No. 9 Owls Nip Huskers, 4-3

Houston, Texas ? Anthony Rendon’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth broke a 3-all deadlock, as No. 9 Rice collected a 4-3 victory over Nebraska at the Rice Invitational at Reckling Park Saturday evening.

The Owls (2-4) opened the eighth with an infield single by Michael Fuda before a controversial balk call by home plate umpire David Rogers on Nebraska reliever Casey Hauptman moved Fuda into scoring position. Rendon, who had two of Rice’s seven hits, then lined a 1-2 pitch into right that Khiry Cooper tried to make a diving catch on, but was unable to come up with, allowing Fuda to score with the go-ahead run.

“It’s a tough one to take,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. “That is a tough loss for Casey. I thought he pitched extremely well and gave up a hit to a very good hitter. We are putting together some good pitching outings with Yost yesterday and Mariot and Hauptman today. They are competing on the mound for us, but didn’t get the result we wanted.”

The run was all the Owls needed, as Tyler Duffey tossed two shutout innings for the win. The Huskers (2-4) got the tying run on base on a two-out walk to Josh Scheffert, but Kale Kiser grounded out to end the game, snapping Nebraska’s two-game win streak.

Duffey (1-0) was sharp in relief of starter Taylor Wall, as he fanned five in two innings of no-hit relief for the victory.  Hauptman (0-1) pitched well in a losing effort, retiring the first six hitters he faced until Fuda’s single, as he allowed a run on two hits in the loss, as the game settled into a pitchers’ duel after an early start.

Nebraska struck early against Wall, putting up a pair of runs in the first and adding one more in the second to take an early 3-0 lead.

In the first, one-out singles by Boomer Collins and Adam Bailey got the rally going before Patric Tolentino came up with a two-out, two-run single to center to give NU a 2-0 lead.  The Huskers pushed the lead to 3-0 in the second with another two-out hit, as DJ Belfonte’s single scored Kale Kiser, who doubled with one out.

Wall then settled down, not allowing another hit the rest of the way, as he fanned five without a walk in a no-decision.

“We had the pace and rhythm we wanted in the early innings,” Anderson said. “The break gave him a chance to reassess what he wanted to do. Wall did a good job of changing speeds and we lost a little focus offensively, and Duffey did a real nice job for them, and you tip your cap to that. We knew going in that it would be a 3-2, 4-3 type of game and that that it was.”

Nebraska starter Michael Mariot ran into some trouble after a glare delay in the bottom of the second. Rendon opened the frame with a single before Chad McDowell’s single after a 14-pitch at-bat put runners on first and second with no outs. Two batters later, Abe Gonzales doubled to right to pull the Owls within 3-1 before Rick Hague’s sacrifice fly made it a one-run game.

The Owls tied the score at three, as Michael Ratterree opened the third with a solo homer to left. Mariot then found a groove, as he didn’t allow another run the rest of the way. The right-hander worked out of a jam in the fifth, as Rice loaded the bases, but Mariot got McDowell to fly out to end the threat.

Mariot pitched well in a no-decision, allowing five hits and striking out five over five innings of work.

The Huskers will wrap up tournament play Sunday at Noon when they take on Elon. The game will be carried on selected Husker Sports Network stations and on Huskers.com. In addition, live video will be on HuskersNside.