ACU Avoids Sweep with 4-1 win

Sunday, March 8

Abilene, TX

1:05 PM

Rice University

9-7

Abilene Christian

8-8

Rice

Abilene Christian

3/8/2026 4:19:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Next Up: @Houston on Tuesday

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

Abilene- Ethan Sanders struck out a career-high 11, but Rice could not break through Abilene Christian's pitching as the Wildcats avoided a sweep at home by defeating the Owls 4-1 on Sunday afternoon.

How it Happened: ACU broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, ending a streak of 13 scoreless innings by Sanders dating back to his first career start at USC. The Owls answered in the top of the fifth by bunching together three consecutive two-out hits, with Cole Green singling home Masa Chilcutt to cut the lead to 2-1. ACU added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to snap the Owls' six-game winning streak.

Next Up: Rice makes the shortest trip on its current nine-game stretch away from home, making the short drive to Houston's Schroeder Park to open the 2026 Silver Glove Series at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday.

Notes

Rice fell to 9-7 on the season, 3-4 on the road, and 1-3 on Sundays.
Sanders' 11 strikeouts were the most by an Owl since J.D. McCracken fanned 11 at Louisiana on 2/24/24.