Rice nips La. Tech 13-12
Pinch-hit homer in 9th pushes Vanderbilt past top-ranked A&M
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Rice tied a season scoring high and needed every run, outlasting Louisiana Tech 13-12 on Wednesday in the opening game of the Conference USA baseball tournament.
Freshman Ford Proctor’s grand slam to straightaway center field highlighted a second inning in which the Owls scored nine runs, all with two out, to take a 9-2 lead.
Rice senior Connor Teykl, who had been sidelined with a leg injury, responded to his first starting assignment in almost two weeks by going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs. Senior Hunter Kopycinski and junior Charlie Warren each had three of the Owls’ season-high 18 hits.
The fourth-seeded Bulldogs (37-17), who swept a three-game series from Rice last weekend in Ruston, La., made it 13-12 with three runs in the top of the ninth and had two men on before Dane Myers recorded the last out to earn his fifth save.
The fifth-seeded Owls (33-20) face Florida Atlantic, which beat Charlotte 7-5, at 4 p.m. Thursday.
VANDERBILT 6 TEXAS A&M 5
Pinch hitter Walker Grisanti hit his first homer of the year in the top of the ninth, ending Mark Ecker’s streak of 321⁄3 innings without allowing an earned run and breaking a 5-5 tie to send the No. 12 Commodores past the No. 1 Aggies in the first round of the SEC tournament at Hoover, Ala.
TCU 12, BAYLOR 5
Luken Baker homered and doubled amid a 5-for5 performance, propelling the Horned Frogs past the Bears in a first-round game at the Big 12 tournament at Oklahoma City.
TEXAS TECH 8, K-STATE 5
Tyler Neslony’s RBI single gave the Red Raiders the lead for good as they rallied from a 5-2 deficit to beat the Wildcats in the Big 12 tourney.
SAM HOUSTON ST. 5, SFA 3
Riley McNight, Zach Smith and Hunter Hearn had two hits apiece as the top-seeded Bearkats beat the Lumberjacks in a first-round Southland Conference tournament game at Sugar Land.