Late Rally Clinches Series for Rice on Wayne Graham Day

Saturday, March 7

Abilene, TX

3:05 PM

Rice University

9-6

Abilene Christian

7-8

Rice

Abilene Christian

Late Rally Clinches Series for Rice on Wayne Graham Day

3/7/2026 9:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Owls snap an 0-90 stretch when trailing after eight innings

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

Abilene- Garet Boehm drilled a two-run double in the top of the ninth to key a three-run rally and give Rice its first win when trailing after eight innings in its last 91 games as the Owls clinched the series against Abilene Christian with an 8-6 win on Saturday.

How it Happened: The back-and-forth game saw five lead changes, the last two in the final two innings, as the teams combined for 38 base runners. ACU scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to retake the lead, but Rice greeted Wildcat closer Brady Coe in the ninth by needing just six pitches to put Rice ahead to stay. Cole Green singled on his second pitch, and Paul Smith was hit by the second pitch he saw. Kutter-Gage Webb blooped a single on the first pitch to load the bases, and then, after a mound visit, Boehm split the gap in left-center to score Green and Smith. Webb, who had stumbled coming around second, was thrown out at the plate, but Boehm would come around to score an insurance run thanks to a passed ball and a fielder's choice. Ty Thames, who had been tagged for the two runs in the bottom of the eighth, closed out the game in the ninth on only 13 pitches, punctuating the end with a pair of strikeouts.

Next Up: The Owls and Wildcats wrap up the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Notes

Rice improved to 9-6 on the season, 3-3 on the road, 2-1 on Saturdays, and 1-1 on Wayne Graham Day.
Rice's last win when trailing after eight innings came on May 17, 2022, at Houston when the Owls tied it in the ninth on a balk and then won 5-4 in 12 innings… They came into the ninth inning on Saturday, 0-90, since that game when trailing after eight innings.
The Owls have won six straight games, their longest streak since they won six in a row in 2019 (4/18-28 vs. Middle Tennessee and LA Tech)… Rice's last seven-game winning streak came in 2015 (April 24-May 10, vs. WKU, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and Florida Atlantic).
Tanner Wiggins held ACU in check over 3.2 innings, allowing just one run and four hits… Over his last four appearances, he has allowed one earned run in 9.2 innings.
Paul Smith has matched his career-best with a five-game hitting streak (.305, 7x23) with four home runs and a double, and nine RBI.