Rice University
3-5
Sam Houston State
2-4
Baseball Drops Opener At Minute Maid Park
3/5/2021 5:24:00 PM | Baseball
Owls Face Islanders Saturday At 11 A.M.
HOUSTON — The Sam Houston State baseball team scored 12 runs on 15 hits for a 12-4 win over the Rice Owls in the opening game of the annual Shriner's College Classic Friday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
The Story
Sam Houston built an early 3-0 but Rice rallied back to within one on a two run homer to right field by Owl true freshman Guy Garibay in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Bearkats answered with two runs in both the fifth an six innings for a 7-2 advantage. Rice veteran Bradley Gneiting slugged a solo shot over Minute Maid's wall in right to cut the margin to four, 7-3. Sam Houston got offensive and plated four more in the eighth and one in the ninth for a new season high in runs and hits.
For The Record
The Owls are now 3-5 on the season. Sam Houston moved to 2-4 overall.
Matt Bragga Said
"We didn't have much success of the mound," Owls' head coach Matt Bragga said. "We have to pitch better and we have to hit better. We didn't do a good enough job of that. When you don't do a good job of those two phases, you're going to get beat.
"I'm really happy to have Roel going (Saturday), get that veteran presence out there and see if he can give us a good start."
Rice Way Downtown
In 49 games played downtown at Minute Maid Park the Owls are now 29-20. In 2019 the Blue & Gray dropped the opening game of the Classic and bounced back to win the next two games which were both against ranked opponents Baylor and TCU.
Notes & Stats
• Rice had eight hits by the first seven batters in the order. Braden Comeaux notched his third game with at least two hits.
• Gneiting's round-tripper was his second in as many games. He has reached base safely in eight-straight games.
• The two-homer game was Rice' second of the young season. The Owls hit two out in the middle game of the Houston Baptist series two weeks ago.
• After starter Blake Brogdon pitched the first 4.1 innings the Owls used a four pitchers out of the bullpen. Josh Larzabal made his 2021 debut in the ninth.
Next Up
The Owls are back at Minute Maid Park for game two of round robin action on Saturday (March 6). First pitch vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is scheduled for 11 am.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Davis, Tyler (2-0)
L: Brogdon, Blake (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Cowser, Colton 1 ; Rogers, Jack 1 ; Johnson, Gavin 1 ; Chadwick, Clayton 1
HR: MacKenzie, Anthony 1
RBI: Rogers, Jack 2 ; Faecher, Blake 2 ; Johnson, Gavin 4 ; Chadwick, Clayton 1 ; Vines, Corbin 1 ; MacKenzie, Anthony 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Cowser, Colton 3 ; Smith, Christian 2 ; Rogers, Jack 2 ; Faecher, Blake 1 ; Chadwick, Clayton 1 ; Vines, Corbin 2 ; MacKenzie, Anthony 1
CS: Chadwick, Clayton 1
HBP: Chadwick, Clayton 1
Batting:
2B: Dunlap, Justin 1
HR: Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Gneiting, Bradley 1
RBI: Garibay Jr., Guy 2 ; Gneiting, Bradley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dunlap, Justin 1 ; Edwards, Cade 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Gneiting, Bradley 1
