Tuesday, April 1
Huntsville, TX
6:00 PM
Rice University
7-23
9
at
1
Sam Houston
7-22
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Rice
2
0
0
0
0
3
0
3
1
9
7
1
SAM HOUSTON
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
5
4
Strong Pitching and Timely Hitting Power Owls Past Bearkats
4/1/2025 10:18:00 PM | Baseball
Brown and Johnson homer, Ben-Shoshan's career night caps win
Huntsville: Blaine Brown and Max Johnson broke open a tight battle with home runs in the fifth while Jack Ben-Shoshan slammed the door on hopes of a rally by Sam Houston to lead Rice to a 9-1 win on Tuesday night and a sweep of the annual two-game series between the schools.
How it Happened: The Owls handed starter an early 2-0 lead in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. Hiram Bocachica opened with a walk and then moved to third while Michael Zito reached on an error. He scored on a ground out by Landon West and Zito followed him home moments later on a wild pitch. Blank held the Bearkats hitless until the fourth, when they collected a pair of singles to put runners on the corners, but he avoided any damage when Tobias Motley threw out a runner at the plate attempting to score on a fly ball. He was lifted in the fifth with one out and a runner at second and Marco Fuentes ended the inning with a 5-4-3 double play. After starting the double play, Johnson smashed the third pitch of the next inning over the wall in left for his second home run. Bocachica worked his second walk of the night and Brown crushed the next pitch to right center, bouncing off the flag pole to push the lead to 5-0. Sam Houston broke through with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth, but Ben-Shoshan prevented the situation from escalating further when he relieved Fuentes with a pair of strikeouts. He struck out the first two in the seventh and then the third of the inning after a pair of walks then set down the Bearkats in order in the eighth. He fanned the first two in the ninth before allowing a walk and a hit, then retired the final batter on a fly ball to left.
Up Next: Rice returns home on Wednesday to host UTRGV. The Owls will be back in conference action this weekend with three games in New Orleans against Tulane, beginning on Friday at 6:30.
Notes
How it Happened: The Owls handed starter an early 2-0 lead in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. Hiram Bocachica opened with a walk and then moved to third while Michael Zito reached on an error. He scored on a ground out by Landon West and Zito followed him home moments later on a wild pitch. Blank held the Bearkats hitless until the fourth, when they collected a pair of singles to put runners on the corners, but he avoided any damage when Tobias Motley threw out a runner at the plate attempting to score on a fly ball. He was lifted in the fifth with one out and a runner at second and Marco Fuentes ended the inning with a 5-4-3 double play. After starting the double play, Johnson smashed the third pitch of the next inning over the wall in left for his second home run. Bocachica worked his second walk of the night and Brown crushed the next pitch to right center, bouncing off the flag pole to push the lead to 5-0. Sam Houston broke through with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth, but Ben-Shoshan prevented the situation from escalating further when he relieved Fuentes with a pair of strikeouts. He struck out the first two in the seventh and then the third of the inning after a pair of walks then set down the Bearkats in order in the eighth. He fanned the first two in the ninth before allowing a walk and a hit, then retired the final batter on a fly ball to left.
Up Next: Rice returns home on Wednesday to host UTRGV. The Owls will be back in conference action this weekend with three games in New Orleans against Tulane, beginning on Friday at 6:30.
Notes
- Rice improved to 68-55-1 all-time vs. Sam Houston and won for the seventh time in the last eight games in the series and also for the seventh time in the last eight games at Don Sanders Stadium.,
- Ben-Shoshan's nine strikeouts matched the most by an Owl this year and were the most by a Rice reliever in 2025… In addition to strikeouts, he set career highs for innings (3.2) and pitches (83).
- The home runs by Johnson and Brown in the sixth marked the second time this year the Owls have had two homers in an inning. Johnson was also a part of that game as well, when he and Jacob Devenny homered vs. HCU on 3/16.
- Brown's two RBI gave him seven in the last five games.
- Landon West threw out two of three base runners and has now thrown out seven of the past 11. At the plate, his single in the ninth inning extended his on-base streak to 14 games.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fuentes , Marco (1-0)
L: Mondey, C. (0-1)
S: Ben-Shoshan, Jack (1)
Batting:
3B: Motley, Tobias 1
HR: Brown , Blaine 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
RBI: Brown , Blaine 2 ; Zito, Michael 1 ; West, Landon 1 ; Motley, Tobias 1 ; Duffield, Trey 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
SH: Zito, Michael 1
SF: Zito, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bocachica Jr., Hiram 2 ; Brown , Blaine 2 ; Zito, Michael 1 ; Motley, Tobias 1 ; Robson, Colin 1 ; Johnson , Max 2
SB: Zito, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Martinez, J. 1
SB: Blackman, P. 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
c/1b
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
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OF
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RHP
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INF
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INF
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