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HOUSTON — For the second consecutive day Rice handcuffed LSU’s hitters, as Justin Crowder gave up just five hits in a complete game shutout as the Owls ended the Fighting Tigers’ 2002 season with a 3-0 victory Saturday at Reckling Park in front of a record crowd of 4,615, giving Rice a two-game sweep of the NCAA super regional series.
LSU (44-22) ends its season without a trip to the College World Series for the third time in the last four years, and will be missing out on Omaha in back-to-back years for the first time since Skip Bertman first took LSU there in 1985. The Tigers also end their season with back-to-back shutouts, the first time they have been blanked in consecutive games since Ole Miss shut out LSU in the final two games of 1982.
The Tigers also became the first team to be shut out in consecutive NCAA tournament games since Arkansas lost to Stanford and Oregon State in the 1986 Midwest regional in Stillwater, Okla. The four shutouts suffered by LSU this year are the most in a single season since they were blanked six times in 1978.
Rice (52-12) moves on to the College World Series, where it will take on the winner of the Houston-Texas super regional in a first-round game in Omaha next Friday. The Owls became the first team to post back-to-back shutouts in the NCAA tournament since Georgia Tech blanked Tennessee Tech and Louisiana-Lafayette in the 1997 Mideast Regional in Starkville, Miss.
For the second consecutive day, the Owls did their damage in the third inning, as both Crowder and LSU’s Brian Wilson started the contest with two scoreless innings.
Justin Ruchti drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a single by Chris Kolkhorst, but Wilson then got a break when Austin Davis lined into a double play, erasing Ruchti and leaving just one out to get out of the jam.
But Eric Arnold, the Owls’ senior second baseman, gave Rice all the runs they would need when he drove a 1-1 pitch over the right-center field fence for a two-run home run and his 286th career hit, moving him past Houston Astros star Lance Berkman (1995-97 at Rice) into first place on the Rice career hits list.
Arnold went 4-for-4 with two runs scored in his final home game, while six other Owls contributed to their 11-hit attack.
Wilson, who pitched a complete game in the regional championship vs. UL-Lafayette on Sunday on one day of rest, struck out seven over eight innings but gave up 10 hits and finished the season at 10-5.
Arnold later added a double in the eighth inning for his 64th career two-bagger, tying him with Berkman on the career doubles list. He would score one batter later on a single by Vincent Sinisi.
LSU, which did not get a runner to second base in Friday’s 6-0 loss, finally mounted its first serious scoring threat of the weekend with one out in the top of the ninth.
Sean Barker got on with an infield hit, then went to third on Matt Heath’s double down the left-field line put two runners in scoring position with the tying run at the plate. But Rocky Scelfo popped to second, and Jon Zeringue worked a full count before grounding to Sinisi to end the series.
Crowder, lowered his ERA to 1.88 with the victory, as he struck out six and walked three. For the series, Rice pitchers limited LSU to a .136 batting average and struck out 16 batters.