Rice University
18-25-2
Lamar
15-31
Rice Defeats Lamar 2-1
5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Recap by: John Sullivan, Rice Athletics (jsully@rice.edu)
HOUSTON – The Rice baseball team halted a pair of late rallies by getting dramatic inning-ending outs at the plate to claim a 2-1 victory over the visiting Lamar Cardinals Wednesday evening Reckling Park.
With two outs and one run already in for a 2-1 score the top of the eighth inning, Rice left fielder Andrew Dunlap scooped up a base hit and fired the ball home to freshman catcher Justin Collins as a Lamar pinch runner was trying to score from second. Collins made the tag and hung on to the ball in a collision for the final out of the inning, preserving the 2-1 lead.
Lamar was again close to getting the tying run home in the top of the ninth. This time the play was on tricky, slow-developing infield hit up the middle by Lamar's Avery George. George beat the throw to first, and a Lamar runner who went from second to third base tried to get the 90 extra feet for a tie score. Rice first baseman Chace Sarchet, however, alertly threw home where Collins' tag was in time for the third and final out of the contest.
The Owls improved to 18-25-2 overall. Lamar is 15-31 on the season.
Rice true freshman Trei Cruz broke up a scoreless deadlock with a two-out, solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. The rookie standout blasted a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left for his fourth longball of the season.
The Blue & Gray added another run in the seventh. Ryan Chandler led off with a walk, stole second base and moved up to third on a Lamar error on the steal attempt. Chandler scored easily on Dunlap's RBI double down the left field line and the run proved to be critical.
Four Rice pitchers, Roel Garcia, Jackson Parthasarathy, Evan Kravetz and Garrett Gayle, combined to keep a hungry Lamar squad off the scoreboard for the first seven frames. The Cardinals broke through for a run on three hits in the eighth to make it 2-1. Dunlap's first career defensive assist with Collins holding strong in the crunch kept Rice in front. Freshman hurler Dane Acker notched his second save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
The Owls' have closed out their longest homestand of the season. Rice is on the road for each of its next four games, including a three-game Conference USA weekend series at state foe UTSA. Friday's series opener against the Roadrunners (25-18 overall, 11-9 C-USA) is set for 6 pm. Note that Saturday's first pitch is scheduled for 4 pm, which is a change from some earlier listings. Sunday's series finale is 1 pm.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Parthasarathy, Jackson (3-3)
L: RICH, Taylor (1-2)
S: Acker, Dane (2)
Base Running:
RUNS: GEORGE, Avery 1
SB: INGRAM, Philip 1
Batting:
2B: Dunlap, Andrew 1
HR: Cruz, Trei 1
RBI: Cruz, Trei 1 ; Dunlap, Andrew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chandler, Ryan 1 ; Cruz, Trei 1
SB: Chandler, Ryan 1
HBP: Comeaux, Braden 1 ; DiCaprio, Dominic 1
