Friday, March 28
6:30 PM
Rice University
6-21, 0
2
vs
4
East Carolina
16-10, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
ECU
0
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
4
7
0
RICE
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
5
2
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Pirates Take Series Opener
3/28/2025 10:24:00 PM | Baseball
Hickson works a career-best 8 innings
How it Happened: Making his sixth start of his career, Hickson posted the longest start by an Owl this season and the longest since Parker Smith pitched eight innings in a start at East Carolina last season. The Pirates scratched out single runs in the second and third innings and then extended the lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a two-run homer, but Hickson shut them out over his final four frames on four hits while striking out five. Brown cut the margin in half in the bottom of the six, driving Ethan Norby's first offering to him over the wall in the right, scoring Hiram Bocachica, who had walked with two outs. But Norby and reliever Brad Pruett faced the minimum over the final four innings to close out the game.
Up Next: The Owls and Pirates will play the middle game of their series on Saturday at 4 p.m., a two-hour later than usual start time for Saturday home games. All fans will be treated to a special postgame showing of "The Sandlot" after the game's conclusion. The series wraps up on Sunday with a 1:05 first pitch.
Notes
Up Next: The Owls and Pirates will play the middle game of their series on Saturday at 4 p.m., a two-hour later than usual start time for Saturday home games. All fans will be treated to a special postgame showing of "The Sandlot" after the game's conclusion. The series wraps up on Sunday with a 1:05 first pitch.
Notes
- Rice fell to 24-15 all-time vs. ECU and 13-5 vs. the Pirates at Reckling Park. ECU has won the last six in the series.
- Hickson's nine strikeouts were the most by an Owl this year and one shy of his career high of 10 set last year in a relief outing at Charlotte.
- Brown's homer was his second in as many AAC series openers and extended his career-best hitting streak to eight games (.424, 14x33 with 2 HR and 7 RBI), which matches the longest by an Owl this year.
- Bocachica extended his hitting streak to five games when he collected the Owls' first hit off of Norby with a single in the bottom of the third.
- Landon West beat out an infield single in the third to extend his hitting streak to five games.
- Garrett Stratton worked a scoreless ninth in relief of Hickson to lower the Owls' bullpen ERA over the last nine games to 2.78 ERA (11 ER in 35.2 IP).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: NORBY, Ethan (4-2)
L: Hickson, Davion (0-4)
S: PRUETT, Brad (2)
Batting:
2B: BURRESS, Braden 2 ; WALLACE, Colby 1
HR: BOUCHE, Alex 1
RBI: WALLACE, Colby 1 ; BOUCHE, Alex 3
SH: WILLIAMS, Dixon 1
SF: BOUCHE, Alex 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BURRESS, Braden 1 ; COLLINS, John 1 ; BARRON, Walker 1 ; BOUCHE, Alex 1
CS: WILLIAMS, Dixon 1
Batting:
HR: Brown , Blaine 1
RBI: Brown , Blaine 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bocachica Jr., Hiram 1 ; Brown , Blaine 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
WBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02