April 14, 2006

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

#2 Rice (30-8; 9-1 C-USA)  010 002 022 - 7 8 3
Memphis (21-14; 6-4 C-USA)	000 000 210 - 3 7 2

Memphis battled hard, but a pair of Owl home runs eventually sent the Tigers to a 7-3 defeat in the series-opening contest at Nat Buring Stadium Friday evening.

The first blow the No. 2 Owls dealt Memphis came in the sixth inning. After Memphis rally fell short, Rice stole the momentum with a one-out solo homer off the bat of third baseman Josh Rodriguez that put Rice on top 2-0. The Owls would plate another run in the inning to make it 3-0.

Rice's second home run came in the eighth after Memphis crossed two runs to close the gap to 3-2 through seven innings. Joey Lieberman singled and came around to score on three wild pitches by Owl starter Eddie Degerman. A groundball out scored Michael Murray, who walked. RU against ran off with the momentum via a two-run homer by pinch hitter Adam Zornes to reclaim the three-run advantage, 5-2.

Memphis answered with a run in the eighth on an RBI-single by Adam Amar. But Rice again responded with a run on a Tiger fielding error and a sacrifice fly for the 7-3 final.

Degerman improved to 8-0 on the year, while Cole St. Clair picked up his sixth save of the season after giving up three runs on two hits in an inning-and-a-third.

Stephen Gostkowski was the hard-luck loser for the Tigers. The senior starter scattered six hits and allowed just one earned run in seven-and-one-third innings of work. He fanned seven.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow with the first pitch set for 2 p.m. Listen to live action as "The Voice of Tiger Baseball", Jeff Brightwell calls the play-by-play action on WUMR 91.7FM.