Rice University
15-7
Cal Poly
13-11
Owls Rally Past Cal Poly 9-8 Friday Night
3/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 16, 2007
HOUSTON -- Sophomore second baseman Aaron Luna doubled-in Tyler Henley from first base to finish a three-run Rice rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the seventh-ranked Owls to a 9-8 come-from-behind victory over visiting Cal Poly in the opening game of a three-game weekend series Friday night at Reckling Park in Houston.
Rice jumped out to a 4-0 lead after five innings on seven hits. The Owls worked out of two defensive jams by avoiding a bases-loaded situation in the second and throwing out a runner at home plate in the third.
The Mustangs used the long-ball put three on the scoreboard midway through the contest and cut the margin to one, 4-3. Brent Morel hit a solo homer in the sixth and Grant Desme drove in two with his eighth round-tripper of the season in the seventh.
Cal Poly, a winner in 13-of-its-last-18 heading into Friday's contest, exploded for four runs in the eighth on two hits, a hit batter and a Rice fielding error. The big blow was a two-run triple to right by Logan Schafer that made the score 7-4.
The Owls came right back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Henley was hit by a pitch to lead it off and he scored on Danny Lehmann's two-out double down the left field line. Junior Jordan Dodson followed with a single up the middle to drive in Lehmann and cut the margin back down to one, 7-6.
The Mustangs added one final run in the top of the ninth on a walk, wild pitch, stolen base and sacrifice bunt to make the score 8-6.
Designated hitter Derek Myers battled for a walk to start the bottom of the ninth and junior shortstop Brian Friday followed with a single to center. Both runners moved into scoring position on Diego Seastrunk's sacrifice bunt. Myers scored on an RBI single by Henley while Friday advanced to third. Joe Savery's sacrifice fly to left tied the game 8-8 with Friday touching home, but Henley had to remain first base.
With two away and the stage set for the Owls slugging percentage leader, Luna blasted a pitch that was just beyond the reach of the Mustang right fielder. Henley sprinted home for the winning run and a 9-8 final.
Rice improved to 15-7 on the season with its fourth-straight win. Cal Poly moved to 13-11 and saw its four-game win streak snapped. The three-game weekend series continues through Sunday. Saturday's start time is slated for 2 pm. Sunday's game will begin at noon.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gunderson, Kyle (1-0)
L: Evan Reed (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Grant Desme 1 ; Bryan Kepner 1
3B: Logan Schafer 1
HR: Grant Desme 1 ; Brent Morel 1
RBI: Kyle Smith 1 ; Logan Schafer 2 ; Grant Desme 2 ; Brent Morel 1 ; Joshua Thomas 1
SH: Kyle Smith 1 ; Logan Schafer 1 ; Joshua Thomas 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kyle Smith 2 ; Grant Desme 1 ; Brent Morel 1 ; Bryan Kepner 1 ; Luke Yoder 1 ; Pat Pezet 1 ; Joshua Thomas 1
SB: Grant Desme 1 ; Luke Yoder 1
HBP: Pat Pezet 1
Batting:
2B: Luna, Aaron 1 ; Lehmann, Danny 1
3B: Buenger, Jess 1
RBI: Friday, Brian 1 ; Henley, Tyler 2 ; Savery, Joe 1 ; Luna, Aaron 1 ; Lehmann, Danny 1 ; Dodson, Jordan 1 ; Gayhart, Jared 2
SH: Seastrunk, Diego 1
SF: Savery, Joe 1 ; Gayhart, Jared 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Friday, Brian 2 ; Henley, Tyler 2 ; Luna, Aaron 1 ; Lehmann, Danny 2 ; Buenger, Jess 1 ; Myers, Derek 1
SB: Friday, Brian 1
CS: Dodson, Jordan 1
HBP: Henley, Tyler 1 ; Lehmann, Danny 1
