BATON ROUGE, La. – Twenty-three hours and 45 minutes after it was suspended and 1 day, 16 hours and 53 minutes after it was originally scheduled, Wayne Graham and the Rice baseball program achieved their 81st victory in the NCAA tournament.
And, in doing so, the No. 2 seed Owls (36-22) no longer have to sit on a crushing loss in the Conference USA title game, which lasted two days longer than it was supposed to at a water-logged Baton Rouge regional.
“It’s postseason now, so it’s a whole new ball game,” said Rice shortstop Ford Proctor.
Backed by three runs of insurance in the eighth inning, Owls righthander Dane Myers recorded a nine-out save in a 7-2 victory against No. 3 seed Southeastern Louisiana at Alex Box Stadium.
With the win, Rice advances to the winner’s bracket of the regional, squaring off with No. 1 seed LSU. That game will take place 55 minutes after the conclusion of the loser’s bracket game between the Lions (39-20) and No. 4 seed Utah Valley, which is currently in another delay.
The matchup between the Owls and Tigers (43-18) will likely feature LSU ace and former National Freshman Pitcher of the Year Alex Lange versus Rice ace and Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Jon Duplantier.
“Actually Lange and Duplantier throw very similar stuff,” Graham said. “It will be who has the best command, I think, because Jon has got outstanding stuff along with Lange.”
Myers took over for Blake Fox, who allowed one run on three hits in the first six completed innings Saturday. Initially scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, play was halted at 11:17 a.m. Saturday following the conclusion of the sixth inning.
The game was scheduled to restart at 6:45 p.m. Saturday evening as the tarp was removed, but the Alex Box Stadium grounds crew then put the tarp back on the field at 6:37 p.m. Although no lightning was expected, rain continued, and the game was officially suspended at 7:42 p.m. The game resumed at 11:02 a.m. Sunday.
“It was definitely weird,” Myers said. “Coming into today, like I said, I was ready to pitch yesterday. It just takes a lot of focus to stay prepared and come in and do my job.”
Graham tasked Myers’ with holding on to a 4-1 lead, led by a three-hit Saturday by Proctor, the Conference USA Freshman of the Year. Fox’s one-run outing wasn’t short of standout defensive plays. With the game tied at one, center fielder Ryan Chandler’s diving catch with two on and two outs in the top of the fifth saved at least one run from scoring.
“It was a great play, and that was definitely the biggest point of the game for us,” Fox said. “It could have gone either way, and I’m glad we have a guy out there like Ryan Chandler who has got a lot of speed.”
Myers struck out the first man he faced in the seventh but then ran into trouble, conceding a double, a single and an RBI ground out. However, Myers minimized the damage by inducing a ground out by Lion first baseman Jameson Fisher, the nation’s leading hitter. Fisher finished the game 1-for-3 against Fox and Myers, including an intentional walk.
“Our job as pitchers is to go out there and just treat him like he’s just another hitter,” Fox said. “And you have to acknowledge his strengths, but you also have to work to your strengths.
Myers then began the eighth by plunking Carson Crites, but 4-6-3 double play on sharply hit ball helped the righty face the minimum. Myers received the needed insurance in the bottom half of the frame, as the Owls scratched three runs off two hits and two errors.
The Lions committed four errors in the game and only three of Rice’s seven total runs were earned.
