Friday, May 10
Reckling Park
6:30 p.m.
Rice University
20-30, 0
5
vs
4
Florida Atlantic
24-24, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Florida Atlantic
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
4
9
0
RICE
0
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
10
0
Photo by: Maria Lysaker - Rice Athletics
Rice Rallies to Take Opener
5/10/2024 10:36:00 PM | Baseball
Game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday
Reckling Park: Pinch-runner Max Johnson dashed home with the winning run on a fielder's choice to give Rice a 5-4 walkoff win over Florida Atlantic in the opening game of a key AAC series on Friday night.
The Details: FAU had tied the game with a solo homer in the top of the ninth, Rice went to work in the bottom of the final frame looking to end a seven-game winning streak against FAU at Reckling Park. Manny Garza, who put Rice in front with a solo homer in the second, slapped a single to left to open the ninth. Johnson came in to run for Garza and with one out advanced to third on a double by Jacob Devenny just inside the third base bag. FAU chose to intentionally walk Ben Dukes to load the bases for Treyton Rank, who hit a soft liner just off the shortstop Brando Leroux's glove. Leroux retrieved the ball and threw to second to retire Dukes but Johnson scored to end the game before FAU could record the third out. Starter Parker Smith went the first 6.1 innings and after giving up two in the first held Florida Atlantic in check while Rice clawed back to take the lea by scoring three times in the second on a back-to-back, two-out homers. After the first two Rice batters were retired, Nathan Becker reached on an infield single and Pierce Gallo followed with a two-run homer to left, his first since March 2. Garza took two strikes and then nailed a line-drive homer to right, his fifth of the season and third in his last six games. Rice extended the lead to 4-2 in the third when Kyte McDonald was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and FAU cut the lead to one with a run in the fifth. Davion Hickson, who relieved Smith in the sixth, improved to 3-0 with the win.
Up Next: The dueling sets of Owls will be back at Reckling Park for the middle game of the series at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Notes:
The Details: FAU had tied the game with a solo homer in the top of the ninth, Rice went to work in the bottom of the final frame looking to end a seven-game winning streak against FAU at Reckling Park. Manny Garza, who put Rice in front with a solo homer in the second, slapped a single to left to open the ninth. Johnson came in to run for Garza and with one out advanced to third on a double by Jacob Devenny just inside the third base bag. FAU chose to intentionally walk Ben Dukes to load the bases for Treyton Rank, who hit a soft liner just off the shortstop Brando Leroux's glove. Leroux retrieved the ball and threw to second to retire Dukes but Johnson scored to end the game before FAU could record the third out. Starter Parker Smith went the first 6.1 innings and after giving up two in the first held Florida Atlantic in check while Rice clawed back to take the lea by scoring three times in the second on a back-to-back, two-out homers. After the first two Rice batters were retired, Nathan Becker reached on an infield single and Pierce Gallo followed with a two-run homer to left, his first since March 2. Garza took two strikes and then nailed a line-drive homer to right, his fifth of the season and third in his last six games. Rice extended the lead to 4-2 in the third when Kyte McDonald was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and FAU cut the lead to one with a run in the fifth. Davion Hickson, who relieved Smith in the sixth, improved to 3-0 with the win.
Up Next: The dueling sets of Owls will be back at Reckling Park for the middle game of the series at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Notes:
- Rice improved 20-30 overall and 10-12 in the AAC.
- Rice defeated FAU for the first time at Reckling since May 13, 2016 and had been 0-7-1 against FAU in the last eight at Reckling.
- The win was 10th game in the last 13 at Reckling to be decided by two runs or less and the seventh by one run. Rice is 6-3 in games decided by two or less after opening the season 2-10.
- The back-to-back homers were the first for Rice since Ben Royo and Guy Garibay Jr. did it in the ninth inning at Texas A&M last season.
- The Owls have hit 16 of their 40 homers this season in the last 10 games.
- The bottom third of the Rice lineup (Gallo, Garza, and Tobias Motely) were a combined 4x12 with two homers and three RBI. The lower third of the Rice lineup has hit a combined .285 (41x144) with eight home runs and 28 runs in the last 17 games.
- Gallo's homer was his third of the season to set a career-high.
- Garza is hitting .381 ( 21x55) in his last 15 games.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hickson, Davion (3-0)
L: Andrews, Steven (4-2)
Batting:
2B: Schroeder, John 1
HR: Millan, Jake 1
RBI: Schroeder, John 1 ; Adams, Christian 1 ; Millan, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DeBose, Jalen 1 ; Frank, Daulton 1 ; Millan, Jake 2
CS: DeBose, Jalen 1
HBP: DeBose, Jalen 1 ; Frank, Daulton 1
Batting:
2B: Devenny, Jacob 1 ; Dukes, Ben 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1
HR: Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Garza, Manny 1
RBI: Rank, Treyton 1 ; McDonald, Kyte 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 2 ; Garza, Manny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Devenny, Jacob 1 ; Becker, Nathan 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Garza, Manny 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
HBP: McDonald, Kyte 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
Inf.
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P
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