May 3, 2009

Box Score

HOUSTON -- Back-to-back home runs in the top of the eighth inning by Rick Hague and Anthony Rendon lifted the Rice baseball team from a 3-3 tie to a 6-3 lead late in the Owls' final regular season meeting with crosstown rival Houston, and freshman pitcher Matthew Reckling came up just as big in shutting down a Cougar rally in the bottom of the ninth to secure a 6-5 Conference USA victory over UH Sunday afternoon at Cougar Field.

True, the Silver Glove Trophy as the city's collegiate champion was already back in the Owls' grasp with the three-games-to-one lead in the full series after Saturday's 7-5 Rice win. The more critical issue of first place in the Conference USA standings, however, was still on the line Sunday when the rivals squared-off in the finale of the C-USA weekend series that was tied at one-game each.

The Owls held-on for the victory Sunday to take two-of-the-three C-USA games (and four-of-the-five full-series games vs. UH dating back to last February). In the process Rice (31-11, 13-5) also held-off a Houston coup attempt to grab a share of first place in league standings and enters next week's home series with UCF holding a one-game lead over East Carolina (35-14, 12-6) and a two-game cushion over the Cougars (now 12-7 in conference).

Rice used the longball early and late to get its respective leads. In the third inning freshman Jeremy Rathjen, making his first start since April 18, blasted the first pitch over the wall in left field. The shot was his first career homer for a 1-0 Owl advantage. Chad Mozingo drew a one-out walk and the next batter, Hague, slugged an 0-2 pitch for a two-run homer to centerfield that stretched the margin to 3-0.

Houston bounced back for three runs to tie the game in the fourth. Chase Dempsay singled with one out and Chris Wallace walked with two away to put runners on first and second. Dempsay scored on a base hit to right by William Kankel and Wallace dug for third. A Rice wild pitch pitch allowed Wallace to score and pave the way for another run with Kankel taking second. David Murphy singled up the middle that knotted the game back up, 3-3.

The teams traded shutout frames for the next three innings before Rice broke the deadlock in the eighth. Mozingo doubled to right-center and Hague cranked his second homer of the game, this time to right field, to give Rice a 5-3 lead. Rendon then made it back-to-back shots with the round-tripper to left-center. By the time the ball left the yard the Owl rookie had all but cemented his spot as the 2009 Silver Glove Series' Most Outstanding Player. In the five games vs. UH Rendon batted .571 (12-of-21) with four home runs, eight RBI and six runs scored. The Sunday homer was his team-leading 15th of the season and proved to be a big one because Houston would not go away so quietly.

The Cougars rallied for two runs in their final at bat. Kankel singled up the middle to lead it off and went to third when David Murphy followed with a double to the wall in right. Kankle scored on an RBI ground out by Jake Runte and Murphy came home on Taylor White's double down the left field line.

Though sophomore reliever Matt Evers had looked sensational in holding UH in check and matching his longest outing of the season at 4.1 innings, the Owls elected for a fresh arm out of the bullpen. Reckling answered the call and promptly ended the Houston threat with a ground ball out and swinging strikeout. Reckling's second career save kept Evers (now 3-2) in the win column. Junior right-hander Jared Rogers started on the mound for Rice and scattered just four hits over 4.0 innings of work.

Sunday's clash was the 150th meeting between the crosstown rivals dating back to 1948. Rice leads the all-time series 81-69. Sunday's showdown was the 44th one-run game between the teams.

The 2009 All-Silver Glove Series team consisted of C: Chris Wallace (UH); 1B: Jimmy Comerota (Rice); 2B: Brock Holt (Rice); 3B: Jake Runte (UH); SS: Blake Kelso (UH); OF: Chad Mozingo (Rice), Chase Dempsay (UH), Michael Fuda (Rice), Caleb Ramsey (UH); P: Ryan Berry (Rice), Matt Evers (Rice), Jared Ray (UH); Wild Card: Rick Hague (Rice); Most Outstanding Player: Anthony Rendon (Rice).

The Owls next return home to Reckling Park for a week-long five-game homestand that begins on May 5. Rice hosts Texas State on Tuesday at 6:30 pm to start it off. The Blue & Gray take on league foe UCF in its final three-game C-USA regular season home series May 8-10. The last regular season home game is scheduled for May 12 against Louisiana-Lafayette.