No. 2 RICE 13, BAYLOR 0
HOUSTON — Having sewn up the top seed for the upcoming Conference USA tournament, Rice coach Wayne Graham has begun mapping out his postseason roster.
The task of shrinking the bench and bullpen would be more challenging if the Owls weren’t tearing the cover off the ball, a trend that continued Tuesday at Reckling Park. No. 2 Rice blasted Baylor 13-0 to stretch its winning streak to 15 games.
Rice improved to 42-11 while Baylor fell to 28-24.
The Owls have just three more games to close out the regular season and all are at home starting Thursday through Saturday. Rice hosts Memphis in a three-game C-USA series at Reckling Park. Thursday’s first pitch is slated for 7 pm. Baylor concludes its regular season schedule with a three-game Big 12 Conference series against Kansas State at Baylor Ballpark.
Houston Chronicle story
Baylor recap
Rice recap
SOUTHERN MISS 9, NEW ORLEANS 4
NEW ORLEANS – UNO’s struggles continued Tuesday as Southern Mississippi capitalized on shaky pitching by the Privateers to win 9-4 at Maestri Field. With Tuesday night’s win, the Golden Eagles have won seven in a row, nine of 10 and finished with double-figure hits in six of the last seven games.
Southern Miss (34-19) scored five runs in the fourth inning, including a leadoff home run by catcher Trey Cuevas, to go ahead 6-2. The Privateers (32-21) couldn’t get it going offensively, stranding 10 batters.
Southern Miss wraps up its regular season schedule with a three-game C-USA series at Houston. The first game of the series, on Thursday, will be broadcast nationally on CSTV at 7 p.m. CDT. The Privateers will conclude their regular season schedule this weekend, when they host Louisiana in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series starting Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The Thursday contest will be televised by Cox Sports Television.
Times-Picayune story
Hattiesburg American story
Southern Miss recap
UNO recap
HOUSTON 6, SAM HOUSTON STATE 4
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Senior first baseman Josh Stirneman went 2-for-5 with a double and solo home run to help lead the University of Houston baseball team to a 6-4 win over area-rival Sam Houston State on Tuesday at Don Sanders Stadium.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Cougars scored six unanswered runs and appeared to have the game well in hand heading into the final frame. But the Bearkats pushed three runs across in the ninth inning and continued to threaten with the bases loaded, but reliever Aaron Brown hurled a strikeout to end the threat and the game.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 28-23 overall while Sam Houston State fell to 33-20. The Cougars swept the regular-season series against the Bearkats after taking a 16-9 win on Feb. 13 at Cougar Field. UH, which won its 11th straight game against the Bearkats, also evened the all-time series against SHSU at 71-71. The Cougars had not been even with the Bearkats in the all-time series since standing at 10-10 in 1956.
The Cougars wrap up their 2007 regular season later this week as they play host to Conference USA rival Southern Miss in a three-game series from the friendly confines of Cougar Field. That series begins with 7 p.m., games on both Thursday and Friday before wrapping up at 1 p.m., Saturday. The Thursday game will be televised nationally on CSTV. Sam Houston wraps up the regular season schedule with a Southland Conference series at Stephen F. Austin.
Houston recap
Sam Houston recap
MEMPHIS 5, TENNESSEE-MARTIN 3
UNION CITY, Tenn. – Senior Kyle Norrid went 3-for-4 four and drove in four runs to lead Memphis to a 5-3 win over UT-Martin Tuesday night at Elam Stadium. The win was the 33rd of the year for the Tigers–the most regular season wins for a Memphis team since 1994. The win also eclipses the Tigers 2006 win total.
After waiting through a two hour, 23-minute rain delay, Memphis (33-20) got off to a fast start with a pair of scores in the opening frame. Michael Murray extended his hit streak to 12 games with a single to centerfield and moved to third when Skyhawks leftfielder Kevin Holt was unable to handle a single by Adam Amar. Amar advanced to second. Norrid then lined the first pitch he saw up the middle for a 2-0 Memphis lead.
Memphis will now prepare for its final Conference USA regular season series. The Tigers will travel to Houston to take on the second-ranked Rice Owls on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. UT-Martin (19-33) completes the regular season with by hosting Samford in an OVC series. The teams will play a double-header on Friday and a single game on Saturday.
ELON 4, No. 29 EAST CAROLINA 2
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Kyle Roller’s two home runs were not enough for No. 29 East Carolina as it fell to in-state foe Elon 4-2 Tuesday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium in the final regular season home game for the Pirates.
Jesse Lewter improved to 4-3 on the year after tossing his first career complete game with a career-high six strikeouts for Elon (28-24). On the night he allowed just six hits and walked one, making two pitching mistakes, both home runs to Roller.
The Pirates (35-18) will hit the road for the final three games of the regular season this weekend when they travel to UAB for a C-USA series. Junior T.J. Hose will take the mound for ECU on Thursday night with the first pitch scheduled for 8 p.m. (EDT). Elon returns to action on Wednesday, May 16 in a 7 p.m. game with High Point at Latham Park.
