Rice University
19-9, 2-1
Southern Miss
17-8, 1-2
Owls Thump Southern Miss In Sunday Finale, 18-5
3/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 25, 2007
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Junior Joe Savery and sophomore Aaron Luna both drove in four runs on two hits as the Rice baseball team scored in all but two innings to claim an 18-5 Conference USA road win over Southern Miss in the finale of a three-game weekend series Sunday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss. With the victory the Owls claimed the three-game weekend series two games to one.
The Owls lit up the scoreboard for 18 runs on 13 hits. The team chipped away for runs in all but two innings, including identical four-run spots in both the top of the eighth and ninth.
It was Southern Miss that jumped on the scoreboard for two runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Owls came right back with a run in the top of the second and two more in the third to move in front 3-2.
In the fourth Brian Friday blasted a two-run homer run over the left field wall to stretch the margin to 5-2. Rice pushed across two more runs for the third time in as many frames in the fifth to make it 7-2.
The Golden Eagles scratched out a run in the fifth and sixth, but Rice had a three-run sixth as well as eight late runs to improve its record to 19-8 overall. The Blue & Gray moved to 2-1 in league play by winning each of the last two games of the series.
Savery, who also worked the first three innings as the Owls' starting pitcher, was 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI. Luna was 2-for-4 with a home run, double and four RBI. Senior Ryne Tacker earned his fourth win of the season with four strong innings out of the bullpen. He scattered four hits and struck out three.
Southern Miss fell to 17-8 on the year and 1-2 in C-USA action. Rice wraps-up the four-game road swing with a game at nationally-ranked Texas on Tuesday, March, 27. First pitch with the Longhorns is set for 6:05 pm at Disch-Falk Field in Austin.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Tacker, Ryne (4-1)
L: David Clark (3-2)
Batting:
2B: Henley, Tyler 1 ; Savery, Joe 1 ; Luna, Aaron 1 ; Seastrunk, Diego 1
HR: Friday, Brian 1 ; Luna, Aaron 1
RBI: Friday, Brian 2 ; Dodson, Jordan 2 ; Savery, Joe 4 ; Luna, Aaron 4 ; Lehmann, Danny 1 ; Seastrunk, Diego 2
SH: Friday, Brian 1
SF: Luna, Aaron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Friday, Brian 2 ; Gayhart, Jared 3 ; Henley, Tyler 2 ; Lembeck, Chad 1 ; Dodson, Jordan 4 ; Savery, Joe 2 ; Luna, Aaron 2 ; Lehmann, Danny 1 ; Reagan, Travis 1
HBP: Henley, Tyler 1 ; Luna, Aaron 1 ; Lehmann, Danny 1
Batting:
2B: Bo Davis 1 ; Chance Harst 1
RBI: Trey Sutton 2 ; James Ewing 1 ; Jody Blount 1 ; Luke Adkins 1
SF: James Ewing 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Trey Sutton 1 ; Brian Dozier 1 ; James Ewing 1 ; Bo Davis 1 ; Chance Harst 1
HBP: Trey Cuevas 2
