Rice University Athletics
Rice University
Memphis
Owls Complete Sweep Of Memphis With 7-4 Win
5/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 19, 2007
HOUSTON -- Junior Brian Friday went 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles and junior left-hander Joe Savery moved to 8-1 on the mound as the second-ranked Rice baseball team completed the three game sweep of visiting Memphis with a 7-4 win in the finale of a three-game C-USA series Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston.
Not only was the victory the 18th-straight for Rice, it was the Owls' 26th win in the last 27 games. Rice has won 38-consecutive home series at Reckling Park dating back to April of 2001, and the sweep of Memphis was the 25th time in the current streak for the Owls to take a home series three-games-to-none. Rice has also won 29-straight home conference series, including 21 by a 3-0 margin. The Owls have won 25-consecutive conference series, home and away, dating back to March of 2005. Saturday was the 14th time in that streak Rice finished with a 3-0 sweep of its league opponent.
Brian Friday set the tone for the Owls on the very first pitch in the bottom of the first inning. The all-America blasted the ball over the wall in center field for his third round-tripper of the season and a 1-0 Rice lead.
Hard-hitting Memphis tied the game in the top of the third. Alex Fennell singled up the middle and he advanced two stations on a pair of wild pitches. A sacrifice fly by Michael Murray made the score 1-1.
In the third Friday smacked a double to right-center and two Tiger throwing errors on the same play allowed him to score for a 2-1 Owl advantage. Rice then chipped away for five more runs over the next three innings to stretch the margin to 7-1. Diego Seastrunk continued his hot-hitting pace by driving in the first of two fourth-inning runs with an RBI single. Sophomore Jared Gayhart blasted a solo home run to right in the fifth as part of his two-hit afternoon. Jordan Dodson led off the sixth with a walk and a one-out double by Adam Zornes put runners on second and third. J.P. Padron bunted for a base hit to score Dodson and Gayhart singled to score Zornes.
The Tigers continued to fight. Murray came right back with a solo home run in the sixth to make the score 7-2. In the eighth Murray walked with one away and reached second base after Bill Moss' fielder's choice with a Rice fielding miscue. Both Murray and Moss advanced on a wild pitch and both scored on a single by Adam Amar that cut the lead to three, 7-4. Memphis attempted one final rally in the ninth but reliever Bryan Price closed the door with a pair of strikeouts and ground ball out. He earned his first career save with 1.2 scorless innings, scattering two hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
Savery made his 15th start of the year and earned the win to improve to 8-1 on the season. With a steady outing, he limited Memphis to just two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out seven in 6.2 innings.
The Owls are now 45-11 overall and finished the C-USA regular season with a 22-2 record. Memphis fell to 33-23 on the year and 12-12 against the league. The Tigers have tied for fourth place with Houston and UAB in the C-USA standings.
Rice next heads to Greenville, N.C, to play in the C-USA Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Owls meet UCF in the first round at 12:30 pm on May 23. The C-USA tournament concludes with the championship final on May 27, where the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament is on the line.
