Rice Falls Just Short, Loses to Marshall 4-3

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Baseball

at Louisiana

Oct 11

1 PM

Baseball

vs McClennan JC

Oct 26

Noon

Reckling Park

May 8, 2010

Box Score

By MOISEKAPENDA BOWER

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - Rice coach Wayne Graham didn't gather the Owls in the visitor's dugout at Appalachian Power Park following their 4-3 loss to Marshall to lambaste their uneven performance, but rather to provide the sort of clarity that sometimes is lost between team and staff.

The Owls were guilty of several gaffes in suffering a setback on Saturday that not only squared this key Conference USA series, but also damaged the Owls' dwindling hopes of hosting an NCAA Tournament regional. So, just in case there was any lingering misinformation, Graham wanted to point out that he and his assistants remain available for consultation.

Rice (29-17, 12-5 C-USA), which had its season-high six-game winning streak snapped, would be wise to take heed of that suggestion during the series finale on Sunday morning. The Owls had four runners cut down on the base paths, surrendered a pair of homers to Marshall slugger Victor Gomez, and compiled just enough ineffective at-bats to offset their advantage in hits (12-9) and negate their edge in defense.

"We didn't have that many bad at-bats; their guy (Marshall sophomore lefthander Mike Mason) pitched pretty good," Graham said. "But we had four or five where guys didn't have a plan when they went to the plate with runners in scoring position. You can't expect to win if you don't have a plan when you go up there, a workable plan."

The Owls' small handful of unproductive at-bats weren't as forgettable as the lost opportunities on the bases. Both junior shortstop Rick Hague and senior first baseman Jimmy Comerota were picked off by Mason, with Comerota caught between the bags after mistiming his departure from first on a hit-and-run with catcher Diego Seastrunk at the plate.

Hague, who singled in each of his first four at-bats before fouling out to reserve first baseman Nathan Gomez to end the game, was misfortunate twice more. He was erased at home trying to score from first on a throwing error by Marshall third baseman James Lavinskas that allowed Anthony Rendon to reach base with two outs. When the ball skipped up the first-base line as Hague approached third, base coach Mike Taylor waved him around, but the throw home was in time to nip Hague at the plate and snuff an opportunity for Rice to break a 1-1 tie in the third.

With two outs in the fifth, Hague singled to center and took an aggressive turn around first to gauge his chances at dashing into scoring position. But Thundering Herd center fielder Ben Jurevicius quickly threw behind Hague and to first base, trapping Hague between the bags.

"A couple of guys made base-running mistakes," Graham said. "That's all."

Owls senior righthander Mike Ojala (2-2) was solid, but two at-bats cost him dearly. After surrendering a leadoff homer to Gomez in the second, Ojala challenged Gomez with another fastball away with one out in the fourth. The result was the same, almost eerily so, as Gomez hit his second home run of the game and 15th of the season to the exact same spot in right center field to give Marshall (22-25, 11-9) a 2-1 advantage.

"It was obvious (Gomez) was crushing the fastball, and (Ojala) has got one of the better curveballs in the game," Graham said. "It's one of those things."

With the game knotted at 3 after Ojala navigated a bases-loaded, no-out jam by allowing just one run in the sixth, Ojala returned to face the bottom of the Marshall order in the seventh. Rhett Stafford, Josh Valle and Kenny Socorro were a combined 0-for-6, and Ojala struck out Stafford and Valle before Socorro unexpectedly drew a four-pitch walk. One wild pitch from reliever Abel Gonzales and one pinch single from Thor Meeks later, Socorro scored to make it 4-3. The Owls stranded a pair of runners in the eighth before Marshall closer Austin Coan, the lone Texan on the roster, worked a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Rendon, who had his 16th home run on the season matched by the Gomez opposite-field blast in the second, responded to the second Gomez dinger with his 17th home run, another solo shot, in the sixth. The Owls pulled even for the last time when Chad Mozingo delivered an RBI double to score Michael Fuda in the seventh, but Marshall reliever Tyler Gatrell (4-2) induced Jeremy Rathjen to hit into an inning-ending double play with Mozingo on third and Hague on first to cap that threat.

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