Rice University Athletics
Baseball: Another Look At Rice's National Championship Season
7/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
7/6/2003 Rice won its first national championship in any team sport when the Owls won the 2003 College World Series at Omaha?s Rosenblatt Stadium. The Owls went 3-0 in its bracket and stopped Stanford two games to one in the championship series. A 14-2 win over the Cardinal on June 23 capped the championship... Rice was 58-12 on the season, leading the nation in wins... In the bracket, Rice stopped Southwest Missouri State 4-2 and Texas twice, 12-2 and 4-3. In the first best-of- three playoff in CWS history, the Owls took game one 4-3 in 10 innings on June 21 before the Cardinal came back for an 8-3 victory on June 22. Rice?s 12-run win on June 23 was the largest margin of victory in CWS championship game history... The Owls advanced by stopping Houston two games to one in the NCAA Super Regional at Reckling Park on June 7-9. The Cougars won the opener 5-2, but the Owls came back to win 10-2 and 5-2 to secure their ticket to Omaha... The Owls were 25-5 in Western Athletic Conference play, winning the outright league title to earn their automatic berth in the postseason... As national champions, Rice finished the season as number one in all four major polls. The Owls entered the CWS rated the top team in the nation in three of the four. |
