Owls Rally Past Tulane 8-3 To Win 13th-Straight

Saturday, May 12

Reckling Park

2:00 PM

Rice University

40-11, 18-2

Tulane

30-22, 9-14

Tulane

Rice Owls

Owls Rally Past Tulane 8-3 To Win 13th-Straight

5/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 12, 2007

Box Score

HOUSTON -- Junior centerfielder Tyler Henley went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double while some good work from relievers Bobby Bramhall and Cole St.Clair helped the third-ranked Rice baseball team post an 8-3 come-from-behind victory over visiting Tulane in the second game of a three-game Conference USA weekend series Saturday afernoon at Reckling Park in Houston.

The victory was the Owls' 40th of the season, 13th in a row and the 21st win in the last 22 games. Rice (40-11, 18-2 in C-USA) has won 40 more games in a season for 13-straight years.

Rice quickly opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Brian Friday was hit by a pitch to lead it off and he moved into scoring position with his 11th stolen base of the year. Henley laced a one-out double to drive him home and Joe Savery followed with an RBi single up the middle for a 2-0 lead.

Tulane answered with a run in the top of the third before taking the lead in the fifth. Green Wave centerfielder Aja Barto hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season over the right field wall to cut the margin to 2-1. In the fifth Seth Henry and Ty Wallace hit back-to-back singles and a Rice fielding error allowed Henry to take third base. Henry scored on a wild pitch and Wallace came home on an RBI single by Nate Simon put the Wave in front, 3-2.

The Owls rallied to post a three-run sixth before breaking it open with a three-run eighth. In the sixth Henley tied the game by blasting the first pitch over the right field wall for his fourth home run of the season. Savery singled up the middle, Jesss Buenger walked and Aaron Luna's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third. Savery came home on a ground out to the right side and Buenger opportunistically scored on a wild pitch for a 5-3 advantage.

Bramhall protected the lead and went on to work 3.0 scoreless innings out of the pen. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four. When the Green Wave began to mount a rally of their own with two out in the eighth, he was relieved by St.Clair and the all-America ended the threat with a single pitch.

When Rice came to bat in the eighth Savery led off with a walk and back-to-back one-out doubles by J.P. Padron and Jordan Dodson scored two. Danny Lehmann's RBI single made it 8-3.

St.Clair had two strikeouts in the scoreless ninth and he had some help on defense in the frame. After a one-out base hit, Henley made a strong throw from the outfield to help get an advancing Green Wave batter. St.Clair earned his fourth save of the season for winning pitcher Bobby Bramhall (now 5-2).

By clinching the weekend series in the first two games, Rice has won 37-consecutive home series at Reckling Park. The home streak, which includes both regular season and NCAA super regionals, dates back to April of 2001. The Owls have also won 28-straight home conference series. The last time Rice lost a three-game regular season series at home was a Western Athletic Conference set against Nevada in April of 2001, two-games-to-one. Rice has won 24-consecutive conference series, home and away, dating back to March of 2005. The Blue & Gray has won every C-USA series since joining the league a year ago.

Tulane fell to 30-22 overall and 9-14 against the league. The weekend series concludes at Reckling Park on Sunday. The start time is set for 1 pm. The Rice seniors will be honored before the start of the game.