Sunday, May 1
Houston, Texas
1:00 PM
Rice University
13-30, 0
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WKU
14-29, 0
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Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Owls Take Series with 8-2 Win
5/1/2022 5:54:00 PM | Baseball
Silver Glove Game Two up next
Reckling Park: Alex DeLeon and three relievers leveraged some sparkling outfield defense to hold WKU to two runs while their Rice teammates made the most of seven hits to take an 8-2 win on Sunday and clinch the Owls first home conference series since 2019.
The Details: DeLeon (3-3) shook off a solo homer to the second batter of the game to match his season-high by working five innings (5,2,1,1,2,2) and was bolstered by three highlight catches by Connor Walsh and a grand slam-saving catch at the wall by Austin Bulman. After the Hilltoppers opened the scoring in the top of the first, the Owls manufactured a lead they would not relinquish, scoring single runs in the first and third on sacrifice flies. In the bottom of the first, Walsh lead off by being hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball, to third on a ground out by Guy Garibay Jr. and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bulman. In the top of the second, Bulman kept the game tied by pulling back a shot by WKU's Matthew Meyer with two out and the bases loaded. Manny Garza led off the third with a slicing double to left and later scored in a sac fly by Garibay. The Owls' 2-1 lead remained intact until they struck for three in the fifth and sixth innings, thanks to the efforts of Walsh. He ran down a ball in the gap to retire the leadoff hitter in the fourth and then made a pair of diving catches to record the first and third outs in the fifth. Rice opened some breathing room in the fifth when Garibay doubled home Hal Hughes and Bulman followed with a blast down the left-field line for his ninth homer of the year. The Hilltoppers answered with a threat in the top of the sixth, but after one run scored, reliever Brandon Deskins and catcher Manny Garza combined on a strikeout/caught stealing and Roel Garcia came one to end the inning with a strikeout. Rice answered the WKU run with three of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Jack Riedel and Hughes each double to drive in a run and Garibay scored the final tally of the day on a wild pitch. The game was delayed for 49 minutes in the bottom of the eighth due to lightning in the area, but Matthew Linskey came back after the delay to retire the side and end the game.
Notable:
The Details: DeLeon (3-3) shook off a solo homer to the second batter of the game to match his season-high by working five innings (5,2,1,1,2,2) and was bolstered by three highlight catches by Connor Walsh and a grand slam-saving catch at the wall by Austin Bulman. After the Hilltoppers opened the scoring in the top of the first, the Owls manufactured a lead they would not relinquish, scoring single runs in the first and third on sacrifice flies. In the bottom of the first, Walsh lead off by being hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball, to third on a ground out by Guy Garibay Jr. and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bulman. In the top of the second, Bulman kept the game tied by pulling back a shot by WKU's Matthew Meyer with two out and the bases loaded. Manny Garza led off the third with a slicing double to left and later scored in a sac fly by Garibay. The Owls' 2-1 lead remained intact until they struck for three in the fifth and sixth innings, thanks to the efforts of Walsh. He ran down a ball in the gap to retire the leadoff hitter in the fourth and then made a pair of diving catches to record the first and third outs in the fifth. Rice opened some breathing room in the fifth when Garibay doubled home Hal Hughes and Bulman followed with a blast down the left-field line for his ninth homer of the year. The Hilltoppers answered with a threat in the top of the sixth, but after one run scored, reliever Brandon Deskins and catcher Manny Garza combined on a strikeout/caught stealing and Roel Garcia came one to end the inning with a strikeout. Rice answered the WKU run with three of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Jack Riedel and Hughes each double to drive in a run and Garibay scored the final tally of the day on a wild pitch. The game was delayed for 49 minutes in the bottom of the eighth due to lightning in the area, but Matthew Linskey came back after the delay to retire the side and end the game.
Notable:
- The win gave the Owls their second series win of the season (at Marshall, 3/25-27) and their first at home since they took two of three from Southern Miss from May 10-12, 2019.
- The win was the third in the last four home conference games for the Owls.
- DeLeon's three wins this season match his career total coming into 2022.
- Bulman's nine home runs are a career-high and match Cade Edwards team-leading total from 2021. He drove in three runs to take over the team lead with 34. He was 1x3 in the game and has hit in 19 of 21 conference games this season.
- Hughes was 2x3 and is now hitting .278 (12x39) at home.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: DeLeon, Alex (3-3)
L: Sean Bergeron (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Tristin Garcia 1
HR: Tristin Garcia 1
RBI: Tristin Garcia 1 ; Justin Carlin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tristin Garcia 2
CS: Ty Batusich 1
Batting:
2B: Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Riedel, Jack 1 ; Garza, Manny 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
HR: Bulman, Austin 1
RBI: Garibay Jr., Guy 2 ; Bulman, Austin 3 ; Riedel, Jack 1 ; Hughes, Hal 1
SH: Hughes, Hal 1
SF: Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Bulman, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walsh, Connor 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Bulman, Austin 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Riedel, Jack 1 ; Garza, Manny 1 ; Hughes, Hal 2
SB: Gallo, Pierce 2
CS: Smigelski, Aaron 1
HBP: Walsh, Connor 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
Inf.
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Inf./OF
/ BaseballWBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
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VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
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