&M bats stagnant again as Owls prevail
JOHN LIVAS • THE BATTALION
\&M shortstop Matt Alexander attempts to turn a double play against Rice on Tuesday night.
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
The Rice University baseball
team lived up to its No. 2 ranking
Tuesday night, shutting down
Texas A&M’s lifeless offense to
claim a 7-4 win at Olsen Field.
A&M’s hitting woes continued
against a tough pair of pitchers
from Rice (36-8), managing five
hits while going 2-for-10 with run
ners in scoring position.
Rice reliever Wade Townsend
picked up his first win of the sea
son, allowing one hit and one run
in 4 2/3 innings. Townsend
relieved starter Jeff Niemann in
the fifth inning. Niemann, who
has not lost this season, kept
A&M (31-16, 10-8 in Big 12) at
bay after giving up two runs in
the first inning.
“Niemann has everything he
needs to beat anyone,” said Rice
head coach Wayne Graham. “He’s
still a little bit uncertain some
times, but it’s all there. We’ve been
thinking all season that Townsend
will be our closer and with per
formances like this, he’s getting a
lot of confidence.”
Steven Ponder took the loss for
the Aggies after allowing six runs,
including two home runs, in 4 2/3
innings.
The Owls put the hammer
down early by taking the lead for
good during its five-run fifth
inning. Rice first baseman Vincent
Sinisi capped the inning with a
two-run home run to right field.
The long ball was the seventh of
the season for Sinisi, second-most
on the team.
It was the second straight game
the Aggies have given up more
than four runs in a single frame.
Baylor used a four-run inning to
claim a 4-2 win over A&M on
Sunday.
“They got a bunch of hits in a
row,” said A&M head coach Mark
Johnson. “It was the same thing
against Baylor. That’s what it
takes in baseball. You have to get
multiple hits in an inning, and we
weren’t able to shut that down.”
The only Owl with more home
runs than Sinisi is Enrique Cruz,
who improved his season total to
1 1 after hitting two solo home runs
against A&M — one in the fourth
inning and one in the ninth inning.
Cruz’s two long balls made him
the fifth player this season to have
a multi-home run game for Rice.
“They stayed (on Ponder)
well,” Johnson said. “We didn’t
find many flawes defensively.
They did a good job (on defense).
They have nine guys in the lineup
who can make some things hap
pen. They don’t have a lot of week
spots to where you can pitch
around them.”
The No.’s 4-7 hitters in A&M’s
line up struggled in the loss. Neal
Stephenson, David Evans, Justin
Pouk and Ty Gamer combined to
go 0-16 against Rice.
Stephenson, hitting in the
cleanup spot, has not gotten a hit
since the first inning of last
Friday’s game against Baylor, giv
ing him a .067 average in A&M’s
last four games.
“I don’t think their pitching
was a whole lot different from
what we’ve been seeing,”
Johnson said. “We had some hit-
table pitches that we didn’t do a
good job with.”
ice hitters give Aggies lesson in importance of hitting
By Doug Fuentes
THE BATTALION
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omething A&M was unable to do.
“They’re a good ball club there’s no
question about it,” said A&M head
coach Mark Johnson. “They’ve guys
that can hit. They hit the breaking pitch
on (A&M starter Steven) Ponder a cou
ple of times and I thought Ponder had
his good breaking pitch.
“They stayed on it well. That’s why
they’re No. 2. They have nine guys in
the lineup that can make some things
happen.“
The Owls did make things happen
and when they did, it was bad for the
Aggies.
After falling behind two runs after
the first inning. Rice took complete
control of the game with five runs in
the third, thanks to a variety of hits.
The Owls used three singles,
including a bunt single by A.J.
Portfirio, and a two-run home run by
Vincent Sinisi to score their runs. The
Owls finished with 10 hits on the
game.
On the other hand, when the Aggies
had their chance to get back into the
game in the fifth, they swung and miss.
After loading the bases with no one
out, A&M had its second, third and fourth
hitters coming up and could do nothing.
Matt Alexander struck out. Rusty
Meyer managed a sacrifice fly but Neal
Stephenson struck out swinging to end
the inning and the Aggies’ chances.
The Aggies have put together a
grand total of 16 hits in their past three
games, including just five on Tuesday
night.
To make matters worse for the
Aggies, the hits they are getting are not
at the most opportune times. After
going 1-for-16 with runners in scoring
position against Baylor, A&M went 2-
for-10 against Rice. Three of its four
runs came on plays that resulted in
outs.
“We’re going to have to battle better
with two strikes,” Johnson said. “We
have to put the ball in play and make
something happen. That was a killer
for us. We may not hit .320 or .340 as
a ball club, but with two strikes we
have to battle.”
The differences in the two teams
See Hitters on page 2
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