Return of Ojala brings Rice series win over ECU
One down, one to go. That's the motto for the Owls this week in regard to their junior starters, as they celebrate the return of Mike Ojala and eagerly anticipate Ryan Berry's arrival back from injury. Ojala, a junior, made his first start since March 20 last Sunday against East Carolina University, throwing the rubber game in a three-game away series and pulling home the win for Rice. Berry, also a junior, is expected back sometime after finals. The Owls (25-9, 9-3 Conference USA), currently ranked first by Rivals.com and second by Baseball America, played a three-game road series against ECU last weekend, who at the time was leading the C-USA standings and is now ranked 23rd nationally.
Before Ojala's successful return, Rice won the opener of the series in dramatic fashion. Junior starter Jared Rogers gave up seven earned runs in his 1.1 innings of work, and after two innings Rice still trailed by that margin. By the end of the fifth, the Pirates were leading 11-4 and looked like the dominant team that had been in first place almost all season.
In the sixth, however, the Owls picked up four runs and never looked back, taking the game 15-11.
"That was one of the greatest comebacks we've ever had at Rice," Head Coach Wayne Graham said. "It was an almost incredible comeback."
Rice, which scored the last 11 runs in the game, finished with 18 hits. Junior second baseman Brock Holt hit a three-run homer, and sophomore Chad Mozingo came off the bench and stroked a bases-loaded double to put Rice ahead for good in the eighth.
The second game, however, did not fall in Rice's favor. Freshman Taylor Wall (4-3) pitched a solid game, giving up only two earned runs over seven innings with nine strikeouts, but ECU starter Seth Maness threw a complete game three-hitter with no earned runs in ECU's 4-1 win. Junior Steven Sultzbaugh had the sole RBI for Rice.
In the series finale on Sunday, Ojala (4-0) came back after more than three weeks off and, over five innings, gave up only one run and struck out 10 to pick up his second win. His 1.43 ERA leads the team.
Both Ojala and Graham were pleased with the righthander's return after two and a half weeks off.
"He was really good," Graham said. "Getting Ojala back was the key to winning the series. He gave
us a great five innings and put us in position to win."
As for Ojala, he was thankful to be off the bench and in a position to have a positive influence on his team.
"I haven't had much fun sitting on the bench," the junior said. "Me and Ryan have been itching to get out there, and he's still itching. Our offense has been stepping up, the pitching's been letting them down a little bit, and so we need to pick our offense up. But everyone's been stepping up and it's been great."
Four hits in the fourth inning led to three runs for the Owls thanks to RBI hits by freshman Craig Manuel, Sultzbaugh and Holt, who finished the day 3-3 with two walks.
Doubles by freshman Jeremy Rathjen and junior Jimmy Comerota brought more Rice runs in the sixth and seventh with RBI singles by sophomore Rick Hague and Manuel. Rice's five runs, plus the relief efforts of senior Jordan Rogers, were enough to stave off the Pirates' three-run rally in the eighth, and the Owls won 5-4 to claim the series and a share of the C-USA lead.
Rice lost for only the second time in their last 12 games Tuesday night when they fell to unranked Texas A&M University 7-3. Pitching their weekend starter Barrett Loux, Texas A&M appeared hungry to avenge their early season loss to the Owls back when the Aggies held a No. 1 ranking.
Sophomore Travis Wright got the start, but after only an inning of work, Graham went to the bullpen. Sophomore Matt Evers (2-1) gave up three runs, two earned, to put the Owls in a hole from which they would not climb. The offensive bright spots for the Owls were Holt and freshman Anthony Rendon, who both finished with three hits. Rendon collected the team's only RBI, as the two other runs were scored due to a balk and a wild pitch.
The contest against Texas A&M marked the first of a four-game homestand, shortened due to the cancellation of the team's Wednesday game against University of Texas-San Antonio. Marshall University comes into town tonight for a three-game conference series. The two teams will face off today at 6:30 p.m., tomorrow at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
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