(#23) Texas A&M 7, (#1) Rice 3

Tuesday, April 14

Houston, Texas

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

22-14

Rice

25-9

Texas A&M

Rice

Apr 14, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

April 14, 2009

Final Stats

HOUSTON - Brooks Raley went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and Barret Loux struck out nine batters to lead No. 23 Texas A&M to a 7-3 win at No. 1 Rice Tuesday night before 4,541 fans at Reckling Park.

The Aggies (22-14) pounded out 11 hits on the night against Owl pitching, including a pair of home runs, and got a strong start from Loux, who lasted five and scattered four hits. Four relievers--Ross Stripling, Shane Minks, Alex Wilson and Nick Fleece--combined to allow four hits and a pair of runs over the final four innings to preserve the victory. Rice fell to 25-9 with the loss, just the Owls' second in their last 12 games.

"This was a huge win for us," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "For us to bounce back and play the way we did after a disappointing weekend at Kansas State was great to see. I also can't say enough about the performance of Barret Loux, that he was able to give us five strong coming off a minor injury. I think this was a good win, and that's all you can really say about it. Hopefully it'll spill over into the weekend, and we need to take care of business at home the next few weeks."

Each team pushed across a run in the first. Brooks Raley drove him in two pitches later with a double down the line in left field. The Aggies would follow with a walk and a sacrifice to put two more in scoring position, but Raley was gunned down trying to score after a fly ball to left field off the bat of Kevin Gonzalez.

The Owls would answer with a two-out, two-strike double to right center field by Anthony Rendon that drove home leadoff hitter Brock Holt.

Adam Smith put A&M back on top in the third, as the freshman led off the inning with a solo home run high off the scoreboard in right center field. Gonzalez would make the score 3- 1 later in the frame, driving in Greene on a two-out single down the right field line.

Two more runs in the sixth would extend the Aggie lead to 5-1. After back-to-back hits by Caleb Shofner and David Alleman induced a Rice pitching change, Smith brought Shofner home from third on a sacrifice fly to center. Following a walk, Raley laced a 1-2 pitch into left center field, plating Alleman from second.

Rick Hague led off the Owl sixth off Stripling with a walk and moved to second on a groundout. Hague came home soon thereafter as consecutive balks were called by the home plate umpire, cutting the lead to 5-2. Four batters later, Minks punched out Jimmy Comerota with runners at second and third to preserve the three-run lead.

Alex Wilson entered in relief in the Rice seventh and, after walking Steven Sultzbaugh to begin the frame, got a fielder's choice ground ball for the inning's first out. A first-pitch single by the next batter, Holt, moved Sultzbaugh to third base. He would score moments later on a wild pitch to make the score 5-3. After another walk put the tying run on base, Wilson would strike Mozingo out looking and get Rendon to pop out to second base to end the threat.

Luke Anders would hit his team-leading seventh home run, a two-run shot to right with one out in the ninth, to add a few insurance runs.

Raley's three-hit effort was a team high, while Alleman added two hits for the Aggies. Raley, Anders and Smith each drove in two runs. Holt and Rendon had three hits apiece for Rice.

Loux (2-1) picked up the win, allowing just one run and one walk on the evening to go along with his nine punchouts.

Owl reliever Matt Evers (2-1) suffered the loss, giving up three hits and two earned runs in 1 2/3 innings of work.

Texas A&M returns to action on Friday when the Aggies open a 13-game homestand against Nebraska. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance to avoid long lines at the gate, and those tickets can be purchased online at aggieathletics.com or by calling 888-99-AGGIE.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Tuesday marked the fourth time this season that Brooks Raley had three or more hits in a game.

• Barret Loux's nine strikeouts was a career high in road games...Loux's previous best away from home was an eight-strikeout effort last March at Kansas.

• Alex Wilson made his third career relief appearance Tuesday night...the last time he entered a game in relief was as a sophomore at Winthrop, on April 18, 2007 against College of Charleston.

• Adam Smith's third-inning dinger gave the Aggies a home run in three straight and 11 of their last 13 games.