Aaron Luna made it 7-2 in the seventh, and Long Beach’s Dustin Rasco – who is from Houston suburb Tomball – had a day to forget. After running a 2-2 count on the first batter, Rasco hit three batters on three pitches to load the bases. After walking in a run, he allowed Diego Seastrunk to triple to make it an 11-2 game before giving way to Jason Markovitz (the seventh Dirtbag pitcher of the day).
The line on Rasco? 0 ip, 4 r, 4 er, 1 h, 1 bb, 3 hbp
On the other side, Rice freshman Ryan Berry left to a standing ovation after 7.2 innings, striking out eight batters and allowing two runs. He stands to improve to 2-0 if the Owls can get three more outs.

On a lighter note, the Rice ballboys are judged mainly on how well they catch balls that roll of the screen behind home plate. After a subpar performance yesterday, both ballboys stayed on the field after the game (an 11-inning game, mind you) for some practice. It has paid off, as they are perfect today. The fans gave the duo a big cheer for each catch but groaned in sympathy when the ball got lodged on the screen.