Streaking offense carries Owls through homestand

By Meghan Hall     4/9/09 7:00pm

Over the last nine-game homestand, the men's baseball team proved it could play without its top two aces, juniors Ryan Berry and Mike Ojala, who are still out with arm troubles. Actually, the Owls (22- 7, 7-2 Conference USA) did more than play: The team went 8-1 and won two weekend series against C-USA rivals, taking two of three from the University of Memphis and swept Tulane University. Those conference series were interspersed with wins over Dallas Baptist University and Sam Houston State University. With this record, Rice is sporting its best start since 2004. The Owls have jumped up in the rankings, as well, with five different polls putting Rice in the top six. Baseball America ranks Rice third, while Rivals.com has them in first. Rice is also holding down second place in the C-USA standings, a game behind East Carolina University.

The main worry for the Owls recently has been how to cope with the loss of their top two starters, Berry and Ojala. This fear was epitomized by Rice's opening loss against Memphis (14-17, 3-6 C-USA) on March 27. Six pitchers were necessary to get through the game, and while the offense was still strong with seven runs, the pitching staff gave up 10 to the potent Tigers.

In the next game, however, freshman southpaw Taylor Wall stepped up in the starters' absence and threw a season-long seven innings, forfeiting only four runs. Twelve Rice runs, led by freshman Anthony Rendon's three-RBI day, more than made up the difference.

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The Owls then took the rubber game on the strong performance of another freshman starter, Matthew Reckling (1-2), who likewise had a career-long outing with 5.1 innings. Senior Jordan Rogers, who has a 3.25 ERA and team-leading five wins, demonstrated his strength as a long relief pitcher, and the offense provided nine runs and 13 hits.

Since the Memphis series, the Owls have scored 78 runs and given up only 44. But while the young pitchers have stepped up considerably, it has been the bats that have kept the Owls winning.

"I think the bats stepped up a lot," Head Coach Wayne Graham said. "There's no question we've been hitting the ball real well. That's the main thing that happened."

The offense was certainly imperative in the team's standalone game versus Dallas Baptist, which was a comeback thriller. The Owls were down by six in the sixth inning, but they cut the deficit to two in that inning and put the game away with a five-run eighth. Sophomore Chad Mozingo led the charge with with five RBI's.

Junior Jared Rogers (2-1) was the next to step up in the series opener against Tulane (17-15, 1-5 C-USA). Following the pattern set by his fellow starters in the previous conference matchups, Rogers threw a career-best 7.1 innings to pick up the win. Junior Jimmy Comerota, who has struggled from the plate for much of the year, went 4-4, and freshman Daniel Gonzales- Luna hit his first career home run. Gonzales-Luna has been getting a lot of playing time lately at the designated hitter position thanks to his hot bat, which is currently at a .515 clip.

The next day, Wall (4-2) contributed his second-straight solid start against Tulane and picked up his fourth win. Rendon added a pair of home runs while Gonzales-Luna finished the game 4-5. Rice was able to sweep Tulane in the final game of the series, despite a mediocre start by Reckling, who only lasted 3.1 innings with seven walks. Solid relief by freshman Andrew Benak and senior Jordan Rogers (5-2) saved the day, as did three Rice home runs and Mozingo's three RBI's.

The Owls stuck with what they knew in last Tuesday's game versus Sam Houston State (18-11). Sophomore Travis Wright (2-0), in his first career start, pitched seven innings, which combined with Rice's seven-run fourth inning, led to a satisfying win. Gonzales-Luna had another four-hit night in the 9-3 win.

Besides the raging offense, Rice owes thanks to the numerous members of the pitching staff who have recently stepped up and contributed solid starts along with career-bests starts. Longer outings for the pitchers are helping out with the thinner staff.

"Different guys are giving us different levels of pitching that have helped a lot," Graham said. "[Jordan] Rogers has been invaluable. He has been outstanding. . Different people keep stepping up, and the trend had better continue until we get somebody back. If we ever get our top two guns back, these guys are going to make a very good bullpen."

Wednesday evening Rice defeated Lamar 10-9. Rendon batted in the Owls' 10th run on a base-hit that scored sophomore Michael Fuda in the fifth to cap off the evening's offense.

Starting today, the Owls play their fourth weekend conference series in a series of five in a row. They play away at East Carolina (25-6, 8-1 C-USA) - currently leading the C-USA standings - tonight at 6:30 p.m., tomorrow at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon. Rice then comes home for a five-game homestand at Reckling Park, starting with Texas A&M University next Tuesday.

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