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The Rice Raiders baseball team defeated the Palacios Sharks with a score of 7-6 in an exciting game.
The game was as close as the score reflects, and the Raiders’ defense came up big to secure the win.
To start the game, the Raiders jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after holding the Sharks scoreless in the top of the first. In the second inning it was the same story, the Raiders defense shutout the Sharks and then scored once more in the bottom of the second to go up 2-0 after the second.
In the third, the Raiders defense again shutout the Sharks, but this time the Raiders offense was ready to make a big impact. They came out in the bottom of the third inning and extended their lead by three runs.
Leading 5-0, the Raiders entered the fourth inning feeling confident about their game, but the Sharks started to come back. The Sharks scored twice in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Raiders lead down to 5-2.
The Raiders offense was ready with a response though and scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. This brought the score to 7-2, and this would be the last time the Raiders scored in this game.
Now the defense just had to defend the lead and unfortunately, they gave up two runs in the fifth to make the score 7-4. With the Sharks getting closer to taking the lead, they continued to push and in the sixth and seventh inning they scored one run.
The Raiders defense came up big in the seventh inning as they secured the three outs necessary to keep their lead and close out the game with a one-run win.
Kor’Dae Johnson and Kyle Sims each recorded a double while Jaren Brown hit a triple for the Raiders. Then on the bump, Noah Salazar pitched all seven innings for the Raiders giving up six runs on 14 hits.
He had six earned runs and walked two batters while striking out two batters.
The Raiders will now hit the road to take on the Tidehaven Tigers on Friday, March 13, at 7 p.m. for their next game.
