Rice University
11-16
Houston
16-9
Something Wild!
3/27/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Highlights by: Zachary Fradette (Zachary.Fradette@rice.edu)
Narration: J.P. Heath, IMG-Rice (jp.heath@img.com)
Recap by: John Sullivan, Rice Athletics (jsully@rice.edu)
HOUSTON – Rice held-off a ninth inning Cougar rally for wild one-run victory over the visiting Houston baseball team, 4-3, Tuesday evening at Reckling Park.
Immediately after Houston avoided defensive trouble in the bottom of the first inning by working out of Rice's bases-loaded opportunity, the Cougars turned right-around and opened the scoring in the top of the second inning with a RBI single by Cooper Coldiron to drive home Lael Lockhart.
Rice answered with a run in the bottom of the frame. With one away Chace Sarchet was hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position on a single through the left side by Bradley Gneiting. Sarchet sprinted home on a RBI single by Kendal Jefferies, who was making his first start of the season in the field at second base.
Houston bounced right back in the top of the third. The Cougars turned an Owl fielding error to start the inning into a 2-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth Jefferies drew a one-out walk and scored after back-to-back singles by Braden Comeaux and Ford Proctor. Comeaux and Proctor both eventually came around to score on Houston wild pitches by two different Cougar pitchers. It may have been on the unconventional side, but the Owls took the lead for the first time, 4-2.
Houston continued to battle, and pulled back within one, 4-3, with Joe Davis' RBI single in the seventh. A Cougar rally was halted in the eighth, and a final rally was silenced in the ninth after UH put two runners on base with two away. Sophomore right-hander Garrett Gayle ended the game with a big strikeout for the 4-3 final.
A total of three Rice pitchers all delivered in a much-needed contest. Jackson Parthasarathy started on the mound and worked a season-long 5.1 innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits while striking out four. Sophomore Nick Silber had a sold night posting a career-high four strikeouts with no walks in 3.1 innings. Gayle notched his second save of the season.
Rice improved to 11-16 on the season. Houston 16-9 overall.
The contest is the first of three meetings between the crosstown rivals this season. Game two of the series is set for April 10 at UH. The series finale is May 15 at Constellation Field, the minor league home of the Sugar Land Skeeters.
The Owls have concluded their five-game homestand and are on the road for the next three. The Blue & Gray play a C-USA weekend series at No. 14 ranked Southern Miss beginning on Friday (March 30). Start time at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg is set for 6 pm.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Parthasarathy, Jackson (2-0)
L: HURDSMAN, Brayson (1-4)
S: Gayle, Garrett (2)
Batting:
RBI: DAVIS, Joe 2 ; COLDIRON, Cooper 1
SH: ETZEL, Landon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: PADGETT, Grayson 1 ; LOCKHART, Lael 1 ; BIELAMOWICZ, Tyler 1
CS: BIELAMOWICZ, Tyler 1
Batting:
RBI: Jefferies, Kendal 1 ; Proctor, Ford 1
SH: Jefferies, Kendal 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jefferies, Kendal 1 ; Comeaux, Braden 1 ; Proctor, Ford 1 ; Sarchet, Chase 1
HBP: Sarchet, Chase 1
