Rice edges Louisiana Tech, FAU advances past Charlotte
The 2016 Conference USA Baseball Tournament started off with a bang Wednesday.
And a little revenge.
A nine-run second inning provided Rice with a nearly game-long cushion, but the fourth-seeded Owls needed a three-run eighth inning to hold on for a 13-12 victory over fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech at Taylor Park.
It was the highest scoring opening game in the 21 years of the conference tournament and the first time since a Southern Miss-UAB semifinal game in 2004 that both teams scored double-figure runs, as the teams combined for 31 hits and 25 runs Wednesday morning.
“Going down to the last pitch, luckily we got a decent pitch and got them out,” Rice coach Wayne Graham. “It was incredible.”
The tournament victory, the Owls’ first since 2014, avenged a sweep by the Bulldogs on the final weekend of the regular season.
“We really wanted to beat them,” Graham said.
No. 24 Rice (33-20) will advance to a winner’s bracket game at 4 p.m. Thursday, facing top-seeded Florida Atlantic.
Louisiana Tech (37-17), playing its first conference postseason game in its third season in the league, will play in a 9 a.m. elimination game against Charlotte.
“We just have to win,” Bulldogs coach Greg Goff said. “It’s win or go home.”
Louisiana Tech saw a 2-0 lead evaporate in the wake of the largest offensive inning of the season by the Owls, who put up nine runs with two outs in the bottom of second inning.
But the Bulldogs chipped away, pulling within 10-9 in the top of the eighth inning.
Then, even after Rice bumped the lead back to four runs, the Owls were left holding their collective breath, as the Bulldogs scored three times in the ninth before coming up just short.
“We play 27 outs every time and we have kept that mindset since the fall,” Goff said. “Today, you saw a group of guys who continued to fight. We just ran out of innings.”
Goff remained unhappy with a call at the plate that he believed cost the Bulldogs a run in the eighth inning.
Center fielder Bryce Stark walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a walk and then stole third base. Stark tried to score on a grounder to third, sliding in headfirst on a throw that pulled catcher Hunter Kopycinski toward the mound.
“I thought our guy was safe, no doubt about it,” Goff said. “But that’s the way it goes. Sometimes you get the calls, sometimes you don’t.”
First baseman Connor Teykl, who returned to the starting lineup after missing most of the past few weeks with a leg injury, keyed Rice’s 18-hit attack with a 4-for-5 performance. He drove in three runs, including a key two-run double in the eighth inning.
Teykl, second baseman Grayson Lewis and catcher Hunter Kopycinksi combined for nine hits at the bottom of the Owls’ batting order. The trio drove in six runs and scored five.
“That was probably the most hits we’ve gotten this year,” Graham said. “I don’t even know how many we walked and hit (eight combined). It was terrible. But our hitting picked us up.”
Right fielder Charlie Warren added three hits and third baseman Tristan Gray added two hits and scored three times. Freshman of the Year shortstop Ford Proctor smacked a grand slam in the Owls’ big second inning.
The Bulldogs collected 13 hits, including four hits by left fielder Raphael Gladu and three more by designated hitter Jonathan Washam. Third baseman Chase Lunceford drove in four runs for the Bulldogs, including a two-run homer.
Glenn Otto (7-2) picked up the win in relief of Pitcher of the Year Jon Duplantier, who had given up five runs in 4 1/3 innings. Dane Myers picked up his fifth save of the season.
Louisiana Tech starter Phillip Diehl (5-5) picked up the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Florida Atlantic 7, Charlotte 5
Austin Langham hit two run-scoring singles and Billy Endris drove in the go-ahead runs in the sixth inning as top-seeded Florida Atlantic got past Charlotte 7-5 in the opening round of the Conference USA Baseball Tournament.
Langham had RBI singles in the third and fifth innings, while Endris’ two-run single with one out in the sixth inning gave the No. 13 Owls the lead for good.
“We talk about it a lot, that these are defining moments in the game, and that you get one true crack at it,” FAU coach John McCormack said. “It’s so demoralizing for the other team. They get a quick out, they get a quick other out, and then you get a couple of hits, and they’re like, ‘We were almost in the dugout and now we’re down two runs or three runs or whatever it is.’
“We preach it, but these guys digest it.”
Regular-season champion FAU (38-15) will face fourth-seeded Rice (33-20) in a 4 p.m. winner’s bracket game Thursday. Eighth-seeded Charlotte (23-31) will meet fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech (37-17) in a 9 a.m. elimination game.
Charlotte got off to a 3-0 lead in the first off starter Sean Labsan, with left fielder Zach Jarrett singling in a run and shortstop Hunter Jones driving in a second on a fielder’s choice grounder that was thrown away to allow the third run to score.
The Owls cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring grounder by Player of the Year C.J. Chatham and an RBI-double by first baseman Esteban Puerta.
A one-out solo home run by catcher Nick Daddio, his first of the season, bumped the 49ers lead to 4-2 in the second.
But the Owls cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the inning on second baseman Stephen Kerr’s sacrifice fly, then took a 5-4 lead on Langham’s hits in the third and fifth innings.
Jarrett’s solo home run in the top of the sixth inning tied the game, before FAU again rallied off Charlotte starter Josh Maciejewski (5-7) in the bottom of the same inning.
Right fielder Brett Lashley singled to right field with one out and moved to third base when Kerr dropped a double into left field. Endris followed with a single that brought both home.
Brandon Rhodes (7-3) picked up the pitching win after allowing one run on two hits. Cameron Ragsdale pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 15th save of the season and tie former Houston closer Billy Wagner for third on C-USA’s single-season saves list.