Owls Meet Georgia In College World Series Opener
6/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 16, 2006
June 16, 2006
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The number-one ranked Rice baseball team, 55-11 overall and winners of the NCAA Houston super regional and regional, as well as Conference USA champions for the regular season and league tournament, meet Southeast Conference power Georgia (47-21) in its opening game of the College World Series in Omaha on Saturday at 1 pm. A complete listing of the College World Series bracket appears on page two of this guide... The Owls are the number two seed of the 2006 NCAA tournament field, which started with 64 teams but is now down to just eight after super regional action wrapped up last weekend. Rice won its home regional over a field of Arizona State, Baylor and Prairie View. The Blue and Gray won its super regional series against Oklahoma at home by a count of two games to one... Georgia is the tournament's seventh seed and advanced to Omaha by defending its home regional vs. Florida State, Jacksonville and Sacred Heart. The Bulldogs defeated South Carolina in the super regional two games to one.
Lone Stars
The baseball talent-rich state of Texas produced seven Divsion I teams than earned a bid to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Rice is the last school from the state of Texas still playing.
Some Quick College World Series/NCAA History
Rice is playing in its 12th-consecutive NCAA tournament. The Owls are in the College World Series for the fifth time, with previous trips in 1997, '99, 2002 and '03. The baseball program won the school's first national championship in a team sport in its last venture to the CWS in 2003, defeating Stanford in the final series two games to one... Rice's all-time record in NCAA Tournament games is 53-29 (.646). The Owls are 6-7 in 13 CWS games. The team won its first Series game in 1999, a 7-2 victory over Oklahoma State... Rice has been to six super regionals (1999, 2001, '02, '03, '05 and `06). Only Miami (Fla.) and Florida State have been to more super regionals than Rice since the current format was adopted in 1999. (Miami has been to all eight super regionals and FSU has been to seven.) Rice is a combined 9-7 in 16 super regional games.
Broadcast Information
Every Rice baseball game for the remainder of the season is slated for a live radio broadcast in the Houston area on KTRU (91.7 FM). Rice athletics is also broadcast live around the world on the Internet at www.KTRU.org. A direct link to the audio feed is provided above, and on the baseball schedule page of RiceOwls.com. Mike Pede, Bill Cousins, Matt McCabe, Dan Perez and Ryan Black are mic-side for the baseball action this season.
All College World Series Games On ESPN/ESPN2
ESPN and ESPN2 are scheduled to broadcast every College World Series game. The network showed every super regional series on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, including the three home games from Reckling Park... Rice has had eight games nationally televised this year, including six NCAA tournament games the last two weeks.
National Ranking: Owls Number One
For the fifth week in a row, Rice is the number-one team in the country in five different college baseball polls... Three organizations, Baseball America, the Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA), had Rice as number one in each of the last eight weeks... 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, the team's highest spot in that ranking since Feb. 16, 2004 when the squad was coming off the 2003 national championship... Rice is number one for an eighth-straight week according to the Internet site The Rosenblatt Report. The team was ranked 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 wins in 37-of-40 games down the stretch. 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 conclude June 27 after the CWS championship series.
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA)
Baseball America
Sports Weekly/ESPN/ABCA coaches poll
Collegiate Baseball
The Rosenblatt Report
Best Record In The Country
Heading into College World Series, Rice has the best record (55-11) of any college team in the country. Atlantic Coast Conference power Clemson, the number one seed of the tournament is right on pace with a 52-13 record.
Take A Closer Look
The Owls have 11 losses, but a closer look at that figure is in order. Eight of the team's 11 losses were to teams that made the NCAA Tournament this season. Nine are to teams that were ranked when Rice faced them and four of the losses are to the two most-recent NCAA champions... Consider that four of the team's last seven losses were 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 59-7 and winners of 46 of their last 50 games.
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 682-268 with the Owls (421-93 at home, 204-141 in road games and 57-34 at neutral sites). His overall winning percentage is .718, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .718 win percentage is that it is the equivalent of a major league team winning 116 games in a single year... Graham is meeting two opposing teams on Rice's half of the CWS bracket (Georgia and Oregon State) for the first time. He is 1-3 against Miami-Fla. (1-2 away, 0-1 at CWS).. Under Graham, the Owls clinched another automatic postseason bid in 2006, making 12-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. He added the C-USA regular season and tournament championship in 2006... Graham was named the WAC coach of the year in 1998, '99, '02 and the co-coach of the year in '03. He was named the C-USA coach of the year for 2006... Rice is making its fifth appearances in the NCAA College World Series under Graham (1997, '99, '02, '03, `06)... 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 11 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.
1,257 Career Wins For Graham
Wayne Graham owns 680 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,257 victories when including his 11 years at San Jacinto North College where he won five national championships. Graham's career record is 1,257-381 in a 25-year career that began in 1981.
11-Straight Conference Titles
Rice won the C-USA Tournament championship by defeating crosstown rival Houston 11-5 on May 28, just two weeks after clinching the regular season title on May 14 with a two-games-to-one series win over the same Cougar team at home at Reckling Park... The championship is the team's 11th in a row dating back to 1996. Rice won nine-straight Western Athletic Conference championships in baseball from 1997-2005, as well as the final Southwest Conference Tournament crown before that league disbanded (1996)... In addition to winning seven WAC regular season titles, Rice was also a perfect 12-0 in winning three WAC tournaments in 1997, 1998 and 1999.
20-Consecutive Wins In Conference Tournaments
Not only has Rice won each of the last five conference tournaments the team has played in since 1996, the Owls have swept through each of those events without a loss. Rice has won 20-consecutive conference tournament games since its membership in the Southwest Conference in 1996.
The 50-Win Plateau; 12-Straight Seasons With 40+ Wins
This season marks the program's fourth time to reach the 50-win plateau since 1999. Rice currently has its third-highest win total in school history behind the 1999 and 2003 squads (59 and 58 wins, respectively).... The Owls also clinched their 12th-straight 40-win season a while back. In fact, limiting it to just 40 wins shortchanges it a bit. Rice has won at least 42 games a year in every season since 1995. The team has also won at least 45 games in nine of the last 10 campaigns.
37-of-40
Rice has won 37-of-40 games dating back to March 25. The Owls have hit 106 points better than their opponents during the stretch (.336 to .230) and averaged 8.3 runs per game. The home run ratio has been 3.2-to-1 in Rice's favor. Another key aspect to winning 37-of-40 is making only 34 fielding errors for a .978 fielding percentage with 36 double plays.
31-Consecutive Home Series Wins
By winning two-of-three super regional games from Oklahoma over the weekend, Rice has won 32-consecutive regular season three-game weekend series at home at Reckling Park. Twenty of the 32 series wins have been 3-0 sweeps. The Owls have also won 24-straight home conference series, including four 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 17-consecutive conference series dating back to Mar 20, 2005, the first weekend of league play in the WAC that year.
Feeling A Draft
Led by junior Josh Rodriguez' selection in the second round and as the 57th pick overall, five Owls were selected in the first 11 rounds of the Major League Baseball amateur draft on June 6. Seven Owls were drafted overall... Rodriguez was a second round pick by the Cleveland Indians organization while Rice pitchers Bryce Cox and Eddie Degerman went in the third and fourth rounds to the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively. Two more Owls were picked by the state's major league clubs. Senior second baseman Greg Buchanan was taken in the ninth round by the Houston Astros and junior pitcher Craig Crow went in the 11th to the Texas Rangers... Rodriguez was Cleveland's third pick overall, but first infielder taken by the organization. Cleveland used one of its highest picks for the Owls' star when the Tribe did not have a first round draft spot for 2006 due to earlier trades... Cox is a hard-throwing senior who gave the Owls a dynamic option from the right side the second half of the season. The right-hander from Carrollton is 4-1 with three saves in 29 appearances... Degerman worked his way into becoming the ace of the top-ranked college team in the country with one of the nation's best collegiate pitching staffs. Degerman ranks among the NCAA leaders in ERA (1.81), wins (13) and strikeouts per nine innings (with 11.9 per game). The senior from Granada Hills, Calif., is among the best in Conference USA in innings pitched (119.2) and opponents' batting average (second, .174). He was named the most outstanding player of the Houston regional after striking out a season-high 14 Baylor hitters in 8.0 innings. He set a new C-USA single season strikeout record with 158 Ks this year... In addition to a steady .355 batting average and solid defensive skills at second base, Buchanan provided the veteran experience needed for a young Rice team to win the C-USA championship. The Houston native leads the league in hits (99) and is among the league's best in batting average, runs scored (62) and total bases (129)... Crow shouldered the load for his teammates this season and compiled an 8-1 record with a 3.28 ERA. He worked his way into the Owls' weekend rotation where he went on to earn second team all-conference honors after going undefeated (4-0) against the league. In 23 appearances, Crow has held 308 hitters to a combined .263 batting average. He's struck out 85 hitters in 79.2 innings... Late in the draft Rice senior Ryne Tacker was selected in the 49th round by the Seattle Mariners even though he has not pitched this year. Tyler Henley was selected in the 50th round by the Houston Astros even though he is just a sophomore.
Collegiate Baseball Tabs Three Owls For All-America Honors
Senior Eddie Degerman and sophomores Brian Friday and Cole St.Clair were named to Collegiate Baseball magazine's 2006 Louisville Slugger all-America team on June 2... Degerman was named first team all-America while Friday and St.Clair were selected to the publication's third team. Degerman was a first team all-Conference USA selection and he was tabbed as a 2006 all-America by the College Baseball Foundation as well as a first team Academic all-America by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)... Friday's sensational season at shortstop is a reason the Owls (55-11) are the number one team in the country. The sophomore from Houston led the team and ranks among the C-USA's best in batting average (.365), hits (93), doubles (21), runs scored (65), total bases (147), on-base percentage (.449) and stolen bases (17). He is one of three Owls to start all 66 games and he had two or more hits in a game 24 times. Friday had a 20-game hitting streak during the year but his defense was just as steady up the middle. He registered a .955 fielding percentage and turned or started 38 of the Owls' 58 double plays... St.Clair followed up freshman all-America accolades a year ago with third team honors in his sophomore campaign. The left-handed pitcher emerged as the team's closer where he has saved 11 of the Owls' games. St.Clair is 6-2 with a 1.82 ERA in 69.1 innings. The Santa Ana, Calif., native is among the NCAA leaders in strikeouts per nine innings (12.2 pg) and ERA. He leads C-USA in appearances (35), and opponents' batting average (.144). Earlier the year he was on the watch list of the Clemens Award and on June 1 he was named as one of five national finalists for the Stopper of the Year Award.
Graham Named A Coach Of The Year; College Baseball Foundation Honors Two
Rice Head Coach Wayne Graham was named as one of the national coaches of the year while two of his Owl players, senior pitcher Eddie Degerman and sophomore Brian Friday, were named to the inaugural College Baseball Foundation all-America team, the organization announced May 29 from its headquarters in Lubbock... The College Baseball Foundation is an organization dedicated to preserving college baseball history and recognizing standout teams and individuals who have influenced the collegiate game.
Previous Game: Owls Top Oklahoma 9-5 To Win Super Regional Series
Junior Josh Rodriguez tied a career-high with five RBI, Joe Savery slugged a three-run homer and the Rice relief tandem of Cole St.Clair and Bryce Cox kept ninth-ranked Oklahoma in check as the number-one Owls defeated the Sooners 9-5 in the third and final game of the best-of-three NCAA super regional before a Reckling Park crowd of 3,613 and national television audience on ESPN June 12 in Houston... By taking the final game of the NCAA super regional, Rice secured its fifth trip to the College World Series that starts next week in Omaha, Neb. The Owls return to Omaha for the first time since 2003, the year the baseball program won the school's first national championship in a team sport. In addition to 2003, Rice made trips to the CWS in 1997, 1999 and 2002... Closing out a talented Oklahoma team that had already beaten Rice once in the regular season and the day before in game two of the super regional was no easy task. The Sooners had the lead three different times in the game, including past the halfway point heading into the bottom of the sixth inning... Oklahoma jumped on the scoreboard for a pair of runs in the top of the first. A hit batsman and back-to-back singles loaded the bases with no one out. Kevin Smith drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to right field and a ground out to the left side scored another for quick 2-0 lead... Though normally the Owls' closer, Rice brought in St.Clair out of the bullpen with two away in the first inning. He worked out of the jam and proceeded to pitch the next five innings, holding OU to five hits without any walks... In the bottom of the first, senior Greg Buchanan drew a walk and two batters later Rodriguez hit an opposite field two-run homer to the right field corner. Rodriguez' 11th round-tripper of the season tied the game at 2-2... The Sooners regained the lead in the top of the third. Second baseman Russell Raley led off with a single through the left side and scored on a one-out double to the wall in left-center by Kevin Smith... Rice true freshman Aaron Luna tied it back up again in the bottom of the fourth with a home run to left. Not only did Luna's homer make it 3-3, he moved into a tie for ninth on the Owls' all-time home run list with 16... Oklahoma answered with a solo shot of its own to take the lead. Raley slugged the first pitch over the left field wall for his second home run of the year and a 4-3 lead... Rice had a chance to go ahead in the fifth by loading the bases with one away, but the Blue & Gray could score any runs. The Owls made up for it in the sixth. Danny Lehmann led off with a single, Tyler Henley drew a walk and Buchanan singled through the right side to put runners on every station. Two batter later, Rodriguez punched a base hit through the left side to score two. Savery followed with a three-run homer to right-center to cap a five-run outburst and an 8-4 advantage... The Sooners answered with a run in the top of the seventh. Joseph Hughes was hit by a pitch and Chuckie Caufield singled on the line at third base that Rodriguez kept from going for extra bases. Consecutive ground outs scored Hughes from second and cut the margin back to three, 8-5... Rice loaded the bases again in the seventh on a pair of singles and hit batsman. Rodriguez tallied his fifth RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly and the Owls were back up for good by four, 9-5... Cox relieved St.Clair and was sharp in pitching the final three innings of the game for his third save of the season. The senior right-hander scattered just two hits without any walks and tied a season-high with four strikeouts.
Five Owls Earn C-USA All-Tournament Honors As Rice Takes Title
Sophomore Joe Savery, the most valuable player of the C-USA Tournament, hit the game-winning home run to help spark the Rice baseball team to an 11-5 win over crosstown rival Houston in front of 3,732 fans in the championship final May 28 at Reckling Park. The Owls' 10th win in a row clinched the program's 11th-consecutive conference title as Rice earned C-USA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament... Five Owls (Savery, Jordan Dodson, Greg Buchanan, Bobby Bell and Bryce Cox) were all named to the C-USA all-tournament team.
Graham Named C-USA Coach Of The Year; Eight Owls Earn League Accolades
Rice head baseball coach Wayne Graham earned the Keith LeClair Conference USA Coach of the Year award May 23 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 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... 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, Lou Gehrig's Disease... Voting was done by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team's sports information director and a media representative from each city.
C-USA Weekly Honorees
Rice has had a sizable impact on Conference USA's weekly honors list in its first year in the league. A total of seven Owls won eight pitcher/player of the week awards from the C-USA office this season. Rice's 2006 C-USA player/pitcher of the week scoreboard is as follows...
Player of the Week
Aaron Luna (Feb. 13)
Josh Rodriguez (Mar. 6)
Adam Zornes (Apr. 17)
Bryce Cox (May 22)
Joe Savery (May 15)
Brian Friday (May 22)
Pitcher of the Week
Eddie Degerman (Feb. 20)
Eddie Degerman (Mar. 13)
Academic Honors
Senior Eddie Degerman has been named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team for baseball according to the national Collegiate Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA). Degerman was one of 12 players, and one of just two pitchers, from across the country selected to the Division I Academic All-America first team. The standout from Granada Hills, Calif., has been just as successful in the classroom, juggling baseball and the books to maintain a 3.37 grade point average as an economics major. Degerman is one of five Owls who earned Academic All-District VI honors from CoSIDA last month. He advanced from the district voting and was selected to 2006 Academic All-America first team on a nation-wide vote of Division I SIDs... The all-District VI academic team also included junior Craig Crow and sophomores Brian Friday, Tyler Henley and Joe Savery. Crow (3.69 GPA, English & Economics), Henley (3.30, Economics & Managerial Studies), Friday (3.28 Economics) and Savery (3.20, Kinesiology & Managerial Studies) made Rice the school with the most honorees in the district. CoSIDA's district VI encompasses all Division I schools in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Reagan Out For The Year
Rice will be without junior catcher Travis Reagan the remainder of the season. Reagan had been a starter for 30 of the team's 52 games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury on May 14. The Lubbock native hit .294 for the year.
Luna Among Rice's Elite Freshman Sluggers
Freshman Aaron Luna hit two dramatic home runs in last week's super regional, but there is even more to the rookie's team-leading 15 and 16th round-trippers of the season. Luna extended his lead on the school's all-time home run list for freshmen in a single season, now three ahead of former Owl great Jose Cruz, Jr., who had 13 homers in 1993. The third and fourth-place Owls on the frosh homer list ended up being first-round picks in the respective major league drafts and both reached the major leagues. Bubba Crosby and Cruz, Jr., were true freshman in their respective years on the list. Vincent Sinisi was a redshirt freshman when he hit 11 round-trippers in 2002, leading the Owls to a CWS appearance.
Frosh HR Leaders
1. Aaron Luna, 2006 -- 16
2. Jose Cruz, Jr. , 1993 -- 13
3. Bubba Crosby, 1996 -- 12
4. Vincent Sinisi, 2002 -- 11
Here's Who's Hot
In the NCAA Tournament sophomore centerfielder Tyler Henley is hitting .478 (11-for-23) with six doubles and five walks for .739 slugging percentage and .613 on-base percentage... Junior Josh Rodriguez is 9-for-24 (.375) with three home runs and a double for a .792 slugging percentage. "J-Rod" has driven in 11 runs in the last six games... Sophomore Joe Savery is 7-for-19 (.368) with a .684 slugging percentage in six NCAA Tournament games. He has also been walked seven times in that span.
Degerman Named Clemens Award Finalist
After beginning on an original watch list of some 65 college pitchers from across the country, including his Rice teammates Joe Savery and Cole St. Clair, senior Eddie Degerman (13-1, 1.81) has been named one of the nation's four finalists for the Roger Clemens Award, the organization has announced. The Owls' ace has helped the team to a 55-11 record and number-one ranking in the country... 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... The original 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... 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 information on The Roger Clemens Award, please contact Chuck Pool at 832-244-6476.
The "K" Train
Rice pitchers have registered a total of 616 strikeouts in 66 games, an average 9.5 per contest. The staff has fanned 10 or more hitters in a game 31 times. Five pitchers have more strikeouts than innings pitched this season. Three Owls, Eddie Degerman, Cole St.Clair and Craig Crow rank among the C-USA top six in strikeouts... Degerman fanned a team-best 14 Baylor hitters in the regional (June 4)... St.Clair has 94 K's in 69.1 innings of work, an average of 12.2 per nine innings... Crow struck out the side in his Division I debut against McNeese State (Feb. 7), helping the staff post 17 Ks for the game. The 17 strikeouts stood as the season high until it was matched in the team's June 4 regional performance. The 17 strikeouts also approaches 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.
Their Country Is Calling
Sophomore standouts Joe Savery and Cole St.Clair are among the 20 college underclassmen who have accepted invitations to participate in the 2006 USA Baseball National Team Trials, USA Baseball announced. The trials run from June 22-July 1 in exhibition games played against the New England Collegiate League. The USA National Team will be selected from a pool of 36 players, of which an additional 16 have yet to be determined. The official 22-man roster will be finalized on July 2. Team USA represents the U.S. against the national teams of other countries during an annual summer tour.
This & That
The Owls are...
28-0 when holding the opposition to two or fewer runs;
25-0 when scoring in the first inning;
47-2 when out-hitting the opponent;
41-3 when scoring first;
14-8 when the opponent scores first.
