Rice University Athletics
Owls Host Texas State Tuesday To Wrap-Up Homestand
4/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 24, 2006
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The top-ranked Rice baseball team, 35-9 overall and in sole possession of first place in Conference USA with a 14-1 league record, wraps up a four-game home stand this week. The Owls host longtime foe Texas State at Reckling Park on Tues., Apr. 25. First pitch with the Bobcats is slated for 7 pm... The contest game is the Owls' last at home until May 10. After hosting Texas State, Rice is on the road for three C-USA games Apr. 28-30. The Owls are off from May 1-9 during the University's final examination period.
Broadcast Information
Rice athletics is broadcast live around the world on the Internet at www.KTRU.org. A number of selected Rice games are live on the radio on KTRU (91.7 FM). The next KTRU broadcasts are Friday (Apr. 28) and Sunday (Apr. 30) from Orlando, Fla. A direct link to the audio feed is provided at the "Listen Here" link listed above. Mike Pede, Matt McCabe, Dan Perez and Bill Cousins, are mic-side for the baseball action this season.
This Week's Highest National Ranking: Number One Again
Rice is number one in the country in two different college baseball polls, including the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) and Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA polls... The Owls were tabbed as the nation's top team by the NCBWA on Feb. 27 and remained there until Mar. 13. Rice regained the NCBWA's top spot on Apr. 17... Rice is number one in the Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA poll for a second-straight week, the team's highest spot in that ranking since Feb. 16, 2004 when the squad was coming off the 2003 national championship... The Owls remain second in Baseball America and third in Collegiate Baseball... Rice number one for a second-straight week according to the Internet site The Rosenblatt Report. The team was number one by The Rosenblatt Report to start the season, dropped to number two on Mar. 13, reclaimed the top spot on Mar. 20 and held it for seven days... 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 continue through June 30, 2006.
the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA)
Baseball America
Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA coaches poll
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 662-266 with the Owls (408-91 at home, 197-141 in road games and 57-34 at neutral sites). His overall winning percentage is .713, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .713 win percentage is that it is the equivalent of a major league team winning 116 games in a single year... Graham's record against Texas State is 34-7 (24-5 home, 9-2 road, 1-0 neutral). His record against UCF is 3-1 (2-1 home, 1-0 neutral)... 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.
1,237 Wins
Wayne Graham owns 662 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,237 victories in his collegiate coaching career. Graham's career record is 1,237-379 in a 25-year career that began at San Jacinto College in 1981.
National Wins Leader
Heading into this week's action, Rice and Old Dominion University have the most wins (35) of any college team in the country.
Take A Closer Look
The Owls have nine losses, but a closer look at that figure is in order. Eight of the team's nine losses were to teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Seven are to teams that were ranked when Rice faced them and four of the losses are to the two most-recent NCAA champions... Four of the team's last five 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. Stop the rallies in the last four one-run losses and the Owls are suddenly 36-5 and winners of 23 of their last 24 games.
Previous Game: Rice Completes Three-Game Sweep Of Southern Miss Sunday
Rice scored the go-ahead run on junior Travis Reagan's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh and added an insurance run in the eighth to claim a 5-3 win over 24th-ranked Southern Miss in the finale of a three-game C-USA weekend series Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park. The win was the Owls' 14th-straight C-USA victory and fourth-consecutive 3-0 sweep of a league foe... Rice left fielder Aaron Luna opened the scoring early in the contest. The freshman from Southlake Carroll belted his team-leading tenth home run of the season with one away in the bottom of the second inning... The Owls added two more in the fifth to stretch the margin to 3-0. Senior Greg Buchanan singled with and stole second to move into scoring position. Brian Friday followed with a walk and both scored on a two-out double to right-center by Joe Savery... Southern Miss would not go away without a fight. The Golden Eagles came right back with three runs in the next two innings to tie the game. In the sixth a pair of back-to-back singles and a sacrifice fly scored one. In the seventh Jody Blount drew a walk and scored on a double to right-center by Trey Sutton. Toddric Johnson singled to right field to bring home Sutton and the game was knotted-up, 3-3... The Owls responded with a run in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead, 4-3. Junior Josh Rodriguez started the rally by beating out a throw from the right side of the infield for a base hit. The all-America candidate was looking to move into scoring position, but opportunistically took two bases when a wild pitch skipped away and rolled to the home dugout. Rodriguez scored easily from third on Reagan's a one-out sacrifice fly to left... Rice added one more score for good measure in the eighth. Jordan Dodson was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and he moved up a base on Danny Lehmann's sacrifice bunt. Dodson took third on a ground out to the right side and scored on an infield hit by Buchanan for a 5-3 advantage... Sophomore Cole St.Clair earned his team-leading eighth save of the season with a scoreless ninth. The Golden Eagles attempted a final rally with ninth-inning double and walk, but St.Clair pitched out of the jam with a strikeout and game-ending double play. Sophomore reliever Bobby Bramhall improved to 4-1 as the winning pitcher working in relief of starter Craig Crow. Crow did not figure in the decision but was sharp in scattering just three hits while tying a season-high with eight strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
30-Consecutive Home Series Wins
With the sweep of Southern Miss Rice has won 30-consecutive regular season three-game weekend series at home at Reckling Park. Twenty of the 30 series wins have been 3-0 sweeps. The Owls have also won 23-straight home conference series, including three in C-USA this year and 16 by a three-games-to-none margin... The last time Rice lost a three-game regular season series at home was a Western Athletic Conference set against Nevada in April of 2001, two-games-to-one... Overall Rice has won 14-consecutive conference series dating back to Mar 20, 2005, the first weekend of league play in the Western Athletic Conference last season.
C-USA Win Streak At 14 Games In A Row
Rice has won 14 C-USA games in a row. The Owls lost their conference opener to East Carolina (4-3 at home on Mar. 24) but have bounced back to win every league game since then. The last time Rice won 14 conference games in a row was over a span of two different seasons. The Owls won their last seven Western Athletic Conference games in 2002 and their first 12 WAC games of 2003 for a total of 19 consecutive league wins.
Here's Who's Hot
Senior second baseman Greg Buchanan is 16-for-his-last-35 (.457) with 12 runs scored, two home runs and double. He leads the team in hitting (.375), multi-hit games (18) and runs scored (43). Defensively, Buchanan has not made a fielding error in his last 118 chances in the field. Buchanan made only two errors in 194 total chances (.990) and he's turned or started 30 of the Owls' 39 double plays... Sophomore shortstop Brian Friday is 16-of-33 (.485) the last eight games with 14 RBI, 10 runs scored, seven doubles, a home run and three steals. Friday is batting an eye-opening .453 in C-USA games with a .523 on-base percentage in league play... Freshman Aaron Luna is 12-for-26 (.462) in the last eight games with four home runs and four doubles for a 1.077 slugging percentage. He's driven in nine runs and scored seven times in that span... Junior catcher Travis Reagan is 10-for-25 (.400) with five walks in his last nine games played to raise his season batting average to .324. Junior Josh Rodriguez went 5-for-10 with three walks in the Southern Miss series.
T.G.I.F.
Sophomore shortstop Brian Friday`s great start has been a sensational boost to the team. Friday is hitting .375 with 42 runs scored in 44 games. There have been only five games this season where Friday hasn't had a hit. A year ago, Friday the freshman hit .256 and he had an .876 fielding percentage. In 2006 Friday is hitting almost 120 points higher and his fielding has had a similar improvement. The Houston native had more doubles in the April 15 win over Memphis than he did all last season... The standout from Bellaire Episcopal High School is hitting .453 in C-USA games with a .698 slugging percentage against the league.
The "K" Train
Rice pitchers have registered a total of 418 strikeouts in 44 games, an average 9.6 per contest. The staff has fanned 10 or more hitters in a game 22 times. Six different pitchers 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 11 in strikeouts... Degerman fanned a team-best 11 in his start against Oklahoma (Feb. 17)... St.Clair has 76 K's in 49.1 innings of work, an average of 13.9 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.
Owls On Top Of The C-USA Standings
Rice is in sole possession of first place in Conference USA, one of the country's top baseball leagues. The Owls own a two-game lead over crosstown rival Houston (28-15 overall and 12-3 C-USA).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This & That
Rice's record is five games ahead of team's record from the same point a year ago (30-14)... The Owls are 27-1 when out-hitting the opponent, 21-0 when holding the opposition to two or fewer runs and 17-0 when scoring in the first inning... The Owls went without a home run for the first time in 11 games against Oklahoma (Apr. 18), then hit four out of the park in the next outing vs. Southern Miss (Apr. 21)... Rice already has more steals (52) and stolen base attempts (73) than in either of the past two full seasons... In 12 appearances as a pinch runner, sophomore Derek Myers has managed to score seven times.
