Feb. 17, 2013
HOUSTON - John Simms took a no-hitter into the eighth to help propel No. 17 Rice to a 3-0 win over No. 7 Stanford. Simms gave up one Cardinal hit with three strikeouts and four walks as the two teams completed a three-game non-conference baseball series Sunday in front of 4,041 fans at Reckling Park.
Stanford (1-2) won Saturday's outing, 3-2, with Rice (2-1) capturing front- and back-side wins to take the series.
Austin Barr smacked a leadoff double to right-center in the eighth for Stanford's only hit on the day, with Simms (1-0) exiting stage right after tossing 7.1 shutout frames.
Rice overcame a pair of errors and got out of the opener by inducing Brian Ragira into an inning-ending double play.
The Owls loaded the bases in the bottom half before Stanford recorded its first out on Michael Aquino's infield RBI groundout.
Shane Hoelscher followed with a two-RBI single up the middle to give the Owls a 3-0 lead.
Ragira was hit by a pitch in the fourth but was thrown out in an attempt to steal second to end the frame.
Logan James (0-1) was shaky in the early stages of his collegiate debut but settled in to retire eight straight - and 11 of the final 12 batters faced - after giving up three runs in the first. James showed many signs of promise, as Rice managed three hits and struck out three times in his 4.0 innings of work.
The next 4.0 innings went to Bobby Zarubin, whose first appearance featured three strikeouts while he allowed four hits in the scoreless outing.
Drew Jackson was walked, move to second on a Justin Ringo groundout and advanced to third on a passed ball. Jackson was left standing at third to finish the sixth, which was as close as the Cardinal would come to scoring.
Stanford opens its home slate at 5:30 p.m. (PT) on Tuesday against Cal. Live video, audio and stats will be available at GoStanford.com.
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