Rice University
6-23, 0
East Carolina
18-10, 0
Owls Rally Falls Short in Finale
3/30/2025 5:26:00 PM | Baseball
Road game at Sam Houston up next
How it Happened: East Carolina scratched out a 5-0 lead through four innings, scoring single tallies in the first, second, and third and pair in the fourth, but Devenny's pinch-hit, three-run homer to right brought the Owls back into contention. ECU added one in its half of the fifth, but West's third single drove in Michael Zito to cut the lead back to two runs. The Pirates plated a pair in the seventh to extend the lead to 8-4 before Motley's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth cut the deficit to three runs. In the bottom of the ninth, Blaine Brown's two-out walk loaded the bases and brought the winning run to the plate, but Zito was retired on a fly ball to left.
Up Next: Rice travels to Huntsville on Tuesday to take on Sam Houston and returns home on Wednesday to host UTRGV. The Owls will be back in conference action next weekend with three games in New Orleans against Tulane, beginning on Friday at 6:30.
Notes
- Rice fell to 24-17 all-time vs. ECU and 13-7 vs. the Pirates at Reckling Park.
- ECU has won the last eight in the series.
- After not hitting a pinch-hit home run in the previous two seasons, the Owls have two this year. (Devenny vs. ECU today and Motley vs. USC on March 4).
- Devenny's home run was his second of the season and third of his career.
- West's three hits tied his career high and extended his on-base streak to 13 games, the longest by an Owl this year.
- He is hitting .400 over his last 12 games (16x40) and has also walked 11 times for an OBP of .529.
- Motley's home run was his third of the year, matching his career-best set last year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: PRUETT, Brad (2-2)
L: Alch, Tucker (2-1)
S: WALLACE, Colby (2)
Batting:
2B: WALLACE, Colby 1 ; IRBY, Austin 1
RBI: WILLIAMS, Dixon 1 ; BURRESS, Braden 1 ; WALLACE, Colby 1 ; JOHNSON, Ryley 1 ; TRAMEL, Braxton 1 ; IRBY, Austin 2 ; HERRING, Jack 1
SH: BURRESS, Braden 1 ; JOHNSON, Ryley 1 ; DOWNS, Drew 3 ; IRBY, Austin 1 ; BOUCHE, Alex 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WILLIAMS, Dixon 1 ; BURRESS, Braden 1 ; JOHNSON, Ryley 1 ; PELTIER, Alex 1 ; BARRON, Walker 2 ; HERRING, Jack 2
Batting:
HR: Motley, Tobias 1 ; Devenny, Jacob 1
RBI: West, Landon 1 ; Motley, Tobias 1 ; Devenny, Jacob 3
SH: Duffield, Trey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Zito, Michael 1 ; West, Landon 1 ; Motley, Tobias 2 ; Devenny, Jacob 1
SB: Zito, Michael 1
HBP: Green, Cole 1
