Rice University
10-6
Winthrop
3-11
Owls Top Winthrop 10-4 Friday Night At Reckling Park
3/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 14, 2008
HOUSTON -- The ninth-ranked Rice baseball team slugged 12 hits, including a season-high six doubles, and rode a solid start on the mound by sophomore right-hander Ryan Berry to a 10-4 victory over visiting Winthrop in the first of a four-game series Friday evening at Reckling Park in Houston. The win was the 750th for Owl head coach Wayne Graham in this, his 17th year at the helm of the Rice program.
Three base hits and a some aggressive base-running led to a pair of Rice runs in the bottom of the second inning. Jimmy Comerota sliced a base hit into centerfield and he stole second to move into scoring position. Jordan Dodson slapped a two-out double toward the corner in left to drive in Comerota for the first run of the day. Freshman Rick Hague followed with a single to right and Dodson hustled home to make the score 2-0.
The Owls pushed across another run in the bottom of the fifth. Jared Gayhart led off with a double to right and he advanced 90 feet on a ground out to the right side. Diego Seastrunk drove him home with a long sacrifice fly to right for a 3-0 Rice lead.
The Blue & Gray tallied two more in the sixth. Comerota drew a leadoff walk and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by J. P. Padron. He scored on Dodson's second double of the night that made the score 4-0. A single by Hague, a Winthrop balk and RBI single by Gayhart stretched the margin to 5-0.
The Eagles came back with two in the top of the seventh. Eddie Tisdale singled and Kevin Nolan doubled down the right field line to put men on second and third. Consecutive sacrifice flies by Billy Froehlich and Bryn Henderson scored the runs for a 5-2 game.
Rice posted a big five-run eighth on two hits and three hits to go up 10-2. The big hits were doubles, one by Hague that scored on and another by Adam Zornes that scored two more. Winthrop came right back two runs in the top of the ninth off the Rice bullpen for a 10-4 final. Berry had already left the game after firing 8.0 innings. He earned his second win of the season by scattering six hits without any walks and striking out six.
Rice improved to 10-6 with its second-straight win. Winthrop fell to 3-11 on the season.
The four-game series between the two schools continues through Monday (Mar. 17) at Reckling Park. Start times for the games are set for 3 pm Saturday, 1 pm Sunday and 6:30 pm on Monday. Note that Saturday's 3 pm start is a change from some earlier listings.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Berry, Ryan (2-1)
L: SCHWARTZ, Ryan (1-2)
Batting:
2B: NOLAN, Kevin 1 ; FROEHLICH, Billy 1 ; ROHAN, Eddie 1
RBI: FROEHLICH, Billy 2 ; HENDERSON, Bryn 2
SF: FROEHLICH, Billy 1 ; HENDERSON, Bryn 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BONOMI, Aaron 1 ; TISDALE, Eddie 2 ; NOLAN, Kevin 1
CS: TISDALE, Eddie 1
Batting:
2B: Gayhart, Jared 1 ; Zornes, Adam 1 ; Padron, J.P. 1 ; Dodson, Jordan 2 ; Hague, Rick 1
RBI: Gayhart, Jared 1 ; Seastrunk, Diego 2 ; Luna, Aaron 1 ; Zornes, Adam 2 ; Dodson, Jordan 2 ; Hague, Rick 2
SH: Padron, J.P. 1
SF: Seastrunk, Diego 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gayhart, Jared 2 ; Seastrunk, Diego 1 ; Luna, Aaron 1 ; Comerota, Jimmy 2 ; Dodson, Jordan 2 ; Hague, Rick 2
SB: Comerota, Jimmy 1
HBP: Myers, Derek 1
PO: Luna, Aaron 1
