Webb and Ashlock Spark Owls Past UTRGV

Tuesday, March 17

Reckling Park

6:35 pm

Rice University

13-9

UTRGV

10-11

UTRGV

Rice

3/17/2026 10:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Owls win for 10th time in the last 13 games.

By: by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Houston- Kutter-Gage Webb and Mason Ashlock each drove in two runs, and three Rice relievers combined to throw six shutout innings as Rice downed UTRGV 7-3 at Reckling Park on Tuesday Night.

How it Happened: The Vaqueros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but Rice carried over its offensive momentum from the weekend in Arizona and had an immediate answer in the bottom of the first. Hiram Bocachica Jr., Colin Robson, and JC Davis opened the game with singles, with Davis bringing home Bocachica. Davis came home two outs later on a single by Kutter-Gage Webb, and Mason Ashlock singled home the third run, scoring Garet Boehm. UTRGV struck back to tie the game with a run in the top of the third, but once again, Rice had an immediate answer in its half of the inning. Davis beat out an infield single to lead off the inning, and Paul Smith followed with a bloop double down the left field line to put runners at second and third. Webb singled to center to score Davis, and Ashlock followed with a sacrifice fly. The Vaqueros put two runners on with one out in the fourth, but the combination of Brayden Sharp, Ethan Atchley, and Carson Kuhn combined to retire the next 15 in a row while the offense added two runs in the bottom of the fourth to build some breathing room. Kuhn gave up a one-out single in the ninth to snap the streak, but closed out the game with a double play.

Next Up: Rice returns to the road next weekend to open American Conference play at South Florida this weekend. The series opens at 5:35 on Friday, followed by a 1:05 pm game on Saturday, and wraps up at 12:05 on Sunday.

Notes

The Owls improved to 13-9 on the season, 7-3 at home, and 30-30-1 vs. UTRGV.
Rice has won 10 of its last 13 games overall and four straight at home.
The Owls are four games over .500 for the second time this season. Prior to 2026, the last time there were as many as four games over .500 was the end of the 2016 season, when they finished 38-24.
They reached 13 wins in their 22^nd game, the fewest games since they opened 2016 with an identical 13-9 record.
Smith and Cole Green doubled in the game to give Rice 19 doubles in the last five games.
Webb extended his hitting streak to five games and is hitting .688 (11x16) with 10 RBI over that stretch.
Green's double extended his on-base streak to 12 games while Robson extended his streak to 11 games.