HOUSTON, Texas - Grambling State jumped on the scoreboard for three unearned runs in the top of the first inning and hung-on for a 5-4 upset victory over the nationally-ranked Rice baseball team Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston. The Tigers took advantage of two Rice fielding errors, and made the most of two free baserunners in their first time up.
Chris Wolfe led off the game and reached on an Owl fielding error and both of the next two batters, Joe Gill Jr. and Darren Farmer were both hit by a pitch on consecutive pitches. Cleanup batter Thomas Brown III reached on another fielding error that allowed Wolfe to score with the bases still loaded. Gill Jr. scored a ground out to the right side and Farmer then came home on a passed ball. Grambling was in front 3-0 without recording a base hit in the inning.
Rice answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Michael Ratterree walked and Michael Fuda reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on first and second base. Ratterree scored on a single to right-center by Jeremy Rathjen. Fuda went to third on a single by Craig Manuel and scored on Shane Hoelscher's sacrifice fly that made it 3-2.
"We had a very poor start that put us behind the eight-ball, but after we got those to runs back I thought we can still get ourselves back on track," said Rice head coach Wayne Graham. "We were able to hit the ball, but it was right at people and they made plays. They made plays because they are a good team. You can't give any team any runs, which is exactly what we did today in the first inning."
Grambling extended its lead in the top of the fifth. Wolfe led off with a single and a one-out walk to Farmer put runners on first and second. Brown III singled-home Wolfe and Farmer later scored on a base hit by Brian Knuckles to stretch the Tiger lead to three, 5-2.
Rice freshman pitcher Jordan Stephens entered the game out of the bullpen in the fifth and kept the Tigers in check while the Owls tried to battle their way back. Stephens finished the day with another 4.1 shutout innings, giving him a total of 18.0-consecutive scoreless innings dating back to a March 4 start against Tennessee in the finale of the annual College Classic held at Minute Maid Park.
The Blue & Gray rallied for a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Christian Stringer hit safely to right and advanced into scoring position on a balk. He hustled home on Ratteree's single through the left side that made the score 5-3.
Rathjen led off the bottom of the eighth with a double into the left field corner. He went to third on a ground out and scored on Hoelscher's second sacrifice fly of the game that cut it to one, 5-4.
Grambling starter Richard Bautista worked eight innings, but the Tigers went to Zach Moreau out of the bullpen for the start of the ninth. Moreau retired the Owls in order to preserve a win for Bautista (2-0) and notch his third save of the season. The Tigers improved to 11-7 on the year. Rice fell to 15-6 overall.
"Their starter went out and threw a lot of strikes," coach Graham added. "We struck out only two times today, but we could have had some better at bats in some specific situations. Some of the other areas where we needed more attention to details were important to the outcome today. We didn't win the game today, but we have a chance to be better now by learning from it. I think we learned something."
The Owls closed-out the weekend series with Grambling, but Rice still has two more games in its current homestand. Rice next hosts state rivals Texas-San Antonio and Lamar on March 20-21 (Tues.-Wed.) respectively. The start times for both home games is set for 6:30 pm at Reckling Park.
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Rice Defeats Grambling State 12-1 Saturday At Reckling Park
HOUSTON, Texas -- Rice senior pitcher Matthew Reckling struck out a career-high 13 batters while his teammates on offense collected 17 hits, including five for extra bases, as the No. 5 ranked Owls baseball team coasted to a 12-1 victory over visiting Grambling State Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston.
Reckling's 13 strikeouts was the most by an Owl pitcher since Ryan Berry struck out 13 in a home game against Southern Miss in 2008. Reckling struck out the side twice in the game and fanned six-of-eight Grambling hitters in one stretch. The Houston native didn't allow the Tigers a hit in the game until the top of the sixth inning. He left with a 10-1 lead after 6.0 innings having allowed just one run on three singles and two walks to improve to 3-0 on the year.
"Matthew had wonderful stuff today," said Rice head coach Wayne Graham. "He was throwing hard, getting up to 93 (mph), and his curveball is always one of the best in college baseball if not the best. We had a lot of good at bats. Today we did a better of job of paying attention to details in every phase of the game. We have to be on top of our game every pitch."
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COURTESY RICEOWLS.COM
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