May 7, 2008

Final Stats

Houston, Tx. - The Texas State Bobcats remained close to the Rice Owls in the opening frames Tuesday night but the fifth-ranked Owls pulled away for a 9-1 win at Reckling Field. The Bobcats fall to 24-23 on the season and the Owls improve to 35-11.

A day-of-game change put Brian Borski on the mound and in his first collegiate start the hurler held the Owls scoreless for three solid innings on the mound. In the bottom of the fourth Rice broke free when Diego Seastrunk took the first pitch of the inning through the left side and Aaron Luna followed with a base hit to right field to shift him over. Borski walked the next batter for a full diamond, but Lance Loftin retired two on a base hit his way and the Owls managed to send one across in the commotion. The foe scored once more before the inning ended to take a 2-0 lead.

Kane Holbrooks took the mound in the bottom of the fifth and struck his first and last batters out looking, but Rice increased the tally to 3-0 with one hit.

Texas State finally found its niche when the Owls brought in Lucas Luetge in the top of the sixth. Laurn Randell dropped a single right over the short stop and Paul Goldschmidt drew a walk for a pair of base runners. Loftin staged a nice sac bunt down the third base line to shift the two and Elliott Babcock drove in Randell on a groundout for a 3-1 game.

But Rice raised the mark to 5-1 when lead-off hitter Jared Gayhart notched his fifth home run of the season with a runner on in the bottom of the seventh and grew its mark to 7-1 with a repeat two-run homer in the eighth. The ranked squad spread the margin to 9-1 to close out the eighth and sturdy relief from the bullpen held the `Cats scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Texas State walked away with five hits, half of Rice's total for the evening. Thomas Field, Randell and Loftin ended the night with 1-for-3 showings at the plate.

Borski took the loss for Texas State.

Bryan Price earned his third win of the season. Gayhart led the Owls at the plate with a 2-for-2 showing, scoring three runs and batting in two.

Texas State's next contest will be against the McNeese State Cowboys in Lake Charles, La. The `Cats are in the final stretch of Southland Conference play and will enter the weekend in fifth place. First pitch Friday night is slated for 6:30 p.m.