Friday, May 17
Greenville, NC
6:30 PM
Rice University
22-34, 11-16
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at
6
East Carolina
40-13, 19-8
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5
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9
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Rice
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4
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East Carolina
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Owls Fall in Finale, Await Saturday Outcomes to Learn Fate
5/17/2024 11:59:00 PM | Baseball
Loss by either FAU or USF on Saturday sends Rice to Clearwater
Greenville, NC: East Carolina rallied for three runs with two outs in the sixth and held on to gain a sweep over Rice with a 6-4 win in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Details: In need of a win in the final regular season game to clinch a spot in the AAC Championship, Rice took a 4-2 lead in the second inning thanks to six consecutive hits. With one out, Manny Garza and Eric Correa reached on infield singles and both came home to score when Max Johnson ripped a double over the third base bag. Kyte McDonald followed with a single to score Johnson and advanced to second on an infield single by Ben Dukes. Treyton Rank brought McDonald home with a single to right to close out the scoring. ECU cut the margin to 4-3 in the bottom of the second and after allowing eight hits in the first two innings to the Owls, the Pirates held the Owls in check over the next four innings, retiring 14 of the next before taking the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Tom Vincent took over for starter Tucker Alch in the second and worked 2.1 scoreless before Davion Hickson took over with two outs in the fourth. He needed just 16 pitches to get through the fifth and retired the first two in the sixth before ECU pieced together six consecutive singles to score four runs and take the lead. Rice mounted one last challenge with two outs in the eighth when Jacob Devenny delivered a pinch-hit single and Manny Garza reached on an error, but could not come up with the tying hit.
Up Next: The Owls will remain in North Carolina on Saturday while their fate will be decided by the results of Saturday's final AAC games (See below)
Notes:
The Details: In need of a win in the final regular season game to clinch a spot in the AAC Championship, Rice took a 4-2 lead in the second inning thanks to six consecutive hits. With one out, Manny Garza and Eric Correa reached on infield singles and both came home to score when Max Johnson ripped a double over the third base bag. Kyte McDonald followed with a single to score Johnson and advanced to second on an infield single by Ben Dukes. Treyton Rank brought McDonald home with a single to right to close out the scoring. ECU cut the margin to 4-3 in the bottom of the second and after allowing eight hits in the first two innings to the Owls, the Pirates held the Owls in check over the next four innings, retiring 14 of the next before taking the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Tom Vincent took over for starter Tucker Alch in the second and worked 2.1 scoreless before Davion Hickson took over with two outs in the fourth. He needed just 16 pitches to get through the fifth and retired the first two in the sixth before ECU pieced together six consecutive singles to score four runs and take the lead. Rice mounted one last challenge with two outs in the eighth when Jacob Devenny delivered a pinch-hit single and Manny Garza reached on an error, but could not come up with the tying hit.
Up Next: The Owls will remain in North Carolina on Saturday while their fate will be decided by the results of Saturday's final AAC games (See below)
Notes:
- Rice fell to 22-34 overall and concluded its first season in the AAC with an 11-16 record.
- With Memphis' 12-10 loss in 13 innings on Friday, the Tigers are 9-17 with one game remaining and are eliminated from the postseason. Rice is 11-16 while FAU and USF are 11-15. Rice holds the tiebreaker over both teams and will advance to Clearwater with a loss by either school on Saturday. If both lose, the Owls would advance and gain the seventh seed.
- The sweep by East Carolina was the Pirates' first in the series history with Rice that began in 2006
- The crowd of 4,611 was the second-largest for the Owls on the road this year and the largest for the Owls in AAC games in 2024.
- Garza was 2x4 and hit .375 in the series (3x8) with three RBI and has hit .383 over his last 20 games.
- Dukes was 2x5 to close the regular season with a team-leading .315 average on the season and .344 in AAC games.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: BEAL, Danny (6-2)
L: Hickson, Davion (3-1)
Batting:
2B: Johnson , Max 1
RBI: McDonald, Kyte 1 ; Rank, Treyton 1 ; Johnson , Max 2
SH: Riedel, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McDonald, Kyte 1 ; Garza, Manny 1 ; Correa, Eric 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
Batting:
2B: CUNNINGHAM, C. 1
HR: CUNNINGHAM, C. 1
RBI: CUNNINGHAM, C. 3 ; MCCRYSTAL, R. 1 ; JENKINS-COWART, J. 2
Base Running:
RUNS: JOHNSON, Ryley 2 ; CUNNINGHAM, C. 2 ; MCCRYSTAL, R. 1 ; BERINI, Joey 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
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H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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