April 15, 2007

Box Score

HOUSTON -- Sophomore second baseman Jess Buenger went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI to lead a 16-hit Rice attack as the fifth-ranked Owls cruised to an 11-6 victory over crosstown rival Houston in the finale of the three-game Conference USA/Silver Glove Trophy series Sunday afternoon at Cougar Field on the UH campus.

With consecutive wins over UH on Saturday and Sunday, Rice claimed the weekend series two-games-to-one and retained possession of the Silver Glove Trophy as the city's collegiate champion for a seventh-straight year. The Owls have won the annual trophy in nine of the 10 years it has been awarded dating back to 1998.

The Blue & Gray took the lead early by putting a run on the board in the top of the first inning. Junior Tyler Henley led off by blasting an 0-2 pitch over the right field wall for his third home run of the season and a 1-0 Rice advantage.

Houston went ahead in the bottom of the second with a two-out rally. Zak Presley and Bryan Pounds hit back-to-back singles and Chris Wallace drew a walk to load the bases. Leadoff batter Ryan Lormand singled home Presley and Pounds to move in front 2-1.

Rice batted around for a big four-run fourth. Joe Savery walked with one out and back-to-back doubles by Buenger and Diego Seastrunk gave the Owls the lead at 3-2. After Jordan Dodson singled to put men on the corners, Seastrunk scored on sacrifice fly by Danny Lehmann for a 4-2 Rice lead. Travis Reagan kept the rally going with a base hit that set up a situation with runners on first and second. Henley followed with a high pop that the Houston infielders lost in the sun. With two away, the runners were on the move and Dodson scored easily to stretch the margin to 5-2. Reagan advanced to third and Henley hustled all the way around for a double without the ball leaving the infield.

Reagan blasted a solo home run to left in the sixth to make the score 6-2, but the Cougars came right back with runs on three hits in the bottom of the frame to pull within one, 6-5.

Buenger twice more played a role in Rice runs as the Owls answered with three in the seventh and two more in the eight to put the margin out of reach at 11-5. He had an RBI double in the seventh and then scored on base hit by Seastrunk. In the eighth the Bellville, Tex., native singled with one away and men on the corners for the team's final run of the day. The Cougars scratched out a run in the bottom of the eighth for an 11-6 final.

Buenger's career-high four hits led nine Owls to hit safely on the day. Henley, Gayhart, Seastrunk and Reagan all had two hits Sunday. For the series Rice batted a composite .349 and maintained a .587 slugging percentage.

Senior pitcher Scott Lonergan earned his fourth win of the season working in relief. He fired 1.2 hitless innings and struck out a pair. Rice improved to 29-11 on the season and 10-2 in C-USA action. The Owls have won 21-consecutive conference series dating back to March of 2005 when Rice was a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Houston fell to 19-6 overall and 6-3 against the league.

Seven Owls were named to the Silver Glove Trophy all-series team, including Rice senior pitcher Ryne Tacker as the Most Outstanding Player. Tacker won Saturday's second game of the series with six shutout innings on the mound where he tied a career-high with nine strikeouts. The 2007 all-series honorees included Tacker (MVP), Aaron Brown (p/UH), Ryan Berry (p/Rice), Chris Wright (p/UH), Travis Reagan (c/Rice), Joe Savery (1b/Rice), Jess Buenger (2b/Rice), Dustin Kingsbury (3b/UH), Brian Friday (ss/Rice), Jimmy Cesario (of/UH), Tyler Henley (of/Rice), Jared Gayhart (of/Rice), Zak Presley (of/UH) and Ryan Lormand (wild card/UH).

Rice wrapped up a stretch of seven-consecutive road games and returns to play at home at Reckling Park for the first time since April 3. The Owls host the nationally-ranked Texas Longhorns on Tuesday (Apr. 17) to start a five-game homestand. The contest is scheduled for a national television broadcast by CSTV starting at 7 pm.