UAB Takes Series Against Rice with Saturday Win

Saturday, April 26

Birmingham, Ala.

2 p.m.

UAB

22-21, 0

Rice

11-33, 0

Rice

UAB

Braxton Shelton

Photo by: Brenley Sanders

UAB Takes Series Against Rice with Saturday Win

4/26/2025 6:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM - UAB's (22-21, 7-10) early lead in game two was enough to take the win over Rice (11-33, 5-12) on Saturday afternoon, 8-6. The Green and Gold picked up 10 hits en route to their 22nd win of the season.

UAB got busy in the bottom half of the 1st. With two on and nobody out, Todd Clay singled up the middle to score Logan Braunschweig. Later with the bases loaded, John Paul Head delivered a sac fly to score Wesley Helms, and Todd Clay scored as the ball made its way through the Rice infield. The Blazers led 3-0 after one.

The Green and Gold continued their run in the bottom of the 2nd. With two on and one out, Helms singled to right to score Alex Cheeseman. Then, Clay ripped his second hit of the game down the left field line to score Gavin Lewis Jr. to put the Blazers up 5-0.

UAB got another run in the bottom of the 3rd. Cheeseman stepped up with two on and nobody out and reached on an infield single to score Head and gave the Blazers a 6-0 advantage.

The Blazers created more traffic in the bottom of the 4th. With the bases loaded, Head dropped a 2-run single into right to score Clay and Nick Hollifield and put the Blazers up 8-0.

The Owls would not go down without a fight as they scored all six runs in the top half of the 6th. With the bases full, Treyton Rank stroked a 2-run double down the left field line to put the Owls on the board. The next batter was Paul Smith who singled to left to cut the deficit to 8-3. Two batters later, Cole Green singled to score Rank and that made it 8-4. The rally continued when Hiram Bocachica Jr. singled to plate two more and cut the Blazer lead to 8-6.

Braxton Shelton earned the win for the Blazers as he pitched the first 5.1 innings which tied his season-high. Brendan Conner would come in the game in the 6th inning and put the fire out of the Rice rally as the Stopper of the Year Watch List recipient pitched the final 3.2 innings and picked up his 6th save of the season.

NOTES

Todd Clay recorded his team-high 15th multi-hit game of the season. It was also the second game in which he had at least four hits. Clay has also reached base in 10 straight games.
Wesley Helms picked up his ninth multi-hit game of the year.
John Paul Head set his career-high in RBI (3).
Tyler Waugh has reached base safely in 13 straight games.
Logan Braunschweig has safely reached base in 70 of his last 71 games.

UAB and Rice face off in the final game of the series on Sunday at Young Memorial Field. First pitch is at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

For more information on UAB Baseball, follow @UAB_Baseball on Instagram and X.

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