Sports
 

Owls hunt Cougars by night

Late-inning rallies stifled by near misses; Rice's Baker stumps UH hitters

By Barrett Goldsmith
The Daily Cougar

Tempers flared, nerves frayed and opportunities slipped away, but they were all drowned out by the sound of a pitch that popped, zipped and didn't give the Cougars a chance. 

Houston had no answer for Rice starter Josh Baker, who kept the Cougar bats flying in all directions and kept the Cougars from keeping pace. No. 4 Rice defeated UH 4-3 at Cougar Field in Game 4 of the Silver Glove Series. 

"We faced a very good pitcher with deceptive stuff," head coach Rayner Noble said. "We hung in there and we battled, but we just came up a hair short." 

Baker struck out 14 batters in six and two thirds innings of work, allowing seven hits and two earned runs. With the win, Baker improves to 5-2 this season. 

A controversial call at third by home plate umpire Matt Johnson pulled the rug out from under Houston in the eighth, and the Cougars couldn't muster up enough steam to overcome the deficit. 

Rice began carving up its advantage early, as the Owls mounted a mini-rally with two outs in the first inning when Lance Pendleton drew a walk and Adam Rogers sent him home with a with a double down the left field line. 

The Owls did it again in the third when Chris Kolkhorst, who had moved to third on a passed ball, scored on a double off the center field wall by Pendleton to give Rice a 2-0 lead. 

Rice carved a little deeper in the fourth, when the Owls reeled off a pair of back-to-back RBI singles by Clay Reichenbach and Kolkhorst. 

Houston blunted the lead when freshman Jake Stewart scored on a wild pitch by Baker after getting to third on a double by sophomore Kevin Roberts. The Cougars added another run in the next frame when junior Stuart Musslewhite blasted a Baker fastball over the left field wall for his second home run of the season. 

With the score 4-2 in the seventh, the Cougars loaded the bases on an error and back-to-back walks. Baker left the game with two outs and the bases still juiced, and Jeff Niemann picked up the slack, striking out freshman Dustin Kingsbury to end the inning. 

A sideshow caused by the ejection of UH assistant coach Sean Allen in the middle of the ninth caused a stir in the crowd and appeared to create a spark in the Cougar bats when Roberts homered to left field to bring the Cougars within one run. 

But Niemann retired the final two batters and UH lost another close ballgame. 

Freshman Shea Hancock started the game for the Cougars but left the game after allowing four earned runs on four hits in four innings. 

Sophomore Matt Farrington gave a stout performance in relief of Hancock, pitching four and a third innings of shutout ball with only three hits and seven strikeouts. 

The Silver Glove Series will close with the fifth and final game (Rice holds a 3-1 lead) between the teams this season at 7 p.m. May 12 at Reckling Park on the Rice campus. 

"A hit here and a call there, we could have won this thing," Noble said. "But we're going to store it away and concentrate on Charlotte this weekend. We'll see (the Owls) again."

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