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April 2, 2004 > Sports > Baseball batters Bulldogs

Baseball batters Bulldogs

By Jonathan Yardley | Thresher Editorial Staff

Better late than never.

That was the story for the baseball team’s offense last week, as Rice scored 17 of its 21 runs during its last three at-bats in comeback wins Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

“It’s a big thing for us to come back late in the game — it shows heart and character — but I’d like to see us blow some people out early,” senior leftfielder Austin Davis said. “These are pitchers that we need to be getting on early.”

Though the Owls’ offense was sporadic, their victories last week ran their winning streak to a season-high five games.

Rice had a relatively easy time in last Friday’s series opener against Western Athletic Conference foe Fresno State University, scoring four runs in the fifth inning for a 6-1 win.

Junior right-hander Jeff Niemann struck out 12 hitters, and freshman designated hitter Adam Hale and sophomore rightfielder Lance Pendleton each hit home runs. Pendleton was named WAC Player of the Week for the week of March 23-28, when he was 8-for-14 with two home runs.

In the last two games against Fresno State and in Tuesday’s game against the University of Houston, Rice struggled in the early innings against a left-handed pitcher. On Tuesday, Davis drove in two runs to tie the game 2-2 in the third inning, but the Owls did not take the lead until a hitless run in the sixth, when junior first baseman Adam Rodgers was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Rice then exploded for five runs in the eighth, thanks in part to a series of UH miscues. Davis said beating UH in any way possible is important.

“It’s a big urgency — number one for getting recruits in the city, it’s a big series for that,” Davis said. “Number two, these are your friends over there, and you’ve just got to beat them.”

Rice leads the best-of-five Silver Glove Series two games to one and can clinch a third consecutive Silver Glove title with a win Tuesday at Cougar Field. Junior right-hander Josh Baker recovered from a shaky outing Saturday to pitch 5.2 innings of shutout relief and improve to 4-2 on the season.

Davis also returned to form, going 4-for-11 with three RBIs last week. He missed seven games earlier this month due to injury.

“It’s not totally back yet, but the hits are coming, so I’m ready to be back,” Davis said. “It was extremely frustrating — I was trying to just do too much.”

Saturday’s game was the weekend’s most tense, as a two-run single from Pendleton extended Rice’s lead to 6-3 in the seventh. Fresno State cut the lead to 6-5, but Baker escaped trouble in the ninth to pick up his third save of the season.

On Sunday, the Owls fell behind 2-0 early, but junior right-hander Wade Townsend kept the score close.

“You obviously wait and try to keep your guys in the game and hope that the runs do come,” Townsend said. “Once they do come, you have to go out there and focus like, ‘Okay, now we’ve got to bury this team.’”

Rice tied the game 2-2 in the sixth before loading the bases with walks and bunts in the seventh. Junior shortstop Paul Janish golfed an 0-1 pitch over the left-field wall for his first career grand slam, and the Owls cruised from there to a 7-2 win.

“It was a big situation — we struggled all game trying to score runs,” Janish said. “We were getting on ourselves, everybody was stressing out — I think we were pressing a little bit. I just wanted to hit the ball hard somewhere, and I was fortunate enough to get it out of the park.”

Janish, who has produced surprising power from the No. 2 spot in the lineup to lead Rice with five home runs and 31 RBI, said the waiting game against left-handers stems from inexperience at figuring out pitchers.

“I think it’s really just making adjustments,” Janish said. “We’re struggling with that right now, and it’s taking us [until] later in games. Fortunately for us, we have unbelievable pitching, and they’re keeping us in games.”

Because the Owls have faced so many left-handers recently, head coach Wayne Graham has shifted the starting lineup to include more right-handed bats. The lineup usually has freshman catcher Travis Reagan at catcher and Rodgers, normally a catcher, at first base. Reagan has responded, playing well enough to justify the change. He has also improved defensively in calling and blocking pitches.

“Rodgers has taught me a lot since I’ve been here, and I’ve learned a lot from the pitchers,” Reagan said. “Being out there has gotten us into a groove, and so now we’re getting the feel of each other.”

Reagan said although the Owls were not satisfied with their offensive performance against Fresno State, the sweep made it a successful weekend.

“It feels great, because last weekend against Hawaii, we didn’t play as well as we wanted to [in] all three games,” Reagan said. “This is a big sweep. We didn’t want to deal with them at their place with them having any hope whatsoever.”

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