The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Rice
Baseball falls to Rice, 6-3
03.17.2009 | Baseball
March 17, 2009
Box Score 
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Box Score
HOUSTON -- The No. 1 Texas Longhorns lost a grudge match to the No. 7 Rice Owls, 6-3, in baseball action at Reckling Park on Tuesday evening.
The Horns were haunted by a four-run fifth inning for the Owls, the most runs allowed by Texas in a frame this year. The five earned runs Texas allowed in the game was also a season-high.
With the Longhorns nursing 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, starter Austin Dicharry retired the leadoff batter, but allowed a single up the middle by Brock Holt and a two-run home run to leftfield by Rick Hague to give Rice a 3-2 edge.
Andrew McKirahan relieved Dicharry on the mound. After allowing a single to Chad Mozingo, McKirahan was victimized by a bloop single by Anthony Rendon and a seeing-eye single up the middle by Diego Seastrunk to drive in Mozingo and inflate the Rice cushion to 4-2. Taylor Jungmann took the mound for the Longhorns and struck out a pair of batters to end the inning, but not before a pair of wild pitches plated Rendon for the 5-2 advantage.
Rice (11-5) drew first blood in the bottom of the third. Steven Sultzbaugh hit a leadoff triple off the rightfield wall and scored on a single to centerfield by Craig Manuel to stake the Owls to a 1-0 lead.
The Longhorns tallied an equalizer in the top of the fourth. Brandon Belt drew a lead-off walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Russell Moldenhauer, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cameron Rupp.
Texas (14-3) took its lone lead of the game in the fifth. Kyle Lusson reached on a throwing error by Hague, the Rice shortstop. A walk issued to David Hernandez and a failed attempt to retire a runner at third on a sacrifice bunt by Brandon Loy loaded the bases. With the sacks saturated and no outs, the Horns came away with only one run on a sacrifice fly by Preston Clark to give the Horns a 2-1 advantage.
After Rice posted its four-run fifth, the Longhorns responded by shaving a run off the lead in the top of the sixth. Moldenhauer doubled down the rightfield line, moved to third on a single by Rupp and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tant Shepherd to cut the lead to 5-3.
The Owls tacked on an insurance run in the sixth. A single and error put Mozingo on second where he scored on an extremely rare two-base sacrifice fly by Rendon.
Dicharry (0-1) was saddled with the loss, yielding three runs on six hits and one run while striking out four over 4.1 innings. Jungmann allowed one unearned run while striking out four over 2.0 innings. Austin Wood closed out the game with 1.2 shutout innings, allowing one hit while striking out two.
Jordan Rogers (4-1) earned the win for Rice, allowing one run on two hits while striking out one over 2.2 innings. Starter Matthew Reckling surrendered just one run on two hits and one walk while striking out four. Mike Ojala picked up his first career save as he struck out four of the five batters he faced over 1.2 innings.
Texas returns to Big 12 action on Friday with a 3 p.m. contest against the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence, Kansas.
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