HOUSTON (Interstat) — Rice defeated Tulane 10-6 on Friday afternoon at M.O. Campbell Center in an American Athletic Conference game, taking the lead with a four-run second inning and answering every Green Wave comeback attempt.

The Owls improved to 33-22, while Tulane dropped to 25-30. Both teams collected 11 hits. Rice won after a 12-0 shutout of Tulane on Thursday.

Tulane struck first in the top of the first. Jackson Wood singled, advanced to second on a throwing error, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Trent Liolios’ sacrifice fly.

Rice answered in the bottom of the second. With one out, Jake Smith doubled to left field. Garet Boehm followed with a ground-rule double to left center, scoring Smith. Kutter-Gage Webb singled, putting runners on first and third. On a wild pitch and a throwing error by catcher Jackson Pinkney, Boehm scored and Webb advanced to third. A hit batter put runners on the corners, and after a strikeout, Jayden Daigre lined a two-run single to left center, scoring Webb and the hit batter, Davila, to give Rice a 4-1 lead.

Webb extended the lead in the third inning with a solo home run to right field, his sixth of the season.

Tulane trimmed the deficit in the fourth. Pinkney led off with a solo homer to right, his fourth. But Rice answered in the bottom half. With two runners on, Davis singled to right field, scoring Rios, and Daigre came home on a Boehm single to make it 7-2.

The Green Wave pulled within four in the fifth. Michael Haas singled, moved to second on another single by Liolios, and after a walk to load the bases, scored on a sacrifice fly by Chun. The score was 7-3.

Rice’s Green led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer to left, his seventh, restoring a five-run lead at 8-3.

Tulane’s most significant rally came in the sixth. Pinch hitter James Agabedis singled and later scored on Liolios’ two-run double to right field. Haas also scored, cutting the deficit to 8-5.

After a scoreless seventh, Agabedis launched a solo home run in the eighth, his seventh, making it 8-6. It was his second hit of the game.

Rice answered decisively in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and one out, Boehm lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Robson. Davila followed with another sacrifice fly to center, scoring Davis, and the Owls led 10-6.

Brayden Sharp pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts to close the game.

Tulane used six pitchers. Blaise Wilcenski allowed one earned run over 1.1 innings. Thomas Vincent threw 2.2 hitless innings, surrendering one earned run with two strikeouts. Jacob Moore pitched a scoreless inning with one strikeout.

For Rice, Ethan Sanders started and went four innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Ty Thames earned the win in relief, throwing four innings, giving up three earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts. Sharp’s save was his first of the season.

Liolios finished 3 for 4 with three RBIs for Tulane. Agabedis went 2 for 2 with a home run and one RBI. Pinkney homered and drove in a run.

Boehm went 2 for 4 with three RBIs for Rice. Webb went 2 for 4 with a home run and one RBI. Green homered and added a single.

The game featured four home runs total, two by each team.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Rice 7, Tulane 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Tulane a 56.60 percent probability to win.