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April 20, 2008

Box Score

HOUSTON -- Junior right-hander Matt Langwell fired the first complete game of his Rice career and senior first baseman J.P. Padron drove in a pair of runs with three of the team's 13 hits to pace the sixth-ranked Owls to a 7-1 victory over visiting East Carolina in the finale of a three-game Conference USA weekend series Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park.

Rice collected double-digit hits for the 11th game in a row and the team is undefeated in that stretch for its longest win-streak of the season. The Owls' pitching staff has certainly been a big fan of the offensive support, but Langwell didn't need an abundance hitting help from his teammates Sunday. The standout from College Station, Tex., held East Carolina to just one run on seven hits to improve his record to 4-0. He struck out five and let the infielders turn key double plays in the second, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Rice broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fourth. Padron's first hit of the afternoon started a Blue & Gray hit parade. Each of the next four batters, Diego Seastrunk, Aaron Luna, Rick Hague and Adam Zornes, all slugged consecutive singles in the inning. The five-straight base hits plated Padron, Seastrunk and Luna for a 3-0 advantage.

The Owls put two more on the scoreboard in the fifth. Doug Simmons drew a leadoff walk and Jared Gayhart followed with a double to right field. Padron cleared the bases with a double to left-center that stretched the margin to 5-0.

East Carolina answered with a run in its at bat in the top of the sixth. Dustin Harrington singled and a one-out walk to Ryan Wood moved him into scoring position. Stephen Batts drove him home with a base hit that made the score 5-1. That proved to be all the Pirates would get on the day.

Rice, however, wasn't finished and tallied two in the bottom of the seventh. Gayhart and Padron hit safely with one away. Seastrunk drove in Gayhart with a hit and Padron took third on the play. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Luna to add the final insurance run.

Not only did Padron extended his hitting streak to a season-best 14 games, he registered his fifth three-hit game of the season which is tied for the most on the team. It was also the ninth time this season the League City, Tex., native has driven in two or more runs in a game. Gayhart, Seastrunk and Comerota finished the day with two hits each.

The Blue & Gray is now 31-10 overall and in sole possession of first place in the C-USA standings with a 12-2 league record. The Pirates moved to 27-13 on the season and 8-7 in conference.

Rice closes out its current four-game homestand on Tuesday night (April 22). The Owls host longtime rival Sam Houston State at Reckling Park in a 6:30 pm game.