Thurdsay's Baseball Update: Baseball clinches regular season title, top seed in C-USA Tournament with win over UAB
Coming off a string of offensively dominated games, Rice toned down the bats tonight but still found success with its 5-2 victory over the University of Alabama-Birmingham. With their win today, the Owls (34-19, 16-6 Conference USA) capture sole possession of the C-USA regular season championship. They will also hold the first seed in the C-USA Championship, which begins at the University of Houston May 26. Jared Rogers (7-1) started for Rice this evening and pitched splendidly, forfeiting only four hits with no runs and four strikeouts.
To back him up, the Rice offense scored two runs early in the game - one on a groundout by freshman second baseman Michael Ratterree and the second with a solo shot by senior catcher Diego Seastrunk, his seventh of the year.
After Rogers was lifted in favor of junior Abe Gonzales (4-3) with two outs in the eighth, the Owls responded again. Sophomore designated hitter Craig Manuel and junior shortstop Rick Hague both reached base before sophomore center fielder Jeremy Rathjen cleared the bases with a double. Sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon followed with a single for his 70th RBI and brought the score to 5-0.
Those three runs were much appreciated by Gonzales, as the Blazers put up a two-spot in the top of the ninth before he shut the door and closed out the game for Rice. This series continues Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
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