by Catherine Taylor
Staff Writer
UH dropped a heartbreaker to Rice 6-5 Tuesday night in front of 710 fans at Cougar Field, and once again, the loss came in the midst of bad starting pitching.
Junior starting pitcher Jon McDonald seemed to have things under control, shutting out the Owls in the first inning, but things would soon change for the left-hander.
Owl Bubba Crosby stepped up to the plate to start the second inning and slammed his 18th home run of the season over the right-field wall, and with that, Jon McDonald's number was up.
The Owls went on to score catcher Justin Berg on an RBI by designated hitter Ryan Mathews and take a 2-0 lead.
Rice continued to capitalize on McDonald, scoring two runs in each of the next two innings, before Duncan McAdoo was sent in to relieve the Cougars in the fourth. In McDonald's three innings of play, he gave up six runs on seven hits, which would turn out to be an insurmountable deficit for Houston.
"It hurts when you go out and the starter doesn't do as well as you want him to," said first baseman Scott Keithley, "but we're a team and we have to pick up for each other."
Lance Berkman, who was shut out in the last meeting of the two Houston teams, would not give a repeat performance at Cougar Field. Berkman was responsible for all four Owl runs in the third and fourth innings, racking up two RBI on base hits in two consecutive at-bats and propelling Rice to a 6-0 lead.
Meanwhile, J.J. Savina, starting pitcher for the Owls, held UH scoreless through three innings before the Cougars began to make a comeback in the bottom of the fourth.
Both catcher Bruce Rios and second baseman Ryan Ware batted in runners as the Cougars began to creep back into the game at 6-2.
UH relief pitching once again did a great job of holding off the opposition. McAdoo gave up no runs and only three hits, while striking out four in his three and two-thirds innings of play. He was followed by freshmen Robert Dieudonné and Jeremy Swindell and senior Scott McLeod, who managed to hold the Owls scoreless for the remainder of the game.
"The guys that have been going out there after our starters have been doing an admirable job," said Houston coach Rayner Noble. "The games that we've gotten beat this year have been because our starting pitching has just been terrible."
The Cougars came close to tying things up with RBI in the fourth inning from both Rios and Ware. Third baseman Dustin Carr brought UH to within one, scoring Shane Nance on an RBI single in the seventh. Houston was trailing only 6-5 when Rice brought in junior Matt Anderson to finish out the game.
Anderson gave a stellar performance in the last two and two-thirds innings of play, giving up no runs and only one hit while striking out three. The right-handed pitcher earned his 10th save of the season, setting a new Rice record.
The Cougars have had to make some fielding changes with center fielder Goefrey Tomlinson still out due his hamstring injury before the Baylor game last week. The Cougars seem to be adjusting well and are optimistic about their upcoming games as they look to put this game behind them.