Rice University Athletics
Owls Face Tulane In C-USA Weekend Road Series
3/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 30, 2006
Quick Links
Listen Here
Game Notes (pdf)
Owls Face Tulane In C-USA Weekend Road Series
The sixth-ranked Rice baseball team, 21-8 overall and 2-1 in Conference USA, continues its current road swing with a three-game C-USA weekend series at Tulane (Mar. 31-Apr. 2). The start times against Tulane (18-9, 2-1) are 6:30 pm on Friday, 2 pm on Saturday and 1 pm Sunday. The Tulane series is slated to be played at Zephyr Field Metairie, La., home of the New Orleans Zephyrs of the Pacific Coast League.
Road Swing Continues
Rice is on the second leg of a road swing. On Wednesday, Mar. 29, the Owls defeated longtime rival Texas State in San Marcos by a score of 11-1. After meeting Tulane for three games in Louisiana, Rice is at Texas A&M on Apr. 4. Nine of the Owls' next 12 games through Apr. 18 are on the road.
Broadcast Information
Rice athletics is broadcast live around the world on the Internet at www.KTRU.org. A number of Rice games are live on the radio on KTRU (91.7 FM). The next two KTRU games are Friday (Mar. 31) and Sunday (Apr. 2) at Tulane. A direct link to the audio feed is provided at the above link. Mike Pede, Matt McCabe, Dan Perez and Bill Cousins, are mic-side for the baseball action this season.
Watch Friday's Game On CSTV
College Sports Television, the first 24-hour college sports network and fastest growing independent cable network, will broadcast Friday night's Rice-Tulane game live. Carter Blackburn and former major leaguer Kevin Stocker will call the action... Rice has had games nationally televised by CSTV in each of the past two seasons.
National Ranking (Mar. 27): Sixth
Rice is sixth in the latest national rankings by Baseball America (Mar. 27)... The Owls are seventh in both Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) poll. The Owls were tabbed as the nation's top team by the NCBWA on Feb. 27 and remained there until Mar. 13... The Owls are eighth in the Mar. 27 Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA coaches poll... Rice is sixth according to the Internet site The Rosenblatt Report. The Blue and Gray was number one by The Rosenblatt Report to start the season, dropped to number two on Mar. 13 and reclaimed the top spot on Mar. 20... The Owls are ranked high after backing up some lofty preseason rankings with steady play. The preseason rankings were on the strength of 20 lettermen returning from the 2005 squad that won the Baton Rouge Regional and came within four outs of reaching the College World Series. Polls will continue through June 30, 2006. Check out the respective national polls on-line....
Baseball America
Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA coaches poll
the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA)
Collegiate Baseball
The Rosenblatt Report
Head Coach Wayne Graham
Two-time national coach of the year and Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Wayne Graham (Texas, 1970) is in his 15th season at Rice. He is 648-265 with the Owls (402-91 at home, 189-140 in road games and 57-34 at neutral sites). His overall winning percentage is .710, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .710 win percentage is that it is the equivalent of a major league team winning 115 games in a single year... Graham is against Tulane (3-0 home, 3-3 road)... Under Graham, the Owls clinched another automatic postseason bid in 2005, making 11-straight seasons for Rice to earn an NCAA appearance. The 2003 bid culminated with the Owls' first national championship. Rice played in the 1994-95-96 Southwest Conference tournaments (winning the final league title in '96), won the 1997-98-99 WAC tournaments, shared the 2000 WAC title with San Jose State before winning the 2001-02-03-04-05 titles outright, and advanced into the NCAA tournament in 1995-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05... Graham was named the WAC coach of the year in 1998, '99, '02 and the co-coach of the year in '03... Rice has made four appearances in the NCAA College World Series under Graham (1997, '99, '02, '03)... Graham has led the Owls to number-one rankings for seven weeks during the 1999 season, for six weeks during the '01 campaign, two weeks in '02, six weeks in 2003 (the last of which established some staying power), three weeks in 2004 and two weeks in 2006... Graham's San Jacinto Gators dominated the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., in the 1980s, winning five national titles in six years (1985-86-87, 89-90)... The Austin American-Statesman named Graham its SWC coach of the year in '95 after he led the Owls to their first NCAA tournament appearance... Collegiate Baseball was especially cognizant of Graham's efforts at San Jac. He was named the newspaper's coach of the decade for all levels in the 1980s after winning those five junior college national titles, and CB tabbed him the NJCAA coach of the century... One of the few current collegiate coaches to have played in the major leagues (N.Y. Mets in 1963, Philadelphia in 1964), Graham is aided by assistant coaches Mike Taylor (Prairie View A&M, 1997; sixth year), David Pierce (Houston, 1988; fourth year), Patrick Hallmark (Rice, 1995; first year)... Graham will coach at third base. Taylor will be at first base.
1,223 Wins
Wayne Graham owns 647 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,223 victories in his collegiate coaching career. Graham's career record is 1,223-378 in a 25-year career that began at San Jacinto College in 1981.
RICE ROTATION: DEGERMAN, CROW & SAVERY RETURN FOR C-USA DUTY
Wayne Graham has announced the starting rotation for the Tulane series as junior Eddie Degerman (rhp), junior Craig Crow (rhp) and sophomore Joe Savery (lhp), the same trio that took two-of-three games from East Carolina last week... Degerman has backed up his pre-season all-America status with some eye-opening results. He is 5-0 with a 1.10 ERA in seven starts. This season the standout from Granada Hills, Calif., has allowed an average of 4.8 hits and 2.9 walks with 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings of work. Degerman has held 174 batters faced to a composite .149 batting average. For his Rice career, Degerman is 14-2 with a 2.58 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 174.1 innings... Crow has worked his way into the weekend rotation with solid outings. Crow is 3-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 11 appearances, including four starting assignments. The New Braunfels native has struck out 35 batters in 30 frames for an average of 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Crow is in his first competitive season at the Division I level after sitting out all of the 2005 season with an injury. He started for two years at Grayson College (2003-04) prior to joining the Owls... Savery is comfortable playing first base the first two games of a weekend series before taking the mound in the Sunday finale. The versatile Houston native sometimes pulls double-duty of pitching and serving as his own designated hitter. He is 4-1 with a 1.68 ERA in a team-leading eight starts. He has held 175 batters faced to a .229 batting average. Savery has done his part, but could use a little more offensive support in his starts. The Owls bat only .251 in Savery's starts and average just 4.8 runs per game.
PREVIOUS GAME: OWLS THUMP TEXAS STATE ON THE ROAD, 11-1
The Rice baseball team slugged 16 hits, including nine for extra bases, and got a solid starting pitching effort from sophomore Will McDaniel and the bullpen to cruise to an 11-1 road win at Texas State Wednesday night at Bobcat Field in San Marcos... Rice jumped out to a big lead early, scoring eight runs over the first four innings. The second batter of the game, Rice senior Greg Buchanan, blasted a solo home run to right field for a 1-0 advantage... The Owls added three more in the third when Joe Savery and Josh Rodriguez hit back-to-back one-out doubles to put two men in scoring position. Jordan Dodson brought them both home with his fourth home run of the season to make it 4-0... Rice came back with four more runs in the fourth on four hits, a walk and hit batter. Savery drove in a pair with a base hit and Dodson added his fourth RBI on a double to left. The Owls went on to add single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth... Dodson finished the game with four RBI on two hits. Buchanan notched his fourth game this season with at least three hits. The standout from Friendswood went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI on a home run and double. Nine different Rice batters hit safely in the game and the team tied a season-high with seven doubles... The offensive explosion proved to be more than enough room for McDaniel. The right-hander from Houston improved his record to 2-0 by allowing just one run while working a career-long 6.0 innings, scattering two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. The trio of Daniel Cooper, Bryce Cox and Cole St.Clair all worked spotless innings coming out of the bullpen. Texas State finished the game with two singles... The Owls improved to 21-8 on the season. Texas State fell to 12-18.
C-USA Play Underway
Rice is tied for third place in Conference USA after league play began last week. The Owls trail both Southern Miss and Houston for the top spot in the standings by one game. USM and UH completed three-game sweeps of UAB and Marshall, respectively. Rice lost the opener to East Carolina 4-3, but battled back to take the weekend series with an 8-5 win Saturday and 5-0 victory Sunday. The Owls share third place with Tulane. The Green Wave won its C-USA series opener at Memphis two games to one.
Here's Who's Hot
Sophomore left fielder Jordan Dodson is 8-for-15 with two home runs, six RBI and three runs scored. Dodson is also 15-for-36 (.417) in the nine games since he sat out against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Mar. 12), which also happened to be his 20th birthday... Sophomore shortstop Brian Friday is 6-of-16 (.375), but has also drawn two walks and was a hit by a pitch for a .484 on-base percentage... Senior second baseman Greg Buchanan is 6-fo-13 (.462) with four RBI, five runs and a sacrifice bunt in his last three games. Defensively, Buchanan has not made a fielding error in his last 58 chances in the field and he made an acrobatic catch of a ball just beyond the infield Wednesday night at Texas State. Buchanan has turned or started six of the team's 10 double plays during his errorless stretch.
Take A Closer Look
The Owls have eight losses, but a closer look at that figure is in order. Seven of the team's eight losses were to teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Six are to teams that were ranked when Rice faced them and four of the losses are to the two most-recent NCAA champions... Each of the team's last four losses have all been by just one run. In those four one-run losses, the Owls surrendered the winning run in the opponents' final inning three times. Close out the last four one-run losses and the Owls are suddenly 24-4 and winners of 11 games in a row.
Our New Address In Conference USA
After nine seasons as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, Rice Athletics made the dramatic move to Conference USA for all varsity sports on July 1, 2005. The move has been a success with the Owls posting C-USA championships in soccer and women's cross country... Rice helps make C-USA's highly-regarded baseball league even better. In 2005, four C-USA teams earned NCAA regional bids. Fellow league newcomer Central Florida has averaged 41 wins for the past two years.
C-USA Coaches Pick Rice To Win 2006 League Crown
With Conference USA preseason player of the year selection Joe Savery leading the way, Rice was the unanimous pick of the league's nine head baseball coaches to win the 2006 conference title. Rice baseball competes in C-USA for the first time in 2006 but the Owls' reputation precedes them. The team is ranked as high as fourth in the nation in preseason polls after posting a 45-19 record and NCAA Super Regional appearance. Junior righthander Tim Bascom of fellow first-year C-USA member UCF was named as the league's preseason pitcher of the year.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Rice (nine first place votes)
2. Tulane
3. Southern Miss
4. Houston
5. UCF
6. East Carolina
7. UAB
8. Memphis
9. Marshall
Player of the Year - Joe Savery, Rice (So., p/if)
All-America Candidates
Rice senior Eddie Degerman, junior Josh Rodriguez and sophomore Joe Savery were selected to Collegiate Baseball's 2006 Louisville Slugger preseason all-America teams... Savery was named to the publication's preseason all-America first team as a utility player for his multiple skills as a hitter, first baseman and pitcher. Rodriguez was named second-team all-America at shortstop and Degerman was tabbed as a starting pitcher on the all-America third team. Savery and Rodriguez were also 2006 preseason all-America honorees by the NCBWA... Savery was a consensus all-America pick as a true freshman and the national freshman of the year by Collegiate Baseball. The Houston native from nearby Lamar High School led the Western Athletic Conference in hitting with a .382 average and he was second in the league with a 2.43 ERA in 19 starts on the mound... Rodriguez moved from second base to shortstop midway through the 2005 season with no drop off in play on either side of the ball. The former South Houston High School star batted .345 with a team-leading 11 home runs and 54 RBI in 63 games started. Rodriguez also maintained a .555 slugging percentage with 48 runs scored and nine stolen bases. Defensively, he started or turned 45 of the Owls' 67 double plays... Degerman is a veteran right-hander who went 8-1 with a 3.28 ERA a year ago. The Granada Hills, Calif., native opted to return for his senior season in 2006 despite being selected by the defending world champion Boston Red Sox in the 2005 major league draft. In one start last season, Degerman struck out 16 batters in just 7.1 innings. He averaged 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings of work.
Two Owls On Clemens Watch List
Rice senior Eddie Degerman and sophomore Joe Savery are among a list of 40 pitchers who have been named to the initial watch list for the 2006 Roger Clemens Award, which honors the top pitcher in college baseball... The Roger Clemens Award is named after major league great Roger Clemens. As a professional, Clemens has won 341 games (ninth-best in history), fanned 4,502 hitters and been honored with seven Cy Young Awards as the top pitcher in his league. The Roger Clemens Award is the only award of its kind, honoring the finest pitchers in college baseball... Savery, the national freshman of the year in 2005, is a preseason all-America selection for 2006. The left-hander from Houston was 8-5 with a team-best 2.43 ERA in 19 starts last season. Savery, who also starts at first base when not on the mound, posted 129 strikeouts and just 37 walks in 118.2 innings... Degerman is a veteran right-hander who went 8-1 with a 3.28 ERA for the Owls last season. The Granada Hills, Calif., native opted to return for his senior season in 2006 despite being selected by the defending world champion Boston Red Sox in the 2005 major league draft. In one of his starts last season, Degerman fanned 16 batters in just 7.1 innings of work. He averaged 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings... The watch list is comprised of all Division I pitchers who were named as pre-season all-America by either Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball or the NCBWA. Additional pitchers will be added each week when honored as National Pitchers of the Week by the NCBWA and after the NCAA releases its statistical rankings during the college baseball season... The third Clemens Award will be presented to the nation's top college pitcher at the conclusion of a gala dinner in Houston in July. All Division I head baseball coaches will take part in the voting for the honor, in addition to a selected panel of national media... For media information on The Roger Clemens Award, please contact Chuck Pool (832) 244-6476... The Owl trio of Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend and Philip Humber were all nominated for the first award in 2004.
Cox On Stopper Watch List
Senior right-hander Bryce Cox is among a group of 30 pitchers listed on the preseason watch list for the second annual NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. Cox was selected by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 13th round of the Major League Baseball Draft last June, but chose to return to Rice for his senior season. In 2005, he appeared in 17 games, going 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA and three saves. Cox averaged 11.6 strikeouts-per-nine innings, second-best on the staff and held the 66 batters that he faced to a composite .182 batting average. This will be the second time that the nation's top reliever is honored by the NCBWA.
Savery On Wallace Watch List
Sophomore Joe Savery was an early selection to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award, an honor presented to the national college baseball player of the year by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock. The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semifinalists in late May and narrowed to three finalists at a press conference in Omaha prior to the College World Series. The 2006 Wallace Award will be presented after the conclusion of the College World Series.
27,134 In Attendance
There were 27,134 fans in attendance at Minute Maid Park for the Owls' Feb. 11 game against tenth-ranked Texas. It's the fourth-largest crowd for a regular season college game in NCAA history. Rice's games at Minute Maid also drew 11,512 for the Feb. 12 game against TCU and 10,193 for the opening game of the tournament against Texas Tech.
The "K" Train
Rice pitchers have registered a total of 293 strikeouts in 29 games, an average 10.2 per contest. The staff has fanned 10 or more hitters in a game 17 times. Seven different Owls have more strikeouts than innings pitched this season. Four Owls, Eddie Degerman, Joe Savery, Cole St.Clair and Craig Crow rank among the C-USA top ten in strikeouts... Degerman fanned a team-best 11 in his start against Oklahoma (Feb. 17)... St.Clair has 50 K's in 34 innings of work, an average of 13.2 per nine innings... Crow struck out the side in his Division I debut against McNeese State (Feb. 7), helping the staff post a season-high total of 17 Ks for the game. The 17 strikeouts was approaching some lofty historic totals. Rice pitchers notched 21 strikeouts in a single game in 2005. The Owls fanned 19 against SMU in 1919 and 18 at McNeese State in April of 2000.
Draft Dodgers
Owls Eddie Degerman and Bryce Cox were selected in the 2005 Major League Baseball draft (June 7-8) but opted to return for their senior season. Two other Rice juniors and two seniors were drafted and signed. A former Owl who was not on the 2005 team, Wade Townsend, was the eighth player taken in the first round.
2005 Rice Draftees Rnd Pick MLB Team
Josh Geer 3rd 98th San Diego
Lance Pendleton 4th 139th New York (A)
Bryce Cox 13th 403rd Los Angeles (A)
Adam Rodgers 25th 770th St. Louis
Eddie Degerman 41st 1245th Boston
Adam Morris 47th 1420th St. Louis
Quick On The Opposition
Tulane enters the weekend with a 18-9 record and a 2-1 C-USA ledger. The Green Wave bats a composite .291, averages a steady 6.3 runs per contest and has converted on 39-of-51 stolen base attempts. Tulane thumped Jackson State on Tuesday 14-4. The Wave patiently drew 19 walks in the game and made the most of having men on base.
This & That
Rice's record is a game ahead of team's record from the same point a year ago (20-9)... The Owls are 18-1 when out-hitting the opponent, 16-0 when holding the opposition to two or fewer runs, 11-0 when scoring in the first inning and 6-0 when wearing the pinstripe uniforms... Rice pitchers have not allowed a home run in the last 77.2 innings... Rice tied a season high with seven doubles against Texas State Wednesday. The team also left 15 men on base during the game, just three the school record set in 1953... Sophomore shortstop Brian Friday `s great start has been a boost to the team. Friday is hitting .330 with 25 runs scored in 29 games. A year ago, Friday the freshman hit .256. He already has more doubles and runs that he did all last season... Rice has had bases-loaded at bats in each of the last four games. The team is 5-10 in that stretch... The Owls are 0-2 in blue tops and gray pants, so that particular wardrobe may be on probation.
