference games to .442 by going 2x4 in the game. He has hit in 12 of his last 13 games (.434, 23x53).
Devenny tied his career high with three hits and improved his average in conference games to .352 (19x64).
Treyton Rank collected a pair of hits to extend his multi-hit game streak to four and his RBI in the eighth was his 20^th in 16 AAC games.

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