Tuesday, March 21
College Station, TX
6 PM
Rice University
11-10
7
at
8
#21 Texas A&M
15-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Rice
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
4
7
11
2
Texas A&M
0
0
3
1
0
1
0
2
1
8
11
0
Aggies Edge Owls
3/21/2023 9:17:00 PM | Baseball
Owls late rally falls short
Bryan-College Station: Texas A&M scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to overcome a late rally by Rice and take an 8-7 win on Tuesday night at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The Details: After Rice had stunned the home crowd with four runs in the top of the ninth, the Aggies scored the winning run despite not getting a ball out of the infield. A walk was followed by an infield single and an error to load the bases and then a hit-by-pitch. The dramatic ninth for Rice began with an Aaron Smigelski single to left. Ben Royo then drilled an 0-1 pitch over the wall for his second homer to cut the margin to 7-5. Pierce Gallo followed with a bunt single and then Garibay launched a 1-1 pitch from Aggie reliever Will Johnston over the wall in right to tie the game. Garibay's homer was the first Johnston had allowed this year. Rice used the long ball to jump out to a 3-0 lead after three innings. Benjamin Rosengard picked up where he left off during the weekend at UAB by leading off with a home run to dead center on the third pitch of the game. He was the first Owl to lead off a game with a homer since Drew Woodcox led off the final game of the UAB series last year with a long ball, nearly one year ago to the day (3/20/22). Two innings later, Drew Holderbach drilled the first pitch he saw over the wall to the right of the scoreboard for a two-run homer to give the Owls a 3-0 lead. Owls starter Garrett Zaskoda breezed through the first two innings, but the Aggies knocked him out of the game with three consecutive doubles and a triple to tie the game. Cristian Cienfuegos came on to retire the final two in the inning to keep the game tied. He gave up an unearned run in the fourth to give the Aggies the lead and the Aggies added a run on a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run shot in the eighth while holding Owls to two hits over the next five innings before the Owls' offense re-energized in the ninth.
Notes
The Details: After Rice had stunned the home crowd with four runs in the top of the ninth, the Aggies scored the winning run despite not getting a ball out of the infield. A walk was followed by an infield single and an error to load the bases and then a hit-by-pitch. The dramatic ninth for Rice began with an Aaron Smigelski single to left. Ben Royo then drilled an 0-1 pitch over the wall for his second homer to cut the margin to 7-5. Pierce Gallo followed with a bunt single and then Garibay launched a 1-1 pitch from Aggie reliever Will Johnston over the wall in right to tie the game. Garibay's homer was the first Johnston had allowed this year. Rice used the long ball to jump out to a 3-0 lead after three innings. Benjamin Rosengard picked up where he left off during the weekend at UAB by leading off with a home run to dead center on the third pitch of the game. He was the first Owl to lead off a game with a homer since Drew Woodcox led off the final game of the UAB series last year with a long ball, nearly one year ago to the day (3/20/22). Two innings later, Drew Holderbach drilled the first pitch he saw over the wall to the right of the scoreboard for a two-run homer to give the Owls a 3-0 lead. Owls starter Garrett Zaskoda breezed through the first two innings, but the Aggies knocked him out of the game with three consecutive doubles and a triple to tie the game. Cristian Cienfuegos came on to retire the final two in the inning to keep the game tied. He gave up an unearned run in the fourth to give the Aggies the lead and the Aggies added a run on a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run shot in the eighth while holding Owls to two hits over the next five innings before the Owls' offense re-energized in the ninth.
Notes
- Rice is now 3-4 in midweek games.
- The Owls have dropped their last four to the Aggies.
- The Owls have won six of their last eight and seven of their last 10.
- Rice hit four homers in a game for the first time since they slugged four vs. Prairie View in 2019.
- Cienfuegos struck out a career-high three while matching his career-best with 2.2 innings.
- The Aggies' solo homer in the sixth was the first earned run allowed by the Rice bullpen since the seventh inning of the last game of the HCU series.
- Over the last four games, the Owls bullpen is 3-0 with two saves and a combined 1.22 ERA (36.2, 18, 7, 5, 14, 41).
- Aaron Smigelski returned to the starting lineup and reached base in all four appearances. He was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, the seventh time he has been hit in his first 28 plate appearances. He also walked, doubled, and singled to record his first multi-hit game this year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Robert Hogan (1-0)
L: Long, Justin (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Smigelski, Aaron 1
HR: Rosengard, Benjamin 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 1 ; Holderbach, Drew 1 ; Royo, Ben 1
RBI: Rosengard, Benjamin 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 2 ; Holderbach, Drew 2 ; Royo, Ben 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Rosengard, Benjamin 1 ; Gallo, Pierce 1 ; Garibay Jr., Guy 2 ; Holderbach, Drew 1 ; Smigelski, Aaron 1 ; Royo, Ben 1
HBP: Smigelski, Aaron 1
Batting:
2B: Kasen Wells 1 ; Hunter Haas 1 ; Hank Bard 1
3B: Jack Moss 1
HR: Trevor Werner 1 ; Jace LaViolette 1
RBI: Kasen Wells 1 ; Hunter Haas 1 ; Jack Moss 1 ; Austin Bost 1 ; Trevor Werner 2 ; Jace LaViolette 1 ; Hank Bard 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kasen Wells 2 ; Hunter Haas 1 ; Kaeden Kent 1 ; Trevor Werner 2 ; Jace LaViolette 1 ; Hank Bard 1
SB: Stanley Tucker 1
HBP: Austin Bost 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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