Arizona baseball didn’t record a repeat of late inning heroics on Sunday as the Wildcats dropped the series to No. 17 Rice with a 6-4 10-inning loss.

Arizona (6-2) rallied from a second inning 3-0 deficit and a fourth inning 4-1 score against the Owls but couldn’t match Rice’s two 10th inning runs.

Tyger Talley started for Arizona, going 3.1 innings, giving up nine hits, one walk, three earned runs and striking out three. The bullpen shut the Owls through the rest of regulation though.

Bobby Dalbec (1-1) took the loss after going 2.1 innings and giving up an earned run in the tenth.

Ricardo Salinas started for Rice (5-3) and went 5.2 innings, giving up two earned runs, six hits and two walks and striking out three. The Owls used five pitchers and Austin Orewiler (1-0) got the win after going 3.1 innings and holding the Wildcats scoreless.

Rice got 16 hits but was 8-for-29 with runners on base and 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position. The Wildcats had nine hits, were 4-for-16 with runners on base and 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position

Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery had two hits, one RBI and one run. Shortstop Kevin Newman had two hits and one RBI.

Rice catcher John Clay Reeves went 5-for-6 with three RBIs.

Up next for the Wildcats is a two-game home series with Oakland, starting on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Key plays:

1st inning

• Rice shortstop Leon Byrd doubled to right center, to score second baseman Ford Stainback
• Reeves singled to center field for the Owls, to drive in Byrd

2nd inning

• Rice third baseman Tristan Gray scored on an error

3rd inning

• The Owls loaded the bases but failed to score
• Salinas tried to pick off Arizona center fielder Justin Behnke but committed a balk, sending Behnke to second
• Newman singled to drive in Behnke for the UA

4th inning

• Rice’s Reeves drove in designated hitter Kirby Taylor on a bloop single that Arizona right fielder Zach Gibbons lost in the sun
• The Owls loaded the bases and knocked Talley out of the game, but the Wildcats turned a double play to get out of the inning
• Gibbons tripled and scored on a sacrifice by Arizona left fielder Jared Oliva

7th inning

• Kingery and first baseman Sawyer Gieseke scored on a throwing error by Reeves to tie the score for the UA, who threw the ball in the outfield while trying to throw out Kingery at second

10th inning

• Rice second baseman Grayson Lewis bunted to advance center fielder Ryan Chandler from second, but Gieseke committed an error throwing the ball to third, which allowed to Chandler to score
• Reeves singled to score Lewis