Tuesday Sports Update: Owls take 12 to down Cardinals

By Dylan Farmer     3/19/09 7:00pm

It took nine pitchers and 12 innings, but the fourth-ranked baseball team finally managed to put away Lamar University on Tuesday evening.Rice (15-6, 2-1 Conference USA) held a 7-4 lead in the ninth inning before relief pitcher Matthew Reckling issued a walk with the bases loaded to allow Lamar to cut the deficit to two runs. The Cardinals tied the game up when the Owls failed to complete a double play one batter later.

Play sped to the 11th inning, when Reckling retired the Cardinal side on strikeouts. In the bottom of the frame, Rice had runners on second and third with one out, but Lamar's Garrett Steward induced a shallow flyout and got a strikeout to end the threat. Ryan Saldivar promptly led off the 12th with a home run to give the Cardinals an 8-7 lead, but the Owls' Jared Rogers stopped the bleeding by retiring the next three batters.

The Owls were able to get leadoff hitter Chad Mozingo to third base with two outs in the bottom of the inning when first baseman Jimmy Comerota knocked a single to right field to push the tying run across. Comerota scored on an error by the Cardinal third baseman two batters later to give the Owls the 9-8 victory.

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All told, the teams put 17 pitchers on the mound in the game, which was the longest held at Reckling Park since the 1999 season. Regular catcher Diego Seastrunk even saw some time on the hill, finishing the eighth inning before handing the ball to Reckling in the ninth.

The Owls totaled a season-high 19 hits on the night, only two of which came in the extra frames. The hits came from unexpected sources: Comerota posted an impressive 4-6 performance despite coming into the game with one of the team's worst batting averages, and catcher Craig Manuel, who has played somewhat sparsely this year, had three singles of his own in the No. 9 spot.

Rice continues its homestand this weekend against the University of Memphis as the second weekend of conference play rolls around. The Tigers are coming off a series loss to the University of Marshall, and they have a game against Mississippi State Wednesday.

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