Owls Host Texas Tuesday Night At Reckling Park
3/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 6, 2006
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Owls Host Texas Tuesday Night At Reckling Park
The number one ranked Rice baseball team, 13-3 on the season and winners in eight of the last nine games, host defending national champion Texas on Tuesday, Mar. 7, at Reckling Park. First pitch with the 17th-ranked Longorns (10-8) is slated for 7 pm... The contest wraps up a four-game homestand for Rice. After facing Texas the Owls hit the road to play in the Whataburger College Classic in Corpus Christi (Mar. 10-12) against TCU, Arizona State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Broadcast Info.
Rice athletics is broadcast live around the world on the Internet at www.KTRU.org. A number of games are broadcast live on the radio on KTRU (91.7 FM), including Tuesday's game against Texas. A direct link to the audio feed is provided on the baseball schedule page of RiceOwls.com. Broadcasters Mike Pede, Matt McCabe and Dan Perez are mic-side for the baseball action this season.
Two Upcoming Games On OwlVision
Tuesday's game is scheduled for broadcast by OwlVision . OwlVision is a subscription-based service which matches the play-by-play audio with a video feed to create a television-like broadcast on the Internet (either live or in an archived format). The service has proved to be very popular with fans and alumni living throughout the world. Information about the service and prices are available on the Rice web site. A number of home games are on tap for OwlVision this season, including league games in C-USA.
National Ranking Update: Owls Remain No. 1
Rice is number one in the country in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) Mar. 6 poll. The Owls were tabbed as the nation's top team by the NCBWA on Feb. 27, the first time for the Blue and Gray to be number one since the start of the 2004 season when the Owls were coming off the 2003 NCAA National Championship... Rice has been number one in the nation according to the Internet site The Rosenblatt Reportsince the start of the season. The Owls moved up to third this week in Baseball America. The team is fourth in both the Collegiate Baseball and Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA coaches poll. Rice is ranked high 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.
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 640-260 with the Owls (397-89 at home, 187-138 in road games and 56-33 at neutral sites). His overall winning percentage is .711, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .711 win percentage is that it is the equivalent of a major league team winning 115 games in a single year... Graham is 16-26 against Texas (7-9 home, 4-13 away, 5-4 neutral). He is 36-18 against TCU (20-6 home, 12-10 road, 4-2 neutral), 1-3 against Arizona State (0-1 home, 1-2 road) and 1-0 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-0 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 once 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.
1,215 Wins
Wayne Graham owns 640 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,215 victories in his collegiate coaching career. Graham's career record is 1,215-373 in a 25-year career that began at San Jacinto College in 1981.
900 Games At Rice
Sunday's game against Cal. State Fullerton marked Wayne Graham`s 900th at Rice.
Rugged Stretch Of Games
Rice is in a rugged stretch of games. The Owls host longtime rival and defending national champion Texas after completing a three-game weekend series against Cal. State Fullerton. Rice then returns to Corpus Christi to play in the Whataburger College Classic tournament against TCU, 13th-ranked Arizona State and host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in their hometown. That's six-straight games against ranked teams that were ranked to start the season and a rematch of a challenging road game that proved to be a battle when the Owls were there on Feb. 28... The games start Mar. 10 but the Classic actually begins the day before with a tournament-opening home run derby. Classic tickets may be obtained at the Whataburger Field box office, which is open weekdays from 9 am until 5 pm. They may also be secured by phone at 361-561-HOOK (4665), or on-line through the Hooks' site. The tournament schedule is as follows:
Fri., Mar. 10
Rice vs. TCU, 2:30 pm
Arizona State at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6:30 pm
Sat., Mar. 11
TCU at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 1:30 pm
Rice vs. Arizona State, 5:30 pm
Sun., Mar. 12
Arizona State vs. TCU, 11:30 am
Rice at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 3:30 pm
Rodriguez Named A C-USA Hittter Of The Week
For an outstanding series of games, highlighted by late-inning heroics to help the Owls win two of three from nationally-ranked Cal. State Fullerton, Rice junior Josh Rodriguez was named one of the Conference USA hitters of the week for Mar. 6, the C-USA office announced from its headquarters in Dallas on Mar. 6... Rodriguez hit a composite .400 (6-for-15) for the week while driving in five runs and scoring five times. He slugged a game-winning home run and three doubles for an .800 slugging percentage. The Houston native from South Houston High School stepped up with some late-game heroics to win two games against perennial power Fullerton. In the series-opener he hit a walk-off solo home run to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning for a Rice 3-2 victory. Less than 24 hours later he knocked a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 2-2 deadlock on the way to a 6-2 victory... Rodriguez and Marshall's Brendan Murphy shared the league's hitter of the week honors. Murphy hit .462 with three home runs and 12 RBI. Houston's Brad Lincoln was named the C-USA pitcher of the week. Rice has had a sizable impact on C-USA. Freshman Aaron Luna was named the C-USA hitter of the week for Feb. 13. Junior pitcher Eddie Degerman was the league's pitcher of the week on Feb. 20.
Did You Know?
All three of the Owls losses this season have been to ranked teams and two are to the two most-recent NCAA champions.
Here's Who's Hot
Junior all-America candidate Josh Rodriguez is a C-USA hitter of the week, but that's only part of the story. In his current hitting pace Rodriguez is 13-for-his-last-29 (.448) with two home runs, four doubles and 12 RBI... Sophomore Jordan Dodson extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games against Cal. State Fullerton. He is hitting .385 during the streak (15-for-39). The only time Dodson hasn't had a base hit when he's been in the lineup is a brief 0-for-1 appearance against Texas Tech (Feb. 10).
Last Week
Last week the Owls went 3-1. The Blue and Gray won their first road game of the season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 28) then came home to take two-of-three games from national power Cal. State Fullerton.
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 179 strikeouts in 16 games, an average 11.1 per contest. The staff has fanned 10 or more hitters in a game 12 times. Eddie Degerman fanned a team-best 11 in his start against Oklahoma (Feb. 17). Seven different Owls have more strikeouts than innings pitched this season. Sophomore Cole St.Clair has 29 K's in 17.2 innings of work, an average of 14.8 per nine innings. Junior Craig Crow struck out the side in his Division I debut on Feb. 7 against McNeese State, 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 Texas
Texas is 10-8 on the season and wrapping up a four-game road swing at Rice. The Longhorns enter Tuesday's game ranked 17th in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball. The Longhorns hit .294 as a team and average a steady 6.2 runs per game... The Owls are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Longhorns.
This & That
Two Rice streaks fell in Sunday's game against Cal. State Fullerton. One was that it was the first time this year the Owls failed to win a game in which they had hit a home run. Rice was 11-0 in games in which a player had hit a home run. The second was that Rice pitchers surrendered a hit with the bases loaded for the first time. The Owls staff had been in bases-loaded situations 12 times and worked out of the jam every time before Sunday... Fullerton pitchers hit Rice batters five times in the opening game of the series. That tied the school record which had happened a total of three times before. The most recent was against Nevada at Reckling Park on Mar. 27, 2005... Outfielder Tyler Henley has been hit by a pitch eight times this season to give him a total 29 for his career. Only a sophomore, Henley is more than halfway to Chris Kolkhorst's school record of 49 HBP... A week ago at Corpus Christi, Henley recorded the seventh outfield assist in his Rice career by throwing out a runner at home plate from his spot in center field. Henley also assisted on throwing out a runner in the McNeese State win (Feb. 7). He appeared to be on his way to getting another outfield assist Sunday when a teammate could secure a handle on the ball. Henley once threw out three advancing runners in a single game... On the pitching side sophomore Bobby Bramhall has quietly strung together some solid outings. Bramhall has worked a total of 12.1 innings in six outings, maintaining a 2.19 ERA on six hits and four walks with 14 strikeouts... Sophomore infielder Brian Friday`s start has been a boost to the team. Friday is hitting a steady .328 with nine runs scored in 16 games and he has started or turned seven of the team's double plays. At this point a year ago, Friday the freshman was hitting .250.
