Mike Ojala
It was quite a weekend for the Rice Owls at the Houston College Classic. Faced with the daunting task of facing three consecutive top 10 teams, the Blue & Gray delivered in a big way. On Friday night, the Owls pitching staff combined to set a Houston College Classic record with 17 strikeouts (11 by Mike Ojala) in a thrilling 5-4 victory in 10 innings over No. 9 UCLA. On Saturday night, Ryan Berry turned in as masterful performance as you’ll see in college baseball, throwing a complete-game, two-hit shutout while striking out 12 and walking none. It was C-USA’s first victory over a top-ranked team since Houston defeated LSU on March 6, 2004. Rice closed out the weekend with a solid 8-3 victory over No. 6 Baylor.
Things did not go as well for Houston in that same tournament in its three games against ranked opponents. The Cougars nearly pulled out Friday’s contest, falling 3-2 to Baylor and on Sunday they battled top-ranked Texas A&M before falling, 5-3. On Saturday, catcher Chris Wallace gave the Cougar something to cheer about with his first career multiple-home run game, a pair of blasts to right field ina loss to No. 5 UC Irvine.
Southern Miss won its first two games against Louisiana-Lafayette, improving to 7-0 and reaching double figure runs scored in the first seven games of the season. The Golden Eagles run production slowed a bit on Sunday as USM dropped a 7-5 decision to the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Tulane bounced back from a disappointing Friday night loss to Wright State by taking the final three games of the four-game set. Up the road in Baton Rouge, UCF had a tough time at No. 1 LSU, dropping three straight to the Tigers.
Mother nature wreaked havoc around the south, forcing East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis and UAB to all lose at least one scheduled game over the weekend. ECU split games with St. John’s and No.11 Oklahoma State before rain washed out its game with College of Charleston. Marshall went 1-1 at the Citadel Tournament before Saturday and Sunday’s action was cancelled. Memphis and UAB both were unable to play on Sunday due to snow in the state of Alabama.
