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| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | | Stanford (6-6) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | | Rice (8-5) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 0 |
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Reckling Park (Houston, Texas)
Attendance: 2,278 • Time: 2:35
Related Links: Box Score • Photos |
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| | | Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | | W - Orewiler (2-0) | 7.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | | L - Viall (0-1) | 2.1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Next Game | Tuesday, March 3
Stanford at San Jose State
San Jose, California |
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HOUSTON -- Austin Orewiler shut down the Stanford baseball team’s bats for 7.2 innings and the Owls broke out for 12 runs on 15 hits to beat the Cardinal, 12-1, Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park. Stanford and Rice split a four-game series over three days.
“I thought we had three really good games,” said Mark Marquess, the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball. “We didn’t give them much competition today. They hammered us pretty good. But the first three games were really good and we won two close games.”
Rice (8-5) showed off its impressive lineup Sunday, increasing its team batting average to .326. The Owls, who beat Pac-12 foe Arizona in two of three games last weekend, entered the weekend as a consensus top-25 team. The series helps Stanford’s strength of schedule and eventually its RPI rating, which is a major component of NCAA postseason selection.
“That’s why we play them,” said Marquess. “They have an experienced team with a lot of juniors and seniors. A very good offensive team and their pitching is always sound, really strong.”
The Owls plated three runs in the first inning and never trailed Sunday. Stanford used seven pitchers, including starter Chris Viall (0-1) who lasted 2.1 innings while giving up four runs on six hits to take the loss.
Austin Orewiler (2-0) slowed Stanford’s lineup, a group that had averaged 9.3 hits per game over its last three outings. Orewiler kept the Cardinal off-balance, striking out only one, but induced 14 ground ball outs to limit Stanford to three hits over 7.2 innings of work.
“[Orewiler] did a really good job changing speeds and getting ahead,” Marquess commented. “The few balls we did hit hard were at people.”
Stanford (6-6) scored its only run in the third inning when Alex Dunlap sent a gap shot to right center for an RBI double, driving in Matt Winaker, who had walked.
After Rice scored two in the fifth and six in the sixth, the Owls were out of reach for Stanford.
A pair of Cardinal, Joey Starling and John Henry Styles, got their first game action in a Stanford jersey when they combined to blank Rice in the eighth. Styles hit a batter before getting an out and Starling threw two pitches to get two outs to end the inning. Tyler Thorne, Chris Castellanos, David Schmidt and Griffin Weir also threw in the game.
Stanford returns to the Bay Area to face San Jose State on the road Tuesday. The Cardinal hosts nationally-ranked Texas Thursday-Sunday in a four-game series at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond.
