Houston Cougars take second game of Silver Glove Series over Rice Owls

Photo by Darla Tamulitis, La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2016 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 10, 2016) The Houston Cougars evened the 2016 series at 1-1 as they downed the No. 13 Rice Owls by the score of 10-0 in the second game of the Silver Glove Series on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at Reckling Park in Houston, Texas. The Owls took the first game of the three-game series on March 22 by the score of 7-4 at Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park on the campus of the University of Houston. The two teams will play the final game of the series on Tuesday, May 17 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.

The Cougars jumped out to a quick four-run lead after three innings by getting one runner home in the second inning and three more in the third. Seven batter faced Rice starter Zach Esquivel in the inning with Houston scoring their three runs on two hits and one error. The added three more runs in the fourth inning to take post a 7-0 lead after 21 outs. The Owls came to bat in the bottom of the fourth, but were unable to cut the Cougar lead. Houston added an insurance run in the fifth to increase their lead to 8-0 and two addition runs in the seventh inning to make the score 10-0.

The Cougars are  77-102 against the Owls in a series that dates back to 1948. The Cougars won that first matchup by the score of 10-5 at Rice. When Rice has hosted the Cougars, the Owls have posted a 53-29 record in addition to recording a 6-3 record when they have faced each other at a neutral site.

The Cougars post a 28-19 for the season and 8-9 in conference action. They are currently tied with Connecticut for fourth place in the American Athletic Conference, with six conference games to go. The will play at Cincinnati on May 13-15 and host Tulane on May 19-21. The Bearcats are in third place in conference with a 10-7-1 record. Tulane leads the conference with an 11-5 record. They will begin play at the American Baseball Championship on May 24 with the tournament final scheduled for May 29.

Rice currently leads Conference USA with six conference games remaining. The will face Florida Atlantic at Reckling Park on May 13-15 and finished out the regular season when they travel to Ruston, Louisiana to take on Louisiana Tech. After that, they travel to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to play in the Conference USA Tournament on May 25-29.