Rice University
10-15, 1-4
Western Kentucky
11-12, 2-3
WKU Slips Past Rice Saturday, 5-4
3/24/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Recap by: John Sullivan, Rice Athletics (jsully@rice.edu)
HOUSTON -- Visiting Western Kentucky scored four times in the top of the first inning and hung-on for a narrow 5-4 win over the Rice baseball team in the second game of a Conference USA weekend series Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston.
After a 4-0 Rice win to start the weekend set on Friday, the Hilltoppers leveled the series 1-1 heading into Sunday's 1 pm C-USA finale. The Owls are now 10-15 overall and 1-4 in C-USA action. WKU improved to 11-12 on the year and 2-3 in conference.
WKU exploded for four runs on six hits in the top of the first inning Saturday. Tyler Robertson's fourth home run of the season made the score 3-0 but the Toppers were not quite finished. Three more consecutive singles led to a another run that stretched the opening margin to 4-0.
The Owls battled back for a run in the bottom of the second on a bases-loaded single by Ryan Chandler to score Justin Collins that made it 4-1. WKU got the run back in the top of the fourth when Colie Currie hit a two-out double to right-center and scored on a RBI single by Steven Kraft.
Rice came right back with runs in the bottom of the frame to pull back with one, 5-4. With a runner on base senior Andrew Dunlap blasted a pitch over the wall in left field. His second round-tripper of the season made the score 5-3. Chandler followed with walk and a steal of second base, but he gained an extra station to third on a WKU error on the play. He scored easily as Braden Comeaux collected the second hit of an eventual three-hit game.
WKU worked out of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the fifth. Rice also stranded runners on base in both the sixth and eighth, equaling the team's season-high of 13 runners left-on in a game this season. The Blue & Gray was just 2-of-12 on the day when batting with runners in scoring position and the squad could have used just one more big hit on the day.
On the mound relievers Willy Amador and Garret Gayle were sound and solid. The duo combined for 5.0 shutout innings and eight strikeouts while walking two.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Evan Acosta (1-1)
L: Jefferies, Kendal (1-1)
S: Ben Morrison (6)
Batting:
2B: Colie Currie 3
HR: Tyler Robertson 1
RBI: Steven Kraft 1 ; Jacob Rhinesmith 1 ; Tyler Robertson 2 ; Luke Brown 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Colie Currie 2 ; Jacob Rhinesmith 1 ; Tyler Robertson 1 ; Ray Zuberer III 1
CS: Jacob Rhinesmith 1
PO: Colie Currie 1
Batting:
2B: Comeaux, Braden 1
HR: Dunlap, Andrew 1
RBI: Chandler, Ryan 1 ; Comeaux, Braden 1 ; Dunlap, Andrew 2
SH: Cox, Dominic 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chandler, Ryan 1 ; Collins, Justin 1 ; Staab, Cody 1 ; Dunlap, Andrew 1
SB: Chandler, Ryan 1
HBP: Chandler, Ryan 1 ; Collins, Justin 1
