Davis and Rios Lead Owls to Sweep of UAB

Sunday, May 3

Reckling Park

1:05 PM

Rice University

29-20, 11-1-0

UAB

28-19, 12-9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UAB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	4	1
Rice	0	3	4	3	0	0	0	0	X	10	13	2

5/3/2026 5:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Drive in eight of the Owls 10 runs on Sunday

By: Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Houston- JC Davis and Lorenzo Rios combined to drive in eight runs to lead Rice to a 10-3 win over UAB on Sunday at Reckling Park and complete a sweep of the weekend series by the Owls.

How it Happened: For the third consecutive game, UAB opened the scoring, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the first, but much as was the case throughout the weekend, Rice responded in resounding fashion, scoring three times in the second and four in the third. Kutter-Gage Webb opened the second with a walk, and Zachary Daigre laid down a bunt single, and both advanced an extra base on a throwing error. Davis followed with a single to score Webb and move Daigre to third. Rios laid down a bunt single to score Daigre. After a sac bunt moved Davis to third, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Colin Robson. Rice starter Ryland Urbanczyk (4-3) delivered a shutdown inning in the top of the third and the Owls immediately went back to work. Landis Davila opened the inning with a single to center and Kutter-Gage Webb followed with a single to put runners on the corners. After Zachary Daigre was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Davis drilled a two-run double to right-center to put Rice in front. Rios dropped a single into left to bring home Daigre. One out later, Davis scored on a fielder's choice by Robson. The Owls added three more in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of Davis (two-run single) and Rios (RBI single). Urbanczyk allowed just two hits and struck out four over six innings to earn the win.

The Impact: With the sweep, the Owls (11-10) moved into fourth place in the American Conference with six games remaining, trailing UTSA (15-6), ECU (13-8), and UAB (12-9) and one game ahead of Wichita State, Florida Atlantic, and Memphis (10-11).

Next Up: Rice will return to action next weekend when it completes the 2026 conference road schedule with three games against East Carolina in Greenville, North Carolina.

Notes

The Owls improved to 29-20 on the season, 17-10 at home, 11-10 in the American Conference, and 44-20 against UAB all-time.
The series sweep was the third this season by the Owls and their first at home over an American Conference opponent.
The Owls' 29 wins are their most in a season since they ended the 2017 season 33-31.
The 11 conference wins match the most wins by Rice since joining the American in 2024. Rice was 11-16 in 2024 and 10-17 last year.
Rice's 17 wins at home are its most since finishing 21-9 in 2016.
The 12-game improvement the Owls have posted over their final 2025 record is the largest at Rice since Wayne Graham led them to a 13-win improvement in his first season at Rice in 1992, when he led the Owls to a 29-26 mark after finishing 16-34 in 1991.
Rice's 38 runs in the series were the most by the Owls in a three-game series since they scored 42 at UAB in 2017.
The last time the Owls scored in double figures in three consecutive games was in 2024 at USF.
Davis drove in 10 runs in the series and scored another six while hitting .667 (8x12) over the weekend.
Rios also hit .667 during the series (4x6) and drove in four.
Daigre extended his hitting streak to seven games and he is hitting .524 over that stretch (11x21).
Webb and Davila each scored seven runs during the series.