Rice Rallies Past Southern Miss 5-3 Saturday

Saturday, March 24

Hattiesburg, Miss.

3:00 PM

Rice University

18-9, 1-1

Southern Miss

17-7, 1-1

Rice Owls

Southern Miss

<b>Bobby Bramahall was one of the many Rice stars Friday.</b>

Rice Rallies Past Southern Miss 5-3 Saturday

3/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 24, 2007

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Junior left-hander Bobby Bramhall fired a season-high six strikeouts in a season-long 4.1 innings of work to keep Southern Miss in check while his Owl teammates rallied for a 5-3 Conference USA road win over the Golden Eagles in the second game of a league series Saturday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Bramhall came out of the bullpen and scattered just two hits and two walks over the final 4.1 innings. The Rice bats meanwhile came alive with five late runs on seven hits.

In the top of the sixth Brian Friday and Jared Gayhart drew back-to-back one-out walks. Both runners advanced 90 feet on a ground out to the right side by Tyler Henley. Southern Miss had a wild pitch and Friday alertly sprinted home to tie the game, 1-1.

The Blue & Gray took its first lead of the weekend series in the seventh. Jordan Dodson and Jess Buenger led off with back-to-back singles and Aaron Luna sacrificed both runners into scoring position. A Southern Miss fielding error loaded the bases and pinch hitter Danny Lehmann delivered an RBI single to right-center. With the bases still loaded, Brian Friday drew a walk to score a run and Jared Gayhart followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to stretch the margin to 4-1.

Southern Miss came right back with a pair of scores in the bottom of the frame. Michael Ewing drew a two-out walk and Trey Cuevas connected for a two-run homer to left-center to make it a 4-3 contest. It was the only blemish on Bramhall's stellar outing. He earned his third win of the season and finished the day matching his season-best in strikeouts (6).

The Owls' offense wasn't finished an still did its job with one final insurance run in the top of the ninth. Friday laced a two-out double down the left field line and Gayhart singled him home for a 5-3 final.

Rice stopped a two-game losing streak to improve to 18-9 overall. The team evened its C-USA record at 1-1. Southern Miss fell to 17-7 and 1-1 in league play. The finale of the three-game series is set for Sunday at 1 pm.