Photo GalleryHOUSTON – HBU senior righthander
Curtis Jones was solid for seven innings, but he was out of the game when No. 12 Rice rallied for three runs in the eighth to claim a 5-2 victory over the Huskies in non-conference baseball Tuesday night at Reckling Park.
Jones did not factor into the decision after allowing two runs on six hits, striking out four and walking two. Senior
Josh Martinez (0-1), who started the game at first base, took the loss, giving up three runs on five hits in 2/3 of an inning. Senior
Chris Garza made his third appearance in four games to get the final out in the eighth.
Martinez went 3-for-3 with three singles and a walk and has reached safely in his first five plate appearances. Senior catcher
Samm Wiggins hit a solo home run, junior rightfielder doubled and scored and junior second baseman
Justin Monsour drove him in.
John Clay Reeves went 2-for-4, homered, drove in a pair and scored twice for the Owls (3-2). Kirby Taylor went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and scored twice, Hunter Kopycinski went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Leon Byrd went 2-for-4 with a double and scored.
Matt Ditman (1-0) pitched the final 1.1 innings for Rice to claim the win. Glenn Otto shut the Huskies out for 4.1 innings, allowing four hits, striking out five and walking two. Starter Willy Amador allowed two runs on four hits, struck out five and walked two in 3.1 innings.
The Owls got on the board first in the bottom of the second as Reeves and Connor Teykl led off with back-to-back singles. After a wild pitch by Jones, Charlie Warren grounded out to second to plate Reeves.
Wiggins led off the fourth with a deep shot to left, his fifth career home run, to tie the game. Saenz followed with a double to the gap in rightcenter, then junior third baseman
Andrew Alvarez popped out for the first out. Martinez singled to put runners on the corners, then Monsour laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached on a fielder's choice when Saenz beat the toss to the plate to give HBU a 2-1 lead. Junior leftfielder
Brandon Morones singled to load the bases, but senior centerfielder
Thomas Clay and junior shortstop
Louie Payetta struck out to end the threat.
Rice tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Taylor drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Chandler's RBI single.
The game remained tied, 2-2, until the bottom of the eighth when Byrd greeted Martinez with a double to rightcenter and Reeves followed with a two-run homer to left. Rice put together a two-out rally to tack on an insurance run, getting three consecutive singles from Taylor, Tristan Gray and Kopycinski to take a 5-2 lead.
The Huskies return to action when they play in the UTA Hilton Invitational this weekend. HBU will face Michigan State Friday at noon, Southland Conference rival Southeastern Louisiana in a non-conference tilt Saturday at noon, then host UT Arlington Sunday at 3 p.m. All three games can be heard on HBUHuskies.com, beginning 15 minutes prior to each contest with the pregame show.
