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Rice Owls Baseball Finds The Strength To Rally And Defeat Louisiana, 12-8

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Baseball

Pierce Gallo and Connor Walsh keyed 13-hit attack for Rice with three hits each as the Owls overcame an early 5-0 deficit to beat Louisiana 12-8 at Reckling Park on Sunday, snapping an 11-game winning streak by the Ragin' Cajuns over the Owls.

The Details: After seeing late lead slip away on Friday night followed by an 11-2 loss on Saturday, the Owls found themselves down 5-0 early in the second inning in the series finale. They responded to Louisiana's five-run first with three runs in the bottom of the inning and went on to score nine runs over the final five innings to put an end to any thoughts of a sweep by the visitors. Walsh and Gallo, who each reach base four times in five plate appearances, keyed the Owls' three-run answer in the second. Walsh doubled home Paul Smith for the first run of the inning and Gallo followed with a single to score Aaron Smigelski and Jack Riedel plated Walsh with a sac fly.

Walsh and Gallo opened the fourth with singles and moved up 90 feet thanks to a sac bunt by Riedel. Max Johnson collected the first of three RBI by bringing home Walsh with a ground out and Gallo scored in an infield single by Guy Garibay Jr. Drew Holderbach gave the Owls their first lead at 6-5 in the fifth with his first home run as an Owl and a bases loaded hit by pitch the next inning pushed the lead to 7-5. Garret Zaskoda and Matthew Linskey combined to hold Louisiana in check while the Owls surged to the lead, working a combined 5.1 innings. Linskey pitched a career-best 3.2 innings while matching his career high with eight strikeouts before tiring in the seventh an allowed two runs to tie the game 7-7. Rice immediately re-took the lead in the bottom of the seventh when Manny Garza was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and put the game away with four in the bottom of the eighth thanks to an RBI single by Riedel followed by a two-run single by Johnson and a sac fly by Garibay. 

Up Next: Rice closes out the four-game homestand to open the season by hosting Sam Houston at 6:30 on Wednesday, then head on the road to face Stanford next weekend.