Pirates Survive Late Owls Threat

Friday, May 22

Clearwater, FL

8 AM

Rice University

35-23

East Carolina

34-21-1

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

Photo by: American Athletic Conference/Ben Soloman

5/22/2026 1:30:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Back in action later on Friday against UAB

By: Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Clearwater, FL: Rice saw its hopes for a second-consecutive last-at-bat rally fall short as East Carolina hung on for a 4-3 win on Friday morning at BayCare Ballpark.

How it Happened: The Owls took advantage of some early defensive miscues by ECU in the opening inning, scoring a run off a pair of Pirate errors. Zachary Daigre reached on an error to open the game when his ground ball was briefly bobbled. He was retired on a fielder's choice by JC Davis, who came around to score from first with two outs when a pair of Pirates collided while attempting to catch a Paul Smith fly ball. Rice starter Ethan Sanders held the Pirates scoreless for the first two innings, but they took the lead with two runs in the third and extended the cushion to 4-1 with a pair in the fourth. Anthony Diaz relieved Sanders in the fourth and combined with Ty Thames to not allow a baserunner over the final 4.1 innings to set the stage for Rice to mount its final challenge. The Owls picked up a run in the sixth when Davis led off with a single and scored on a double by Garett Boehm. In the ninth, pinch hitter Landon West and Daigre opened with walks and moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Colin Robson. One out later, West came home on a wild pitch, but the Pirates closed out the win with a strikeout to end the game.

Next Up: Rice will be back in action at BayCare Ballpark later on Friday as they take on UAB in an elimination game, tentatively scheduled for 3:35 (central). The winner of that game will face the winner of the Wichita State game against the loser of Friday's game between Memphis and UTSA.

Notes

Rice fell to 35-23 and lost for just the third time in the last 13 games.
The Owls lost for only the third time when scoring in the first inning (17-3) and the third time in one-run games (12-3).
The Owls' bullpen has not allowed a run in 8.1innings in the championship and is holding opponents to a .185 batting average, allowing four singles and one double and walking just one batter.
Boehm has doubled in both tournament games to match the most by an Owl at the American Conference Championship and is hitting .356 in his last 14 games.
Cole Green extended his hitting streak to six games (.417/10x24).