Rice University
16-8, 0-1
Southern Miss
9-12, 1-0
Baseball Team Falls At Southern Miss 10-1
3/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 22, 2013
HATTIESBURG, Miss - The Southern Miss baseball team took advantage of two Rice fielding errors to break a 3-1 game wide open for six unearned runs in the sixth inning and claim an eventual 10-1 win over the Owls in the Conference USA regular season opener for both teams Friday night in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Rice saw its seven-game win streak come to an end. The Owls are now 16-8 overall and 0-1 in C-USA. Southern Miss improved to 9-12 on the season and 1-0 in league play.
Walks were costly in leading to three Southern Miss runs in the bottom of the second inning. Tim Lynch and Connor Barron drew free passes and scored on a double to leftfield by Chase Fowler. Fowler came home on a base hit by Nick Dawson for a 3-0 USM advantage.
The Owls put a run on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. Michael Ratterree knocked a double deep to center field to lead it off and scored on a one out single by Leon Byrd.
The Golden Eagles then exploded for six unearned runs in the sixth. USM sent 10 men to the plate, with three reaching with a base hit. The Owls had two fielding errors, allowed a walk and hit batter that all contributed to USM's new 9-1 lead. Southern Miss added another run in the seventh to stretch the final margin to 10-1.
Austin Kubitza started on the mound for Rice and worked a total of 5.1 innings. He was followed by Kevin McCanna, Matt Dittman, John Williamson, Evan Rutter and Ryan McCarthy. On offense the Owls finished with a total of eight hits. The freshman duo of Byrd and Connor Teykl both had two hits.
The teams continue the three-game weekend series through Sunday. There has been a change to start time for Saturday's middle game of the series due to weather conditions in the area. First pitch is now slated for 11 am.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Andrew Pierce (5-1)
L: Kubitza, Austin (3-1)
Batting:
2B: Byrd, Leon 1 ; Ratterree, Michael 1
RBI: Byrd, Leon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ratterree, Michael 1
HBP: Byrd, Leon 1 ; Aquino, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Dillon Day 1 ; Isaac Rodriguez 1 ; Chase Fowler 1
RBI: Mason Robbins 1 ; Isaac Rodriguez 3 ; Chase Fowler 3 ; Nick Dawson 3
SH: Blake Brown 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Mason Robbins 1 ; Tim Lynch 2 ; Blake Brown 2 ; Jared Bales 1 ; Connor Barron 1 ; Chase Fowler 2 ; Nick Dawson 1
CS: Chase Fowler 1
HBP: Nick Dawson 1
