Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Rice
Baseball Falls At No. 2 Rice, 13-2
5/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 24, 2003
HOUSTON - Rice broke through with a pair of big innings to stop Fresno State 13-2 in a Western Athletic Conference game Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park.
The second-ranked Owls (47-10, 24-5 WAC) rallied for four runs in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie, then iced the game with eight runs in the eighth. The victory broke a two-game losing streak for Rice.
The Owls knocked out 13 singles, led by Enrique Cruz's 3/3 afternoon. Austin Davis came off the bench for two hits and three runs batted in, and Paul Janish, Craig Stansberry and Justin Ruchti all had two-hit games.
Jeff Niemann ran his record to 14-0 by limiting Fresno State (30-28, 14-15 WAC) to six hits over 6.1 innings. The Owl right-hander struck out seven. He needed relief help from Colin Matheny to stop a Bulldog threat in the seventh, but the freshman gave up only two singles over the final 2.2 innings to earn his first save.
Fresno got to Niemann for a quick run in the first inning on a Ryan Haag single, a walk to Scott Beshears and Casey McGehee's single up the middle, all before the first out. The Bulldogs loaded the bases before Niemann induced a ground ball by Cody Smith to end the inning.
Rice tied the game with an unearned run in the second off losing pitcher Toby Girazian (0-1). Dane Bubela started the inning by reaching on Brian Pierce's error at first base. He stole second, moved to third on Cruz's first single, and scored on Stansberry's groundout.
In the fifth, Rice took the lead when Chris Kolkhorst walked, moved to second on a balk, and scored on Janish's single to right. Davis and Cruz later had RBI-singles in the inning, and the fourth run scored on a wild pitch.
Fresno tried to get back in the game in the seventh. A walk to Haag and singles by Beshears and McGehee plated one run and knocked Niemann from the game. Pierce then singled against Matheny to load the bases, but a strikeout by Kent Sakamoto and and a Chris Patrick ground out ended the inning.
Rice removed all doubt with its eight-run rally in the eighth. Thirteeen Owls went to the plate in the frame, and Ruchti, Davis and Jeff Jorgensen all had two-run singles in the inning.
Fresno State won Friday night's opener by a 2-1 score. The rubber game of the series will be Sunday at 1 pm with Wade Townsend (6-1) making his first WAC start for Rice.
WAC College Baseball at Reckling Park, Houston
Rice 13, Fresno State 2
Fresno State 100 000 100 - 2 8 1Rice Owls 010 040 08x - 13 13 1
Toby Girazian, Gil Infante (5), Matt Garza (5), Donnie Bair (7), Jonathan Weibe (8), David Bair (8) and Ryan Rothford, Brandon Marcelli (8). Jeff Niemann, Colin Matheny (7) and Justin Ruchti.
W- Niemann, 14-0. L-Girazian, 0-1.
Save- Matheny (1).
2B- FS: Ryan Haag.
3B- none.
HR- none.
Time- 3:08. Att.- 2,938.
Team Records: Fresno State 30-28, 14-15. Rice 47-10, 24-5.
