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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Rice 12, Texas 2
Monday June 16, 2003
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Wade Townsend struck out 10 and gave up two
hits in the last six innings Monday night, and Rice used a
seven-run sixth inning to pull away to a 12-2 victory at the
College World Series.
The Owls (55-11) will play the winner of Tuesday's game between
Texas (49-19) and Miami (45-16-1) on Wednesday. The Texas-Miami
loser will be eliminated.
The loss was Texas' second-worst in 119 CWS games. The
Longhorns' most lopsided defeat was an 11-run loss to Arizona in
1963.
It was the first loss in six CWS games for the defending
national champions, who won four straight last year and beat Miami
13-2 in their Series opener Saturday.
Townsend (11-1) gave up two runs in the opening inning, then
settled down and dominated the Longhorns. He came within one out of
pitching his first complete game.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound sophomore retired eight straight batters
in one stretch. After Taylor Teagarden's sixth-inning double,
Townsend set down 10 more in a row before pinch-hitter Michael
Hollimon's ground-rule double with two out in the ninth.
Townsend, who allowed seven hits, left with two out in the ninth
after walking Tim Moss. David Aardsma came on and needed only one
pitch to get the final out.
Texas' seven pitchers walked nine and hit four batters. The
number of pitchers used and hit batsmen equaled CWS records.
Rice took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning on Justin Ruchti's
two-run double.
The Owls put up their seven runs with two out in the sixth. Four
Texas pitchers combined to walk three batters, hit two others and
bring in a run with a wild pitch. The Longhorns also committed two
of their three errors in the inning.
Rice had only four hits in the sixth, the biggest a two-run
single by Craig Stansberry.
The Owls extended their lead to 11-2 in the seventh on Chris
Kolkhorst's RBI single.
Texas scored the game's first two runs on Curtis Thigpen's
double in the first inning.
The Owls got a run back in the third when Kolkhorst scored from
first after Texas starter Justin Simmons (5-6) threw wildly to
first after fielding Craig Stansberry's bunt.
Simmons lasted four innings, giving up three hits and two earned
runs.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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