Tech on the losing end of another wild game with Rice
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Add another chapter to the recent knock-down, drag-out history between Louisiana Tech and Rice.
If last weekend's wild three-game series, one that featured a near bench-clearing brawl, several controversial plays and a walk-off hit, wasn't enough, the two teams produced more drama in Wednesday's Conference USA baseball tournament opener.
No. 4 Rice scored nine runs in the second inning, and No. 5 Tech nearly erased a seven-run deficit with a late rally before falling short in No. 24 Rice's 13-12 win. Tech will play an elimination game Thursday at 9 a.m. against eighth-seeded Charlotte, which lost, 7-5, to Florida Atlantic on Wednesday.
Trailing 9-2 in the third, Tech chipped away throughout the game and climbed back to within a run in the eighth before Rice (33-20) finished off the Bulldogs with three insurance runs. The Owls avenged last weekend's sweep in Ruston, which served as the first time they lost three conference games in a weekend since 2005.
"I can promise you they don't want to play us another inning because one more inning we would have got them," said Tech designated hitter Jonathan Washam, who finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
Tech (37-17) put together one final rally in the ninth, scoring three runs on five hits. Raphael Gladu, who came up with four hits for the game, grounded out to first base to end the game. Gladu finished 4-for-6 with two RBIs.
"We just ran out of outs. I thought our guys played well. Just didn't get a quality start," Tech coach Greg Goff said.
"I have a lot of respect for my players. They love putting the uniform on everyday. They're very resilient and they never quit. They've been doing that all year. That's why we're 37-17. That's why we swept Rice at our place because we're resilient."
The near four-hour game featured a combined 25 runs, 31 hits and four errors. The first 14 runs of the game were scored with two outs. Rice, which totaled 18 hits, batted 12-for-20 (.600) with two outs and had nine two-out RBIs.
Tech had a prime shot to tie the game in the eighth when it had runners on first and third with one out.
Bryce Stark went on contact and was gunned out at the plate when Washam hit a hard grounder to third. Goff charged down the third base line to argue. The home plate umpire didn't even respond.
"I thought our guy was safe. There wasn't no doubt about it," Goff said. "That's the way it goes sometimes.
"Sometimes you get calls, sometimes you don't. I thought that was definitely a call that Bryce got under neath there, and if you look at the throw it took the catcher up the line a little bit and I thought his left hand got in there."
Gladu, who finished with four hits, lined a base hit to center two batters later to cut the lead to 10-9.
Rice's Connor Teykl went 4-for-5 with three RBIs. C-USA Freshman of the Year Ford Proctor had a home run and four RBIs.
The Owls' pitching staff overcame yet another shaky pitching performance, allowing 13 hits and walking six batters and hitting two more.
"It was incredible. I don't even know how many we walked and hit. It was terrible. But our hitting picked us up, so there you go," Rice coach Wayne Graham said.
Tech scored three runs in sixth inning thanks to the work of Washam and Gladu, who combined for seven hits and four RBIs. Washam lined a two-run double to the wall, and Gladu followed it up with a double off the center field wall to make it 10-8.
The Owls' did almost all of their damage in the second with seven two-out RBIs. It all started with another wild play at the plate, somewhat reminiscent of last Friday when both benches cleared on an altercation at home.
With two outs in the inning, Stark misplayed a ball in center field then booted it to force a play at the plate. The relay throw came to catcher Diaz who collided with Tristan Gray as Gray barreled down the line like a linebacker to jar the ball loose.
"The rule states the guy has to get on his butt. That was an emphasis this year. He didn't get on his butt. The umpire said that the ball brought him up the line. I didn't see that. The home plate umpire had a couple calls, I felt like, could have gone either way."
Gray was shaken up on the play and remained on the dirt for a few minutes. Rice then added eight more runs to take a 9-2 with all nine coming with two outs.
"Had a miscue in the outfield that I thought really cost us. Stark usually makes that play. He laid up for some reason. Instead of being 2-0 and making three outs, that was a critical play in the game I felt like," Goff said.
Almost a week after Tech lit up Jon Duplantier, it was Tech's pitching staff on the wrong side of things. Tech starter Phillip Diehl (5-5) allowed nine runs on eight hits in 1 ⅔ innings just six days after he stymied Rice with seven innings of one-run ball.
"Diehl didn't have his stuff today. He was elevated. He made some mistakes. He just didn't have a good game," Goff said. "That's just part of it. Some days you're good, some days you're bad. In the tournament you don't have any room for error."
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Duplantier bounced back from allowing nine runs last week to keep Tech at bay before he exited from the game with one out in the fifth inning after throwing his 100th pitch.
He struck out nine in four-plus innings and walked Taylor Love on his final pitch to serve as the first run scored without two outs, ending a string of 14 straight runs. Duplantier has his off-speed stuff working with several strikeouts coming on pitches in the dirt. He also threw three wild pitches.
Graham made an interesting decision to bring closer Glenn Otto on in the fifth. It worked just as he hoped as Otto induced a first-pitch inning-ending double play off the bat of Brent Diaz to keep the Owls' lead at 10-5.
Lunceford launched a two-run, two-out home run to right field to get Tech back within five runs in the third. The Bulldogs manufactured two runs off two errors in the second inning. Rice finished with three errors a few days after committing five errors in a 10-5 loss Saturday in Ruston.