catchers don't run too much. two outs you might want to see if you can get him in a scoring position. >> matt: here's matt creel at preponderate 291 no homers and 16 rbi. creel new to the program. transfer for lsu. swing and a miss. 0-1 to matt creel who has been a closer for the houston cougars team. he slipped back into a set up role for chris dempsay. >> you get a lot of guys pitching and hitting. >> matt: you have to do that in baseball. >> steve: catchers interference. >> matt: it looked like he hit him. it must have hit the mitt. part of the catchers body. >> steve: take acolouser look.

i'm surprised that doesn't hurt a guys hand as often. i'm surprised they don't break a guys fingers on that. >> matt: runners at first and second for creel. creel has been a surprise for rayner nobles team. hitting -- making his seventh start. he is a newcomer to the lineup. 6 for 17 and now pitch coach for the rice owls. coach david pierce will go out there to talk to jimmy wall. he has encountered his first jam of the night >> remind wall he swings a good stick. doesn't to give him anything too good right here. you gen li

the dugout. pierce now in his eighth season with the rice owls. you have mike taylor in his tenth season. there are coaches that have been here awhile with graham. 1-0 pitch hit into right field. will be caught. final out of the inning. the cougars threaten here in the top half of the second but are unable to push anything across. played an inning and a half with no score. faye wh're yng? - musiing 'm nna nite eas hea, w whoa.. lafa ju to throe da do yp th ing o do somewitharet makeard g itut o if ie-le to goughrkda thourett

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>> matt: bottom half of the second inning. houston and rice scoreless. game two of the silver glove series. it's the series they hold every year. they have doing it since 1998. the rice owls have won 11 of the last 12 in the series. this is also game one of the conference usa series at rathjen steps to the box. >> steve: that's

hitting by rathjen. typically want to get that to the outside part of the plate. rathjen catches his inside the ball and shot it up middle. good piece of hitting right there. >> matt: so rathjen aboard with a lead off single the owls have been able to get the lead off. you can see the wind whipping up here at reckling park. you saw it whipping up on the legs of the umpire he stands out there by second base.

it looks like it's blowing pretty good. pretty starched out to center field right now. fast ball up and away. manuel. >> steve: manuel one of the few guys in the series not from the state of texas. he's from florida. david pierce saw him in a high school classic and told coach graham and he signed him point- blank right there. site unseen. he says its been a pleasure ever since. one of the best decisions he's ever made. >> matt: the catcher is the dh. 1-0. ball into center field. making the grab and throw back to first. there is one down. >> steve: they are not really tricking anybody right now. it's the case he is falling behind in the count. when he gets ahead in the count

he's a strikeout machine. >> matt: jim com radded. >> steve: playing a new position for coach. his mind is a little bit occupied. the co

thought just trying to let rick see it from a different angle. >> matt: rathjen. hague preseason all conference usa hit nine home runs. 57 rbi a year ago. playing shortstop this year having committed already 14 errors. 0-1 pitch. backed him off the plate. fast ball 1-1. >> steve: good night is somehowing a little bit of that streak. not letting guys take that big hack again. that's the way you pitch though.

and probably would have had another runner safe at first base. kelso showing why he is a field general out there. making good decisions. held his position there even when the runner was stealing. made a good throw to first base. made sure one out out. >> matt: abe gonzales primarily a pitcher for this rice team. 2-15 on the season. .167 with no homers and rbist. >> steve: he has nine appearances of the season. they have a lot of good athletes in this tournament. may have feel very good with

him as first base. >> matt: he's the other domino that falls. someone has to play first. it's gonzales tonight. 1-1 pitch. and it's a 2-1 to abe gonzales. >> steve: finish up that thought with hague. most of the errors have been of the throwing variety. a lot of time gets compounded. coming into the season with a lot of hype. put a lot of pressure on himselfs. i see it happen a lot of times. once he figures out what he needs to do and gets a little bit of confidence you see him going right back where he was before this thing propped up. >> matt: graham says they're in the process of trying to isolate the problem. it's not a physical issue. we watched him in the batting king. swings fine. nothing to do with his physical ability. runners at first and second. oftentimes you see it so often in college and pro baseball.

the guy is struggling often time the coaches or manager says we're going to let them play their way out of it. say okay the next step is we're going to put him on the bench and see what happens. just for a game. see what happens. >> steve: not only is he doing it for the team he is doing it for hague too. lit be a the best solution to hit back own relax why you love this game. it wasn't to go out and to be a professional ballplayer. it's because you enjoyed the competition. it has a little bit away from that. a a simple process. loving the game. >> matt: mozingo is 1-1 right foul. 1-1 pitch. 1-2 now to chad. that is kind of a theme. not only for rick hague but the entire team wayne graham preached to his team prior to

his victory. he said look we have to relax and go out there and enjoy playing baseball. there is pressure in this game. but at the same time the good teams can embrace pressure. you have to embrace pressure. at the same time i want use to enjoy yourself. right foul at 14-12 not a whole lot of fun. >> it's not fun when you're not winning. it's not fun when you're not doing well. >> kelso can't grab it. they're going to wave rathjen. here comes the throw. he is going to be safe. beat the throw. infield single by mozingo and an rbi for him. >> steve: great decision by mike taylor. saw kelso kick that ball a little bit. looked like rathjen wanted to stop at third base. taylor ended up waving him around there. like it hit off of kelso's

knee. went past the line. >> matt: eighth rbi for mozingo. a 1-0 lead for the rice owls. kelso's hands on his hips. unhappy with himself. thought that was a play he should have made. michael. swing and a miss. struck out the first time up. >> steve: let's see if fuda can make a difference. exposed him a little bit. has a good idea how he wants to get him out. >> matt: here's the 0-1 for fuda. fuda is number five in the conference with 42 hits. he also leads this rice team in the batting average which we showed you earlier. and also at bats. one of three players that started all 27 games. a tap to kelso. took a hop at him in the end but he stayed with it. the inning comes to the close.

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these the guys spring training rosters today. houston astros. catcher rob johnson with the mainers. jesse crane the pitchers with the someones. you saw the retired pitchers. doug and -- one of their college world series legends nominees. ball is popped up to right field and kelso is retired. one down here in the third. >> tom got his notarity as a broadcaster as well. woody williams a great pitcher. had a lot of great players. michael borge. i think he raised his average 90 points and did a great job with those guys a the the leadoff spot. >> matt: here's austin gracey. rounded out to the second baseman. the count is 0-1 to grassy.

he's out of spring texas. first quarter here with the houston cougars. hit his first home run on sat against ucf. >> steve: that had to be a big thrill for austin. spring is a hot bed for talent. that is where josh beckett came from. >> matt: 1-1 pitch. comerota down on his knees. what a play by comerota. after making the error. he's down on his knees sliding and hopping up and throwing out another baseman. >> steve: nobody is more fired up than taylor wall. sliding on his knee. getting up quickly and firing a strike to first base for the second out. >> matt: nice play by jimmy. he is excited about it. two downs on the innings. number third hitter joel. >> steve: that's why he's a

fan favorite around here. will play until position hard. will do whatever the coach asks him to do. >> matt: ansley stationed his first time up. ansley goes after that one. pokes it down the right field line. going to reach the rice owl. the count is 0-2. only has five walks in 87 at bats. >> steve: this is a big talent for these guys. it comes down the psalm thing for michael recognizing that breaking pitch and offering up pitches in the strike zone. >> matt: and the other way with that. fouls it out of play. junior college transfer. >> steve: that change up has a lot more movement than his fast

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inning. the rice owls with a 1-0 lead conference usa series. the cougars at 2-1 in conference usa they are in a four way tie for first with two lane uab and memphis with taking two out of three from ucf. while the rice owls with 1-2 and a four way tie for fifth with southern miss, ucf and marshall after losing two out of three from memphis. a shocking series loss with the rice owls teams. rattily takes a strike. >> michael goodnight needs an oak economical inning. >> matt: first outs. >> steve: a way to get him out. line drive. get him out of there. nice at bat by michael ratterree. >> matt: goodnight was the national baseball pitcher of

the week. back in early march. with a 1-0 houston win on march 6th. met in the houston baseball classic played at minutemaid park. first time they had ever done with rendon at the plate behind 0-1. fast ball outside to anthony rendon. >> steve: goodnight very impressive. starts commanding that fast ball a little bit better. you see him dominating guys. you can understand why he was conference play of the year. he puts it together he has overpowering stuff. >> matt: rendon the most outstanding in the silver glove series last year as a freshman taps this one in the hole kelso = get to it. infield hit for rendon. a fourth hit for the owls. >> steve: hit them

50 pitches. it's only a 2/3 inning in. we can take a look

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little bit. jeremy rathjen does nice job of aying with that ball. >> matt: a good job of seabedding the runners.

the runners are going. the ball was hit in the hole. you saw the third baseman i don't know if he could make a play on that. he was heading to third base. runners are going again this time. they have theman seastrunk thrown out of third base. >> steve: you want to get both guys in scoring position. you can score in a period of ways. took a gamble. didn't come out right. sometimes that keeps the defense on their heels a little bit when they are that aggressive. >> matt: the other thing it does it is a gamble. it can go one way or another. you played yourself out of a bigger inning. >> steve: that is absolutely true. he troll realized the guy we are facing is a good pitcher. we have to get the scratch