by Andrew J. Ferraro
and Catherine Taylor
Staff Writers
An early offensive onslaught by the Rice Owls proved too much for the Houston Cougars baseball team to handle in a 8-5 loss in front of 593 fans at Cameron Field Tuesday.
The Owls scored six runs in the first two innings and held on to defeat the Cougars, who lost for just the fourth time in their last 13 games.
In the bottom of the first inning, consecutive singles by center fielder Bubba Crosby and right fielder Will Ford scored Joseph Cathey and Lance Berkman, giving the Owls an early 2-0 lead.
After the Cougars were retired in order in the top of the second, Rice was at it again. The Owls scored four runs, including Crosby's 15th homer of the season, which plated Ryan Mathews and Jason Richards.
Crosby hit a 70 mph changeup into the trees before Schreiber got Ford to ground out to end the inning.
Crosby finished the day 4-for-4, including a double, a home run and a stolen base.
Rice's top hitter Lance Berkman, who leads the nation in homers with 22, was 0-for-4 today with two strikeouts.
"I am having a pretty good year," Crosby said, "but the attention going to Lance is good for me because it takes the pressure off of me."
Rice head coach Wayne Graham said, "Bubba was basically our offense today. Nobody really swung the bat except for him."
Houston freshman Duncan McAdoo, making his fourth appearance of the season, came in and gave Houston three solid innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits with one strikeout and a walk.
After compiling just two hits over the first four innings, the Cougars' bats came alive and scored two runs on three hits in the top of the fifth inning, bringing them within five.
With two outs, consecutive singles by Jason Schreiber and Bruce Rios scored Goefrey Tomlinson and Dustin Carr.
Houston added a run in the sixth on an RBI single by junior Shaun Skrehot, who was 2-for-4 with one RBI.
After the Owls added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Crosby, UH freshman left-hander Jerret Sykes came in and pitched one and two-thirds innings of relief, yielding just one hit and striking out one.
The Cougars were at it again, trying to make a comeback in the top of the eighth as Eric Lee singled and later scored on a wild pitch.
Two pitches later, the Cougars got within three as Scott Keithley scored on a groundout by Ryan Ware.
But that was as close as they could get as Rice junior relief pitcher Matt Anderson came in and retired the side, ending the game.
"We just got a poor start in pitching," said Houston coach Rayner Noble. "When you don't put a starter out there who does much, you get in the hole. Next time he goes out, (Schreiber) will be better."
The Cougars have a chance to even the score next Tuesday as the two teams will face each other this time at Cougar Field.
"It's a disappointment because they are our crosstown rivals," senior pitcher Tommy Marik said. "We weren't all there mentally, and they just played a little bit better than us."