The baseball team traveled to Reckling Park Tuesday to face their crosstown rival Rice Owls for game one of the Silver Glove Series.
The two teams came into the affair as polar opposites. The Cougars were riding an eight-game win streak while the Owls had lost six of their last seven games. But in the history of their rivalry, Rice has always found a way to play well against the Cougars. Tuesday was no different as the Owls edged out their rivals 4-3.
The Cougars were the ones who took advantage early. Senior shortstop Cooper Coldiron and junior designated hitter Joe Davis both drove in runs in the second and third innings respectively, giving the team a 2-1 lead that held through the first four and a half innings.
However, Rice was able to take advantage of errors from sophomore starting pitcher Brayson Hurdsman. After only giving up one run through the first four innings, Hurdsman surrendered three in the fifth, two of which came off wild pitches.
Hurdsman was pulled from the game having only gone 4.1 innings and giving up four runs on five hits. Relief pitchers senior Kyle Ott and freshman Clay Aguilar came and pitched the next 3.2 innings, giving up no hits or runs and striking out seven batters.
Davis recorded another RBI in the seventh inning, but the Cougars’ rally fell short as the Owls took the win 4-3.
The Cougars outhit the Owls 10-5 with Davis, Coldiron, sophomore right fielder Tyler Bielamowicz and senior second baseman Connor Hollis each recording two hits. However, the team gave itself no favors, striking out a combined nine times to the Rice pitchers.
Notably, the sophomore duo of first baseman Lael Lockhart Jr. and third baseman Jared Triolo, the reigning conference player of the week, only had one hit between the two. That lack of production ended up costing the Cougars as they failed to score runs late despite not giving up a hit to the Owls after the fifth inning.
Game two of the Silver Glove Series will take place on April 10 at Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park.
The baseball team now moves on to face the Cincinnati Bearcats in a three game series at Cincinnati. With Hurdsman pitching against Rice, it is likely the starting pitching trio of juniors Trey Cumbie, Aaron Fletcher and Ryan Randel will be pegged for each game having had time to rest.
First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Cincinnati.