The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Rice
Baseball runs win streak vs. Rice to 10 games
03.27.2007 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 9 Texas used home runs by Kyle Russell and Russell Moldenhauer and a strong pitching performance by Austin Wood on one day's rest to post a 6-4 win over No. 8 Rice in collegiate baseball action Tuesday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
After three scoreless innings, Kyle Russell hit his 16th home run of the season, a blast down the right field line, to break the scoring seal and give Texas a 1-0 lead after four innings.
Rice (19-10) bounced back to score two runs in the fifth inning thanks to two Texas errors. Wood was pitching a perfect game before Joe Savery singled up the middle with two outs. Chad Lembeck followed with a fly ball to rightfield that was dropped by Russell, allowing Savery to score and Lembeck ended up coming around to touch home plate when Russell's throw to the dish went into the Longhorns' dugout, staking Rice to a 2-1 lead.
Texas (23-8) answered with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Travis Tucker hit a leadoff single to centerfield, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double to the wall in right centerfield by Chance Wheeless. After Jordan Danks and Russell drew walks to load the bases, Moldenhauer hit a sacrifice fly to plate Wheeless with the go-ahead run giving UT a 3-2 advantage.
Texas tacked on two more runs in the sixth to inflate the cushion to 5-2. The inning featured an RBI single by Wheeless and an RBI groundout by Danks.
Rice trimmed the lead to 5-4 with a pair of runs in the seventh. Danny Lehmann was hit by a pitch and with two outs Lembeck singled to put runners on second and third. A fielding by Wheeless on a grounder by Jess Buenger allowed Lehmann to score and put Lembeck on third. Diego Seastrunk followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Lembeck.
The Longhorns tacked on an insurance run in the bottom half of the seventh when Moldenhauer hit an opposite-field home run over the fence in leftfield.
Wood (4-0) allowed two unearned runs on three hits while striking out two over 5.2 innings to earn the win. After Pat McCrory allowed two unearned runs, Joseph Krebs followed with 1.2 innings of shutout relief, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out one. Randy Boone shut the door on the Owls in the ninth to earn his seventh save of the season.
Chris Kelley (0-2) was saddled with the loss for Rice. He allowed three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out five over four innings.
Wheeless went 3-for-5 with one run and two RBI. Moldenhauer went 2-for-3 with one runs scored, one home run and two RBI. Tucker hit 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Rice was paced by Savery who went 2-for-4 with one run scored.
The Longhorns return to action on Friday with Texas hosting No. 17 Oklahoma for a 6:05 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
