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MARSHALL SPORTS
No. 1 Rice holds off Herd, 7-5
HOUSTON -- No. 1 Rice, top-ranked in the Rivals.com college baseball poll, held off a Marshall comeback attempt Friday in a 7-5 victory at Reckling Park.
Rice, 26-9 overall and 10-3 in Conference USA, led 6-0 after six innings.
Marshall struck for three runs in the seventh inning. Eric Semeniuk singled to left field and took second base on a groundout. Rhett Stafford walked before Brandon Casamassima doubled in two runs. Casamassima eventually scored on a Rice error.
Victor Gomez blasted his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the eighth inning, that pulled Marshall within 6-5. Josh Valle opened the inning with a single.
Rice tacked on a run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Marshall outfielder Ben Jurevicius legged out an infield single with one out in the ninth and was erased on a double play.
Owls' starter Taylor Wall went 6.2 innings and improved his record to 5-3. Wall retired the first 12 batters he faced before giving up a Gomez double in the fifth inning. Jordan Rogers pitched 2.1 innings of relief to post his seventh save.
Dan Straily started for Marshall (15-21, 5-8) and pitched five innings. He gave up eight hits and six runs while falling to 3-1. Marshall reliever Andrew Blain pitched three innings.
Game two of the series is set for 3 p.m. today. Marshall will send freshman Greg Williams (1-2) to the mound while Mike Ojala (2-0) starts for the Owls.
