Sports Notebook: Baseball finishes preseason play

By Meghan Hall     11/6/08 6:00pm

The baseball team finished the exhibition season undefeated and with a combined batting average of .348 over the four 14-inning games. The Owls' 21-2 win over McNeese State University last Saturday at Reckling Park was the last in a series of two wins over the University of Texas and one over Texas State University.New players continued performing well during this exhibition, as junior Brock Holt, freshman Anthony Rendon, junior Steven Sultzbaugh and freshman Jeremy Rathjen each had three hits. The offensive star of the day, however, was junior Jimmy Comerota. His seven hits and five RBI included one home run and a stolen base. The other Owls who collected multiple hits were freshman Dave Peterson and sophomore Michael Fuda, who had three and four RBI, respectively.

The Rice offense managed 28 hits, eight of them for extra bases. Meanwhile, the 10 Rice pitchers struck out 16 and only allowed two runs. Junior Mike Ojala started, finishing three innings of work with five strikeouts. The only other pitchers who threw multiple innings were freshman Taylor Wall and sophomore Matt Evers, while sophomore Doug Simmons struck out the three batters he faced in his inning of work.

The Owls do not play again until Feb. 20, when they travel to California to play California Polytechnic State University for a three-game series to open their season. The first game at Reckling Park is Feb. 25 against the University of Houston.

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