Feb. 23, 2007

Box Score

Baseball: Rice Next Meets Nebraska Saturday In 1 PM Game At Reckling Park

HOUSTON -- The rare collegiate mascot match-up of Owls vs. Owls came down to a dramatic walk-off home run with two away in the ninth inning as junior first baseman Joe Savery, lifted the fourth-ranked Rice baseball team to a 4-2 victory over visiting Florida Atlantic University in the late game of the Rice Invitational presented by Academy Sports Friday evening at Reckling Park in Houston.

After Rice jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, Florida Atlantic bounced back and tied the game in the later innings. Rice had opportunities to score with a runner on third base in both the seventh and eighth innings, but FAU worked out of the jam both times. It looked like the scenario might happen for a third time in the bottom of the ninth when Rice had a man in scoring position, but with two away. Savery ended the contest and gave Rice its fourth-consecutive win with his first home run of the season. His walk-off round-tripper to straight-away center field was the difference in the 4-2 final.

Rice opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Sophomore Aaron Luna led it off to right-center. Two batters later true freshman Diego Seastrunk hit his first collegiate home run with shot over the right field wall that made the score 2-0.

Florida Atlantic chipped away for single runs in the sixth and seventh. In the top of the sixth Robbie Widlansky led off with a double to left field. He advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out to shortstop. In the seventh back-to-back singles by Daniel Cook and Justin Martin put men on first and second with one away. Nick Arata grounded a pitch in the infield that Rice tried to convert for an inning-ending double play, but some FAU hustle tied the game 2-2. Arata dove to beat the ball to first base and Cook never stopped on his way to home plate.

Rice's Tyler Henley had a lead-off triple in the seventh as part of a three-hit night, but the Blue & Gray could not bring him home. In the eighth Rice had runners on first and third but FAU, who entered the game with an undefeated 9-0 record, would not break.

Rice (7-4) had a solid starting effort on the mound by junior Chris Kelley. The right-hander worked 6.0 innings, scattering six hits and walking two with five strikeouts. Junior left-hander Bobby Bramhall earned the win in relief firing three hitless innings, striking out two.

The round-robin tournament continues at Reckling Park all weekend. Rice next hosts seventh-ranked Nebraska (4-1) at 1 pm on Saturday. In Friday's first game of the tournament Nebraska coasted to a 9-1 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Florida Atlantic is scheduled to meet TAMUCC in Saturday's second game at 4:30 pm.