Baseball sweeps Florida Atlantic

By Michael Kidd     3/25/14 7:50pm

The Rice University baseball team competed in a three-game series this past weekend against Florida Atlantic University. In the battle of the Owls, Rice came out victorious in all three contests.

The Rice University baseball team competed in a three-game series this past weekend against Florida Atlantic University. In the battle of the Owls, Rice came out victorious in all three contests. The Owls improved to 19-6 on the season and 8-1 in Conference USA play. With the sweep, Rice is now on a nine-game winning streak; the Owls have won 12 of their last 13 games. 

Junior right-hander Zech Lemond took the mound for the Rice Owls for the first of three games against FAU on Friday night. Rice led 1-0 after seven innings of play with Lemond pitching all seven scoreless innings. Not until the eighth inning did senior Shane Hoelscher rip a two-out single down the third base line to tack on another run. Lemond threw 8.1 shutout innings and struck out a career-high 12 batters. He was pulled with one out in the ninth and replaced by sophomore Matt Ditman, who secured the 2-0 win. 

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Sophomore pitcher Blake Fox took the mound on Saturday. The FAU Owls struck first with an RBI single in the first inning. Rice rallied for four runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. They then tacked on 10 more runs in the ballgame, winning by a final score of 14-1. The Owls were 10-15 hitting with runners in scoring position, and Rice’s offensive performance coupled with Fox’s pitching secured the victory. Hoelscher tied a career-high by going 4-4 on the day with three doubles. He has hit safely in five straight at-bats since his game-winning hit on Friday night. 

Chase McDowell pitched for Rice in the final game of the series on Sunday. In similar fashion to Saturday, the FAU Owls scored a run in the first inning but could not hold the lead. The Rice Owls answered in the bottom of the inning with two runs. Ewing hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one run apiece. A few pitches later, junior catcher John Clay Reeves hit a solo home run deep to left field to give Rice the advantage. McDowell went seven innings, allowing the one run until freshman CJ Chatham hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to tie the game at two runs apiece. The game remained tied until the bottom of the 12th inning when junior infielder Skyler Ewing hit a walk-off two-out single to win the game for Rice. Ditman did not allow a single hit in his relief role and struck out eight batters to improve his scoreless innings streak to 17.1 consecutive innings pitched without giving up a run. 

Lemond said the Owls have grown as a team as the season has progressed. He said the winning streak is a testament to the intensity and focus the team brings into every game.  

“You can really see how much more we want it now compared to how we started off,” Lemond said. “We go out with the same intensity every day and everyone’s on board. We don’t want to lose to anybody.”

Lemond was named Co-Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for his performance on Friday night. He said he approaches his role as starter the same way he did last year when he was a reliever– by focusing on recording outs. 

“I’m still just pitching, so that’s the way I go out and look at it,” Lemond said. “Even though I used to pitch out of the pen and I start now, I think of it as just going out there, throwing strikes and getting outs.” 

Skyler Ewing said as the season progressed, the offense developed consistency and the pitching staff has been routinely strong throughout the season.

“It has been one of those deals where, as we move on throughout the season, we [have gotten] more comfortable at the plate and much more consistent,” Ewing said. “It’s great [to know] our pitching will always be there and that we can rely on our pitching to the extent where we will always [be competitive] in ballgames.” 

The Owls will travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn. this upcoming weekend to face the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State University. The three-game series begins Friday, March 28, and first pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

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