Rice University Athletics
Owls Continue Homestand With Four Games Against San Diego Starting Thursday
3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Rice Ticket Page
The fifth-ranked Rice baseball team (8-4) continues its current eight-game homestand with a four-game series against west coast power San Diego from this Thursday through Sunday (Mar. 12-15). Game times with the No.20-ranked Toreros are set for 6:30 pm on both Thursday and Friday. Saturday's contest is scheduled for a 2 pm start. Sunday's series finale begins at 1 pm (all times are Central). The schedule with easy-links to the live stats/audio features is as follows.
Mar. 12 (Thurs.), 6:30 pm, Rice vs. San Diego
Watch the games live on OwlVision
KTRU (91.7 FM) Listen Here
Game promotion: Hot Dogs are $1 (while supplies last); Beer is $3
Mar. 13 (Fri.), 6:30 pm, Rice vs. San Diego
Watch the games live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Mar. 14 (Sat.), 2 pm, Rice vs. San Diego
Watch the games live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here (* note the game's special broadcast alumni crew)
Mar. 15 (Sun.), 1 pm, Rice vs. San Diego
Watch the games live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Game promotion: Sunday Family Pack (a family of four gets four general admission tickets plus food and drink vouchers for only $40)
Kids get to take the field: All kids in attendance get to take the field with the Owls for the national anthem and run the bases after the game.
Fun At The Old Ball Yard
No baseball season would be complete without a full slate of promotional dates, and the 2009 Rice season is no exception. Thursday's series-opener against San Diego is Dollar Dog Night, where hot dogs will be just $ 1. Beer at the Roost will be $3 Thursday night only... Each Sunday of the home season, the Owls will offer a special Family Pack, which allows a family of four to buy four general admission tickets, and receive vouchers for four drinks and four food items from the Prince's concession stands for just $40. Also on Sunday's, another Rice tradition will continue, as all kids in attendance will be able to take the field with the Owls for the National Anthem, as well as run the bases after the game.
"THINK GREEN" With The Owls On St. Patrick's Day
Rice baseball is picking its game on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) to "Think Green" and recycle. The first 1,000 fans at the game against the University of Texas (6:30 pm) will get a green Rice baseball hat. The Owls are also going to wear green hats that night, which the players will then sign and auction off on RiceOwls.com. Fans will also receive green Mardi Gras beads from Methodist Hospital and get to participate in a number of activities that promote recycling.
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. Thursday's opening game of the four-game series with San Diego 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 (with an exception for Saturday, Mar 14).
Alumni Brodcast Crew on Saturday (Mar. 14)
In honor of Rice University's Alumni College Weekend 2009, the broadcast crew for Saturday's game will feature two former Owl broadcasters who did the games on KTRU as undergraduates. Bud Thomas (Jones '85, MBA '87) and Paul Agosta (Wiess '91) will call the action from Reckling Park on Saturday. The game is an Internet-only broadcast (even though there was no Internet when these old-timers did the Rice games back in the day).
All 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. 5
At press time the latest polls from Rivals.com had the Owls as high as No. 5 in the nation. Five different polls all had Rice in the Top 10. The 2009 national ranking roll call is as follows....
Rivals.com 5th
Baseball America 9th
Collegiate Baseball 10th
NCBWA 10th
USA Today/ESPN Coaches 10th
PG Crosschecker.com 12th
PingBaseball.com 16th
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 795-303 with the Owls (485-102 at home, 237-156 in road games and 63-45 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 San Diego is 1-0 after an 11-2 win in 2006... 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 this year while Hallmark coaches at first base.
1,370 Wins • A Baseball Odyssey
Wayne Graham owns 795 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,370 victories when including his 11 years at San Jacinto North College where he won five national championships. Graham's overall collegiate record is 1,370-416 in a 28-year career that began in 1981.
C-USA Honors Continue To Pour In For Berry
For the second time in as many weeks Rice junior right-hander Ryan Berry was named the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Mar. 9) from its headquarters in Irving, Tex... Berry nearly matched his same, dominating pitching performance from Feb. 28 when he was named a National Player of the Week for defeating then No. 1 Texas A&M. Against A&M Berry had a two-hit complete game shutout with no walks, and he matched the feat in his most-recent outing last Saturday (Mar. 7). Berry held Notre Dame to just two hits and no runs in a complete-game shutout victory. Berry struck out eight batters without allowing any walks (0). The native of Humble, Tex., had eight (8) three-up/three-down innings, never faced more than four batters in any inning and was one over the minimum with 28 batters-faced (one of Notre Dame's base-runners was thrown out while attempting to steal second base). The win was the 21st of his Rice career. Berry has now been named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week six times dating back to his freshman season... East Carolina senior outfielder Stephen Batts, who batted .533 to help the Pirates win three games last week, was named the C-USA Hitter of the Week.
Hot Hitting Hague
Sophomore shortstop Rick Hague batted a composite .429 (9-for-21) for the Owls last week, including two games on the road. Hague blasted a home run, led the team in runs scored (5), shared the team lead in RBI (6) and had three stolen bases. He also drew one walk and had a sacrifice fly for a .435 on-base percentage. Hague had 15 defensive assists on the week and turned or started a pair of double plays.
This & That
Through 12 games Rice (8-4) is ahead of its won-lost pace from the same point last season. In 2008 the Owls began the year 7-5 and wound up reaching the College World Series for a third-consecutive year... Rice has played each of the last four games without regular second-baseman Brock Holt in the starting lineup. The junior from Stephenville, Tex., is batting .351 for the young season with a team-leading 11 runs scored. Holt has helped the team recently by appearing in two games as a pinch-runner. In his most-recent start in the batting order, Holt led off the game at Sam Houston State (Mar. 3) with a home run... True freshman Anthony Rendon is quickly making name for himself on offense and as a third baseman. The young standout from nearby Lamar High School leads the team in hitting (.413), RBI (16), home runs (3) and slugging percentage (.696). He has only two errors at the hot-corner and has started or turned two double plays... Rice junior right-hander Mike Ojala was moved into the Friday night starting slot for each of the past two weekend games. Ojala's results for the full season have been sound and solid. In his three starts Ojala has averaged 6.1 innings per outing, maintained a 1.86 ERA and averaged 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings. His strikeouts-to-walks ratio is 4.8-to-1... Rice senior Jordan Rogers' season-opening streak of 12-consecutive innings pitched without allowing an a run came to an end Sunday vs. Oral Roberts. This season Rogers has allowed only four hits while striking out 16 in 12.2 innings of work... In Wednesday's 13-6 win over 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Dallas Baptist, Rice hit four home runs in the game, including three that were back-to-back-to-back by Chad Mozingo, Diego Seastrunk and Rick Hague. The last time Rice hit at least four home runs in a game was on May 26, 2007, against Memphis in the semifinals of the C-USA Tournament held in Greenville, N.C., when the Blue & Gray had six round-trippers. That was also the last time the Owls hit three home runs in the same inning as Jess Buenger, Aaron Luna and Danny Lehmann all slugged the ball out of the park in the top of the ninth, with Buenger and Luna going back-to-back. The Buenger-Luna-Lehmann trio in fact just-missed a back-to-back-to-back that inning... Mozingo and Seastrunk were the first two-thirds of the three-consecutive homers last week, but the teammates have hit back-to-back home runs once before. Last season Mozingo and Seastunk went yard in the 10-4 win over Texas at Minute Maid Park on March 1... The Blue & Gray wrap up the current eight-game homestand on March 17 against the University of Texas.
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
