Saturday's Sports Update: Rolling Rice offense edges past Tulane's bats
Freshman Taylor Wall got the start for the 20-7 Owls Saturday, as they took on Tulane in the second game of their conference series. The Owls offense was churning again, winning 12-7 with 17 hits.In the bottom of the second, two hits-including a double by the hot freshman Daniel Gonzales-Luna-preceded a two-RBI single by sophomore Michael Fuda. The scoring continued in the third when two walks and a single by the other hot freshman Anthony Rendon led to a run.
Junior Diego Seastrunk, a four-hole power hitter, belied his usual duties and laid down a sacrifice bunt to score sophomore Rick Hague, who is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak. Gonzales-Luna then followed up with an RBI single.
The Green Wave got their first runs in the top of the fifth, with a two-RBI double by first baseman Sam Honeck. The Rice offense supported its pitcher, however, and gained back those two runs in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a two-run shot by Rendon.
After forfeiting those two runs in the fifth, Wall received a mound visit from Head Coach Wayne Graham.
"I was telling him how I wanted him to pitch the game, he needed to pitch a little more carefully," Graham said. "We don't want him to be wasting so many pitches. That's the reason he got the big pitch count in the sixth inning.Oh he's good, he's a real good pitcher. He just needs a little bit of an attitude adjustment if he wants to get to the seventh or eighth inning."
Wall then settled and finished a strong outing, leaving with six innings, two earned runs and nine strikeouts. He also picked up his fourth win, which ties him with junior Ryan Berry and senior Jordan Rogers for the team lead.
Sophomore Travis Wright entered the game after Wall and owes part of his 0.2 scoreless inning to Fuda, who fired the ball to Seastrunk at home plate to nail senior Drew Allain attempting to score from second on a single. The relief corps for the Owls was a little shaky: after Wall, five pitchers were required to close out the game.
"We're trying to save [senior] Jordan Rogers," Graham said. "Had to get Rogers in there to stop the bleeding [in the seventh] then we got a big lead and don't want Jordan in there. So we tried to find someone else to get an out, and that was difficult."
No more runs until the bottom of the seventh, when Rendon made it a two-home run day, hitting his team-leading tenth of the year. Rendon, who leads the team with a .391 average, has gone 13-25 over his last six games. The scoring didn't stop then, however: the Owls picked up four more runs with two outs, thanks to two RBI each by freshman Craig Manuel and junior Brock Holt.
Tulane didn't go down without a fight when catcher Jared Dyer hit a two-run shot to right field in the seventh off sophomore Abe Gonzales. More came from the Green Wave due to an unearned run and another two-run home run in the ninth before sophomore Zack Harwood was able to close out the game.
Rice plays the finale of their series against Tulane tomorrow at 1 p.m.
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