Rice University Athletics
Graham Named C-USA Coach Of The Year
5/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2006
HOUSTON -- On the eve of hosting the Conference USA Tournament this week at home at Reckling Park, Rice head baseball coach Wayne Graham has earned the Keith LeClair Conference USA Coach of the Year award and a total of eight of the Owls he coached this season were named all-conference.
Graham led the Owls' to the C-USA regular season championship and the nation's number one ranking their first year in the league. With a 46-10 overall record and 22-2 C-USA ledger, Rice had the best conference winning percentage (.917) and fewest losses in league history. This year he coached eight Owls to all-conference accolades, including Eddie Degerman, Brian Friday and Cole St.Clair to the C-USA first team. Josh Rodriguez, Craig Crow, Bobby Bell, Joe Savery and Aaron Luna were named to the C-USA second team. Luna was also named to the league's all-freshman team.
In his 15th season at the helm of the Rice program, Graham is no stranger to receiving coaching honors. He was named the Western Athletic Conference coach of the year in 1998, 1999, 2002 and the co-coach of the year in 2003. The Austin American-Statesman named Graham its Southwest Conference coach of the year in 1995. The Keith LeClair Coach of the Year award is named after the former East Carolina head coach, who courageously continues to battle ALS, or as it is more commonly known as, Lou Gehrig's Disease.
The Owls' first team honorees are in the running for all-America. Degerman went 10-1 on the mound with a 1.65 ERA. He has struck out 127 hitters in 98.1 innings. St.Clair has nine saves and a 1.68 ERA in 59 innings. He's held 201 hitters to a composite .144 batting average. Friday is hitting .387 on the season with seven home runs. He enters the C-USA Tournament with a 20-game hitting streak.
Voting was done by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team's sports information director and a media representative from each city. The Rice baseball team next competes at the 2006 C-USA Baseball Tournament to be held May 24-28 at home at Reckling Park. The Owls are the number one seed and play UAB at 4 pm Wednesday. The championship final of the tournament is slated for 1 pm on May 28 (Sunday) and will be televised by CSTV.
2006 CONFERENCE USA BASEBALL AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mark Hamilton, Tulane
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Brad Lincoln, Houston
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Warren McFadden, Tulane
KEITH LeCLAIR COACH OF THE YEAR
Wayne Graham, Rice
FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
IF: Adam Amar, Memphis
IF: Brian Friday, Rice
IF: Isa Garcia, Houston
IF: Mark Hamilton, Tulane
IF: Marc Maddox, Southern Miss
OF: Toddric Johnson, Southern Miss
OF: Warren McFadden, Tulane
OF: Matt Weston, Houston
C: Jake Smith, East Carolina
DH/UT: Brad Lincoln, Houston
P: Tim Bascom, UCF
P: Eddie Degerman, Rice
P: Brad Lincoln, Houston
P: Sean Morgan, Tulane
RP: Cole St.Clair, Rice
SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
IF: Josh Rodriguez, Rice
IF: Joe Savery, Rice
IF: Trey Sutton, Southern Miss
IF: Adam Witter, East Carolina
OF : K.K. Chalmers, Memphis
OF: Aaron Luna, Rice
OF: Nathan Southard, Tulane
C: Kevin Coker, Southern Miss
DH/UT: Brendan Murphy, Marshall
P: Bobby Bell, Rice
P: Craig Crow, Rice
P : Scott McGregor, Memphis
P: Brody Taylor, East Carolina
RP: Daniel Best, Southern Miss
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Luke Adkins, OF, Southern Miss
Travis Cougot, SS, Houston
Dave DiNatale, OF, UCF
Brian Dozier, SS, Southern Miss
Michael Ewing, 1B, Southern Miss
Luis Flores, C/P, Houston
Mitch Houck, P, UCF
Aaron Luna, OF, Rice
Warren McFadden, OF, Tulane
Scott McGregor, P, Memphis
Ryan Wood, IF, East Carolina
