Rice shuts out TCU behind Lemond, Fox
Zech Lemond loves pressure situations. How about this doozy? Runners at first and second. No outs. Eighth inning. Owls clinging to one-run lead.
“When the pressure comes, that’s when you enjoy it the most,” Lemond said.
Lemond put the finishing touches on a six-hitter started by Blake Fox on Saturday as No. 12 Rice squeaked past No. 16 TCU 1-0 on a sacrifice fly by John Clay Reeves.
Fox struck out a careerhigh seven and allowed five hits in six innings. Lemond pitched the final three innings for his third save.
“I had faith in my team that they would score some runs,” said Fox, who is 3-0 with a 0.52 ERA. “All the confidence you need is just one (run).”
The Owls benefited from strong defense, none bigger than Michael Aquino’s perfect throw to gun down Cody Jones at the plate.
Reeves’ sacrifice fly to deep left field in the sixth ended a streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings for the Owls.
Lemond escaped trouble in the eighth, fielding a comebacker to the mound to throw out Dylan Fitzgerald at the plate to preserve the shutout.
Preston Morrison allowed one run and five hits in eight innings for TCU.
TEXAS 3, HOUSTON 2
Parker French and its own fielding problems were too much to overcome as Houston suffered its first loss of the season.
UH (8-1) committed a season-high four errors — all by the third inning — as the No. 15 Longhorns took a 3-1 lead. French had seven strikeouts and allowed one run in seven innings.
“We could never settle in and get any swings off. He got really tough,” UH coach Todd Whitting said.
The ninth inning was full of drama for the Longhorns for the second straight game. The Cougars added a run off two errors and had two runners on when Josh Vidales’ line drive was snagged by a leaping C.J. Hinojosa to end the game.
Nathan Thornhill picked up his second save of the tournament.
After allowing three runs (one earned) through three innings, UH righthander Jake Lemoine rebounded to retire the final 13 batters he faced before exiting after seven innings.
SAM HOUSTON STATE 10 TEXAS TECH 6
Ryan O’Hearn hit two home runs and drove in four runs to power Sam Houston State past the Horned Frogs.
O’Hearn hit a solo home run in the first inning and two-run shot in the sixth.
Sam Houston State rallied from a 2-1 deficit with five runs in the second inning, highlighted by a two-run shot by Hayden Simmerly, off Tech starter Matt Withrow.
The top four spots in the Sam Houston State batting order went a combined 11-for-18 with seven RBIs. Colt Atwood, Anthony Azar and Simerly each had three hits for the Bearkats.
Sam Odom picked up the win, allowing one run in 4 1⁄3 innings in relief.