Owls Begin Nine-Game Homestand With Lamar Cardinals Tuesday Night
3/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2009
Rice Ticket Page
Rice Baseball Promotions page
Owls Begin Nine-Game Homestand With Lamar Cardinals Tuesday Night
The second-ranked Rice baseball team (14-6 overall and 2-1 in Conference USA) begins a lengthy nine-game homestand on Tuesday (Mar. 24) against longtime rival Lamar. The first pitch with the Cardinals (16-7) is set for 6:30 pm at Reckling Park. The Owls then host C-USA rival Memphis in a three-game weekend series Fri.-Sun. (Mar. 27-29). The schedule with easy-links to the live stats/audio features is as follows.
Mar. 24 (Tue.), 6:30 pm, Rice vs. Lamar
Watch the game live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Mar. 27 (Fri.), 6:30 pm, Rice vs. Memphis
Watch the game live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Mar. 28 (Sat.), 2 pm, Rice vs. Memphis
Watch the game live on OwlVision
Internet (only) Listen Here
Mar. 29 (Sun.), 1 pm, Rice vs. Memphis
Watch the game 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 (weather permitting).
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. 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. Recently there has been a Dollar Dog Night (where hot dogs were just $ 1) and the inaugural "THINK GREEN" with the Owls last St. Patrick's Day.
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. Each of the games this week is on the Internet-only. Broadcaster J.P. Heath has the call for the Owls this season.
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. 2
At press time the latest polls from Rivals.com had the Owls as high as No. 2 in the nation. Six different polls all had Rice in the Top 10. The 2009 national ranking roll call is as follows....
Rivals.com 2nd
Baseball America 4th
NCBWA 8th
USA Today/ESPN Coaches 9th
Collegiate Baseball 10th
PingBaseball.com 10th
PG Crosschecker.com 12th
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... In the 4-3 win over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg on March 20th, Coach Graham reached another career milestone. He won his 800th game at the helm of the Rice program... He is 801-305 with the Owls (488-103 at home, 240-157 in road games and 73-45 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 - then winning 117 games a year for 17+ years in a row... Graham's record against this week's foes is as follows: 23-14 vs. Lamar (18-5 home, 5-9 road); 12-1 vs. Memphis (4-0 home, 6-0 road, 2-1 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 this year while Hallmark coaches at first base.
1,376 Wins • A Baseball Odyssey
Wayne Graham owns 801 career wins at Rice, but he also has 1,376 victories when including his 11 years at San Jacinto North College where he won five national championships. Graham's overall collegiate record is 1,376-418 in a 28-year career that began in 1981.
One More Thing To Consider
To help place Coach Graham's achievements in perspective, consider that Rice started its baseball program in 1913 and in the 76 seasons where there are verified won-loss records (Rice is missing a few W-L totals from those early days), the Owls won a total of 838 games. In the 17+ years since 1992 when Graham was named the head coach, the Owls have won 801 games. It's only taken Graham 17+ years what it took the program more than three-quarters of a century to do before he got here.
Tuesday's Probable Pitchers
Wayne Graham announced the Owls' probable starting pitcher for the Lamar game as sophomore left-hander Doug Simmons. Simmons (0-0) has two relief appearances on the mound for the Owls this season, working in the first game of the double-header at Cal Poly (Feb. 21) and in the road win at Dallas Baptist (Mar. 4). A start Tuesday would mark his home pitching debut... The 6-foot-1 Kingwood, Tex., native has also played in four games this season as a pinch-hitter and designated hitter, most-recently at Houston on March 18... Lamar announced its starting pitcher as junior left-hander Kevin Angelle (2-1, 7.71).
Here's Who's Hot
A number of Owls have turned up the offensive heat the last few games. Junior second baseman Brock Holt is batting .423 (11-for-26) over the last six games with two doubles, four walks, two stolen bases and seven runs scored. On the defensive side, Holt has made only one error in the field in his last 69 chances for a .986 fielding percentage... Not only is true freshman Anthony Rendon hitting at a .412 (7-for-17) clip with nine RBI in the last four games, the young star from nearby Lamar High School has belted three home runs for a .941 slugging percentage... Speaking of longball, junior first baseman Jimmy Comerota is 6-for-15 (.400) over the last four games with a home run and sacrifice fly. Comerota has also drawn a pair of walks for a .444 on-base percentage... The hottest hitter for the last 10 games has been freshman catcher Craig Manuel. The rookie receiver from Satellite Beach, Fla., is 12-for-32 (.375) over the last 10 games with six RBI and five runs scored... Rice doubles leader Chad Mozingo raised his average 26 points by going 8-for-22 (.364) over the last five games. Two of the hits were doubles and he has scored eight times... Steady-hitting Rick Hague batted .350 (7-for-20) last week with two home runs and a double. Hague has also been hit twice by a pitch and drawn a walk for a .435 on-base percentage.
Rough Stretch
Rice is still in a pretty rough stretch of games on the schedule. The Owls have just finished playing eight-consecutive games against teams that played and won games in the NCAA Tournament last season, a schedule-minefield that included Oral Roberts, San Diego, Texas, Houston and Southern Miss. Next up is a Lamar team that last season won the eastern division of the Southland Conference and a hungry young Memphis squad.
Record Reckling Crowd
Last week the Owls drew single-game record attendance for its Saint Patrick's Day home contest against the University of Texas. A total of 6,193 fans packed Reckling Park to watch the Owls top the Longhorns 6-3.
Keeping Pace
Through 20 games Rice (14-6) has exactly the same won-lost record from the same point last season. In 2008 the Owls began the year 14-6 and wound up reaching the College World Series for a third-consecutive year. The 2009 squad also has a better 20-game start than the 2007 team (13-7) that went on to reach the College World Series.
Turning Two, Again & Again
In the 16-4 win at Southern Miss on Sat. (Mar. 21) the Owls turned a season-high four double plays. Rice has been in a double-play groove the last few games. The Owls had only 10 double plays in their first 15 games of the season, but have now turned 10 in the last five games. The team is 4-1 during the stretch with all the double plays.
Historical Longball 101
Rice's 16-4 win over Southern Miss also featured a four-home run game by the Owls, the team's second four-homer day this season. The Blue & Gray also stroked four homers in the 13-6 win over 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Dallas Baptist (Mar. 4), including three that were back-to-back-to-back by Chad Mozingo, Diego Seastrunk and Rick Hague. The other most-recent 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. That was also the last time (before Dallas Baptist) 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 against Dallas Baptist, but the teammates have hit back-to-back home runs once before. In 2008 Mozingo and Seastunk went yard on consecutive at bats in the 10-4 win over Texas at Minute Maid Park (March 1)... The last time Rice has hit a grand slam was Seastrunk's four-run, walk-off shot to beat UAB on April 13, 2008. Rick Hague also hit a grand slam last season. Hague cleared all the bases with one of his two home runs in the win over Winthrop on St. Patrick's Day 2008... The four-homer day at Southern Miss featured two by freshman Anthony Rendon. He is the first Owl to hit two in a game since Aaron Luna accomplished the feat at Memphis last season.
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
