Offensive explosion propels Rice to sweep

By Jessica Cannon     3/20/08 7:00pm

As if five wins were not enough to make last week cause for celebration for the baseball team, head coach Wayne Graham also tacked on career victory No. 750 to his resumé. The wins - four of which came against Winthrop University and one against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette - may have coincided with the end of sophomore third baseman Diego Seastrunk's 19-game hitting streak, but freshman shortstop Rick Hague more than made up for it with a .588 batting average over the weekend, including in six RBIs on two homers in a single game.The ninth-ranked Owls (14-6) swept Winthrop (3-10) in a four-game series this past weekend before defeating La.-Lafayette (6-11) by a score of 17-6 on Wednesday evening at Reckling Park.

Rice took advantage of its homestand to hone its struggling pitching and rough defense before starting conference play on the road this weekend. The Owls travel to Charleston, W.Va., to face Marshall University in a three game series. Rice will then head back to Texas to take on Texas State University Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in San Marcos before returning to the Space City to face the University of Houston the next night at the same time at Cougar Field. The last time Rice and UH met, Feb. 27, the Owls topped off an extraordinary comeback with sophomore Jimmy Comerota's squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth. Rice won the game 12-11.

Pitching will be the bigger hurdle when the Owls face their conference opponents - Rice pitchers boast a 4.17 ERA this year, which is good, but not as dominant as it has been in years past. But if Rice's offense can buoy itself like it did last week, the pitching should have little trouble cementing the win. Beginning the series against Winthrop on a solid 10-4 win, sophomore pitcher Ryan Berry cruised for eight innings with six strikeouts, although the offense was equally notable: Rice had twelve hits, including six doubles, and was highlighted by Hague's 3-4 night. Seastrunk, senior outfielder Jordon Dodson, and junior catcher Adam Zornes also had two-baggers on the night.

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The real story of the night, however, was the honor achieved by Graham. He became the only coach in Rice history to reach the 750-win plateau, a feat not lost on the 71-year-old.

"We're proud of that [achievement] because I think it was done in a reasonable length of time," Graham said. "Every one of those milestones is really nice, and it's nice that people recognize it."

The Owls continued the celebration Saturday night, rocking the Eagles 12-2. Hague once again led the offense, tallying a single, double and his third homerun of the season. Senior left fielder Derek Myers also contributed three RBIs on his second long ball of the season.

On the hill, junior pitcher Matt Langwell rang up seven Eagles in his seven innings, allowing only six hits and two earned runs.

Rice broke form on Sunday, falling behind 6-1 going into the fifth inning before a stellar performance by senior pitcher Cole St. Clair - who posted seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings - helped keep the Eagles at bay for the rest of the day. St. Clair's shutout work allowed the Owls to pound out nine unanswered runs for the 10-6 win. Seastrunk had two hits, extending his streak to 19 games with a hit, while Hague and junior outfielder Jared Gayhart each drove in multiple runs.

In the final game of the Winthrop series, Hague continued his pace continued with a grand slam in the bottom of the first and a two-run homer in the fourth. Sophomore pitcher Mike Ojala shook off his last few poor outings to go six innings with 9 strikeouts and only three hits as the Owls won 9-1.

Since the game was already out of hand early, Graham put Seastrunk on the hill for the first time in his young career. Seastrunk, the usual third basemen, noted his nerves but quickly calmed himself down. "I was kind of nervous. I haven't been on the mound since high school, at least not in a game, and the first couple of pitches went to the backstop. So after I got those out of the way, I felt pretty good."

Rice finished up the homestand with their biggest victory of the year, trouncing La.-Lafayette by a 17-6 margin. After a stretch of nail-biting finishes, Seastrunk said it was nice to finally have a reprieve.

"We were up and down for a couple weeks," Seastrunk said. "We needed to get these wins under our belt to get some momentum going into conference play."

The past two weeks have seen fielders Dodson, Gayhart and Seastrunk take the mound, which probably has a few Rice fans scratching their heads. But combined they have nine strikeouts in eight innings of relief, pitching depth that might come in handy as the season progresses.

"They pitched very well in fall," said Graham. "They have a possibility of being short relievers for us, [relievers] that we might need.

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