Friday, May 24
Clearwater, Florida
12 PM
Rice University
23-36
7
vs
8
#9 East Carolina
42-14
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7
8
9
R
H
E
Rice
0
0
1
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3
2
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1
7
11
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East Carolina
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8
9
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Photo by: American Athletic Conference/Conor Kvatek
9th-Ranked Pirates Hold Off Owls to Advance
5/24/2024 7:10:00 PM | Baseball
Furious Rice rally falls just short
Clearwater, FL: Rice furiously fought back from an early 7-1 deficit only to see it season come to an end with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position as top seed East Carolina held on for an 8-7 victory and earn a berth in the semifinals of the 2024 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship presented by Regions on Friday.
Details: The Pirates jumped on the Owls right out of the gate, scoring three runs in each of the first two innings. Rice broke through with a run in third after loading the bases with three consecutive walks and a ground out buy Ben Dukes. ECU responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the third to built the lead back to six, but after collecting seven runs on seven hits over the initial three innings on Friday (in addition to 12 runs on nine hits in the eighth inning against the Owls on Tuesday) the Pirates bats went cold thanks the standout effort of Owls' senior reliever Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton worked a career-high five innings while striking out a career-best five and retired ECU in order from the fourth through sixth innings while the Owls offense found its footing. The Rice response began in the fifth inning when Max Johnson singled with one out and then came home on a two-run homer by Kyte McDonald. On the next pitch, Dukes lined a ball in to the gap in right center and race to third with a triple and then dashed home on Treyton Rank's fly out to right top cut the margin to 7-4. Hamilton wasted little time in getting Rice back to the plate by retiring the Pirates in order in the sixth his teammates responded with two more runs. Aric Anderson, who took over at catcher after Manny Garza was struck in the head with a bat on a swing by a Pirate hitter, slapped a single into the right and advanced to third on a double by Pierce Gallo to open the inning. ECU retired the next two Owls but Johnson sent an 0-1 pitch up the middle to bring in both runners and draw Rice to within a run. East Carolina finally reached Hamilton for a run in the bottom of the seventh and after a scoreless eighth, Rice was down to the last thee outs of the season. McDonald and Dukes opened the inning with singles to put runners on the corners and a wild pitch moved Dukes into scoring position. One out later Jack Riedel walked and pinch hitter Eric Correa reached on a fielder's choice to score McDonald and move he tying run to third before ECU ended the game on a ground ball to short.
Notes:
Details: The Pirates jumped on the Owls right out of the gate, scoring three runs in each of the first two innings. Rice broke through with a run in third after loading the bases with three consecutive walks and a ground out buy Ben Dukes. ECU responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the third to built the lead back to six, but after collecting seven runs on seven hits over the initial three innings on Friday (in addition to 12 runs on nine hits in the eighth inning against the Owls on Tuesday) the Pirates bats went cold thanks the standout effort of Owls' senior reliever Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton worked a career-high five innings while striking out a career-best five and retired ECU in order from the fourth through sixth innings while the Owls offense found its footing. The Rice response began in the fifth inning when Max Johnson singled with one out and then came home on a two-run homer by Kyte McDonald. On the next pitch, Dukes lined a ball in to the gap in right center and race to third with a triple and then dashed home on Treyton Rank's fly out to right top cut the margin to 7-4. Hamilton wasted little time in getting Rice back to the plate by retiring the Pirates in order in the sixth his teammates responded with two more runs. Aric Anderson, who took over at catcher after Manny Garza was struck in the head with a bat on a swing by a Pirate hitter, slapped a single into the right and advanced to third on a double by Pierce Gallo to open the inning. ECU retired the next two Owls but Johnson sent an 0-1 pitch up the middle to bring in both runners and draw Rice to within a run. East Carolina finally reached Hamilton for a run in the bottom of the seventh and after a scoreless eighth, Rice was down to the last thee outs of the season. McDonald and Dukes opened the inning with singles to put runners on the corners and a wild pitch moved Dukes into scoring position. One out later Jack Riedel walked and pinch hitter Eric Correa reached on a fielder's choice to score McDonald and move he tying run to third before ECU ended the game on a ground ball to short.
Notes:
- Rice ended the season 23-36 and finished their first AAC Championship 1-2.
- Hamilton worked a career-best five innings (previous high was 3.1) and allowed just three hits and one run with no walks and a career-best five strikeouts… He posted a 2.25 ERA over his final five relief appearances as an Owl (3 ER in 12 IP with 12 strikeouts).
- Johnson's two-run single was his second consecutive multi-RBI game of the tournament and his third in the last four games of the season… He led the Owls with four RBI in the AAC Championship.
- McDonald' homer gave him a tournament cycle, with a double, triple and homer in the three games…. He hit .462 in the tournament (6x13) and led the Owls with four runs. He closed his career by hitting in his last five games (.364, 8x22) and drive in a run in each game.
- Riedel hit .500 in the tournament (5x10) which led the Owls as did his .643 on-base percentage.
- Dukes closed his career by going 2x5 to lead the Owls with a .307 average on the year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: WALLACE, Colby (2-0)
L: Alch, Tucker (1-4)
S: BEAL, Danny (4)
Batting:
2B: Gallo, Pierce 1
3B: Dukes, Ben 1
HR: McDonald, Kyte 1
RBI: McDonald, Kyte 1 ; Dukes, Ben 1 ; Rank, Treyton 1 ; Correa, Eric 1 ; Johnson , Max 2
SF: Rank, Treyton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McDonald, Kyte 2 ; Dukes, Ben 1 ; Anderson, Aric 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Motley, Tobias 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
CS: Anderson, Aric 1
Batting:
2B: MCCRYSTAL, R. 1 ; STARLING, Jacob 1 ; JENKINS-COWART, J. 1
RBI: MCCRYSTAL, R. 2 ; STARLING, Jacob 3 ; CLONCH, Cam 1 ; WILCOXEN, Justin 1 ; BERINI, Joey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: JOHNSON, Ryley 1 ; CUNNINGHAM, C. 1 ; MCCRYSTAL, R. 2 ; STARLING, Jacob 1 ; JENKINS-COWART, J. 1 ; CHRISMON, Nathan 2
HBP: CUNNINGHAM, C. 1 ; CHRISMON, Nathan 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
3b
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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