Rice baseball donned their blue and gray at Reckling Park, hosting Texas A&M in a fall exhibition game on a brisk October evening.
Rice hosted their first home exhibition of the fall against Texas A&M. On a cool night at Reckling Park, the Owls fell to the Aggies 9-6 in 12 innings.
Texas A&M struck first, putting up four runs on a flurry of fourth inning hits against Rice pitcher Evan Kravetz. The Aggie pitching staff held the Owls in check for much of the early action, but the home team broke through with a crooked number of their own in the sixth.
Rice designated hitter Khevin Brewer mashed a bases-clearing double down the left field line. A bases-loaded walk tied the game at 4-4 entering the seventh. Texas A&M pushed a pair of unearned runs across in the seventh and Rice answered with singles in the seventh and eighth to tie the game at 6-6.
The game stayed deadlock through the next three innings before Texas A&M pushed across two runs in the 12th. Rice had one last chance to answer in the bottom half of the frame but wasn’t able to fight back.
The result is somewhat trivial in a scrimmage atmosphere, overall the night gave the young guys some valuable experience and gave the coaches a chance to see their players in action.
Offensive player of the game – Justin Collins, catcher
Justin Collins was seeing the ball well off just about every pitcher he faced. He picked up the Owls first hit of the night with a double in the second inning. He followed that up with singles in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings.
It was Collins who delivered for the Owls in their exhibition against Sam Houston last week, mashing a grand slam to give Rice a commanding lead. He hit .265 with 12 extra base hits in 2017 and will be trusted for more this season.
Pitcher of the game – Addison Moss, pitcher
With Matt Canterino on the shelf, resting from a busy fall that included the Cape Cod league and Team USA appearances, the Owls turned to Moss to start their tilt against the Aggies. He faced seven batters, allowed one hit and struck out one, throwing 16 strikes on 24 pitches.
Moss wasn’t perfect, but he kept a potent Aggie lineup from making much hard contact. He’ll be a piece of the starting rotation for the Owls once again this spring.
