After a bizarre game featuring eight errors, a nearly three hour lightning delay, and only three hits from Rice batters, the Owls' season came to an end on Sunday after losing to the California Golden Bears 6-3 in the NCAA Regional.
Rice took a 2-0 lead when Cal pitcher Dixon Anderson threw away two balls after two attempted sacrifice bunts by the Owls. He followed those errors up with a botched pickoff attempt.
Cal outfielder Vince Bruno later tied the game with a two-run single in the fourth, but Rice's Keenan Cook smacked a solo home run in the fifth to give Rice a 3-2 lead.
Cal outfileder Austin Booker came up with a run-scoring single in the seventh to tie the game at three, then after a scoreless top eight frame, the lightning came. For nearly three hours both teams waited, and when the game resumed a trio of errors effectively ended Rice's season. Second baseman Michael Ratterree booted two of the errors, and by the end of the eighth, the Owls found themselves in a 6-3 hole from which they would not recover.