Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- cbarton@rice.edu
- Phone:
- 348-8862
- Uniform No.:
- 33
Like every college baseball team in 2020, Barton's second season with the Owls came to an abrupt halt end in March due to the world-wide illness. There were no Conference USA games played nor postseason action of any kind across the college baseball landscape. Fifteen Owls on the pitching staff saw game action and Barton was good to his word from the recruiting trail as eight Rice pitchers worked their way into making their Division I debut in 2020. A highlight from the short season was the long-awaited return of star right-hander Roel Garcia, who fired 2.0 perfect frames at west coast power Cal-Irvine.
Under Barton the 2019 season proved to be a smashing success for the Rice pitchers. Not only was right-hander Matt Canterino named the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, he was selected in the second round of the 2019 Major League Draft as the 54th player taken overall. In fact, the pro scouts really liked what they saw of Barton’s coaching influence. Four other Rice pitchers, Evan Kravetz, Garrett Gayle, Addison Moss and Roel Garcia, all ended up being MLB Draft picks in 2019. The Rice pitching staff led Conference USA with 520 strikeouts on the season while Canterino (.199) and Kravetz (.200) finished first and second in lowest opposing batting average.
Barton joined Rice from Louisiana Tech, where he served as the Bulldogs’ pitching coach and was named the 2018 Conference USA Assistant Baseball Coach of the Year. Not only did LA Tech lead the league and finish 25th in the nation with a 3.48 ERA, the pitching staff posted C-USA’s second-best strikeouts-to-walks ratio (2.77-to-1) that was 15th among all Division I programs along with ranking 12th nationally in walks allowed per nine innings. The Bulldogs finished the season with a 21-9 record in conference play setting the record for conference wins at Louisiana Tech.
The Bulldogs were 31st in the nation in WHIP (1.29), tied for second in the conference with four shutouts and maintained a steady .253 opponents’ batting average. Prior to LA Tech Barton served four years as Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at McNeese State where he helped lead the Cowboys to the 2017 Southland Conference regular season title. While at McNeese, the Cowboys won 30 games or more each year(first time since 1995) and were also ranked in the top 25 for the first time in school history during the 2017 season. In 2015 the Cowboys posted a 3.66 team ERA which was the best mark in the last 20 years along with setting the then school record for strikeouts in a season with 466. The Trussville, Ala., native is a 2007 graduate of Memphis who also spent five seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Louisiana Monroe.
Cory and his wife, Robin, have one son (Cooper).
