Friday, April 29
Houston, Texas
6:30 PM
Rice University
11-30, 0
3
vs
5
WKU
14-27, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
WKU
0
2
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
5
8
1
Rice
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
3
11
3
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Hilltoppers Take Series Opener
4/29/2022 10:03:00 PM | Baseball
Game Two set for 2 p.m. Saturday
Reckling Park: Austin Bulman and Manny Garza slugged home runs but WKU held off a late charge by Rice and took the opener of the weekend series 5-3 on Friday night.
The Details: The Hilltoppers scratched out a pair of runs off starter Thomas Burbank in the second inning to give starter Devyn Terbrak a lead he would never relinquish. He scattered nine hits over eight innings and held Rice off the scoreboard until the seventh when Justin Long collected the Owls' first leadoff hit of the night with a double and Pierce Gallo followed with a single to drive him in and cut the margin to 4-1. One inning later, Bulman cut the margin to 4-2 with a two-out homer to left, his team-leading eighth of the year. After WKU pushed across a fifth run in the top of the ninth, Garza ignited a final charge for Rice by drilling his first career homer over the right-field fence with two out. Pinch hitter Nathan Becker followed with a single to right to bring the tying run to the plate, but Hilltoppers' closer Mason Vinyard struck out Hal Hughes to end the game.
Notable:
The Details: The Hilltoppers scratched out a pair of runs off starter Thomas Burbank in the second inning to give starter Devyn Terbrak a lead he would never relinquish. He scattered nine hits over eight innings and held Rice off the scoreboard until the seventh when Justin Long collected the Owls' first leadoff hit of the night with a double and Pierce Gallo followed with a single to drive him in and cut the margin to 4-1. One inning later, Bulman cut the margin to 4-2 with a two-out homer to left, his team-leading eighth of the year. After WKU pushed across a fifth run in the top of the ninth, Garza ignited a final charge for Rice by drilling his first career homer over the right-field fence with two out. Pinch hitter Nathan Becker followed with a single to right to bring the tying run to the plate, but Hilltoppers' closer Mason Vinyard struck out Hal Hughes to end the game.
Notable:
- Rice fell to 2-8 in series openers (1-6 at home)
- WKU won its sixth straight in the series with Rice.
- The Owls hit two homers in a game for the first time since 4/2 vs. FAU.
- Bulman's home run gave him a career-high of eight his year. He was 2x4 on the night and has hit in 17 of 19 conference games this season.
- Garza was 2x4 with his first career home run and threw out 2 of four baserunners. He is 8x13 in four starts since returning from an injury that sidelined him for 30 games and he has thrown out five of the last seven attempting to steal.
- Hughes was 2x4 and is now hitting .258 (8x31) at home.
- Becker's pinch-hit single in the ninth was his fourth of the year (4x6) and was the 12th for the Owls (12x34), their most since they had 19 pinch hits in 2007.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Devyn Terbrak (6-3)
L: Burbank, Thomas (1-5)
S: Mason Vinyard (7)
Batting:
3B: Andrew Delaney 1
RBI: Andrew Delaney 1 ; Aidan Gilroy 1 ; Ricardo Leonett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ty Batusich 1 ; Justin Carlin 1 ; Andrew Delaney 1 ; Aidan Gilroy 1 ; Ty Crittenberger 1
SB: Ty Batusich 1 ; Ty Crittenberger 1
CS: Aidan Gilroy 1 ; Ricardo Leonett 1
HBP: Ty Batusich 1
Batting:
2B: Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Long, Justin 1
HR: Bulman, Austin 1 ; Garza, Manny 1
RBI: Bulman, Austin 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Garza, Manny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bulman, Austin 1 ; Long, Justin 1 ; Garza, Manny 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
Inf.
/ BaseballInf.
/ Baseball
P
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballInf.
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballWBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02