Green Wave stays alive in tournament

Micah Owings suspected even before he struck out the side in the first inning that he was about to pitch one of the best games of his college career.

Owings threw a three-hit shutout and national top seed Tulane broke open a scoreless pitchers' duel in the late innings to keep its season alive with a 7-0 victory over Rice on Sunday in Game 2 of the New Orleans NCAA Super Regional in New Orleans.

"You can sometimes tell when you're warming up. From the get-go I just felt fresh and good," Owings said of his first complete game in college. "I had confidence in my defense. I had to believe in what I was throwing out there. I had to stay determined and concentrate on hitting my spots."

On a hot, humid day that even had many spectators drenched in sweat, Owings unloaded one fast ball after another in the low to mid 90-mph range -- and did so with accuracy that kept all but two Rice players from hitting safely all game.

"He had great stuff and good location -- something you rarely see at this level," Rice coach Wayne Graham said. "He probably threw the best fastball we've seen this year -- and he spotted it. It wasn't like he was throwing them down the middle."

The final game of the best-of-three series, with a bid to the College World Series on the line, is set for Monday.

Tulane, which is 54-10 and opened the season with three wins against Southeast Missouri State, scored its first run in the top of the seventh and then scored six more in the ninth.

"You don't go as long as we've gone, playing as well as we've played, and expect to have two days in a row where you don't play like yourself -- at home," Tulane coach Rick Jones said. "It looked like our club again today. The club we've had for most of the year."

Rice (45-18), which scored nine runs in the first five innings of its series-opening 9-5 victory on Saturday, hasn't scored in the 13 innings since.

Owings (11-4), picked by Arizona last week in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft, faced only three batters above the minimum 27.

Other results

Mississippi, which posted two wins against Southeast this season rallied for a 6-4 win against Texas to complete a game that was suspended Saturday.

Ole Miss (48-19) moved to within one victory of its first College World Series appearance since 1972, but Texas came back to win the second game 3-1 and even the series at a game apiece.

The opening game was suspended Saturday night because of a heavy, persistent rain generated by Tropical Storm Arlene.

-- From wire reports