Owls National Seed As NCAA Regionals Begin This Week

June 1, 2011

(All start times listed are CENTRAL TIME)
June 3 (Fri.) 6 pm; Alcorn State at Rice
Watch it live on the web.
(activates at game time) Watch the postgame press conference

June 4 (Sat.) either 2 pm or 6 pm; vs. Baylor or Cal
Watch it on the web.
(activates at game time)

Internet features activate at game time.

Owls National Seed As NCAA Regionals Begin This Week
The Rice baseball team, 41-19 overall and both the Conference USA Tournament champions and regular season co-champions, are back in the NCAA Tournament this week as regional play begins at 16 sites across the country in a double-elimination format. The Owls are the No. 8 seed of the 64-team NCAA Tournament, which means Rice would serve as hosts for the opening round of Regionals and then Super Regionals next week should the team advance... Rice is scheduled to meet the Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Alcorn State Braves (27-28) at 6 pm at Reckling Park in first round action on Friday, June 3. The Regional's No. 2 seed, Baylor (29-26) and No. 3 seed, California (31-20) complete the four-team field. Baylor and Cal, the Bears and Golden Bears, are scheduled to open the Regional at 2 pm that same day... The game times for Saturday and Sunday (June 4-5) are also 2 pm and 6 pm, with the early game serving as an elimination game. If the Regional champion has not been determined after Sunday night's game, there will be one extra game played on Monday (June 6) at 6 pm if necessary.

The 16 Regional winners advance to play in one of eight best-of-three Super Regionals getting under way the following week (June 10-13). The 65th Men's College World Series begins play the week after that, June 18, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Watch The Regional Gamess For Free On OwlVision All Access
Every game of the Rice regional is slated for a live on-line video broadcast by OwlVision All Access. 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. Access the service on game day at the above links.

Audio Broadcasts - Catch Every Rice Baseball Game On The Web
Every Rice baseball game this season will be broadcast live around the world on the Internet at RiceOwls.com. Use the above link to access the Internet audio home page. The Rice broadcasting tag-team this season is primarily J.P. Heath and David Brady, with help from some of our Rice broadcasting friends. Tune-in to the pregame show 30 minutes before each game's first pitch. Fans attending the games can now listen to the Rice broadcast at the stadium where the team plays via an FM proximity transmitter. The frequency for the proximity broadcast at Reckling Park is 99.7 FM.

Live Stats On GameTracker
Live play-by-play text and statistics from every game from the Houston (Rice) Regional will be posted on RiceOwls.com. Look for the GameTracker links on the Rice Athletics front page, the weekly series preview, the baseball schedule page or the special Regional page.

Postseason Streak Now 17-Straight
This is the Rice baseball program's 17th-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Baseball Championship, which ranks as the fourth-longest active streak in the country. Miami (Fla.) made the field for the 39th consecutive year, extending its own record, followed by Florida State (34) and Cal State Fullerton (20). Rice's 17-straight NCAA Tournament appearances is tied for the seventh-longest national postseason streak in Division I history (with LSU, 1989-2005).

Conference Championship Streak Reaches 16-Straight Years
Rice has won or shared a total of 16-straight conference championships (including either regular season or conference tournament titles) dating back to 1996. The streak covers the Owls' membership in three different leagues beginning with the Southwest Conference, to nine seasons in the Western Athletic Conference (1997-2005) and six Conference USA titles in as many years. In 2011 the Blue & Gray tied for the C-USA regular season co-championship (with Southern Miss) before winning the tournament title last weekend.

17-Straight 40-Win Seasons
Rice clinched its 17th-straight season with at least 40 wins. One win in the NCAA Tournament will secure at least 42 wins in 16 of the last 17 years.

19-Straight 30-Win Seasons
Rice has reached the 30-win plateau for the 19th-straight season. Only five other schools in the country have longer active streaks of having won at least 30 games: Arizona State (now 49 years), Miami-Fla. (41 years), Clemson and Cal State Fullerton (both 37 years), and Georgia Tech (29). All have reached the 30-win plateau again this season.

National Ranking Update • Rice Climbs To 9th In The Polls
Heading into postseason play, the Owls are ninth in the nation according to Baseball America. Rice is in the Top 15 of three different polls. Not only has the Blue & Gray won games over powerhouse teams Texas A&M (twice), Arizona and Stanford, the team has won 13-of-16 down the stretch including both the C-USA Tournament title and regular season co-championship. Here's a closer look at the current polls:

Poll	This Week	Last week
Baseball America	9	16
NCBWA	13	15
USA Today/ESPN	13	17
PerfectGame.com	--	15
Collegiate Baseball Magazine	17	20
CollegeBaseballLineup.com	18	20

99th Season Since The Start; 95th Season On The Field
The 2011 season marks the 99th year since Rice played baseball for the first time. Rice Owls baseball made its debut in the spring of 1913, just one semester after the school (The Rice Institute) opened its doors for higher education in the fall of 1912. The 2011 season is, however, only the Owls' 95th season on the diamond. The school cancelled its season in 1919 and did not field a 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... The Rice baseball program's all-time record is 1,818 - 1,468 - 9.

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 20th season at Rice. The 2011 campaign marks his 31st year as a collegiate head coach... He is now 911-359 with the Owls (549-125 at home, 274-183 in road games and 88-51 at neutral sites). His Rice winning percentage is .717, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .717 win percentage is that it is the equivalent of a major league team winning 116 games in a single year... Graham's record vs. this week's opponents is: 0-0 vs. Alcorn State; 28-18 vs. Baylor (16-7 at home, 7-9 road, 5-2 neutral)... 2-3 vs. California (2-2 at home, 0-1 road)... Under Graham, the Owls clinched another postseason bid in 2011, making 17-straight seasons for Rice to earn an NCAA appearance. The Blue & Gray has advanced into the NCAA tournament in 1995-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-11. 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 (or shared) C-USA regular season crowns in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 as well as the C-USA tournament championships in `06, `07, `09 and `11... 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, `08 and `10... 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; 11th year), David Pierce (Houston, 1988; ninth year), Patrick Hallmark (Rice, 1995, Brown College; sixth year)... Taylor coaches at third base this year while Hallmark coaches at first base.

1,480 Wins • A Baseball Odyssey
Wayne Graham owns 911 career wins at Rice, but his career victories tally to 1,485 when you include his 11 years at San Jacinto North College where he won five national championships. Graham's overall collegiate record is 1,485-472 in a 30-year career that began in 1981.

NCAA Tourney Experience
Rice has played 110 total games in the NCAA Tournament since 1995, including Regionals, Super Regionals and the College World Series. All of Rice's previous NCAA Tournament games have been under the direction of Head Coach Wayne Graham. His (and the program's) record in the "The Dance" is 72-38.

Celebrating No. 900
On May 6 the Rice Athletics Department made a special presentation to coach Graham to commemorate his recent 900th victory at the helm of the Owl program. The presentation included a video featuring a host of former Rice baseball players, local figures and sports celebrities sharing their thoughts and congratulations for coach Graham's milestone win. The video is available to view here. Look for the longer version of the two videos.

Apples To Apples
Using coach Graham's first Rice season of 1992 as the starting point, here are the active Division I national leaders for coaching victories heading into the NCAA Tournament.
1. Mike Martin, Florida State - 1,003
2. Gene Stephenson, Wichita State - 971
3. Wayne Graham, Rice - 911
4. Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.) - 904
5. Ray Tanner, South Carolina - 898
6. Augie Garrido, Texas - 890

We Know Who's Dancin'
If you need any authoritative insight on the 2011 NCAA bracket just ask Rice. The Owls have played 23 games against 11 different teams in this year's NCAA Tournament. The Blue & Gray already has 13 wins against one-sixth of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field.

Seven For The Show
Seven former Rice players have either played in major league games or been on MLB rosters this season. The former Owls who have been in The Show this year are Lance Berkman (Cardinals), Tim Byrdak (Mets), Philip Humber (White Sox), Paul Janish (Reds), Jeff Niemann (Rays), Lance Pendleton (Yankees) and Josh Rodriguez (Pirates). David Aardsma began the season on the Mariners' disabled list.

Probable Rice Pitcher
Wayne Graham announced the Owls' probable starting pitcher for the opening game of the NCAA Tournament as senior left-hander Abe Gonzales (7-2, 3.03). The remaining Rice pitchers will be announced by coach Graham at a later time.

With experience and leadership being some of the most important aspects of playing in the postseason, the Owls are turning to a veteran for its opening game of the NCAA Tournament. Senior Abe Gonzales has pitched in more career games (69) than any other member on the current Rice staff. This season he is second on the team in wins (7) and ERA (3.03), and third in innings pitched (65.1). Gonzales has been a reliever for much of his Rice career, but in 2011 he has worked his way into five starting assignments after posting some of the team's steadiest outings from the bullpen. His most-recent appearance was a start in the C-USA Tournament on May 27 against UCF (which has since earned an NCAA Regional bid). Gonzales handcuffed the Knights team that averaged double-digit hits for 59 games and leads the league with a .460 slugging percentage, to just one earned run while working into the sixth inning. It was the only earned run the southpaw has allowed in his last 11.2 innings of work, which coincidentally have all been against NCAA Regional teams - UCF, Southern Miss (May 20) and Texas State (May 17). In fact, this year Gonzales has pitched a total of 32.2 innings against seven teams that have since advanced to NCAA Regionals. In those outings against elite opponents, the Houston native has maintained a 1.65 ERA and held foes a composite .236 batting average. The former prep standout from St. Thomas High School came up big in a road start against league rival and NCAA Regional-bound East Carolina, working a career-long 6.2 innings and allowing only two earned runs with no walks. Perhaps the only missing component to the typical Gonzales start is offensive support from his teammates. So far the Owls have hit a modest .255 in Gonzles' five starts. In two of his starts the team rallied late after he had already left the game, giving two his potential wins to the Rice bullpen.
The ace of the Alcorn State staff is junior right-hander Steve Easter (8-5, 4.44). Easter was named the MVP of last week's SWAC Championship, earning a win over Texas Southern in the tourney opener and a save over Bethune Cookman in the title-clinching finale. The native of Westchester, Ill., leads Alcorn State in appearances (17), wins (8), innings (107.1) and strikeouts (76). Easter holds all opposing hitters to a .259 average and allows just 1.6 walks per 9.0 innings of work.

Previous Outing: Rice Clinches NCAA Bid With Dramatic Extra-Inning Win Over Houston In C-USA Championship Final
PEARL, Miss. - Junior catcher Craig Manuel singled home Anthony Rendon from second base for the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning to lift the Rice baseball team to a 4-3 victory over the University of Houston in the Championship Final of the Conference USA tournament May 28 at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss... The C-USA tournament title was Rice's fourth in six years since joining the league in 2006. Saturday night was certainly one of the Owls' most dramatic... After falling behind 3-0 Rice rallied for four unanswered runs over the final six innings, culminating with a dramatic walk-off victory in extra frames. Rendon lined the first pitch he saw in the tenth for a long double off the left field wall, his team-leading 20th of the season. The Cougars elected to intentionally walk Michael Ratterree to set up a possible force play with Manuel at the plate. On the night Manuel was 0-for-3 with a walk, but the veteran receiver had a solid tournament by going 5-for-10 with a team-best four RBI, a pair of doubles and three runs scored in three games... Manuel showed bunt and punched the first pitch foul, but he lined the next offering through the right side. Rendon sprinted around third and slid home with the winning run that the team had to battle for all-game long... It was Houston that built an early 3-0 lead, starting with a run in the top of the first inning. Ryan Still led off with a single to left field and an Owl fielding error on the play allowed him to reach second base. He went to third on Landon Appling's sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch... The Cougars extended the margin in the top of the fourth. Joel Ansley drew a two out walk and stole second base. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a triple to center by Cody Morehouse. An Owl throwing error on the play, however, allowed Morehouse an extra 90 feet from third and a 3-0 advantage... Rice had fallen behind in every game of the tournament leading up to that point, but had been able to rally wins with unanswered runs in each of the last two pool-play games against Memphis and UCF. The Owls followed suit Saturday and began the comeback with two of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth. Rice had runners at the corners after Derek Hamilton and J.T. Chargois singled. Hamilton came home on a Houston fielding error that would have ended the inning, but the Blue & Gray weren't finished. Another UH error on the very next play allowed Chargois to score to make it 3-2... The Owls tied the game in sixth. Michael Fuda laced a one-out double to the gap in right-center. He hustled to third on a ground out and scored on Hamilton's two-out single into right to knot-it-up, 3-3... Rice junior Matthew Reckling started on the mound and struck out seven in 5.0 innings. Sophomore Tyler Duffey started the sixth and his work was critical on the night. The right-hander from Bellaire High School held the Cougars in check with 4.2 scoreless innings, scattering two singles and striking out seven... Duffey got a strikeout to end a UH scoring threat in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff single in the tenth to John Cannon and a sacrifice bunt by Still put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Rice got out of trouble with a pair of fly outs, including a sensational diving-and-rolling catch by freshman Keenan Cook in left field... Cook's inning-ending grab seemed to give the Owls a lift on the offensive end, setting up the explosive finish to the Championship Final. It marked only the second time in league history, and the first time since 2000, for the final game of the tournament to be decided in extra innings... Craig Manuel, Ryan Lewis and Duffey were all named to the 2011 All-Tournament team with Duffey as the event's Most Valuable Player. The Owls improved to 41-19 overall. Houston finished its season at 27-32... Before Saturday, the crosstown rivals had already met five times this year as part of the annual season-long series for the Silver Glove Trophy. Rice and Houston also met in the C-USA Championship final once before, during the Owls' first year in the league in 2006. Saturday's contest was only the second time in the 63-year history of the crosstown series for the two teams to meet outside the state of Texas.

Toughest Losses of the Season
The Owls have lost two key starters, junior outfielder Jeremy Rathjen and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Chase McDowell, for the remainder of the season due to injury.

Rendon Named A Semifinalist For Golden Spikes Award
DURHAM, N.C. - For the third-straight year, Rice junior designated hitter/infielder Anthony Rendon was named one of 30 national semifinalists for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award as the nation's premier amateur baseball player, USA Baseball announced May 31 from its headquarters in Durham, N.C... This season Rendon is batting a team-best .327, and he is also the team leader in home runs (6), doubles (20), stolen bases (12) and runs scored (57 in 60 games played). The Houston native from nearby Lamar High School is one of the most-respected hitters in the nation who has drawn an NCAA-leading 78 walks, including 22 of which have been intentional free passes. In fact, there have been two occasions this season where Rendon was intentionally walked with first base already occupied... Rendon was a national semifinalist for the prestigious Golden Spikes Award as a freshman in 2009 and last season as a sophomore. Sponsored by Major League Baseball, the Golden Spikes Award will be presented in 2011 for the 34th time. The 30 national semifinalists will be sent to a voting body consisting of select professional baseball personnel, past USA Baseball National Team coaches, select members of the media, former USA Baseball sports information directors and current USA Baseball staff -- about 150 voters in total... All voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of 30 names. Fan voting will once again be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2011. The May 31 announcement of the semifinalists is also the day when college baseball fans from across the country will be able to vote for their favorite player for the Golden Spikes Award on goldenspikesaward.com. On June 6, USA Baseball will announce the three finalists, and voting for a winner will commence that same day. The 2011 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award will be presented nationally July 15 on MLB Network... Past winners of the Golden Spikes Award include Terry Francona (1980), Will Clark (1985), Robin Ventura (1988), Jason Varitek (1994), J.D. Drew (1997), Mark Prior (2001), Jered Weaver (2004), Tim Lincecum (2006), David Price (2007), Buster Posey (2008) Stephen Strasburg (2009) and last year's winner, Bryce Harper.
Vote here for Anthony Rendon at the Golden Spikes Award web site. .

Tony Cingrani On Watch List For College Baseball's Stopper of the Year Award
Senior Tony Cingrani was one of 45 players named to the midseason watch list for the seventh annual Stopper of the Year Award. The postseason honor is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball in conjunction with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)... Cingrani, who notched his team-leading 12th save in Rice's dramatic 4-2 victory over UCF in the C-USA Tournament, is having a sensational senior season for the Owls. The left-hander from New Lennox, Ill., is 4-2 with a 1.76 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 56.1 innings of work. Originally a starter for the Blue & Gray, he unselfishly moved to the bullpen in March and has since been one of the top relievers in the nation. Cingrani has held opposing hitters to an austere .226 batting average and frustrated the opposition with pinpoint control. Since moving to the Owl bullpen full-time, however, the former Lincoln-Way Central High School product has walked only eight batters in 48.1 innings and maintained a 0.93 ERA... At the conclusion of the 2011 college regular season, the Division I national saves leader and four other relief pitching standouts will be selected as finalists for the Stopper of the Year Award and announced on Wednesday, June 1, prior to start of NCAA regional tournament competition. The NCBWA's All-America Committee then will select the winner, with this year's recipient to be announced on the opening day of the College World Series on June 18.

Rice 14th In Average Home Attendance (May 31)
Through its 32 home games Rice has averaged more than 3,500 fans to Reckling Park (through May 31). The Owls are 14th in the nation in average home attendance. Here are the national attendance leaders (by home average) through that date.
1. LSU 10,534
2. Ole Miss 8,156
3. Arkansas 7,932
4. South Carolina 7,390
5. Texas 6,537
6. Mississippi State 6,103
7. Florida State 4,753
8. Creighton 4,479
9. Clemson 4,307
10. TCU 4,217
11. Texas A&M 3,922
12. Alabama 3,904
13. Florida 3,858
14. Rice 3,517

Rice Also 15th In Total Home Attendance (May 31)
Rice baseball drew more than 112,500 fans for 32 home games. That's also the 15th highest total in the country as of May 31.

Winning Is Always In Fashion
For the fashion Dynamo out there, Rice is 19-7 in its all-white uniforms, 8-4 in the pinstripes, 9-7 in the all-gray, 4-1 in blue jerseys and gray pants, and 1-0 in blue jerseys with white pants.

Did You Know?
At 41-19 Rice's record through 60 games is two games better than this same point one year ago. In 2010 the 38-22 Owls ended up winning 40 games on the way to a conference championship and NCAA Regional appearance. Maybe a closer look at the team's 19 losses this season is in order. In addition to 10 losses against teams that have advanced to NCAA Regionals, the Owls have 5 one-run losses and 5 two-run losses. Also note that five of the team's losses have been in extra innings.

Here's Who's Hot
Sophomore outfielder Ryan Lewis has a career-best nine-game hitting streak where he is 12-for-30 (.400), but he was particularly hot in the Owls' C-USA Tournament title-run. At the C-USA Tourney Lewis was 7-for-14 (.500) with a triple and a double for a .714 slugging percentage. He also drew three walks for a .529 on-base percentage, stole a base, had sacrifice bunt, drove-in a pair of runs and scored twice... Almost as hot at the C-USA Tournament was junior catcher Craig Manuel. Manuel batted .429 at Trustmark Park with a pair of doubles for a .571 slugging percentage and a team-leading five RBI. He also drew three walks and was hit by a pitch for a .556 on-base average... Junior designated hitter Anthony Rendon is 8-for-20 (.400) in his last five games with four doubles and a home run for a .750 slugging percentage. He's walked twice, been hit by a pitch and stolen a base on the way to a team-best six runs in the last five outings... Keep an eye on freshman Derek Hamilton. Hamilton is batting .364 (8-for-22) with a pair of doubles over the last six games. The rookie shortstop also has five RBI and five runs scored in that stretch.

Career Climber
Anthony Rendon has been climbing quickly of some of the school's career leaderboards. Here's where the Houston native ranks on the Owls' career lists heading into the NCAA Tournament... 3rd in home runs (52)
3rd in walks (174)
4th in slugging percentage (.685)
5th in total bases (459)
6th in runs scored (200)
6th in RBI (192)
11th in hits (249).

Walk This Way
Opposing teams have been very careful with Rendon at the plate, issuing him an eye-opening 78 walks for a .523 on-base percentage. Rendon's 78 free passes in the highest total in the nation... In the C-USA series opener against Memphis on May 3, the team drew a season-high 11 walks on the way to a 10-6 victory.

Now Walk This Way
Anthony Rendon has drawn a lot of walks, but there's more than one way to "walk" on a college campus. Rice Baseball and the Athletics Department would like to acknowledge some special seniors who made a walk of a different kind on May 14. Four seniors in the baseball program, Abe Gonzales (1B), Doug Simmons, Matt Evers and Samuel Wu, (student athletic trainer/equipment manager) participated in the University's graduation ceremony that morning. The 2011 commencement ceremony was the 98th in school history.

The K Train
Rice pitchers had 18 strikeouts in the April 8 win at East Carolina, the most by an Owl staff since striking out 19 at Louisiana Tech in 2005. Rice also had a masterful 21 strikeouts in a single game that year (vs. Central Missouri State on Opening Day).

For The Record
The 18 runners the Owls left on base in the Apr. 5 game vs. Louisiana tied for the most in a single game in school history. Rice left 18 men on base one other time, 58 years ago in a home game against the University of Texas (March 31, 1953). A little more recently, but still not very recently per se, the Blue & Gray left 17 men on base in a home non-conference game against Tulane in 1996. Rice's previous 2011 season-high for runners left on base was 12, which the Owls did three times (vs. Arizona, UC Santa Barbara and the second meeting with Houston). During the 2000 season, visiting McNeese State left 18 men on base in a home game the Owls went on to win 4-1.

The Long & Short of It
The Owls played one of the longest games of the college baseball season this year with a 15-inning affair on March 12 against California at AT&T Park, home of the world champion San Francisco Giants. The extra-inning marathon was the Owls' longest game by innings dating back to Wayne Graham's first Rice season in 1992. It was also the program's longest game by time (four hours, 33 minutes) dating back to 1996. The note within in the note is that the Owls have also already had the shortest game by time in the Wayne Graham era: a one-hour, 45-minute (1:45) game against Texas A&M on March 5 that beat a 1:49 game in 1997 by four minutes.

Pac-10 East
If you need any insight into Pac-10 baseball just ask Rice. The Owls have already played three games against Stanford and USC, two at Arizona and one on the road against Cal. Rice owns a winning 5-4 ledger against the rugged Pac-10 conference.

Career Longball Leaders
As the 2010 national player of the year and a unanimous 2011 preseason All-America selection, junior third baseman Anthony Rendon has both the eye of the media covering college baseball, and the full-attention opposition. The junior standout from nearby Lamar High School is third on the career home run list and has two players in front of him who also happen to be some of the most prominent players in Rice baseball history. Rice's top ten career home run hitters are as follows:
1. 67, Lance Berkman (1995-97)
2. 59, Bubba Crosby (1996-98)
3. 52, Anthony Rendon (2009-current)
4. 43, Jose Cruz Jr. (1993-95)
5. 42, Eric Arnold (1999-2002)
T 6. 39, Jay Knoblauh, (1985-88)
T 6. 39, Aaron Luna (2006-2008)
8. 37, Damon Thames (1998-99)
9. 33, Jacques Landry (1995-96)
10. 32, Enrique Cruz (2001-03)

Winningest Teams of The 2000's
(Since the beginning of the 2000 season)
Team Yrs. Won Lost Tied Pct.
1. Florida State 11 552 194 1 .740
2. Rice 11 534 185 0 .743
3. Texas 11 529 202 1 .723
4. South Carolina 11 521 217 0 .706
5. Wichita State 11 500 236 0 .679
6. North Carolina 11 497 212 1 .701
7. Cal St. Fullerton 11 488 213 0 .696
8. Coastal Carolina 11 487 200 0 .709
9. Georgia Tech 11 484 201 1 .699
10. LSU 11 481 232 4 .674
11. Clemson 11 481 241 1 .666
12. Miami (Fla.) 11 477 210 3 .693
13. Oral Roberts 11 476 187 0 .716
14. Nebraska 11 455 225 2 .662
15. Tulane 11 454 231 2 .662
16. Arizona State 11 449 186 2 .706
17. East Carolina 11 447 232 2 .658
18. Notre Dame 11 443 224 4 .663
19. Stanford 11 442 237 2 .651
20 Mississippi 11 434 252 1 .632
21. Florida 11 433 256 2 .628
22. TCU 11 424 247 0 .625
23. Southern Miss 11 421 237 2 .639
24. Virginia 11 421 248 1 .629
25. Florida Atlantic 11 420 256 0 .621

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