The Chase Is On!

Sunday, March 13

San Francisco, Calif.

2:30 PM

Rice University

10-8

UC Santa Barbara

7-6

Santa Barbara

Rice

<b>Chase McDowell</b><br>McMurtry College

3/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 13, 2011

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Sophomore right-hander Chase McDowell fired a complete game four-hitter and the Owls' offense rallied for runs in each of the last two innings to pace the Rice baseball team to a 2-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara in the finale of the Cal Baseball Classic presented by Safeway, Sunday afternoon at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

With the game deadlocked 1-1 moving into the bottom of the ninth, junior Daniel GonzalesLuna singled near the left field line and freshman Keenan Cook bunted for a base hit. The Owls loaded the bases with a hit batsman and with one away, Michael Ratterree's sacrifice fly to right scored GonzalesLuna's winning run and a 2-1 final.

The rally capped a comeback after the Blue & Gray fell behind 1-0 in the latter stages of the contest. Both McDowell and UCSB starter Greg Davis were locked in to a scoreless duel for the first six innings.

McDowell had allowed only three baserunners through the first six innings, and all three were in fact in the top of the second. One runner was caught stealing and a pair of fly outs ended the threat. The right-hander from College Station proceeded to retire the next 13 in a row before UCSB was the first to score in the top of the seventh.

Gaucho Sean Williams led off with a single, and a walk and hit batsman loaded the bases. The Owls turned a 5-4-3 double play to erase two, but a run came home on the play. McDowell worked out of the inning and his teammates on offense soon came to his aid.

The Owls tied the contest in the bottom of the eighth. Anthony Rendon led off with a double to the right field corner. He moved to third on a text-book bunt for a base hit by Craig Manuel and scored on a UCSB wild pitch to make it a 1-1 game.

McDowell and the Owls had some work left in the ninth to get the winning result. Sean Williams led off with a triple to the corner in right field. With the go-ahead run 90 feet away and no outs, the Owls right-hander struck out the next batter, induced a pop to shortstop behind third base, and a ground out to get out of the inning. The stage was set for Rice's rally in the bottom of the ninth.

McDowell notched his second win of the season and his first complete game at the collegiate level. He scattered four hits and a walk and struck out four.

After a weekend of travel to and from San Francisco for the tournament, the Owls are back home at Reckling Park for nine out of ten games. Rice next hosts state rival Dallas Baptist on Wednesday, Mar. 16, at 6:30 pm. The Owls then host former Western Athletic Conference rival Louisiana Tech in a three-game weekend series Mar. 18-20.