Owls dominate at home over the weekend

Rice freshman pitcher Kevin McCanna allowed just one hit over a career-long 7.0 innings, and the offense was in high gear as the Rice baseball team coasted to a 12-0 St. Patrick’s Day victory over visiting Harvard at Reckling Park, completing a three-game sweep of the Crimson in the weekend series.

Rice improved to 14-7 overall with its fifth-straight win. The Owls’ current homestand continues through March 20. Rice will host state rivals Stephen F. Austin State University on Tuesday, followed by a home game against University of Texas-San Antonio on Wednesday. Both games are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start at Reckling Park.

Men’s tennis

The men’s tennis team Rice downed 53rd-ranked Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-1 on Sunday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium to win the 55th Rice Invitational.

The win was the Owls’ second in as many days over a nationally ranked opponent. Unlike their win over 33rd-ranked Oregon on Saturday, the Owls jumped out to an early lead by taking the doubles point. The Owls beat Radford 4-2 to open the tournament Friday.

“It was a great weekend for us,” Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said.“We’ve had our share of tough losses, but I think we made up some ground in confidence and, hopefully, in some rankings, and got our season back to .500. I am really proud of these guys for the way they responded. “

The Owls have won the Rice Invitational title for the sixth consecutive year.

Women’s tennis

Natalie Beazant continued a pair of winning streaks to spark the 29th ranked Rice women’s tennis team to a 7-0 defeat of Western Michigan at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Rice captured five of six singles matches in straight sets and picked up another win due to an injury to the Broncos’ Kathleen Hawkins.

The match was the second of a five-match homestand for the Owls, who will return to the Jake Hess courts Tuesday when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 3 p.m. The home slate concludes when 33rd-ranked William and Mary visit Saturday and 27th-ranked TCU on Sunday.