HOUSTON, Tex. --- The Anteaters took advantage of errors to ride an 11-4 victory over Rice handing the Owls their first sweep at Reckling Park since 1993 Sunday afternoon.

Productive Outs
UCI (5-2) jumped on the board first scoring single runs in the first two innings, both on outs. A leadoff single from Jake Palmer came around to score on smart baserunning to eventually come home on a Brandon Lewis sac fly. Jacob Castro flipped a double to leadoff the next inning, and a pair of groundouts would bring him around culminating in Andre Antone's hard out to make to 2-0 Anteaters after two innings.

Denholm Delivers
The Rice (2-6) offense was stymied early on behind sophomore arm Trenton Denholm. He held the Owls hitless through his five innings of work walking three batters and striking out a pair before being lifted. The performance dropped his ERA on the season to an even 2.00

Owl-ful Defense
UC Irvine got the bulk of its scoring from Rice miscues capitalizing on three throwing errors. Rice starter Jackson Parthasarathy loaded the bases all with two outs to bring up Mikey Filia. His hard grounder to shortstop was thrown low allowing two unearned runs to cross the plate and make it 4-0. UCI duplicated the effort in the top of the sixth as Filia stepped up again and reached after his hard grounder was thrown low allowing Adrian Damla to score. Two batters later, Christian Koss' hard grounder couldn't be gathered bringing home another run and extending the inning. After another pitching change, Brandon Lewis piled on with a two-run shot to left center making it a five-run frame and putting the 'Eaters up, 9-0.

Rice Rebounds
The first reliever of the day for UCI, Michael Frias, was greeted rudely to a solo home run from Trei Cruz to break up the no-hitter and the shutout bringing home Rice's first run in 18 innings. The Owls pelted four more hits in the inning closing the gap to 9-4 before Ryan Johnston was called upon to stop the inning.

Solving the Riddler
Johnston ran into a jam in the seventh inning walking the first three hitters and exiting to Dylan Riddle trying to extinguish the flames which he did masterfully. Riddle started a 1-2-3 comebacker double play on his first pitch and struck out the next hitter to end the frame with no damage. He continued his work in the eighth inning getting three outs on four pitches completing his day of two innings in just nine pitches and shutting down the rally.

Final Score: No. 25 UC Irvine 11, Rice 4
The Anteaters finish off the Rice Owls scoring 29 runs and never recording more than 10 hits in any game. The win signaled the first sweep of Rice in their own park since Texas did it to them in 1993. Brandon Lewis led the way offensively with five RBIs pounding three hits as only six of the 11 Anteater runs were batted in and just four were earned. Jake Palmer added two hits and scored three times while Christian Koss scored twice. Trei Cruz reached four times with his HR and three walks while Cade Edwards had a two-run double for the Owls.

Pitchers of Record
Denholm won his first of the season, fifth of his career, in five hitless innings. Riddle earned a hold and Darius Garcia pitching a scoreless ninth. Parthasarathy fell to 1-1 allowing two earned runs in four innings as one of five Rice pitchers.

Next Up
The 'Eaters bring a three-game win streak into a midweek matchup at LMU on Tuesday, Feb. 26 starting at 6:00 p.m. The tailend of an eight-game road stretch extends to Missouri State next weekend traveling out to Springfield, Mo. for three games starting Friday, March 1.