Rice University
8-4
Nebraska
4-1
Owls Rally Past Nebraska For 9-5 Win
2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HOUSTON -- Sophomore Jess Buenger went 2-for-4 with three RBI to help Rice rally from an early five-run deficit and the Owl relief tandem of Matt Langwell and Ryne Tacker made it stand up on the way to a 9-5 win over seventh-ranked Nebraska Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston.
Nebraska exploded for five runs in the first two innings, including four in the top of the first and all with two outs already recorded. The Cornhuskers had five hits in the first, four of which were in a row. The biggest hit was the last, a triple to right by Nick Sullivan that drove in two for a 4-0 advantage. Nebraska added one more in the top of the second on a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-0.
Rice was down, but not out. In the bottom of the fourth the Owls sent 11 men to the plate to take the lead, 6-4. Brian Friday led off with a double to left, Diego Seastrunk singled and Joe Savery doubled in one run. A passed ball, a walk, a Husker fielding error on a fielder's choice and wild pitch added two more runs. Tyler Henley drew a walk that loaded the bases and Friday was hit by a pitch in his second at bat of the inning to tie the game, 5-5. Another wild pitch gave the Rice the lead for good at 6-5.
The Blue & Gray led off the fifth with a Savery walk and double to right by Aaron Luna. Buenger drove them both home with a single to left that stretched the margin to 8-5. In the sixth Seastrunk hit a two-out double to right-center and Savery tripled to the wall to make the score 9-6.
While the Rice bats were tying a season-high with 11 hits, Matt Langwell entered the game in relief and proceeded to hold Nebraska scoreless for 5.1 innings on just two hits. He walked one and struck out one in earning his first win of the season. Tacker continued the scoreless work for final two frames. He allowed just one hit and struck out three.
Rice won its fifth game in a row to improve to 8-4. The Cornhuskers fell to 4-2. The round-robin tournament concludes at Reckling Park on Sunday, Feb. 25. The first game features Nebraska vs. Florida Atlantic at 1 pm. Rice hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the tournament finale at 3:30 pm.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Langwell, Matt (1-0)
L: Charlie Shirek (1-1)
Batting:
3B: Nick Sullivan 1
RBI: Andrew Brown 1 ; Jake Opitz 1 ; Andy Gerch 1 ; Nick Sullivan 2
SH: DJ Belfonte 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jeff Tezak 1 ; Andrew Brown 1 ; Jake Opitz 1 ; Andy Gerch 1 ; Bryce Nimmo 1
Batting:
2B: Friday, Brian 1 ; Seastrunk, Diego 1 ; Savery, Joe 1 ; Luna, Aaron 1
3B: Savery, Joe 1
RBI: Friday, Brian 1 ; Savery, Joe 2 ; Buenger, Jess 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Friday, Brian 1 ; Seastrunk, Diego 2 ; Savery, Joe 2 ; Luna, Aaron 2 ; Buenger, Jess 1 ; Lembeck, Chad 1
SB: Buenger, Jess 1 ; Lembeck, Chad 1
HBP: Friday, Brian 1
