CWS Roundup

Rice gets best of Texas in 12-2 rout; Miami stays alive

Rice's Craig Stansberry (23) collides with Texas' Josh Smith, as he slides in to score on a wild pitch. AP

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 either Texas (49-19) or Miami (45-16-1) on Wednesday. The loser of Tuesday's game 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 nine 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.

Miami holds on to down SMS 7-5 in elimination game

Jim Burt hit his 11th homer of the season in the sixth inning. AP

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Joey Hooft and Jim Burt homered and reliever Shawn Valedez-Fauli shut down Southwest Missouri State, leading Miami's 7-5 victory in a College World Series elimination game Monday.

The Hurricanes (45-16-1) play Tuesday against Texas. SMS (40-26) went two games and out in its first CWS appearance.

Miami took a 6-2 lead into the eighth inning, but it was a one-run game after Shaun Marcum's three-run homer into the left-field bleachers off George Huguet.

Valdes-Fauli came on and got pinch-hitter Scott Nasby to ground out, ending the inning.

The Hurricanes added a run in the ninth on Brian Barton's RBI single. Then Valdes-Fauli finished off the Bears by striking out Dant'e Brinkley and Brooks Colvin and getting Rick Wilson on a comebacker.

Vince Bongiovanni (8-4) got the win after giving up two runs on nine hits in six innings. Valdes-Fauli earned his fifth save.

Brad Ziegler (12-2) lost, allowing seven hits and four runs in six innings. Only two of the runs against him were earned.

Clay Wheeler's RBI single put SMS up 1-0 in the first.

Miami scored single runs the next three innings to take a 3-1 lead.

Hooft hit his fourth homer in the second. Adam Ricks had an RBI single in the third to score Richard Giannotti, who had gone from first to third base on Ziegler's errant pickoff attempt. Gaby Sanchez came home on a bases-loaded passed ball in the fourth.

The Bears got within a run in the fifth when Adam Pummill scored from second after Miami second baseman Ricks threw wildly to first trying to complete a double play.

The Hurricanes got that run back in the sixth when Burt hit his 11th homer.

The Bears threatened in the seventh, but couldn't score. Pummill and pinch-hitter Jacob Hilgendorf led off with singles to chase Bongiovanni. Huguet kept it a two-run game by getting Brinkley to hit into a double play and striking out Colvin.

The Hurricanes went up 6-2 in the eighth on Hooft's run-scoring single off reliever Bob Zimmermann and Erick San Pedro's RBI groundout.

 

 

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