Thursday's Sports Update: Cougars no rival for Owl bats in baseball's 24-3 rout of Houston

By Meghan Hall     5/16/10 7:00pm

At the conclusion of yesterday's game, senior catcher Diego Seastrunk said, "We have to play every pitch. I feel like this team loses focus easily, and we get behind and we lose our focus so we just have to play every pitch as if it's our last."Rice certainly kept its focus tonight as it bested the University of Houston 24-3 (in seven innings) in its second game of the Conference USA Championship.

Head Coach Wayne Graham also noticed the focus present tonight in his Owls (37-20, 17-7 C-USA).

"I think in a way it may be some of that academic pressure relieving," Graham said. "They seem to be able to focus better now than they have all year, and focus is what it's all about . That's really the secret right there."

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As the visiting team at Cougar Field, Rice opened the first inning. By the inning's conclusion, 14 batters had been to the plate and 11 runs had been scored. Four singles, three walks and a grand slam by sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon provided all the runs the Owls would need against the Cougars (25-31, 10-14 C-USA).

Rendon had five RBI in the first inning, and the grand slam for the third baseman - who was recently named the C-USA Player of the Year for the second time in his two-year career - tied Jose Cruz, Jr., with 43 home runs for third place on the Rice career list.

The offensive firepower kept coming for the Owls, who recorded three doubles, two triples and six homers - three of which came in back-to-back-to-back fashion in the seventh inning. Each starter recorded at least one hit, while sophomore left fielder Michael Fuda and junior shortstop Rick Hague led the way with four hits each. Senior center fielder Steven Sultzbaugh finished with four RBI.

All of those numbers were no doubt pleasing to Graham.

"You don't see many games like that when you hit the ball that well," Graham said, "I hope we saved some of them for tomorrow."

Rice's pitchers were not to be outdone by the explosive bats. Senior Mike Ojala (5-2) started for Rice and tossed six innings while giving up three runs.

Ojala, who has been the team's best starter of late, recognized and relished the unique challenge in this game.

"It was awesome," Ojala said. "It was fun and a lot less pressure but it sucks at the same time because you don't want to walk people and you don't want to get shelled. You just have to go out there and focus."

Focus led to Rice's sixth game of the season with at least 20 runs. The Owls also set a C-USA record with the most runs in a tournament game.

Rice's C-USA journey continues tomorrow against Marshall University at 3 p.m. If the Owls win, they will advance to the Championship game Saturday night at 7 p.m.

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