Baseball out-jousts Knights

By Ryan Glassman     4/22/10 7:00pm

Since dropping two of three games at Memphis at the start of its Conference USA slate, the baseball team has gone 5-1 in consecutive series against C-USA foes to take possession of first place in the standings. Entering the weekend, the team threatening Rice's position atop the conference was the University of Central Florida, a dominant offensive team carrying momentum into the weekend after sweeping the University of Southern Mississippi. As fate would have it, the Owls (23-16, 8-4 C-USA) and Knights (25-14, 6-6 C-USA) faced off this past weekend in Orlando for three crucial games, as the conference schedule nears its halfway point.

The Owls' offense got off to a quick start last Friday evening, scoring in the second inning on a three-run home run by junior Michael Fuda. Rice added four more runs to their lead in the third inning on three hits and a few walks, giving starter Taylor Wall an early 7-0 cushion to work with.

The sophomore southpaw would not need it all, allowing just two runs while working into the eighth inning. Wall extended his pitch count above 130 pitches to rest the bullpen, while earning his second win of the season in yet another masterful Friday start.

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Wall was happy to help out the team by pitching late into the game.

"When you can save the bullpen and have a lot of guys that are fresh, it really makes it easier, and it makes it tougher on their hitters because we've got a bunch of arms that we can throw out there," Wall said. "We should be fresh for Saturday and Sunday."

Behind the gritty effort of their ace, the Owls cruised to a 9-2 win in the opening game of the series.

Rice would get on the board again early on Saturday with an RBI groundout by sophomore Jeremy Rathjen in the first inning. But UCF tied the game with a leadoff home run in the second inning, with senior starter Mike Ojala struggling with his command.

The Owls' offense would not score over the next five innings, swinging at pitches early in the count.

With the Rice bats quiet, UCF extended their lead to 6-2 heading into the ninth inning. The Owls cut the lead to 6-4 on a sacrifice fly by Chad Mozingo but could not complete a late-inning comeback. The Knights held on for a 6-4 win, splitting the series and forcing a decisive game Sunday afternoon.

Head Coach Wayne Graham expressed disappointment in the at-bats.

"We helped [UCF] by swinging early in the count at pitchers' pitches, pitches we weren't set to hit and had no reason to swing at them," Graham said. "Easy outs; that's exactly what I saw."

Ojala surrendered three runs in four innings, suffering the first loss of his college career.

For the rubber match on Sunday, Graham sent senior Abe Gonzales to the mound as his last-minute starter instead of senior Jared Rogers. Gonzales could not work out of the first inning and was relieved by Rogers, who would pitch into the sixth.

Both offenses were productive in the early innings, with the teams exchanging runs for a 4-4 tie through three frames. Rice tacked on a run in the fifth, but UCF took a 7-5 lead after scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Trailing in the late innings of a pivotal conference game, the Owls responded by scoring three runs on two wild pitches to take a slim 8-7 lead. Rice broke the game open in the eighth, mounting a two-out rally with a string of three hits and three walks. Already with three runs plated in the inning, sophomore Anthony Rendon singled in two runs to push Rice's lead to 13-7.

Rendon, junior Rick Hague and senior Jimmy Comerota combined for nine of the Owls' 14 hits on the afternoon, leading the late offensive outburst to put the game out of reach.

Freshman Tyler Duffey earned the save, pitching the last three innings while allowing just one run to seal the 13-8 win and the series for the Owls. With the win, Rice stands at 8-4 in C-USA, tied with ECU for first place.

The good vibes would not continue for the Owls on Tuesday at Texas A&M University, as the squad fell 7-1 in the non-conference tilt. Rice took a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning behind starter Boogie Anagnostou before the defense imploded and the Aggies (21-14-1, 6-8-1 Big 12) put up seven runs.

The main culprit was junior shortstop Rick Hague, whose defensive woes continued in what has been a challenging season. Hague committed four errors on the evening in an eventual 7-1 loss in College Station.

Rendon said that the Owls are doing their best to support Hague.

"We have to keep encouraging him and let him know that it's going to be all right," Rendon said. "We've got to just tell him to keep battling, keep encouraging him."

The offense produced just four hits in the losing effort, to mark Rice's first non-conference loss in two weeks.

The Owls will have to put the disappointing loss behind them, with East Carolina University (24-14, 6-3 C-USA) coming to Houston for a weekend conference series beginning tonight. The winner of the series will take over possession of the conference with just under one month left in the regular season.

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