Rice University Athletics
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Seven-Run Rally in the Ninth Extends Owls’ Streak to Five Games
5/8/2026 10:49:00 PM | Baseball
Snaps eight-game streak vs ECU
Greenville, NC- Down to its last two outs, Rice stunned East Carolina with a seven-run rally in the ninth inning to down the Pirates 10-5 on Friday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
How it Happened: Rice jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to solo home runs by Colin Robson in the third and Kutter-Gage Webb in the fourth, but ECU took the lead with three runs in its half of the fourth and added two in the fifth to position the Pirates for a ninth consecutive win against the Owls. Rice threatened to respond over the next three innings, loading the bases with one out in the fifth and stranding runners in the sixth and seventh with no results.
Rice starter Tanner Wiggins held the Pirates off the scoreboard after the fifth inning, avoiding a run in the sixth when Cole Green stabbed a sharp two-out grounder over the third base bag with a runner at second, and exited after striking out the side in the seventh. Landis Davila cut the lead to 5-3 with the Owls' third solo homer of the night, setting the stage for a memorable ninth-inning explosion, which began when pinch-hitter Landon West slapped a single through the right side to start the inning
One out late, Robson doubled to put the tying runs at second and third, and Paul Smith did not keep them waiting long on the bases, smacking the first offering from Pirate reliever Joseph Webb into the gap to tie the game.
Garett Boehm followed with a single, and Davila worked a walk to load the bases for Webb, who reached on a fielder's choice as ECU retired pinch runner Michael Zito at the plate to keep the game tied with two outs.
Zachary Daigre fought off three consecutive two-out pitches to extend his at-bat and then hit a chopper to first that was bobbled by first baseman Austin Irby, allowing Daigre to reach and Boehm to give Rice the lead, and Davila followed him home after Irby's errant toss to Webb at first, which moved Webb to third and Daigre to second.
JC Davis greeted new reliever Thomas Paxton with a double to left center to score two more and extended the lead to 9-5. Hiram Bocachica, who had entered the game pinch running for Smith, followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 10-5.
Brayden Sharp earned the win after holding the deficit to two with a scoreless eighth inning, and Ty Thames closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
Next Up: Rice will look to win its first series against ECU since 2016 and its first in Greenville since 2013 on Saturday in the second game of the series at 3:05 (central). The series wraps up at 12:05 on Sunday.
Notes
How it Happened: Rice jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to solo home runs by Colin Robson in the third and Kutter-Gage Webb in the fourth, but ECU took the lead with three runs in its half of the fourth and added two in the fifth to position the Pirates for a ninth consecutive win against the Owls. Rice threatened to respond over the next three innings, loading the bases with one out in the fifth and stranding runners in the sixth and seventh with no results.
Rice starter Tanner Wiggins held the Pirates off the scoreboard after the fifth inning, avoiding a run in the sixth when Cole Green stabbed a sharp two-out grounder over the third base bag with a runner at second, and exited after striking out the side in the seventh. Landis Davila cut the lead to 5-3 with the Owls' third solo homer of the night, setting the stage for a memorable ninth-inning explosion, which began when pinch-hitter Landon West slapped a single through the right side to start the inning
One out late, Robson doubled to put the tying runs at second and third, and Paul Smith did not keep them waiting long on the bases, smacking the first offering from Pirate reliever Joseph Webb into the gap to tie the game.
Garett Boehm followed with a single, and Davila worked a walk to load the bases for Webb, who reached on a fielder's choice as ECU retired pinch runner Michael Zito at the plate to keep the game tied with two outs.
Zachary Daigre fought off three consecutive two-out pitches to extend his at-bat and then hit a chopper to first that was bobbled by first baseman Austin Irby, allowing Daigre to reach and Boehm to give Rice the lead, and Davila followed him home after Irby's errant toss to Webb at first, which moved Webb to third and Daigre to second.
JC Davis greeted new reliever Thomas Paxton with a double to left center to score two more and extended the lead to 9-5. Hiram Bocachica, who had entered the game pinch running for Smith, followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 10-5.
Brayden Sharp earned the win after holding the deficit to two with a scoreless eighth inning, and Ty Thames closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
Next Up: Rice will look to win its first series against ECU since 2016 and its first in Greenville since 2013 on Saturday in the second game of the series at 3:05 (central). The series wraps up at 12:05 on Sunday.
Notes
- The Owls won their fifth straight game to improve to 30-20 on the season, and 12-10 in the American.
- The win snapped an eight-game losing streak against ECU. Rice's last win over ECU came at Reckling Park in 2016, and the Owls' last win in Greenville was in the last game of the series in 2013.
- Rice moved into a tie for third in the conference standings with UAB, but the Owls hold the tiebreaker with the Blazers after sweeping them last weekend at Reckling Park.
- The 12 wins in the conference are the most for Rice in its three seasons in the American.
- Rice reached 30 wins in the regular season for the first time since it ended the regular season in 2016, 32-20.
- The 13-game improvement the Owls have posted over their final 2025 record is the largest improvement at Rice since Wayne Graham led his first Rice team to a 13-game improvement in 1992.
- The current five-game winning streak is the fourth for the Owls this season, the most since they had four in 2016.
- The three home runs by the Owls gave them 11 in their last four games. They had not hit one in their previous six games and had hit six in the month of April.
- Wiggins worked at least six innings for the sixth consecutive start and for the eighth time in nine starts this year.
- Smith is hitting .406 in his last 17 games with 22 RBI, and his 44 RBI this season are the most by an Owl since Andrew Dunlap (59) and Trei Cruz (44) in 2019.
- Davis is hitting .565 in his last five games and has driven in 13 runs over that stretch.
- Robson has homered in three of his last four games.
- Daigre extending his career-best hitting streak to eight games (.467/12x26) , which matches the longest by an Owl this season.
- Boehm extended his hitting streak to seven games.
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