May 24, 2007

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GREENVILLE, N.C. - Fueled by an outstanding relief performance from Matt Langwell, Rice defeated Memphis, 7-5, in game seven of the 2007 C-USA Baseball Championship at Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University. The win moves the Owls into Saturday's semifinals, while the Tigers move to Friday afternoon's 3 p.m. game to face UCF. The victory was the 20th in a row for Rice, which sets a new Conference USA record.

Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Ryne Tacker had his roughest outing of the season, allowing five earned runs and four hits before being pulled in the first inning. Matt Langwell stepped in to shut the door on Memphis, throwing 7.1 innings of shutout ball. He struck out nine and walked just one to improve to 6-1 on the season.

Cole St.Clair secured the victory with a one-two-three ninth inning to pick up his sixth save in 11 appearances.

Rice dented the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the top of first. Brian Friday led off the game with a single to left side and, after a pair of groundouts, Conference USA Player of the Year Joe Savery launched his fourth home run of the season to left field.

Memphis teed off on Tacker in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-2 lead. K.K. Chalmers tripled to start the inning and went home on a Michael Murray single. Bill Moss advanced Murray to second with a single and Adam Amar loaded the bases with a single of his own. Kyle Norrid added to the single parade, scoring Murray and tying the game at 2-2.

After a Josh Irvin sacrifice fly that scored Moss and put Memphis in the lead, 3-2, the Tigers stretched the advantage to 5-2 when Tyler Huelsing doubled to left center. That would be all for the Memphis scoring, as the Tigers posted just three hits the remainder of the game.

Rice chipped back at the deficit in the top of the second, scoring a pair of runs. Jess Buenger singled up the middle to start the inning before Tyler Henley and Danny Lehmann each flew out. After a Jordan Dodson walk, both players advanced a base on a walk. Buenger and Dodson each scored when Friday singled to center.

The Owls tied the game in the fifth inning on an unearned run. Luna reached base on an infield single, advanced to second on a balk and moved to third when Savery grounded out. He scored when Diego Seastrunk reached base safely on a throwing error.

Rice tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning. Henley opened the inning with a double and scored on a single by Lehmann. The Owls closed out the scoring when Friday reached base on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt, advanced to third on a Chad Lembeck single and scored on an error.

Scott McGregor started on the mound for Memphis, allowing four runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings. Dusty Davis (7-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits over 1.2 innings.

Rice has Friday off and will return to action on Saturday at 9 a.m. against the winner of Friday's Memphis-UCF game. The Tigers-Knights showdown is scheduled for 3 p.m. tomorrow.