Rice cruises past Middle Tennessee, 8-2

For the first three innings Thursday evening, Middle Tennessee starter Paul Mittura matched Rice counterpart Blake Fox pitch for pitch, with both throwing no-hit ball.

Michael Aquino and the Rice Owls changed all that.

Right fielder Keenan Cook singled up the middle for Rice’s first hit to lead off the fourth inning, and Aquino followed two outs later with his sixth home run of the season.

By the time the Owls tacked on five more runs in the next two innings, Fox was cruising and so did Rice, taking an 8-2 victory over the Blue Raiders in the 2014 Conference USA Baseball Tournament at Taylor Park.

“We hit the ball pretty well and didn’t make any errors,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said. “Blake pitched very well, but he got a little tired, I think, because of our long innings and he needed to come out because of the heat.

“But overall, it was just a good game for us.”

With the win, top-seeded Rice (39-17) earned a day off and will await the winner of Friday’s 3 p.m. elimination game between fourth-seeded MTSU (31-26) and fifth-seeded Old Dominion (34-23).