Hawaii's Joe Spiers slid safely into second base, beating the tag by Rice shortstop Josh Rodriguez in last night's game.
’Bows blanked by
Rice pitcher
The Owls tie the series by becoming
the first team to shut out Hawaii
this year
Eddie Degerman dominated the Hawaii Rainbows for nine innings last night and the Rice Owls evened the Western Athletic Conference baseball series between the teams at one game apiece with a 4-0 victory.
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Degerman, who transferred to Rice last year after two seasons at UC Irvine during which he did not appear in any games, worked out of a big jam in the third and set the tone for the rest of the game.
Down a run, the 'Bows (18-21 overall, 5-9 WAC) loaded the bases with one out on a single to right field by Erik Ammon, a walk to Joe Spiers and Robbie Wilder's single to center.
Degerman then fell behind Isaac Omura 3-1, but came back to strike out UH's leading hitter for the second out. Nate Thurber then flied out to center on Degerman's first pitch to end the threat.
The Rice defense played errorless ball and backed Degerman with double plays in the first, sixth and eighth innings. One of three players on the Rice roster not from Texas, Degerman got his first complete-game victory and improved his record to 5-0.
It was the first time the Rainbows have been shut out this season and ended a three-game winning streak.
"There was no tone to this game. You get seven hits over two games and you have to feel fortunate to win one. We have to do better," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "We had a couple of opportunities tonight and didn't make anything of them. That's all there was to it.
"You credit Degerman, tip your hat and come out tomorrow and try to win the series.
The Owls (25-13, 7-7), ranked No. 15 by Baseball America, took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an unearned run.
Joe Savery reached first to start the inning when his sharp ground ball bounced off first baseman Adam Roberts for an error. Savery stole second as Adam Hale struck out swinging and scored on Lance Pendleton's two-out single to center.
Adam Rodgers put Rice up 2-0 in the fourth when he hit a 3-1 pitch from UH starter Colby Summer over the left-field wall for his fourth homer of the season.
The Owls expanded their lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Savery singled up the middle with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Rodgers' double down the left-field line into the corner.
The Rainbows went up and down in order in the fourth and fifth innings, but put two men aboard in the sixth when Omura singled to right and Thurber walked with one out. Degerman kept UH scoreless by getting Roberts to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
"His arm angle was over the top. That made his fastball sneaky fast," said UH third baseman Schafer Magana. "His curveball looked like a fastball coming out of his hands."
Rice added another run in the seventh with hits on consecutive pitches by Summer. Tyler Henley grounded a double into the right-field corner and scored on Greg Buchanan's single through the hole to left.
That ended Summer's outing after 6 2/3 innings. He gave up four runs on seven hits, issued no walks and finished with four strikeouts.
In today's series finale at 1 p.m., Justin Costi will start for UH and Savery goes for Rice.
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Nevada 8 3 .727 -- 19 13 San Jose State* 8 6 .571 1 1/2 19 14 Rice 7 7 .500 2 25 13 Fresno State 5 6 .455 3 19 21 Louisiana Tech 6 8 .429 3 1/2 14 22 Hawaii 5 9 .357 5 18 21 * -- San Jose State has one nonconference tie
Yesterday
Nevada 8, San Jose State 2
Louisiana Tech 5, Fresno State 2
Rice 4, at Hawaii 0
Today
San Jose State at Nevada
Fresno State at Louisiana Tech
Rice at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m.
Rice 4, Hawaii 0
Rice AB R H BI Hawaii AB R H BI Henley cf 5 1 2 0 Spiers ss 2 0 0 0 Buchanan 2b 5 0 1 1 Wilder cf 3 0 1 0 Rodriguez ss 5 0 0 0 Omura 2b 4 0 2 0 Savery 1b 4 2 1 0 Thurber lf 3 0 0 0 Rodgers dh 3 1 2 2 Roberts dh 4 0 0 0 Friday pr 0 0 0 0 Magana 3b 3 0 0 0 Hale lf 3 0 0 0 Inouye rf 3 0 0 0 Pendleton rf 3 0 1 1 Avila 1b 3 0 0 0 Reichenbach 3b 4 0 0 0 Ammon c 2 0 1 0 Reagan c 4 0 0 0 Totals 36 4 7 4 Totals 27 0 4 0 Rice 010 101 000 -- 4 7 0 Hawaii 000 000 000 -- 0 4 2 E--Magana; Avila. DP--Rice 3. LOB--Rice 8; Hawaii 6. 2B--Henley 2; Rodgers. HR--Rodgers. SB--Savery; Spiers. CS--Magana.
Rice IP H R ER BB SO Degerman (W, 5-0) 9 4 0 0 5 7 Hawaii IP H R ER BB SO Summer (L, 1-4) 6 2/3 7 4 3 0 4 Bauer 2 1/3 0 0 0 3 1 WP--Summer 2; Bauer. HBP--by Degerman (Magana).
Umpires--Billy Speck (plate), Darrel Mason (first), Jim Burleson (third).
T--2:38. A--3,010.
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