The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009 Page: 15 of 24
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Sports
15
-season bumps, Rice sprints into postseason
Losses to Texas State and UCF may cost Rice shot at Super Regional as team heads to UAB
by Meghan Hall
Thresher Staff
The baseball team is used to blitz-
ing through the heart of the season,
but with two recent losses, this year
has been a bit different.
Fortunately, the second-ranked
Rice baseball team has finally righted
its ship injury-wise and is sailing to-
ward the postseason. The Owls (34-
13, 15-6 Conference USA) got junior
starter Mike Ojala (3-0) back from in-
jury before their week-long break for
finals, and junior starter Ryan Berry
(5-0), second on the team in wins, re-
turned in the first game back.
Rice headed into its break with a
7-4 win over the University of Texas
(35-12-1). The team then headed back
home to Reckling Park to face Texas
A&M -Corpus Christi. The Islanders
(17-36) scored the first two runs of the
game, but the Owls responded in the
fourth and never looked back in their
14-2 win.
Seven Rice players had multi-
hit games as part of a 17-hit attack.
Sophomore left fielder Michael Fuda
finished with four hits while junior
right fielder Chad Mozingo drove in
four runs to head up the offensive
blowout.
The pitching, led by junior starter
Jared Rogers (3-1), was also solid in
its return. The game was highlight-
ed by the return of Berry, who came
back from a five-week break to throw
a scoreless seventh inning with two
strikeouts.
Although he's returned to the
mound, Berry is still limited.
"I'm still on a little bit of a pitch
count," Berry said. "I lose [control]
* vV >-- -net. -
iiriwifo 4 -
Junior Chad Mozingo unleashes on an offering during Rice's 14-2 romp over TAMU-CC April 29. Mozingo, an outfielder, paced the Owls with four RBIs and is
currently batting .315 and is third on the team with 39 RBIs. His bat will be needed if Rice hopes to make it to its fourth-consecutive College World Series.
with my fastball, but what I need to
do is accomplish throwing strikes
with the fastball."
Next up for the Owls was resum-
ing the Silver Glove Series with the
University of Houston. In the first
game of the conference series at
Cougar Field, Rice found itself on the
wrong side of a 7-4 decision. Three
fielding errors by the Owls led to four
unearned runs for Houston (24-27,
12-9 C-USA). Down 7-2 in the sixth,
Rice scored two and was prepared
for more, but the Cougars worked
out of a bases-loaded jam and the
score held. Freshman designated
hitter Craig Manuel and junior first
baseman Jimmy Comerota had two
hits each. Freshman Taylor Wall (5-
5) got the start and the loss with 4.2
innings of work, allowing four walks
and six runs.
Rice came back in the second
game of the series, and with the win,
captured the Silver Glove Trophy for
the ninth consecutive year. Berry was
brilliant in his first start since return-
ing from injury, throwing five innings
with no unearned runs and four
strikeouts. The Owls went up 4-0, but
another error led to Houston's first
run. Freshman third baseman An-
thony Rendon hit a home run in the
seventh to make the score 5-2, but by
the bottom of the eighth inning the
Cougars had tied the game.
Mozingo, who was named C-USA
Hitter of the Week on May 3, led off
the ninth inning with a double. Witb4
two outs and Rendon on first after an
intentional walk, Fuda singled to left
to score Mozingo. Manuel then drove
in Rendon with another single to in-
crease Rice's lead to two. Senior Jor-
dan Rogers (7-2) walked the first three
Cougars in the bottom of the ninth
but was able to close out the game,
uphold the 7-5 score and get the win.
The Owls rode the hot bat of junior
shortstop Rick Hague to take the rub-
ber game 6-5 and clinch the series
O see BASEBALL, page 22
For fourth time, Tulsa trounces Rice Golf ends season on sour note
by Casey Michel
Thresher Editorial Staff
If the University of Tulsa's men's ten-
nis team parades out next year against
Rice in red, white and blue jerseys,
twirling basketballs and whistling a
happy tune, don't be surprised. They're
only filling the roles they've earned:
That of the Harlem Globetrotters to the
Owls' Washington Generals.
But the Generals, the Globetrotters'
longtime whipping boys, may have had
it easier than the Owls. At least Wash-
ington's audience had the foresight to
know Harlem was going to end on top.
The Generals couldn't plead the proud
naivete that Rice has exhibited over the
last four seasons, all of which have end-
ed in defeats to Tulsa in the Conference
USA finals.
Four seasons. Four wrenching, we'll-
get-them-next-year tries. Four attempts
at a C-USA championship squashed by
the bottom of the 29th-ranked Golden
Hurricane's soles, the most recent one
a 4-1 crushing three weeks ago.
And the worst part? This was sup-
posed to be Rice's year. The Owls may
not have come in with the most glowing
of records -- at 17-9, they were only 35th
in the nation — but they were coming
off one of the most exhilarating match-
es the program had ever seen: a season-
finale road win against No. 12 Texas
A&M University, where all of Rice's
points were notched by the team's three
true freshmen.
That win had erased any questions
about the team's talent as the C-USA
Tournament commenced in Orlando,
Fla. Rice swatted away the University
of Alabama-Birmingham 4-0 in the first
round. They then clashed with No. 68
Southern Methodist University, coming
out on top of a 4-2 victory.
The conference finals were set, and
it was the matchup everyone had come
to expect.
Unfortunately for Rice, the end re-
sult was also what everyone had come
to know.
The reasons for the blowout were
obvious. Doubles betrayed the Owls,
and for the fifth time this season Rice's
tandems were swept.
The Golden Hurricane's main gun,
top-ranked Arnau Brugues, continued
his reign of domination over Rice with a
6-1,7-5 win over No. 47 Bruno Rosa.
And the Owls' three freshmen, those
who had been the saving grace against
a superior Aggie squad, came out un-
usually flat and lost one or both of the
matches they finished.
Another run to the finals, and an-
other Tulsa blockade.
"There aren't really any excuses,"
says Garforth-Bles. "We just didn't play
up to our potential.... I don't think any-
one on our team really does take any
satisfaction from getting to the finals."
There was one player who had a
unique vantage point to the moment.
O see TENNIS, page 19
CHECK US OUT ONLINE
For more on this summer in sports
- Conference USA Baseball Championship
- NCAA Baseball Regionals
Don't forget to check online for up-to-date coverage of the Owls run at a fourth-straight
appearance in the College world Series in Omaha.
www.rlcethnsher.org
by Paul Fitzgerald
Thresher Staff
The golf team's final event con-
cluded much like their season did:
disappointingly. The Owls jumped
out to a hot start at the Conference
USA tournament last month, but a
poor second round meant the team
would record a below-expected fin-
ish for the third straight year.
The C-USA Tournament was held
at the Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento,
Fla. and hosted by the University of
Central Florida. The Owls posted a
last-place finish at the 2008 C-USA
Tournament, but headed into this
year's tournament with optimism
over their prospects.
"We've had a lot more success
this year than in year's past," Head
Coach Drew Scott (Wiess '98) said
prior to the three-day event. "We've
played a lot of teams in the con-
ference, and we're not far behind
those guys, so it's definitely within
reach."
Rice's first round proved Scott
correct, as the Owls shot a 292 (+4)
to put themselves three shots out
of fourth place after the first day.
Sophomore Michael Whitehead's
opening-round 69 carried the Owls,
as Whitehead was only one shot out
of a tie for first place. Whitehead
would cool off, though, finishing
the tournament in 16th place with
an even par 216.
The Owls stumbled in the sec-
ond round, however, shooting
300 (+12), a score that left them in
eighth place heading into the final
round. Whitehead, junior Chris
Brown and sophomore Robert Bur-
row all shot 74 (+2). Brown would
finish in a tie for 17th, one shot be-
hind Whitehead, while Burrow fin-
ished in a tie for 29th after shooting
a 222 (+6).
With their NCAA Tournament
prospects bleak — the Owls needed
to win the event to qualify — the
team shot a final-round 293 (+5) to
finish where they started the round,
in eighth place. Brown's 72 (E) led
the Owls in the third round.
Rice finished seven shots back
of cross-town rival University of
Houston. Host UCF won the event
by shooting a three-round cumula-
tive score of 846 to finish six strokes
ahead of Southern Methodist Uni-
versity. Simon Ward and Blayne
Barber, both of UCF, finished first
and second, respectively, shooting
205 and 206 to distance themselves
from the remainder of the field.
With the C-USA Tournament
completed, the team's season is now
complete. The Owls are now able to
look back and reflect on what was
an up-and-down season. The sea-
son included a third-place finish
at the Pacific Invitational, which
boasted one of the strongest fields
Rice faced all year, and a second-
place finish at the Rice lntercolle
giate, the team's home event. The
Owls followed up the Rice Intercol-
legiate with a strong performance
at the Louisiana Classics.
However, a string of four sub
standard performances to end the
O see GOLF, page 22
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009, newspaper, May 15, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443193/m1/15/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.