SAN ANTONIO — No. 14 Rice capitalized on four UTSA errors to break open a tight contest and the Owls won the rubber match of this weekend's series by a count of 11-2 on Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
Michael Aquino went 4-for-5 with a grand slam in the top of the ninth as part of a six-run frame for Rice (34-16, 20-7 C-USA), which scored runs in each of the final four innings.
John Duplantier allowed an unearned run in five innings of work with eight strikeouts to improve to 2-2 and Matt Ditman threw the final two frames for his eighth save of the spring.
The two teams exchanged runs over the first six innings with the Owls getting things started in the top of the third on Ford Stainback’s triple to right center. Stainback scored the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center by Keenan Cook.
UTSA (31-21, 15-12 C-USA) cut the Owls' lead in half in the fifth on an infield single by Jesse Baker with the bases loaded. RJ Perucki scored from third on the play.
Each team plated a run in the sixth.
Leon Byrd scored on an error by Horacio Correa III at short for the Owls and C.J. Pickering, who finished the day 2-for-4, delivered an RBI triple to the right center to score Logan Kinder.
Things slowly started to unravel from there for the Roadrunners, as John Clay Reeves delivered an RBI single through the left side of the infield in the seventh and Aquino added an RBI double to score an unearned run in the eighth.
Aquino put one final exclamation point on his day with the grand slam as part of a six-run ninth.
UTSA will travel up IH-35 for a Tuesday tilt at Baylor (22-27). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.