Cardinal, Rice Split Saturday

HOUSTON -- Rice evened the series with the Stanford baseball team by taking the first game of a doubleheader Saturday, 11-6. The Cardinal and Owls are scheduled for two more games, one Saturday and another Sunday, in the four-game set.

Rice (7-4) scored nine runs over their last four innings at the plate to pull away from Stanford. The Owls tallied 14 hits, including 10 from the fifth inning on, to Stanford’s nine.

Stanford (5-5) jumped out to a 5-0 lead, before Rice stormed back. The Owls scored two in the second inning, thanks in part to a Cardinal error, and four more in the fifth before Stanford would strike again. Tristan Gray provided the big blow with a three-run home run over the 375-feet sign in right field on a 2-2 count to give Rice a 6-5 lead in the fifth.

Tommy Edman, who went 3-4 with two runs batted in, did all he could to keep Stanford in the game. He swung momentum back to the Stanford side with a two-out single to drive in Matt Decker in the sixth, after singling and scoring in the first inning and driving in a run with a base hit up the middle in the second.

Rice answered Edman with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and two more in the eighth. The Owls scored their sixth inning runs on three hits, but benefited from two balls to the outfield that were misplayed by the Cardinal defense. Charlie Warren drove in both runs in the eighth with a slow chopper to second base that he beat out with two out in the inning.

Cardinal starter Marc Brakeman lasted five, giving up six runs (five earned) on seven hits. Quinn Brodey (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) over the sixth and the seventh innings. Andrew Summerville allowed two runs in the ninth.

Freshman Matt Winaker had two hits for Stanford, while classmate Jesse Kuet added an RBI double. Decker and Edman both scored two runs.

Josh Pettitte, son of former major leaguer Andy Pettitte, won the first time in his career. The freshman went 2.1 innings without allowing a hit. 

The two teams are back on the diamond at 4:05 p.m. CT/2:05 p.m. PT for the second half of the doubleheader. Brett Hanewich will get the ball for Stanford against Rice’s Ricardo Salinas. 

HOUSTON -- Sophomore Brett Hanewich threw a masterful seven innings to salvage a doubleheader split against Rice Saturday at Reckling Park. The Cardinal never trailed en route to a 3-1 win after dropping the first game of the twin bill, 11-6.

Hanewich (1-0) forced Rice into 14 groundball outs, while allowing one unearned run on three hits, striking out one and walking three. The righthander got into trouble when two of the first three Owls reached, but settled in to retire 16 of the next 19 hitters.

“I was able to locate my fastball for the most part and later in the game,” Hanewich said. “Probably around the third, I figured out more of my off-speed pitches and locating them is the key to success at any level.”

Sophomore Tommy Edman and freshman Matt Winaker each picked up multiple hits in both ends of the doubleheader. Winaker drove home Edman with singles to right field in both the first and fourth innings. Alex Dunlap had Stanford’s other RBI on a fielder’s choice groundout to third base one batter after Winaker’s first-inning single sent Jesse Kuet to third.

“I was just seeing the ball really well today,” Edman said after getting five hits on the day. “I made a couple adjustments this morning during batting practice and it turned out to be really good.

Stanford’s (6-5) bats went quite after the fourth. Freshman Mikey Diekroeger’s leadoff triple in the eighth was the Cardinal’s only hit after Stanford’s third run crossed the plate, as three Rice relievers combined to go 8.2 innings, while allowing one unearned run on three hits.

Ricardo Salinas (0-1) started for the Owls and was pulled after allowing two runs on three hits in the first inning.

Hanewich was rarely hit hard, resulting in few chances for the Owls. Rice’s only run came on a two-out error on Edman allowed Charlie Warren to score. Warren had walked and advanced on a passed ball and groundout.

“We came out well and played some good defense for the most part,” added Edman. “Awesome job by Brett Hanewich pumping strikes and attacking their hitters and giving us seven strong. That’s huge for a four-game series to really save some pitching and Logan James did a good job of coming in and shutting the door.”

James struck out five batters over the final two innings to earn his second save.

Stanford and Rice meet for the four-game series finale tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT/10 a.m. PT. The game was moved up one hour from the previously scheduled start time of 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT.