Tuesday's Sports Update: Baseball beats back No. 1 Longhorns at home

By Meghan Hall     3/12/09 7:00pm

Two freshman starting pitchers-Texas's Austin Dicharry of Klein Collins High School and Rice's Matthew Reckling of Kinkaid-went to high school less than 20 miles from one another in the Houston area but ended up facing each other last Tuesday night. Fourth-ranked Rice took on longtime rival University of Texas, which, according to Baseball America, is the best team in the nation.

Reckling started the game for the Owls, the first of his career. Before this start, he had pitched 3.2 innings over three appearances, with two losses and a 12.27 ERA.

The beginning of the game was scoreless, with Dicharry facing the minimum six Owls over the first two innings. In the third, however, junior Steven Sultzbaugh tripled to right field and freshman Craig Manuel followed with a single up the middle for Rice's first run of the game.

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The Longhorns responded small-ball style in the top of the fourth on the combination of a walk, sacrifice bunt, wild pitch and sacrifice fly.

Reckling then left the game after four innings, finishing with one earned run, two hits, four strikeouts and one walk. He was relieved by junior Matt Evers.

Reckling was pleased with his first college start, giving credit to his bullpen and his lineup.

"The bullpen was great," Reckling said. "That big home run, all the hits - you can't ask for anything more."

Head Coach Wayne Graham was also encouraged by the start, though he had confidence in Reckling from the beginning and was prepared to use his bullpen more.

"I knew he could do what he did," Graham said. "And I knew he would not be able to go very long, because he hasn't gone very long last year. . He never went more than three innings. This is his longest stint at Rice."

Texas threatened again in the fifth, when junior Kyle Lusson reached second base on an error by sophomore shortstop Rick Hague. After a walk and a fielder's choice, the Longhorns had the bases loaded with no outs.

Evers, who picked up the win, struck out senior second baseman Travis Tucker and was then pulled for Rogers, who entered the game with three wins and a 2.84 ERA. Lusson scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Preston Clark, but the Owls emerged otherwise unscathed.

In the bottom of the fifth Hague got the lead back for Rice with his third home run of the year, a two-run shot that also scored junior second baseman Brock Holt, who earlier reached base on a single. Dicharry was then removed for freshman Andrew McKirahan.

Hague emphasized two-strike hitting during his at-bat, and after an unsuccessful first attempt against Dicharry, he was able to capitalize.

"He had struck me out on a curveball earlier so I was looking curveball the whole way and he gave it to me and I got it," Hague said.

The hitting continued with consecutive singles by sophomore right fielder Chad Mozingo and freshman third baseman Anthony Rendon. Junior designated hitter Diego Seastrunk rocked a single up the middle, scoring Mozingo and increasing Rice's lead to 4-2. A wild pitch scored Rendon to cap off a four-run inning for the Owls.

Junior Russell Moldenhauer led off the sixth for Texas with a double down the right field line. He later scored on a sacrifice fly.

Mozingo led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and he advanced to second on an error by the shortstop. Controversy then ensued when right fielder Moldenhauer made a diving catch on a ball hit by Rendon. At first the umpire called it a hit, then it was reversed to an out. The Longhorns argued with the umpires about the run scored by Mozingo, saying he did not tag up for a sacrifice fly. The run was upheld, however, and the Owls entered the eighth with a 6-3 advantage that was the final score.

Six Owls finished with multi-hit games, and they hope to use this win for help against their upcoming conference series.

"[After] going into the conference and beating UT, the guys are confident that we can do well," Hague said.

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