Box Score

HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow baseball team (26-26, 13-13 WAC) lost a heart-breaker to the No. 12 Rice Owls (37-17, 17-9) 7-6 in 12 innings in front of a crowd of 2,676 at Reckling Park Saturday. Ricky Bauer (4-4) took the loss while Bobby Bell got the win for the Owls.

Matthew Inouye went 2-for-5 with a home run, a double, a stolen base and two runs while Esteban Lopez continued to hit well, also going 2-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and a double. Isaac Omura extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 1-for-3 game with one RBI and three walks. Erik Ammon added a 1-for-4 game with a run and one RBI.

Inouye put UH on the board first as he led off the second inning with a solo home run to left field. Lopez added another run in the inning, scoring on a wild pitch, to push the Rainbow lead to 2-0.

But the Owls answered back with a run in the second and two more in the third to take a 3-2 edge.

Hawai`i took the lead right back in the top of the fourth, as Ammon and Omura hit back-to-back RBI-singles, putting the Rainbows ahead 4-3.

Rice tied it again in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI-single by Josh Rodriguez. Greg Buchanan then put the Owls ahead in the sixth, driving a RBI-triple to the right-center gap to put Rice up 5-4.

Lopez then put the 'Bows ahead 6-5 as he drove a two-strike double to the left-center gap that scored pinch-runner Marty Wilder and Inouye. But Rodriguez again came to the rescue for the Owls, blasting a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game at six.

At the start of the home half of the ninth inning, Darrell Fisherbaugh came out of the game with an undisclosed injury, handing the ball over to Wright. Rice threatened with two runners early on, but Wright was able to settle the Owls, retiring the next two batters to end the inning.

Hawai`i also started to threaten in the top of the 10th as Joseph Spiers reached on a single and got to second on a wild pitch. But after an intentional walk to Omura, Nathan Thurber hit a line drive that was snagged by Rice thirdbaseman Clay Reichenbach, ending the 10th.

Rice then got the game-winner in the 12th as Lyndon Duplessis got his first hit of the season for the game-winner to the left side to get the Rice win, 7-6.

The two teams will finish their three-game series tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central time (8 a.m. in Hawai`i).

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