Owls Hold Off Lamar, 6-5

Tuesday, April 28

Reckling Park

6:35 pm

Rice University

26-20

Lamar

24-21

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Lamar University	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	5	5	0
Rice	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	X	6	7	1

March 31, 2026, Houston, Texas, US: During game two between the UTRGV and the Rice Owls at Reckling Park. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics

Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics

4/28/2026 11:12:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Host UAB this weekend

By: Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Houston- Rice held off a late Lamar rally to down the Cardinals 6-5 at Reckling Park on Tuesday to complete a sweep of the season series.

How it Happened: Lamar struck for a run in the first and seemed poised for even more damage in the opening frame before reliever Anthony Diaz ended a two-out, bases-loaded jam with a fly out to center on his first pitch of the game. His Owl teammates quickly erased Lamar's early lead by scoring four in their half of the first. With one out Colin Robson walked and stole second. Kutter-Gage Webb followed with a walk and after both advanced on a wild pitch, Paul Smith brought them both home with a single. Garet Boehm singled, and Landis Davila was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After strikeout, JC Davis brought home Smith with a walk and Zachary Daigre was hit by a pitch to score Boehm. Diaz worked two additional scoreless innings before giving way to a succession of Owls' relievers, who held the Cardinals scoreless through the sixth. Rice extended the lead by two runs in the fifth, thanks to an RBI double by Boehm and an RBI groundout by Davila. Lamar drew to within one with a four-run seventh on only one hit, thanks to an error, two hit batters and three walks, and left the bases loaded before the inning came to a end. Brayden Sharp, who got the final out of the seventh, used a double play to erase his only base runner in the eight then used a strikeout and a ground out with the tying run at first in the ninth to earn his first save.

Next Up: Rice welcomes American Conference co-leader UAB to Reckling Park this weekend as the race to qualify for the postseason conference tournament heads into its final three weeks. The series opens on Friday night at 6:35, followed by a 2:05 game on Saturday and a 1:05 finale on Sunday.

Notes

The Owls improved to 26-20 on the season, 14-10 at home, and 89-53 all-time against Lamar.
The 26 wins are the most for the Owls since they finished the 2019 season 26-33 and are a nine-game improvement from 2025.
Rice is now 10-2 in one-run games and 15-2 when scoring in the first inning… The Owls have now scored 41 runs in the opening frame.
Sharp is the eighth Owl to be credited with a save this season, the most for Rice since the 2005 Owls had eight pitchers credited with at least one save.
Daigre was 1x2 with an RBI and a walk, extending his career-best hitting streak to four games. He is 7x11 in his last four games (.636) after entering last weekend 3x18 this season.
Smith has driven in 15 runs in his last 13 games.
Boehm's two hits gave him back-to-back, multi-hit games for the first time since he had three in two days from March 13-14.