Rice University
8-8
HCU
1-14
Rice Rallies to Sweep HCU
3/12/2023 5:37:00 PM | Baseball
First sweep of a weekend series at home since 2019
The Details: The Owls found themselves in an early bind, falling behind 4-0 in the second inning and Huskies' starter Will Ripoll kept the Owls off the scoreboard through the first five innings. Drew Holderbach's double to open the sixth caused HCU to go to the bullpen. Connor Walsh and Manny Garza followed with walks to load the bases and Riedel, who had been hitless in his previous 15 at-bats, slapped a single up the middle to score Holderbach and Walsh. Max Johnson was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases and after another pitching change, Royo shot a single down the left field line to score Garza and Riedel to tie the game. Pierce Gallo loaded the bases by reaching on an error and after a strikeout, Garibay punched a two-strike single to right to give the Owls their first lead of the day. HCU tied the game on a two-run homer in the top of the seventh and Jack Ben-Shoshan, who was making only his second career appearance on the mound was summoned from the bullpen. He worked around a two-out double to strike out HCU DH Logan Letney and his teammates responded with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning. Riedel and Johnson walked with one out and then advanced on a wild pitch. One out later, Gallo walked to load the bases and then Christian Salazar was hit by a pitch to bring in Riedel. Ben-Shoshan worked a clean eighth inning but was relieved by Cristian Cienfuegos after a leadoff walk to Austin Roccaforte in the ninth. Manny Garza gunned down Roccafort attempting to steal to remove the tying run from the bases and Cienfuegos struck out the final two hitters to earn his second save of the year.
Notes
- Rice swept a home weekend series for the first time since they took all three games from Louisiana Tech at Reckling on 4/26-28, 2019. The Owls last swept a three-game series on the road in their final three games of 2022 at FIU.
- Rice is now 2-1 on Sundays.
- The Owls who have won four of their last five, improved to 6-3 at Reckling Park in 2023, after finishing last season 9-25 at home.
- Rice has won the last eight vs. HCU.
- Jack Ben-Shoshan earned his first career win with a career-high two innings of work and also recorded his first two strikeouts.
- Jose Cruz Jr. improved to 5-0 vs. HCU and former teammate Lance Berkman.
- Ben Royo has six RBI in his last two games.
- Connor Walsh collected a pair of hits (2x3) for the fifth straight game and.625 during the homestand (10x16) with two doubles, three homers and 10 RBI.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ben-Shoshan, Jack (1-0)
L: Ryan, Zach (0-1)
S: Cienfuegos, Cristian (2)
Batting:
2B: Davila, Diego 2 ; Chumley, Reed 1 ; Baker, Trent 1
HR: Benjamin, Samuel 1 ; Baker, Trent 1
RBI: Benjamin, Samuel 2 ; Chumley, Reed 2 ; Baker, Trent 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Roccaforte, Austin 1 ; Benjamin, Samuel 1 ; Davila, Diego 1 ; Letney, Logan 1 ; Chumley, Reed 1 ; Baker, Trent 1
SB: Benjamin, Samuel 1
CS: Roccaforte, Austin 1
HBP: Ruiz, Damian 1
Batting:
2B: Salazar, Christian 1 ; Holderbach, Drew 1 ; Walsh, Connor 1
RBI: Salazar, Christian 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 2 ; Riedel, Jack 2 ; Royo, Ben 2
SH: Gallo, Pierce 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Holderbach, Drew 1 ; Walsh, Connor 1 ; Garza, Manny 1 ; Riedel, Jack 2 ; Johnson , Max 1 ; Royo, Ben 1
HBP: Salazar, Christian 1 ; Johnson , Max 1
