HOUSTON – A 5-run fifth inning by the Rice Owls was too much for the Sam Houston Bearkats to overcome as they saw their 7-game win streak to come an end with a 13-5 loss at Reckling Park on Wednesday night.
The Kats (11-6) were coming off Tuesday's comeback win over Baylor, but could not duplicate the magic after getting down 9-3 after the Owls' (5-13) big inning. Sam Houston finished with 13 hits in the game, but it was Rice who was able to produce the hits when they needed to, getting seven 2-out hits with men in scoring position in the game.
Sam Houston will now turn its attention back to WAC play when they head to Beaumont for a 3-game series at Lamar beginning Friday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium. Each game can be viewed on the WAC Digital Network.
Matt Rudis got the start and went a career-long 4.1 innings before running out of gas in the fifth. He took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the year, while Owl reliever Tom Vincent earned the win with 1.1 scoreless innings of work.
Offensively,
Easton Loyd led the way with three RBI on a pair of hits and a bases-loaded walk, while
Justin Wishkoski and
Carlos Contreras each had three hits and scored twice. Contreras' RBI double in the seventh gave him his 30
th RBI of the year in what was his eighth consecutive multi-hit game.
The teams traded runs in the second with the Kats getting an RBI single from
Myles Jefferson and the Owls a run-scoring grounder from Pierce Gallo. One inning later the Owls went out in front for the first time when Nathan Becker tripled off the center-field wall to score one, and then scored the second of three runs in the inning one batter later on a single by Jack Riedel.
Sam Houston had a chance to put up a crooked number in the fourth when Contreras and
Trent Touchet each reached to open the inning and Loyd cut the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single; however, Rice starter Thomas Burbank was able to retire each of the next three hitters to prevent any further damage and keep the Owls with a 2-run advantage.
Rudis responded by setting the Owls down in order and a bases-loaded walk from Loyd an inning later trimmed the lead again, this time to 4-3. But the Kats left them loaded for the second straight inning, and Rice was able to make the Kats pay in the bottom half of the fifth, taking advantage of four free passes and an error in the inning to score five times and open up a 9-3 lead.
From there the Kats would turn to their bullpen, getting scoreless frames from both
Blaine Romero and
Dakota Palmer and cutting the lead down to 9-5 with a pair of runs in the seventh on Contreras' 30
th RBI of the season and the third of the night from Loyd.
The Owls then put the game to bed with another big inning, scoring four more times in the bottom of the eighth.
