Sunday, April 27
Birmingham, AL
1 PM
Rice University
12-33, 0
12
at
10
UAB
22-22, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Rice
3
3
0
3
0
1
1
0
1
12
17
1
UAB
0
0
5
0
0
0
2
3
0
10
12
2
Owls Win Sunday Slugfest
4/27/2025 5:04:00 PM | Baseball
Next seven games at Reckling
Birmingham: Blaine Brown smashed a pair of homers for the first time in his career and Paul Smith had a career-high four hits to highlight a 17-hit attack, and Marco Fuentes came on to get the final out with the bases loaded to preserve a wild 12-10 win for Rice on Sunday at Young Memorial Field.
How it Happened: Rice came out of the gates swinging, with leadoff hitter Colin Robson doubling on the game's fourth pitch. Blaine Brown followed with an infield single to snap a 0x12 stretch, and one out later, Landon West walked to load the bases. Treyton Rank brought home Robson with sac fly to give the Owls their first lead of the series and Hiram Bocachica Jr. followed with a single up the middle to score Brown. Paul Smith doubled in West, but Bocachica was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. After a shutdown first by Tucker Alch, Rice went to the longball to double its lead in the second. Max Johnson slammed a one-out solo homer to left center and after a walk to Robson, Brown flipped one over the wall in right for his eighth homer of the season. He smashed his ninth to lead off the fourth for Rice after UAB and scored five in the bottom of the third. Michael Zito followed with a double to extend his AAC hitting streak to 15 games and Landon West was hit by a pitch. Rank lined a ball off UAB's pitcher's leg for an infield single and Zito came in to score on a throwing error. Smith hit an infield single to bring in West with the third run for the Owls. The Owls added single runs in sixth and seventh, but UAB roared back with five in the seventh and eighth to draw within one run. Rice added an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Max Johnson doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a double play ground out by Brown. UAB loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, and Fuentes was called in and nailed down the final out with a fly ball to right.
Up Next: Rice returns to Reckling to open a final seven-game homestand by hosting Charlotte on Friday at 6:30
Notes:
How it Happened: Rice came out of the gates swinging, with leadoff hitter Colin Robson doubling on the game's fourth pitch. Blaine Brown followed with an infield single to snap a 0x12 stretch, and one out later, Landon West walked to load the bases. Treyton Rank brought home Robson with sac fly to give the Owls their first lead of the series and Hiram Bocachica Jr. followed with a single up the middle to score Brown. Paul Smith doubled in West, but Bocachica was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. After a shutdown first by Tucker Alch, Rice went to the longball to double its lead in the second. Max Johnson slammed a one-out solo homer to left center and after a walk to Robson, Brown flipped one over the wall in right for his eighth homer of the season. He smashed his ninth to lead off the fourth for Rice after UAB and scored five in the bottom of the third. Michael Zito followed with a double to extend his AAC hitting streak to 15 games and Landon West was hit by a pitch. Rank lined a ball off UAB's pitcher's leg for an infield single and Zito came in to score on a throwing error. Smith hit an infield single to bring in West with the third run for the Owls. The Owls added single runs in sixth and seventh, but UAB roared back with five in the seventh and eighth to draw within one run. Rice added an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Max Johnson doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a double play ground out by Brown. UAB loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, and Fuentes was called in and nailed down the final out with a fly ball to right.
Up Next: Rice returns to Reckling to open a final seven-game homestand by hosting Charlotte on Friday at 6:30
Notes:
- Rice improved to 17-11 all-time in Birmingham and avoided being shut out by UAB in a series for the first time.
- The Owls' 17 hits were a season high and the most since they had 18 vs. Texas State in 2024.
- Rice finished the day with seven doubles, the most since collecting seven vs. ODU in 2018.
- The Owls placed the leadoff hitter on base in six of nine innings (after having only three in the first 18 innings of the series), and four of the six scored.
- Brown became the first Owl to hit two homers in a game this year and the first since Jack Riedel hit two vs. UAB last season at the AAC Championship.
- He has six home runs in conference games, which is tied for fourth and matches Jack Riedel for the most by an Owl in an AAC season. He has homered in five of six AAC series.
- Smith started his first career game at first base. He made eight starts at catcher and 14 as a DH in 2023.
- He collected a career-high four hits, including three doubles, the most by an Owl since Andrew Dunlap had three vs. Prairie View in 2019. The last Owl to have three doubles in a conference game was Tristan Gray in 2017 vs. Southern Miss.
- He has reached base in nine of 10 plate appearances this season (7x8 with 3 doubles, two walks).
- Robson was 3x5 with a pair of doubles and three RBI, all setting career bests.
- Rank was 2x5 and moved into ninth in the AAC with a .362 average in conference games.
- Michael Zito's double in the fourth inning extended his hitting streak in conference games to 15 games.
- Jack Ben-Shoshan matched his career high with five innings in relief and threw a career-best 89 pitches to even his record at 2-2.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ben-Shoshan, Jack (2-2)
L: Isaac Warrick (3-3)
S: Fuentes , Marco (1)
Batting:
2B: Robson, Colin 2 ; Zito, Michael 1 ; Smith , Paul 3 ; Johnson , Max 1
HR: Brown , Blaine 2 ; Johnson , Max 1
RBI: Brown , Blaine 4 ; Rank, Treyton 1 ; Bocachica Jr., Hiram 1 ; Smith , Paul 2 ; Johnson , Max 1
SF: Rank, Treyton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Robson, Colin 3 ; Brown , Blaine 3 ; Zito, Michael 1 ; West, Landon 2 ; Smith , Paul 1 ; Johnson , Max 2
HBP: West, Landon 1
Batting:
2B: Tyler Waugh 1 ; Landon Beaver 1 ; Alex Cheeseman 1
3B: Camden Hayslip 1
HR: Camden Hayslip 1 ; Nick Hollifield 1 ; Andrew Hunt 1
RBI: Camden Hayslip 3 ; Nick Hollifield 3 ; Landon Beaver 1 ; Andrew Hunt 3
SF: Landon Beaver 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tyler Waugh 2 ; Wesley Helms 2 ; Camden Hayslip 2 ; Nick Hollifield 2 ; Alex Cheeseman 1 ; Andrew Hunt 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
1b
AB
4
R
1
H
4
RBI
2
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
0
AB
6
R
3
H
3
RBI
4
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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