Rendon & Cingrani Earn NCBWA All-America Honors
6/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 15, 2011
IRVING, Tex. - The Rice baseball duo of junior Anthony Rendon and Tony Cingrani were both named All-America selections by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), the organization announced Wednesday (June 15).
Rendon was a NCBWA second team All-America honoree as a designated hitter. Cingrani was tabbed as third-team All-America selection as a relief pitcher. Both Owls were selected in last week's major league draft (in the first and third rounds, respectively) after sensational collegiate seasons.
Rendon was a 2011 national semifinalist for both the Howser Trophy (as the nation's top collegiate player) and Golden Spikes Award (as nation's top amateur). The Houston native from nearby Lamar High School was a three-time first All-Conference USA selection who led the Owls in hitting (.3271), runs scored (58), slugging percentage (.523), walks (80), on-base percentage (.520) and steals (13). Not only did he share the team lead in home runs (6) and doubles (20), Rendon batted .374 with runners on base, .311 with runners in scoring position and .429 with the bases loaded. He hit .357 (10-of-28) in the Owls' 2011 postseason run, including a .375 clip with three doubles and a homer in four C-USA Tournament games to help Rice claim the championship title. Rendon was also named second team All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball Magazine.
Cingrani transferred to Rice in 2010 from South Suburban College (Illinois). In 2011 his move to the bullpen fulltime proved to have a big impact on the Owls' pitching staff. The 6-foot-5 southpaw ended up tying the Rice school record of 12 saves in a single season set by eventual major leaguer David Aardsma in the national championship season of 2003. The senior from New Lennox, Ill., appeared in the most games of any pitcher in Conference USA (34), and he maintained an austere 1.74 ERA in 57.0 innings of work. Cingrani held opposing hitters to a composite .224 batting average and his strikeouts-to-walks ratio was 6.6-to-1. He was the 17th left-handed pitcher selected in the MLB draft.
Under the direction of head coach Wayne Graham, the Rice baseball team finished its 2011 season with a 42-11 record. The program posted its 17th-straight season of 40 or more wins and 17th-straight year to reach an NCAA Regional. The Owls were league champions for a 16th-straight year, winning both the 2011 Conference USA Tournament title and C-USA regular season co-championship.
