University of Houston
$ Rice
Baseball Drops Series Opener at No. 5 Rice on Friday
5/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 9, 2008
Complete Houston-Rice Game Book (May 9, 2008) in PDF Format 
HOUSTON - No. 5 Rice scored four runs in back-to-back frames early on the way to a 13-6 win Friday over the University of Houston baseball team during the opening game of a Conference USA series at Reckling Park.
The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Bryan Pounds' two-out RBI-single up the middle. However, the Owls grabbed the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the frame and broke the contest open with four runs in the fourth, a single run in the fifth, three runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh.
J.P. Padron batted 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs, while Aaron Luna went 3-for-4 with three runs and three doubles and fell just a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Diego Seastrunk batted 3-for-5 with a run and two RBIs, while DH Derek Myers finished the night 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs and an RBI.
Rick Hague went 2-for-5 with a double, run and three RBIs, and Chad Mozingo batted 2-for-5 with a run, double and RBI to pace the Rice offense, which outhit the Cougars 17-10.
That would be all the run support that Rice starter Ryan Berry needed. The righthander improved to 6-3 after limiting the Cougars to three runs off nine hits and a walk with four strikeouts in seven innings.
UH added two runs in the fifth inning and three in the ninth but would get no closer as the Owls took a 2-1 lead in the 2008 Silver Glove Series.
Freshman DH Caleb Ramsey batted 2-for-3 with a run, triple and RBI, while senior outfielder Jake Stewart went 2-for-4 with a run, double and two RBIs. Senior third baseman Bryan Pounds also went 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the losing effort.
UH starter Wes Musick dropped his third straight decision and fell to 7-4 after giving up eight runs (four earned) off eight hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
With the loss, the Cougars fell to 30-19 overall and 11-8 in C-USA games. Rice improved to 37-11 overall and 16-3 in league games.
The series continues at 2 p.m., Saturday before wrapping up at 1 p.m., Sunday. Sophomore righthander John Touchton is scheduled to toe the rubber for the Cougars while Rice will counter with senior righthander Chris Kelley.
Fans can hear all Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis.
Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link.
The Cougars struck for the game's first run in the third inning with a two-out rally. Blake Kelso started the rally with a two-strike single to right field and moved into scoring position after Jake Stewart was hit by a pitch. Pounds then lined a single up the middle to hand the Cougars a 1-0 advantage.
The lead would not last long. In the bottom of the frame, the Owls grabbed the lead for good following Hague's two-run double and RBI-singles from Luna and Seastrunk.
Rice broke the game open in the next inning with four more runs, courtesy of four hits and three Cougar errors. Luna lashed a ground-rule, RBI-double to center field, and Seastrunk, Chad Mozingo and Jimmy Comerota rapped back-to-back-to-back RBI-singles for an 8-1 cushion.
The Cougars responded with two runs in the fifth inning. Ramsey led off with a triple to right center and scored when Stewart lined a double into left field. After a Pounds single put runners on the corners, Jimmy Cesario lifted a sacrifice fly into right field to plate Stewart to trim the Rice lead to 8-3.
Luna blasted a solo home run to left field in the next half inning to push the Owl lead to 9-3.
In the sixth inning, the Owls added three more runs on Padron's two-run single and an RBI-single from Hague.
The Owls added another run in the seventh inning when Myers smashed an RBI-triple to the wall in right center.
The Cougars would plate three runs in the ninth. Bryan Tully and Austin Goolsby drew walks to lead off the inning, advancing on Will McDaniel's wild pitch. Ramsey followed with a sac fly to center, scoring Tully. Kelso reached first on a throwing error by Seastrunk, putting runners on second and third. Stewart followed with an RBI-single to right. The Cougars' scored their final run of the game when Pounds reached on a throwing error by Hague.
