Rice comeback halts Houston's tourney hopes

Owls claim CUSA's automatic berth

A walk-off single by Craig Manuel in the tenth plated Anthony Rendon and propelled the No. 15 Owls to a 4-3 win and the 2011 Conference USA Tournament Championship on Saturday night in Pearl, MS.

Rice (41-19), the No. 1 seed, will be making their 17th straight NCAA Tournament berth via CUSA'a automatic bid.

However, Houston (27-32) jumped out to a 3-0 lead after four innings.

The Cougars got on the board in the first, but left the bases loaded.  Ryan Still led off with a single to left and advanced to second on an error by the left fielder.  Landon Appling moved him to third with a bunt and he would score on a wild pitch by Matthew Reckling.  Houston loaded the bases with two outs after singles by Creel and Jensen with a walk to Cokinos in between, but Reckling got Ansley looking to end the threat.

UH tacked on two more with some two-out damage in the fourth.  Ansley drew a two-out walk, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  Codey Morehouse then came through with a triple to center field and scored after a throwing error by the second baseman to extend the lead to 3-0.

Rice didn't manage much against Cougars' starter Jared Ray, but it took advantage of two Houston errors to push across two in the fifth.  With runners on the corners, Rendon reached on a throwing error by the shortstop and Hamilton scored to get the Owls on the board.  Chargois came home to pull Rice within one when Michael Ratterree reached on an error by the third baseman.

The Owls pulled even in the sixth.  Michael Fuda doubled with one out and scored on two out single by Derek Hamilton.

It remained tied until the tenth when Anthony Rendon led off the Owls' half with a double off Houston reliever Jordan Mannisto.  After Michael Ratterree was intentionally walked to set up the double play, Craig Manuel singled to center to produce the walk-off victory.

Derek Hamilton had the only multi-hit game for Rice.  However, every other Owls' starter had one hit each and Rice outhit its crosstown rival, 10-7.

Matt Creel and John Cannon had two-hit games for Houston.

Rice starter Matthew Reckling allowed three runs on five hits in five innings, but the relief effort of Tyler Duffey held Houston off the board.  Duffey gave up just two hits and struck out seven in 4 2/3 shutout innings.

Tony Cingrani received the victory after getting the final out in the tenth.

Jared Ray went eight innings for the Cougars and allowed just one earned run on eight hits.  Mannisto took the loss to end the season at 4-4. Rice will now await Sunday's regional host sites announcement, as they will most likely be one of 16 teams to be playing at home next weekend.