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May 11, 2008

Box Score

HOUSTON -- Junior Aaron Luna went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double and a season-high six RBI to pace the fourth-ranked Rice baseball team to a 12-6 victory over crosstown rival Houston in the finale of the three-game Conference USA weekend series Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston. With the win the Owls clinched the 2008 C-USA regular season championship outright for a third-straight year and will again play as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming C-USA Tournament beginning on May 21st in New Orleans, La.

Rice has won 13-straight conference championships under head coach Wayne Graham dating back to 1996. The Owls clinched the regular season crown, but still has three games left to play before the league tournament. The team's final C-USA series is against Tulane next weekend and will also be played on the road in New Orleans.

The Owls finished the series against their crosstown rival with double-digit hits (15) for the third-straight game and the team wasted no time putting a pair of runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning. J.P. Padron drew a one-out walk and Diego Seastrunk singled. Both runners advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch and Luna made the most of the RBI opportunity with a double to straight-away center field.

Luna helped extend the Rice lead in the third. After singles by Padron and Seastrunk, the Southlake Carroll, Tex., native blasted his eighth home run of the season to clear the bases and add three more RBI. The round-tripper moved him into sixth place on Rice's all-time list with 37 career home runs, but the Owls weren't finished with the inning. Chad Mozingo walked and Rick Hague singled and both moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Adam Zornes. Mozingo scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Jimmy Comerota and Hague came home on a base hit by Doug Simmons to stretch the margin to 5-0.

Houston used the longball to get some of the runs back in the sixth. Jimmy Cesario singled and with two outs Ryan Lormand homered to left to make it a 5-2 game.

Rice answered with three more runs in its half of the frame. With one away, Jared Gayhart singled, Padron walked and Seastrunk slapped a double off the wall in right-center to drive the runners home. Seastrunk scored on Luna's third hit of the day to make the score 10-2 with his sixth RBI.

That was more than enough room for Owl starting pitcher Matt Langwell, who left after 6.0 innings with the comfortable lead. Langwell allowed just two runs on six hits while striking out six to remain undefeated at 5-0. When he left the game prior to the seventh, the Cougars opportunistically scored three runs without getting a hit. The Owls surrendered four walks and made a fielding error that cut the lead back down to five, 10-5.

Seastrunk and Luna led off the eighth inning with singles and the duo scored on back-to-back RBI singles by Hague and Zornes. UH rallied for its final run in the top of the ninth for the 12-6 final. Luna and Seastrunk both collected four hits in the game and were selected to the annual all-Silver Glove Trophy team for the season-long five-game series between the rivals. Luna was named the series' most outstanding player and the Owls claimed seven of the team's 12 spots (listed below).

Rice improved to 39-11 on the season and 18-3 in Conference USA. Houston fell to 30-21overall and 11-10 against the league. Rice has won the annual Silver Glove Trophy for the eight-straight years and ten times overall.

The 2008 C-USA champions next play at Tulane on Thursday, May 15, to begin a three-game series with the Green Wave. The start time is set for 6 pm. The teams will then play a split double-header on Friday, May 16, to conclude the regular season. Both games on Friday will be televised around the country by cable's CBS College Sports. Start times are slated for 1 pm and 7 pm.

The 2008 All-Silver Glove Trophy Series Team Most Outstanding Player: Aaron Luna, Rice; C: Adam Zornes, Rice; 1B: J.P. Padron, Rice; 2B: Ryan Lormand, UH; 3B: Bryan Pounds, UH; SS: Rick Hague, Rice; OF: Jake Stewart, UH; OF: Chad Mozingo, Rice; OF: Aaron, Luna, Rice; DH: Jimmy Cesario, UH; P: John Touchton, UH; P: Chris Kelley, Rice; Wild Card: Diego Seastrunk, Rice.