Sunday's Sports Update: Reckling leads Rice past Memphis

By Meghan Hall     3/26/09 7:00pm

Freshman Matthew Reckling got the start in the rubber game of Rice's conference series against Memphis this weekend. After a loss on Friday and a win on Saturday, the Owls came out on top Sunday 9-5 to take the series, improving their record to 17-7 (4-2).Reckling threw a career-high 5.1 innings and also notched the first win of his Rice career. He had a no-hitter through three innings and didn't allow Memphis to score until a solo home run by junior Shawn Ablett to lead off the fifth.

Reckling finished with three earned runs and three strikeouts and was relieved by senior Jordan Rogers. Rogers threw the rest of the game for Rice, 3.2 innings with two earned runs, three walks and four strikeouts.

With their top two pitchers out with injuries and after Friday's pitching troubles, the Owls have managed to use only four pitchers to get through the last two games.

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"I think Reckling did a real good job considering his stamina isn't there yet," Head Coach Wayne Graham said. "I think he did a real good job keeping us in the game. Of course Rogers has good stuff, he got hit a little bit there. [Saturday starter freshman Taylor] Wall did a good job yesterday."

The Owls started the game off with a bang when junior Brock Holt led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run, his second in three games and third of the season. Junior Jimmy Comerota immediately followed up with a triple and scored on the next play with sophomore Rick Hague's sacrifice fly.

Rice stuck with what they knew in the second, when sophomore Chad Mozingo tripled and freshman Daniel Gonzales-Luna drove him in with another sacrifice fly. Holt then collected his second RBI early with a single to score sophomore Michael Fuda. Five players finished with two hits as part of the Owls' 13-hit attack.

The Tigers started clawing back in the fifth with Ablett's home run, after which they collected two more in the sixth on two hits and a run-scoring groundout. Memphis got two more in the eighth with two doubles, but that was the end of their scoring.

The Owls had action in the sixth, loading the bases by way of an error and walks. Hague then stepped up to the plate and injected some power, slamming a double down the left field line to score two. After an intentional walk to freshman Anthony Rendon, who's currently leading the team in blah batting average, home runs and RBI, to load the bases, junior Diego Seastrunk worked a walk for another run. Mozingo then struck out on three pitches to end the inning.

The seventh inning mirrored the sixth: two bunt singles and two walks led to Rice's eighth run and another bases-loaded situation for Hague, who finished the day with a team-high three RBI. After a passed ball scored Gonzales-Luna, Hague struck out. Rendon walked again, but Seastrunk couldn't capitalize on the bases-loaded situation and popped up to the pitcher.

Thirteen Rice hits and nine walks led to lots of baserunners, and while the Owls were able to conjure nine runs, they still left 12 on base. "We had a couple good ones [bases-loaded situations] and we had some bad ones, but that's to be expected," Graham said. "We produced nine runs, and I guess you can't be unhappy with that."

Rice takes on Dallas Baptist next Wednesday and face another conference series against Tulane next weekend.

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