April 04, 2006
Blake Stouffer went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI on Tuesday night and Texas A&M had double-digit hits for the fourth game in a row, but it was not enough as No. 3 Rice defeated the Aggies, 11-6, at Olsen Field.
With the loss the Aggies dropped to 18-14 while the Owls improved to 25-8.
?We had our opportunities early,? A&M head coach Rob Childress said. ?We have to find a way to chip back into the game offensively and stop them on the mound. Their bullpen stopped us but we were unable to match them out of the bullpen.?
In addition to Stouffer, Austin Boggs had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and Jake Vasquez?â„¢s single in the ninth improved his hitting streak to six games. Jess Buenger, Jose Salazar and Adam Hale all added two hits.
Trailing 11-4 and heading to the bottom of the ninth, RBI singles by Vasquez and Salazar loaded the bases and made the score 11-6. Rice called on reliever Bobby Bell, who induced a double play to end the game and earn his third save of the season.
The Owls took the early lead with five runs in the top of the second and chased A&M starter Jordan Chambless in the process. Bobby Bramhall singled to drive in the first run of the inning and after Rice loaded the bases, Kyle Nicholson replaced Chambless. The first man he faced, Danny Lehmann, blasted a grand slam over the wall in left.
A&M answered with three runs in the bottom half of the second to cut the Rice lead to 5-3. Buenger doubled to start the inning and scored on a RBI single by Salazar. A hit batter and a walk sandwiched around a strikeout loaded the bases. Stouffer legged out an infield single to push a run across and Hale walked to score another. Will McDaniel entered for Owls starter Bryce Cox and recorded a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning.
Both starters lasted 1 1/3 innings. Chambless (1-4) suffered the loss and Cox did not figure in the decision.
McDaniel (3-0) earned the win, tossing 5 2/3 innings of relief. He allowed one run on three hits while striking out five.
Rice added two runs on a two-RBI single by Joe Savery in the fourth and two more on a two-RBI double by Josh Rodriguez in the seventh to increase the Owls?â„¢ lead to 9-3.
Hale drove in his second run of the game with a single in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 9-4.
A bases loaded walk to Savery and a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez in the eighth ran the Rice lead to 11-4.
The Aggies return to Big 12 play this weekend when they host No. 19 Oklahoma in a three-game set at Olsen Field. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. for Friday?â„¢s opener.