Owls Host Houston In Home-Opener Wednesday At Reckling Park
2/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2009
Game Notes pdf
Rice Ticket Page
Feb. 25 (Wed.) 4 pm vs. Houston
Watch the game live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Feb. 27 (Fri.) 7 pm vs. UCLA
Watch the game live on OwlVision
KTRU/Internet Listen Here
Feb. 28 (Sat.) 7 pm vs. Texas A&M
Watch the game live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Mar. 1 (Sun.) 2:30 pm vs. Baylor
Watch the game live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Rice Opens 2009 Home Schedule With Silver Glove Trophy Game on Wednesday
The ninth-ranked Rice baseball team, 1-2 on the young season, plays its 2009 home-opener at Reckling Park on Wednesday (Feb. 25). The Owls host crosstown rival Houston on Wednesday in the first of five eventual meetings for the annual Silver Glove Trophy. The first pitch with the Cougars is set for 4 pm (Central). The contest is not a Conference USA league game.
Owls Head Way Downtown This Weekend To Compete In Houston College Classic
After a home game during the midweek, Rice meets three college baseball powers this weekend at the annual Houston College Classic Tournament, Feb. 27 to Mar. 1. The tournament is downtown at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros. The Owls face UCLA at 7 pm on Friday, Texas A&M at 7 pm on Saturday and Baylor at 2:30 pm Sunday. Tickets to the event are available at the Rice Ticket Office or may be purchased on-line at the above link.
Did You Know?
At 1-2 Rice has the exact same record to start the season that it did in each of the past two years. In both of the previous two seasons the Owls began the year 1-2 and finished as a College World Series particioant.
97th Season Since The Start; 94th Season On The Field
The 2009 season marks the 97th year since Rice played baseball for the first time. Rice Owls baseball made its debut in the spring of 1913, just one semester after Rice opened its doors for higher education in the fall of 1912. The 2009 season is, however, only the Owls' 94th season on the diamond. The school did not field a baseball team for three years (1933-35) during the Great Depression. Rice returned to the diamond in the spring of 1936 and has been playing ever since.
Audio Broadcasts
Every Rice baseball game is broadcast live around the world on the Internet at RiceOwls.com and KTRU.org. A direct connection to the audio feed is provided at the above links. Friday's UCLA game is slated for a radio broadcast in the greater Houston area on KTRU (91.7 FM). Broadcaster J.P. Heath has the call for the Owls this season.
Selected Home Games On OwlVision
A host of home games at Reckling Park are slated for a live broadcast on 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 subscription prices are available here.
Live Stats On GameTracker
Live play-by-play text and statistics from every Rice game will be posted on RiceOwls.com. Look for the GameTracker links on either the Rice Athletics front page, the weekly series preview or the baseball schedule page.
National Ranking Update • Rice As High As No. 9
There's a pretty wide range of views from the different college baseball media outlets across the nation on how the national rankings should look. At press time the latest polls from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Rivals.com had the Owls as high as No. 9 in the nation. The 2009 national ranking roll call is as follows....
Rivals.com 9th
NCBWA 9th
Collegiate Baseball 10th
Baseball America 10th
PingBaseball.com 17th
Rice has five starters returning to the regular lineup as well 10 experienced pitchers. The newcomers making their Rice debut in 2009 were tabbed as among the best recruiting classes in the country by a host of baseball publications.
Head Coach Wayne Graham
Four-time national coach of the year and Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Wayne Graham (Texas, 1970) is in his 18th season at Rice... He is 788-301 with the Owls (482-101 at home, 236-155 in road games and 60-45 at neutral sites). His Rice winning percentage is .724, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .724 win percentage is that it is the equivalent of a major league team winning 117 games in a single year... Graham's record against Houston is 56-24 (33-7 home, 23-17 away)... His record against teams in the Houston College Classic are as follows: 0-1 vs. UCLA (at home), 28-16 vs. Texas A&M (17-4 home, 6-10 away, 5-2 neutral)... Under Graham, the Owls clinched another postseason bid in 2008, making 14-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. He won the C-USA regular season crowns in 2006, 2007 and2008, as well as the C-USA tournament championships in `06 and `07. Rice has advanced into the NCAA tournament in 1995-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08... 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 Keith LeClair C-USA Coach of the Year in `06, his first year in the league, and again in `07 and `08... Rice has seven appearances in the NCAA College World Series under Graham (1997, '99, `02, `03, `06, `07, `08)... 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, 12 weeks in 2006 and five weeks in `07... 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... He was named the 2007 Division I college Coach of the Year by FieldTurf... 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; ninth year), David Pierce (Houston, 1988; seventh year), Patrick Hallmark (Rice, 1995; fourth year)... Taylor coaches at third base while Hallmark coaches at first.
1,363 Wins • A Baseball Odyssey
Wayne Graham owns 788 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,363 victories when including his 11 years at San Jacinto North College where he won five national championships. Graham's overall collegiate record is 1,363-414 in a 28-year career that began in 1981.
Home-Openers Under Wayne Graham
Looking sharp in the home-opener nothing new for Rice under Wayne Graham. The Owls are 16-1 in their home-opener under coach Graham.
Probable Rice Pitchers
Wayne Graham announced the Owls' probable starting pitcher for the Houston game as freshman right-hander Andrew Benak. Benak is a rookie who has already made his DivisionI debut. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound, standout from Houston's Langham Creek High School was charged with a walk in the second game of the split double-header Saturday at Cal Poly... The University of Houston announced its starting pitcher as junior right-hander John Touchton.
The 2009 Silver Glove Series
Like the big rivalries in college football, the city of Houston's top two college baseball programs play for a coveted prize (the Silver Glove Trophy) as part of their annual series. Rice has won 10 of the 11 series with Houston since play for The Glove began in 1998. The Owls won the trophy in its first two years and have held the hardware now for eight years in a row (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008)... Wednesday's meeting with UH, along with the upcoming March 18 game at Cougar Field, are not C-USA league games.
Rice-Houston Series History
The Silver Glove has only been around for 11 years. The Owls and Cougars have a long-standing rivalry that dates back to 1948. In 145 games played since the first meeting between the two schools in 1948, Rice leads the all-time series with Houston 77-68. The teams became Southwest Conference rivals when UH joined that league in the 1970s. The teams renewed the conference rivalry in 2006 as C-USA foes. There have been 44 one-run games in the series. In 2003 the city rivals played eight times.
Recap of 2008 Silver Glove Trophy Series
The 2008 edition of the Silver Glove Trophy series had a familiar intensity. Each team defended its home turf to balance the series 1-1. Rice won the opener 12-11 at Reckling Park and UH claimed the rematch 8-5 at Cougar Field. Rice then won all three C-USA games at the end of the year (May 9-11) by the scores of 13-6, 8-1 and 12-6... Rice's Aaron Luna was named the Most Outstanding Player of the series. The 2008 All-Silver Glove Trophy Series Team was: C: Adam Zornes, Rice; 1B: J.P. Padron, Rice; 2B: Ryan Lormand, UH; 3B: Bryan Pounds, UH; SS: Rick Hague, Rice; OF: Jake Stewart, UH; OF: Chad Mozingo, Rice; OF: Aaron, Luna, Rice; DH: Jimmy Cesario, UH; P: John Touchton, UH; P: Chris Kelley, Rice; Wild Card: Diego Seastrunk, Rice.
Last Week
Last week Rice won its season-opener at Cal Poly 10-7, but fell in both games of a Saturday double-header by the scores of 10-3 and 7-6. In the series finale, Rice had had a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Owls were one of the few league teams that opened the 2009 season on the road... On the weekend the Owls batted a composite .318 with a .500 slugging percentage. Five of the Rice starters batted .360 or higher against Cal Poly, including true freshmen Anthony Rendon (.455) and Jeremy Rathjen (.364)... Sophomore Rick Hague was the team's top hitting star, batting .462 (6-for-13). Hague tallied three doubles on the opening weekend for a .692 slugging percentage. He also drew one walk and had a sacrifice bunt for a .500 on-base percentage. The standout from Spring, Tex., shared the tam lead with three RBI and he scored three of the Owls' 19 runs. In the field Hague had nine defensive assists and three put outs... Junior Diego Seastrunk started behind the plate for two of the games and in addition to solid work receiving, he batted .400 (4-of-10) with a double and two home runs... With three walks and no strikeouts over the weekend, Jimmy Comerota's on-base percentage (.400) is more than 250 points higher than his slugging percentage (.143)... Two Owls who were position players and/or designated hitters last year made their pitching debuts over the weekend. Sophomores Doug Simmons and Abe Gonzales both threw an inning from the right side and left side, respectively. The game action was Gonzales' first appearance since an injury last March... On Saturday new centerfielder Steven Sultzbaugh made a "Willie Mays-style" over-the-shoulder catch of a long fly ball less than three feet from the wall that drew sighs, then applause, from the Cal Poly fans. For the weekend Sultzbaugh batted .455 and he hit the Owls' first home run of the year.
The C-USA Favorites
IRVING, Tex. - Led by the junior tandem of Ryan Berry and Diego Seastrunk and sophomore Rick Hague, the Rice baseball team was ranked first in a preseason poll of Conference USA's nine head coaches, the league office announced on Jan. 28. The three preseason honorees are the most in the conference from any one school. Last season Berry was an all-conference pitcher who led the team in strikeouts (86), starts (16) and innings (104). The 6-foot-1 right-hander from Humble, Tex., has been the ace of the Rice staff since he earned freshman all-America honors in 2007. Hague earned freshman all-America honors last season as the starting shortstop for the Owls' College World Series team. The standout from Spring, Tex., batted .348 in his Division I debut and .379 in the Blue & Gray's run through the NCAA Tournament. Seastrunk is such a respected switch-hitter around the league that the C-USA coaches voted him to the preseason all-conference team even though the former third-baseman is projected to start at a completely new position (catcher) in 2009. A year ago the Channelview, Tex., star led the team in hitting (.353) and finished among the C-USA's best in hits, doubles, RBI, total bases and sacrifice flies.
2009 PRESEASON BASEBALL COACHES POLL
(as selected by C-USA's head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
Rank, School (First Place Votes) Pts.
1. Rice (9) 81
2. East Carolina 67
3. Southern Miss 62
4. Tulane 55
5. Houston 49
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nate Lape, Marshall (Sr., Outfielder)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Seth Maness, East Carolina (Soph., Righthander)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P Ryan Berry Jr. Rice
P Seth Maness So. East Carolina
P Wes Musick Jr. Houston
RP Chase Dempsay So. Houston
C Diego Seastrunk Jr. Rice
IF Brian Dozier Jr. Southern Miss
IF James Ewing Sr. Southern Miss
IF Rick Hague So. Rice
IF Seth Henry Sr. Tulane
IF Adam Yeager Sr. Marshall
OF Stephen Batts Jr. East Carolina
OF Brint Hardy Jr. UAB
OF Nate Lape Sr. Marshall
DH/UT Rob Segedin So. Tulane
Legends Of The Fall
The fall of 2008 saw the Owls in a very different training format from years past. In place of only having Blue-Gray scrimmages, Rice elected to play four exhibitions against other Division I universities. The exhibitions counted against scheduling dates in the spring, but did not count in the NCAA standings or for a player stats. Playing exhibitions meant that Rice could only schedule 52 games for the spring instead of the max that the NCAA allows (56)... Coach Graham liked what he saw of the Owls' practices from the fall. It turned out Rice had intense and focused practices because the team was practicing for something at the end of every week (an actual opponent). So how did the Owls look when playing other Division I opponents in the fall? Rice hit a composite .348 with a 2.21 ERA to win all four exhibitions. Opponents were mistreated to a .210 average and an 8.20 ERA... Junior Jimmy Comerota moved from second to first base and led the way with a .519 batting average and a .630 slugging percentage. Newcomer Brock Holt, a junior middle-infielder from Navarro College, batted .474 and shared the team lead in doubles.
Cooled By A Draft
A total of 11 Owls were selected in the 2008 Major League Baseball amateur draft, including junior right-hander Bryan Price as a first-round supplemental pick (the 45th player taken overall)... Bryan Price was taken by the Boston Red Sox organization in the supplemental round, the so called "sandwich" round between the draft's official first and second rounds. He was the first pitcher taken by the Red Sox, the defending World Series champions. Price was also the 13th right-handed pitcher taken overall. Six Rice juniors and four seniors were drafted last June... The total of eleven drafted players was three-off the Owls' school record of 14 draftees the team had taken in 2007.
Rnd Player Pos MLB Team
1A Bryan Price RHP Boston Red Sox
7 Cole St.Clair LHP Los Angeles Dodgers
7 Adam Zornes C San Diego Padres
9 Aaron Luna OF St. Louis Cardinals
11 Matt Langwell RHP Cleveland Indians
12 Jared Gayhart OF Detroit Tigers
18 Bobby Bell RHP Toronto Blue Jays
21 Lucas Luetge LHP Milwaukee Brewers
24 Chris Kelley RHP Washington Nationals
29 Jonathan Runnels LHP Los Angeles Dodgers
44 J.P. Padron 1B Washington Nationals
