Paul Smith drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Rice a 3-2 victory over UTSA in the series opener at Reckling Park on Thursday night.
The game was closely contested, with both teams exchanging leads before heading into extra innings. The win is significant for Rice as it snapped a five-game winning streak by UTSA in their head-to-head series and improved Rice’s record against the Roadrunners to 31-25 overall and 17-12 at Reckling Park.
Rice started strong, scoring in the first inning for the third consecutive game when Colin Robson advanced home on wild pitches. After UTSA tied it with a solo home run, Landis Davila brought Kutter-Gage Webb home with a groundout to regain the lead for Rice. The Roadrunners evened things again on an unearned run in the fourth inning. Starter Tanner Wiggins kept UTSA off base through seven innings before Brayden Sharp took over, striking out four across three scoreless frames and earning his third win of the season.
In extra innings, Davila led off with a bunt single and reached third on Cole Green’s third hit of the night. After intentional walks loaded the bases and JC Davis grounded into a force at home plate, Smith worked his way to a full count before taking ball four for what proved to be another late-inning winning run—his second such contribution in as many games.
With this result, Rice improved its season record to 19-12 overall (11-4 at home) and moved to seven games above .500 for the first time since 2016. The Owls matched their total number of home wins from last year after previously going just 70-108 at home since 2019 under head coach David Pierce. Other notable performances included Green extending his hitting streak to six games—a career high—and Robson matching his own career-best five-game hitting streak.
Rice will face UTSA again Friday evening for game two of their series.
