Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Rice
Rice Defeats Baseball 13-6
3/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2001
Houston, Texas - Jose Enrique Cruz had two home runs to lead Rice's 17-hit attack, powering the top-ranked Owls to a 13-6 Western Athletic Conference win over Fresno State Friday night at Reckling Park.
Cruz led off the third with a line drive over the left-field fence, then hit a two-run bomb to left in the Owls' five-run eighth inning. The freshman second-baseman also had an RBI-single in the first.
Eric Arnold also participated in the Owls' power display with a solo drive to right in the second, and Phillip Ghutzman had two doubles among his three hits. Cruz, Arnold, Ghutzman and A.J. Porfirio all had three hits for the Owls.
Rice sent 10 men to the plate during a four-run first inning and never looked back. A triple by Porfirio and Ghutzman's first double were the big hits of the inning, but the Owls were helped by four balks called against Fresno State starting pitcher Zach Minor (5-2).
Six balks were called in the game, five against Bulldog pitchers and one against Rice's Kenny Baugh (6-1), the winning pitcher.
Simon Tafoya hit his second home run of the year to lead off the fifth inning to break Baugh's shutout, and the Bulldogs added three unearned runs in the seventh to narrow the Owl lead.
Rice put it away with a pair of runs in the sixth on Hunter Brown's double and a Ghutzman single, and Ghutzman's other double and Cruz' second home run were the big hits in a five-run seventh.
Rice moves to 23-6 overall and 12-1 in WAC play, while Fresno State falls to 20-11 and 6-4. Game two of the three-game series is Saturday at 2 pm.
