Cole St.Clair pitched the final inning and two-thirds for Rice, allowing one run on three hits. St.Clair has not quite regained his All-American form from last year, when he was dominating in just about every outing.

From the department of "What?!": Travis Reagan sacrificing Danny Lehmann to second with a five-run lead in the top of the ninth inning. Trying to get that all-important sixth insurance run? I seriously have no idea.

Despite losing the series, Houston has to take some confidence away from this weekend, taking a game from the seventh-ranked Owls despite missing its top weekend starter. I think the Cougars can wreak some havoc on the Conference USA standings if not contend for the title. They could probably use a couple more bats on the bench, but I've seen teams advance to the super regionals with less.

The Owls get yet another series win but still haven't showed why they were the consensus pre-season No. 1--especially on offense, as the team entered today's game with a rather pedestrian .435 slugging percentage. But national championships are won in June, not April, so perhaps this Rice team will peak at the perfect time. (I should mention, though, that the 2003 Rice team that won the national championship had a 30-game winning streak early in the season, so peaking early and peaking late obviously aren't mutually exclusive.)

Oh, and the announced attendance was 2029 today, preserving two as our announced/Amber's estimate multiple. I'll leave it up to you readers to decide whether I'm a bad guesser or those attendance numbers are inflated by no-shows. Or maybe both.