Rice tops Tar Heels 14-4 to advance in College World Series winner’s bracket

Rice tops Tar Heels 14-4 to advance in College World Series winner’s bracket
Owls will play winner of Louisville vs. North Carolina game Wednesday
 
BY JOHN SULLIVAN
Special to the Rice News

For the second time in as many games, the hitters on the No. 1-ranked Rice baseball team paved the way to a convincing win that kept the Owls in the winner’s bracket at the College World Series. Rice banged out 14 runs on 14 hits to defeat second-ranked University of North Carolina 14-4 Sunday evening at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb. The team now gets two precious days off to rest its pitching as it advances deeper into the tournament.

The Owls followed Friday’s 19-hit attack against Louisville with 14 more against the Tar Heels. Freshman Diego Seastrunk clubbed a team-high three hits and every starter in the lineup had at least one hit on the night. Four Owls had two or more RBIs against a UNC team that is the second-ranked team in the country and the highest remaining national seed (other than Rice) from the tournament’s original 64-team field.

Rice jumped on the scoreboard for a big six-run second inning. Danny Lehmann slugged a one-out double down the left field line and Joe Savery drove him home with a base hit into right-center. Seastrunk doubled to right field to put runners on second and third, and Jess Buenger singled to score the second run and put men on the corners. J.P. Padron drew a well-earned walk after a tough 11-pitch at bat that loaded the bases. Brian Friday doubled to the gap in left-center to stretch the lead to 4-0. A UNC balk scored Padron from third and allowed Friday to move up a station. Jared Gayhart’s sacrifice fly scored the final run of the inning and the Owls were suddenly up 6-0.

North Carolina came right back with a run in the bottom of the frame. Tim Fedroff singled with one away and Garrett Gore laced a two-out double down the right field line to cut the lead to 6-1.

The Owls answered with a run in the top of the third by taking advantage of a Tar Heel fielding miscue. Seastrunk reached on an error and moved into scoring position when Buenger was hit by a pitch. Padron singled to drive Seastrunk home and the Blue & Gray was back up by six, 7-1.

The teams continued to trade runs as the Tar Heels scored a run in the third. Josh Horton knocked a two-out single to center and he moved to second on a wild pitch. Chad Flack followed with an RBI single up the middle that made the score 7-2.

Rice continued to apply the offensive pressure. The Owls scored two in the fourth on a hit and two walks, and two more in the fifth on a pair of hits and a hit batter. Through the first five frames the Owls had 11 runs on 11 hits to continue an eye-opening streak that began against Louisville in the CWS opener Friday. Over the last four innings of the Louisville game and the first five against UNC, Rice had put 22 runs on the board over a nine-inning span.

An RBI single by Lehmann in the seventh made the run total an even dozen. Aaron Luna blasted his team-leading 13th home run of the season to drive in the final two runs in the top of the ninth.

That was more than enough offensive support for Savery, who started on the mound for the 18th time this season. The junior left-hander allowed four runs over 6.0 innings while striking out four to earn his 11th win of the season. Cole St.Clair fired the final 3.0 scoreless innings for his ninth save this year.

Rice improved to 56-12 on the season. UNC fell to 54-14. For the back-to-back wins to start the series, the Owls are off until Wednesday, when they return to face the survivor of Tuesday’s North Carolina-Louisville elimination game. ESPN2 will broadcast Wednesday’s game at 1 p.m. CDT.

For more stories about the College World Series, visit http://media.rice.edu/media/2007_College_World_Series.asp.

For the College World Series photo gallery, visit http://riceowls.cstv.com/genrel/gallery_index_sports.html.