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April 1, 2005 > Sports > Owls take Silver Glove, look to move up in WAC

Owls take Silver Glove, look to move up in WAC

By Jonathan Yardley | Thresher Editorial Staff

Although the baseball team clinched its seventh Silver Glove Series championship in eight years with a 6-2 win over crosstown rival University of Houston at Cougar Field Tuesday, the Owls’ bullpen looks shaky heading into this weekend’s series against Western Athletic Conference co-leader Fresno State University.

Ahead 14-0 heading into the ninth inning of Saturday’s game against the University of Nevada, Rice relievers gave up six runs before finally retiring the Wolf Pack. Sunday, the Owl bullpen could not record the last out of the eighth inning after a phenomenal start from freshman left-hander Joe Savery. Rice relievers surrendered four runs on two walks, a hit batter, a passed ball, an error and just two hits in the eighth, and Nevada added two runs in the ninth on one hit, two walks, a hit batter and a balk to win the series finale 7-5. Tuesday’s win restored some of Rice’s confidence, but head coach Wayne Graham said the Owls need to execute better.

‘When you look at how we lost the [March 18] San Jose game and the Nevada game, all these things are correctible,’ Graham said. ‘We haven’t been blown out all year. … We’ve got enough talent to compete with anybody in the country, but we missed signs [against UH] — we got picked off when we weren’t even stealing. We’ve got to rectify these things.’

Rice (19-9, 2-4 WAC) looks to reassert itself in the WAC against Fresno State (17-15, 3-0) this weekend. The Bulldogs are riding a six-game winning streak after sweeping Hawaii last week and are tied with San Jose State University (15-9-1, 5-1) for the conference lead. Fresno State started Rice’s current streak of three consecutive WAC road series lost by winning two games at home against the Owls last year, and Rice needed a ninth-inning homer to escape with the series win in its national championship season of 2003.

‘[Fresno State] started off slow this year, but they’re hot and talented,’ Graham said.

‘We’re going to have to be good to win these. I’d like to win two, but we’ll see.’

Junior right fielder/right-hander Lance Pendleton said Rice’s improved hitting intensity should help the Owls this weekend.

‘We’re going up there fighting as hard as we can to get a good pitch and hit it, and it’s coming around for us,’ Pendleton said.

Pendleton has gone 9-for-18 in the last five games to raise his average to .309. In a rare power surge Saturday, Pendleton hit one of seven Rice home runs, the most in Reckling Park history and most since a school-record 10 home runs in 1998.

Saturday’s game began as a pitcher’s duel, with junior right-hander Eddie Degerman battling Nevada’s Ryan Rodriguez. Rice broke the deadlock in the sixth on a three-run homer from sophomore left fielder Adam Hale, who leads the team in RBI (22) and ranks second in slugging percentage (.630) in just 54 at-bats.

Hale added another three-run homer — his fifth of the season — an inning later, and four other Owls homered as Rice scored 14 runs in three innings in Graham’s 600th career Division I victory.

‘I was surprised all year that we weren’t hitting more home runs,’ Graham said. ‘Hale’s got outstanding power, and Pendleton’s got outstanding power, and neither was hitting [home runs]. They’ve starting hitting them.’

The ninth inning turned ugly, however, as junior right-hander Ryne Tacker issued two walks and surrendered six runs, forcing Graham to turn to little-used freshman right-hander Will McDaniel to get the final out. The move turned negative, however, because McDaniel was not on Rice’s 25-man active roster for the weekend series.

According to WAC rules, home teams can dress 32 players for home series but must denote 25 as active prior to the series. McDaniel, who had made just one prior appearance for one-third of an inning, dressed for the weekend but was left off the roster by Graham for the series against Nevada.

Both Nevada and Rice informed the WAC of the infraction, and commissioner Karl Benson ruled Tuesday that Rice can travel only 23 players — as opposed to the usual 25 — to Fresno, Calif. this weekend. The Owls will not have to forfeit Saturday’s win, as Nevada head coach Gary Powers had lobbied for in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Graham said he accepts responsibility for the mistake and is glad the Owls did not have to forfeit the game.

The bullpen and off-field drama overshadowed four outstanding Owl starting pitching performances this week. Junior right-hander Josh Geer, who is expected to start tonight’s opener, pitched eight strong innings Friday to improve to 6-1. Degerman earned his second win of the season by pitching into the seventh inning Saturday. Savery (2-3) deserved a better fate after going seven and two-thirds, allowing no earned runs and adding eight strikeouts to his team-leading total in Sunday’s loss.

Freshman right-hander Bobby Bell (2-0) was perhaps the most impressive, pitching eight innings Tuesday and allowing just two runs on six hits with one walk. Bell had struggled in the bullpen — like many other Owls — Sunday, walking the only two hitters he faced.

‘There’s really not an excuse [for Sunday],’ Bell said. ‘I’ve done well out of the bullpen before. We talked between Sunday and [Tuesday] about challenging hitters and really going after them … and that’s just what I tried to do. And there’s a big difference.’

Bell, who stands 6-foot-4 and mixes a low-90s fastball with a sharp curveball and an effective change-up, said his off-speed pitches are most effective.

‘My change-up has been the most consistent [pitch],’ Bell said. ‘In most starts, I haven’t had my curveball in the first two innings, but I’ve found it. When I have a feel for it, I’d probably say that’s my best pitch.’

A familiar bat backed Bell, as Hale turned in another crucial homer Tuesday, hitting a two-run shot to right field in the sixth inning to break open a 2-1 game. Graham said he was relieved the Owls clinched the best-of-five series against UH in just three games, as they did in both 2002 and 2003.

‘Any time where there’s a competitive stake, like a trophy or bragging rights in the city, it eases your mind when you get it out of the way,’ Graham said. ‘We did some things well tonight. Mainly Bobby Bell pitched a great game, and I thought Adam Hale’s hit was huge.’

Sophomore second baseman and WAC Player of the Week Josh Rodriguez had his 11-game hitting streak snapped Tuesday. Rodriguez, named National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, homered in four consecutive games March 20-26 and slugged .875 and hit .482 (27-for-56) with 7 doubles, 5 home runs and 18 RBI in March. Junior third baseman Greg Buchanan extended his hitting streak to 14 games Tuesday, hitting 2-5 with an RBI, while Savery continues to lead the team with a .505 on-base percentage and a .384 batting average.

After this weekend’s series against Fresno State, Rice will travel to Metairie, La., just outside New Orleans, for an April 6 game against LSU at Zephyr Field, home of the class-AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. The Owls will then proceed to Ruston, La., to face WAC foe Louisiana Tech in a three-game series April 8-10.

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