Baseball: Collegiate Baseball Moves Owls To Number-One Ranking

HOUSTON -- Following wins last weekend over preseason number-one Georgia Tech and number-four Nebraska, the Rice Owls have moved to the top spot in the Collegiate Baseball weekly rankings, the newspaper announced Monday.

The Owls, 7-0 on the season for their best start since 1993, clubbed the Cornhuskers 16-2 on Friday and nipped Georgia Tech 5-4 on Saturday. The games were part of the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational at Reckling Park.

Also contributing to the Owls' rise was a three-game sweep of the Astros College Classic at Enron Field to open the season on Feb. 1-3, including wins over Baylor, Texas and Terxas Tech.

"It's an honor, but I'm not real comfortable with it right now," said Rice head coach Wayne Graham. "I do think we're a good team, but we're not a great one yet. There are a lot of issues to address if we are to become a great team."

This is the second season in which the Owls have ascended to the top spot in the college baseball rankings. Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America each put the Owls number one on March 8, 1999, and Rice spent seven weeks atop at least one of the major polls that season.

Next for the Owls is Tuesday's game at Houston (2 pm) in the first game of the 2001 Series for the Silver Glove, sponsored by Sterling Bank. This weekend, Rice hosts the Coca Cola Classic at Reckling Park against Purdue (Friday, 4:30 pm), 28th-ranked Wake Forest (Saturday, 1 pm), and 19th-ranked Central Florida (Sunday, 3:30 pm

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