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RICE FALL BALL 2008
Well it was more than one game
but not quite two. Rice had enough big innings to overcome all
the single run innings that Texas State had.
I was totally excited when I
walked up Bikini Mt. (nee Hill) and saw the Owls dressed in Grey
shirts. I thought, wow, maybe this Grey uni thing is catching
on. Shortly thereafter the Owls changed into blue tops. Didn't
matter. Owls were too strong for the Bobcats.
I broke the scrimmage into two
games. There was a break after nine when the infield was raked
and the line-ups were totally changed. I used that as the
demarcation point. Owls won the nine inning game 8-4 and
rallied late to win the 6 inning game 5-2.
First game: Starting line-up.
Pay close attention now.
Brock Holt - 2nd base
Jimmy Comerota - 1st base
Chad Mozingo - right field
Anthony Rendon - 3rd base
Diego Seastrunk - catcher
Steven Sultzbaugh - center field
Mike Fuda - DH for Rick Hague -
shortstop (not batting)
Dave Peterson - DH
Jeremy Rathjen - left field
There were many position changes
to follow. I'll highlight some.
Berry started and pitched three
1-2-3 innings. He looked very sharp. Not over powering but
very effective.
The Owls scored three in the
first. Holt walked; Comerota (more on Jimmy later) singled
sharply to right. Holt going to third. Owls speed was
prominent all day. Mozingo got an infield hit to short drive
home Holt. Rendon grounded to the right side to drive home
Comerota. Seastrunk singled to right driving home Mozingo..
It was a pair of treys after the
second inning. Rathjen single to left-center. Holt followed
with a double to left-center with Rathjen scoring easily. After
Comerota popped up, Mozingo blooped a single to left that scored
Holt. Mo took second on the throw to home. Rendon ripped a
single to left plating Mozingo. Two outs followed.
Ojala followed Berry giving up a
single in the fourth. Rendon made a great stop and throw to
retire Witek in the fourth. Two quick outs in the fifth were
followed by HR by Livingstone over the left field fence. A no
doubter.
Taylor Wall pitched a perfect
sixth. In the seventh he gave up a first pitch lead-off HR to
Kubitza down the right field line. He retired the next three
hitters. Ground out, fly out, ground out.
In the mean time the Owls did
nothing in the third, fourth, or fifth innings. Two walks in
the third and nothing else.
In the sixth Comerota got a two
out single to right. He stole second. Mozingo hit a shot to
right center for a triple to score Jimmy. Rendon took a called
third strike. A nasty back door pitch.
Rice had runners on in the
seventh when Seastrunk reached on an error by the first
baseman. A DP followed. Fuda beat out an infield grounder.
Peterson walked but Rathjen grounded out to third.
Jay Rogers pitched the last two
innings of the first scrimmage. Jay walked the lead-off
man. Two outs followed. Somewhere in there the runner stole
second. A first pitch single by Vest brought home a run.
Further damage was averted when Fuda made a great diving catch
in left. In the ninth, an error by the third baseman (I might
have been harsh) put the lead-off runner on again. An
unassisted play by Peterson at first sent the runner to second.
Goldschmidt singled to left scoring their fourth run of the
game. As noted before they never scored more than one run in an
inning.
The Owls failed to score in the
eight. Comerota singled and stole second. He went to third on
a grounder to the right side. He was stranded when Rendon struck
out.
In the ninth the Owls made the
final 8-4 with a single run. Crain walked with one out.
After a line-out to center by Fuda, Peterson rapped a double to
right center to score Crain. That was it for the first nine
innings.
Comerota started at first and
played well. He moved to second and made some very nice plays.
He then went to third. The ball came at him in a hurry at third
and he had a little more trouble there. he was 3 for 5 in the
game. More was to follow in the next six innings. Seastrunk
looked good behind the plate. Hague was steady at short. Holt
played a good second base also. Manuel and Hale also caught.
In the second scrimmage, only
Evers pitched more than one inning. It was Travis Wright (1 R,
2 H), Zack Harwood (1 H), Jordan Rogers (perfect), Evers (1 R, 3
H, 1 K), Fazio (perfect). Owls did not turn a DP all day.
Rice did little in the first
three innings. Seastrunk had an infield single in the second.
Left on base. Peterson and Comerota got two out singles in the
third but were stranded. The threatened in the fourth. Holt
lead-off with a single to left. Two outs followed Fuda reached
on an error by second. Rendon walked. Mozingo flew out.
Things finally turned around in
the fifth after the Bobcats went up 2-0. Comerota got his fifth
hit of the day, a single to right. I'm telling you the man is
everywhere. Jimmy then stole second. Sultzbaugh reached on a 4
pitch walk. The guy has hit the ball hard but can't buy a hit.
I forget how Jimmy got to third but he scored on Holt's Sac Fly
to center. Seastrunk popped to short. Singles by Manuel, Fuda
(another infield hit), Rendon, and Mozingo followed to push the
score to 5-2 Owls. Peterson flew out to center to end the
inning.
Gonzales-Luna, Abel Gonzales,
and Holt were retired in order in the 6th.
Holt (2 for 4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 D,
2 BB)
Comerota (5 for 7, 3 R, 1 BB)
Mozingo (4 for 8, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1
T)
Rendon (2 for 7, 4 RBI, 2 SO, 1
BB)
Seastrunk (2 for 8, 1 RBI)
Sultzbaugh (0 for 5, 1 R1 SO, 1
BB)
Fuda (2 for 7, 1 R, 1 SO, 1 BB)
Peterson (3 for 7, 1 R, 1 RBI 1
D, 1 BB)
Rathjen (1 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB)
Manuel (1 for 3, 1 R, 1 RBI)
DeBiasse (0 for 1)
Hale (0 for 1)
Crain (0 for 1, 1 R)
Gonzales-Luna (0 for 2, 1 SO)
Gonzales (0 for 1, 1 SO)
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