Rice Stays Alive With 4-3 Victory Over LA Tech

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BILOXI, Miss. – The Rice baseball team had a solid start on the mound from senior Evan Kravetz and the first career save from freshman Dalton Wood on the way to a 4-3 victory over Louisiana Tech in Thursday's early elimination game at the Conference USA Championship in Biloxi, Miss.

Records: The Owls improved to 25-32 on the season. Louisiana Tech is 34-24.

Stayin' Alive: Rice still has at least one more game to play in the annual double-elimination tournament. On Friday (May 24) the Owls are scheduled to face the loser of Thursday's Marshall/Southern Miss game (which was not yet completed as of publication time). First pitch of Friday's elimination game is scheduled for 3 pm.

No Walk-Offs This Time: Playing as the home team for the first time in five games was a welcome spot. Rice had been the visiting team in its previous four games and although the Owls had held leads in each of those outings the team was a combined 0-4. The two opponents for the four games, Southern Miss and Marshall, rallied for walk-off wins in their final at bat.

Solid Wood: Rice may have had the chance for a final 'home' at bat in Thursday's neutral tournament setting, but the Owls still needed a big defensive effort from the bullpen in a tight one run game. Senior Jackson Parthasarathy worked 1.2 middle innings and gave way to true freshman Dalton Wood. The rookie right-hander was sensational retiring each of the seven batters he faced. He earned his first collegiate save with 2.1 scoreless frames.

Three Web Gems: Dalton Wood retired each of the seven batters he faced, but his teammates in the field came up big to get three straight outs in the top of the eighth. Second baseman Cade Edwards made the first two plays on tricky but opposite types of ground balls. The first one dribbled slowly up the middle of the infield which he had to field then spin and fire back to first base. The second was a sharp grounder to his left that he dove and stopped in the outfield grass. With two away, Bradley Gneiting then made an acrobatic catch of a foul popup that wanted to land in the stands behind the corner of the Owl dugout.

Welcome Back Kravetz: After sitting out his usual starting spot last week in the C-USA regular season series at Marshall, senior left-hander Evan Kravetz was back on the mound Thursday with the task of keeping the team's season alive. The all-conference honoree worked 5.0 innings allowing just a run on one hit while striking out five for his sixth win of the season.

Hitters & Hustle: The junior duo of Gneiting and Edwards both collected two hits in the game and combined for three RBI. Gneiting's RBI worked in tandem with some exemplary hustle from Aaron Beaulaurier. With one away and Rice leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Beaulaurier singled and stole second to move into scoring position. He was able to dash home for a 3-1 lead on Gneiting's hit that landed behind first base.

Coach Bragga said: "This was a show of resilience because we have lost our last four games on walk-off fashion, so to be able to come back and hold on to that one (Thursday) is a great relief and our guys did a great job of fighting," Rice head coach Matt Bragga said. "Dalton Wood came in, in the end, and did a good job, great poise for a freshman."

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