University of Houston
$ Rice
Baseball Swept at No. 5 Rice on Sunday
5/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2008
Complete Houston-Rice Game Book (May 11, 2008) in PDF Format 
HOUSTON - No. 5 Rice scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back in taking a 12-6 win over the University of Houston baseball team Sunday during the finale of a Conference USA series at Reckling Park.
After grabbing the early lead on Aaron Luna's two-run double, the Owls broke the game open with five runs in the third inning. The Cougars scored five runs with two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and one more in the ninth but would get no closer in the three-game sweep.
Senior second baseman Ryan Lormand finished the game 3-for-4, blasting a two-run homer with three RBIs, while senior outfielder Jake Stewart went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Lormand and Stewart both were named to the Silver Glove All-Series Team, joining teammates Bryan Pounds, Jimmy Cesario and John Touchton. It was the second straight season that Lormand and Cesario were named to the All-Series Team.
Rice outfielder Aaron Luna was named the Series Most Outstanding Player.
Freshman righthander Jared Ray collected the loss and fell to 2-2 after giving up six runs off six hits and two walks in two innings.
Diego Seastrunk went 4-for-5 with a double, four runs and two RBIs, while Aaron Luna batted 4-for-5 with a double, home run and game-high six RBIs. Rick Hague batted 2-for-4 with a run and RBI, and Doug Simmons batted 2-for-3 with an RBI in the win.
Rice starter Matt Langwell improved to 5-0 after limiting the Cougars to two runs off six hits and a walk with six strikeouts in six innings.
With the loss, the Cougars fell to 30-21 overall and 11-10 in C-USA games. Rice improved to 39-11 overall and won the C-USA regular-season title for the third straight season after tallying an 18-3 record to date in league games.
The Cougars return to action at 6 p.m., Tuesday, when they wrap up their non-conference, regular-season schedule against UTSA at Roadrunner Field. Fans can hear all Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis.
Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link.
The Owls wasted little time in putting the first mark on the scoreboard, plating two runs in the first inning on Luna's one-out, two-run double to center field.
The score remained that way until the third inning when the Owls broke the game open with five runs off five hits and an error. Luna provided the big blast with a three-run homer, while Jimmy Comerota added a sacrifice fly and Doug Simmons chipped in with an RBI-single.
The Cougars scored their first runs in the sixth inning. Cesario lined a single through the right side and scored two batters later when Lormand smashed a two-run homer over the left-field wall for the Cougars' lone runs of the game.
But the Owls added three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame on Seastrunk's two-run double and an RBI-single from Luna.
In the seventh inning, the Cougars loaded the bases with three straight walks to lead off, before Stewart's groundout scored pinch-hitter Chris Wallace from third base. Cesario then reached on an Rice infield miscue that scored Caleb Ramsey, and Pounds groundout to second base plated Blake Kelso to cap the scoring.
Rice scored two runs in the eighth inning on back-to-back RBI-singles from Hague and Adam Zornes.
The Cougars would plate a run in the ninth, but would strand a pair of runners in scoring position as the Owls closed out the game 12-6. Kelso led off the inning with a walk, advancing to second on Stewart's single to center. Kelso would come around to score on Lormand's two-out, RBI-double to right-centerfield.
