April 5, 2008

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

MEMPHIS -- The Owl starting pitching tandem of Ryan Berry and Chris Kelley posted a pair of solid outings on the mound to lead the Rice baseball team to a double-header sweep of Memphis in a Conference USA series by the scores of 3-0 and 7-1, respectively, Saturday afternoon at Nat Buring Stadium on the UM campus.

Berry fired a complete-game three-hit shutout the opener and Kelley followed with a steady 6.1 frames in game two, holding the Tigers to just one run on seven hits while striking out five. The Owls will attempt to complete the sweep of the conference series with a single game on Sunday.

Berry notched his sharpest outing of the year in holding a Memphis team that made an NCAA Regional in 2007 to no runs in the Tigers' home park. He scattered three hits and one walk while striking out nine to improve his season record to 4-2. The Owls scratched-out a run in the fourth on a walk to Aaron Luna and a pair of singles by catcher Adam Zornes and first baseman J.P. Padron. In the fifth a sacrifice fly by Luna added another and an RBI single by Zornes stretched the lead to 3-0.

That proved to be more than enough for Berry, as the standout from Humble did not allow his first hit until the sixth inning. Memphis leadoff batter K.K. Chalmers reached on a two-base error to start the sixth and Chad Zurcher punched a single through the right side for the Tigers' first hit of the game. Chalmers flew around the bases to try to score, but a sensational throw by freshman outfielder Chad Mozingo and sweeping tag by Zornes saved a run. Memphis had matching two-singles in the seventh and eighth but Berry worked out of the jam with strikeouts. He ended the game with his 55th strikeout of the season.

Chris Kelley

In the second game freshman shortstop Rick Hague extended his hitting streak to 17 games to help drive in a pair of early runs for 3-0 Rice lead. By the time Kelley was lifted in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Owls extended the margin to 7-0. The Tigers attempted to put together a big rally in the seventh when Kelley loaded the bases with none away, but the best UM could do was settle for its lone run of the day. Kelley got a strikeout before giving way to Matt Evers, who retired his first batter on an RBI ground out and a strikeout of his own. Evers then fired a pair of scoreless frames of his own to preserve the 7-1 victory.

Hague and Jordan Dodson both drove in a pair of runs in the second game. Jared Gayhart had two hits in both games to give him four in the twin-bill. Rice improved to 22-10 overall and 6-2 in C-USA play. Memphis fell to 11-18-overall and 3-5 against the league. The teams conclude the three-game weekend series on Sunday. First pitch of the game is set for noon.