Feb. 21, 2011 VISIT the Rice Baseball Ticket Page
LISTEN to the game via the Internet audio home page
(All start times listed are CENTRAL TIME)
Feb. 22 (Tues.) 4 pm; Rice vs. Lamar
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Feb. 23 (Wed.) 5 pm; Rice at Texas State
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Feb. 25 (Fri.) 4:30 pm; Rice vs. USC
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Feb. 26 (Sat.) 2 pm; Rice vs. USC
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Feb. 27 (Sun.) 1 pm; Rice vs. USC
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Owls Host Lamar Tuesday To Begin Busy Five-Game Week
The Rice baseball team, 1-2 on the young season and ranked as high as 15th in the nation, hosts longtime rival Lamar on Tuesday (Feb. 21) at Reckling Park to begin a busy five-game week. The Owls meet the Cardinals in a 4 pm start (Central Time)... Rice then heads to San Marcos, Tex., on Wednesday (Feb. 23) for its first road game of the season. The Owls take on Texas State at 5 pm at the Bobcat Baseball Stadium. (Note that the 5 pm start time is a change from some earlier listings.)... Rice returns home for three more on Feb. 25-27 to close out the week. The Blue & Gray face another Pac-10 power when the Southern California Trojans visit Reckling Park for a three-game series from Friday to Sunday. Start times with USC are 4:30 pm, 2pm and 1 pm, respectively.
Watch Home Games On OwlVision All Access
This week's home games at Reckling Park are 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
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 Now 15th In The Polls
After the opening weekend of the season the Owls are now 15th in the nation according to PerfectGame.com. Rice was 14th in the nation in that poll to start the 2011 season. Here's a closer look at the current polls:
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.
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 871-342 with the Owls (528-117 at home, 261-177 in road games and 82-48 at neutral sites). His Rice winning percentage is .719, the best in school history. Another way of looking at Graham's .718 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 as follows 27-14 vs. Lamar (18-6 road, 9-8 road), 40-9 vs. Texas State (29-6 home, 11-3 road, 1-0 neutral) and 1-0 vs. Southern California (1-0 neutral)... Under Graham, the Owls clinched another postseason bid in 2010, making 16-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. 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 C-USA regular season crowns in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 as well as the C-USA tournament championships in `06, `07 and `09... 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.
1,446 Wins ‧ A Baseball Odyssey
Wayne Graham owns 871 career wins at Rice, but his career victories tally to 1,446 when you include his 11 years at San Jacinto North College where he won five national championships. Graham's overall collegiate record is 1,446-455 in a 30-year career that began in 1981.
Wayne Graham Radio Show Set To Debut In March
A new Rice baseball radio show featuring the Owls' legendary head coach Wayne Graham is set to debut in March and air live on a weekly basis, announced Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan Tuesday (Feb. 8) in conjunction with Rice Sports Properties, the multimedia rights partner for the University and IMG College property... The Wayne Graham Radio Show presented by Waste Management, will air live from Prince's Restaurant near the Southwest Freeway and will be broadcast in the Houston area on 1560 AM The Game (KGOW), and around the world on RiceOwls.com... A total of nine, hour-long shows over an 11-week span begin at 7 pm on March 7 and run through the remainder of the regular season. Coach Graham, with Rice baseball broadcaster David Brady, will review games from the previous weekend and preview upcoming series. In addition to discussions on college baseball's national rankings and chase for the Conference USA championship, each week's show will include current members of the team, former Owl players and special guests. There is also a segment for fans to ask Coach Graham a question. It's a unique opportunity for baseball fans to get direct insight from one of the college game's most successful icons... "This is a great opportunity to increase the dialogue between Rice Baseball and its fans," said Coach Graham. "It is also a wonderful opportunity to increase the visibility of college baseball in Houston. I am looking forward to the show, and the upcoming season."
Probable Rice Pitcher
Wayne Graham announced the Owls' probable starting pitchers for the two midweek games as senior left-hander Tony Cingrani (0-0, 0.00) vs. Lamar, and sophomore right-hander Chase McDowell (0-1, 13.50) vs. Texas State. Rice starters for future games will be announced at a later time.
Cingrani is in his second year with the program after transferring from South Suburban College in Illinois. A year ago Cingrani was 1-0 and he finished fifth on the Rice staff with six starts, facing NCAA Tournament-bound teams Stanford, California and San Diego, as well as Texas Tech, Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The New Lennox, Ill., native worked a total of 22.0 innings in 2010. He registered 13 strikeouts last season, including a career-high four strikeouts on two occasions. Cingrani may not have always been the pitcher of record in his starts, but the Owls went on to win five of those six outings.
McDowell is scheduled to make his first collegiate start at Texas State on Wednesday evening. The 6-foot-2 College Station, Tex., native made only four relief appearances on the mound last season, maintaining a 3.86 ERA with no decisions. He played more as a left-handed hitter during his freshman campaign (18 games), but showed tremendous improvement while playing in the Alaskan Collegiate League over the summer. McDowell worked his way into starting consideration during the Owls' fall practices. He pitched 2.2 innings against No. 10 Stanford over the weekend in his 2011 season debut.
Lamar announced its starting pitcher as junior right-hander Eric Harrington (0-0, 0.00).
Texas State announced its starting pitcher as junior right-hander Carson Smith (0-0, 4.50).
Reckling Named C-USA Pitcher of the Week
Rice junior Matthew Reckling was named the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Feb. 21) from its headquarters in Irving, Tex. Houston's Chase Jensen was named the C-USA Hitter of the Week... Reckling, a veteran of the Owls' pitching staff, handcuffed No. 10 Stanford with 6.0 shutout innings Saturday (Feb. 19) as Rice clipped the Cardinal, 7-1. The Houston native from Kinkaid H.S. worked a career-long 6.0 frames, scattering four hits and two walks while striking out four. He held the heavy-hitting Cardinal to a composite .182 batting average in notching his first win of the season. It is the first time in Reckling's career for him to earn the C-USA Pitcher of the Week honor... Chase Jensen helped Houston to a three-game sweep of Texas-Arlington to open the season. Jensen batted .600 batting (9-for-15) with two doubles and a two-run homer in the series finale.
Rice-Stanford Super Series Draws 12,000 Fans To Reckling Park
After the opening weekend of the college baseball season the Owls are 13th in the nation in home attendance. A total of 12,182 fans were on hand for the Owls' three-game series vs. Stanford. After the opening set of games, here are the early leaders for average home attendance.
1. LSU 10,640
2. Ole Miss 8,258
3. Arkansas 8,109
4. South Carolina 7,933
5. Texas 6,637
6. Mississippi State 5,887
7. Clemson 5,177
8. Florida State 5,169
9. TCU 4,964
10. Florida 4,668
11. Alabama 4,523
12. Texas A&M 4,319
13. Rice 4,061
14. Hawaii 3,867
15. Auburn 3,838
Previous Outing: No. 10 Cardinal Clip Rice 6-2 In Weekend Series Finale
HOUSTON -- The No. 10 Stanford baseball team collected 13 hits, including three for extra bases, on the way to a 6-2 win over the Rice Owls in front of a Reckling Park crowd of 4,233 Sunday afternoon (Feb. 20) in Houston... A three-game total of more than 12,000 fans attended college baseball's only season-opening weekend series that featured two nationally-ranked teams. The Cardinal claimed the series two games to one... The Owls struck for the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman Keenan Cook led off with a double, moved to third on a base hit by Anthony Rendon and scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Fuda... Stanford came right back with a run in the top of the second. Stephen Piscotty singled and moved to scoring position on an error. Austin Wilson hit a two-out RBI single to left before the Owls worked out of the inning. The same duo helped the Cardinal take the lead in the fourth. Piscotty hit a single through the right-side and Brian Ragira knocked an RBI triple to right. Wilson followed with a single to center to give Stanford a 3-1 lead. The Cardinal made it 4-1 with Lonnie Kauppila's solo home run to lead off the seventh... Rice answered with a score in the bottom of the frame. Veteran catcher Craig Manuel led off with a single and freshman Michael Aquino ran for him at first base. Aquino advanced two stations on a Stanford fielding error and scored on Cook's ground ball to the right side to make it 4-2. Stanford added two more runs in the top of the eighth on four hits to stretch the margin to 6-2... The Owls had another sound and solid outing on the mound from a freshman starting pitcher. Newcomer Austin Kubitza worked 6.0 innings in his Division I debut, allowing just two earned runs on six hits while striking out five with no walks... Rice closes-out the season-opening four-game homestand on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The Owls host longtime rival Lamar at 4 pm at Reckling Park. The Blue & Gray then play at Texas State on Wednesday evening before returning home to host another Pac-10 power next weekend. Rice hosts Southern California on Feb. 25-27 at Reckling Park.
Rice Baseball Picked For Seven Televised Games This Season
HOUSTON - Rice baseball is slated to have seven of its regular season games televised, Conference USA and Rice Athletics Director Rick Greenspan announced. With a winning tradition and a fan-and-TV-friendly Reckling Park as its home stadium, the Owls are again a favorite for live televised broadcasts. CBS Sports Network (formerly CBS College Sports - CBSC), a national leader in televising a host of collegiate sporting events, will nationally televise Rice's May 19 road game against Southern Miss. The contest is a rematch of the same two teams that a year ago met in the Conference USA Championship Final. Six games are regional telecasts on Comcast Sports Southwest (CSS) that have potential for wider distribution. Three of the CSS games will be played at Reckling Park. All five games of the Owls' annual season-long series against crosstown rival Houston will be broadcast on CSS. Rice's April 12 home game against longtime foe Texas A&M is now a CSS game.
The C-USA Favorites
IRVING, Tex. - With returning National Player of the Year Anthony Rendon tabbed as the 2011 Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year, along with fellow Owls Jeremy Rathjen and Taylor Wall selected as preseason all-conference honorees, the Rice baseball team was picked to finish first in the league in a head coaches poll, the C-USA office announced... Rice, East Carolina and Southern Miss all had three preseason honorees, sharing the most of any school in the annual coaches' survey... Already a unanimous preseason All-America selection, the C-USA coaches voted Rendon as the favorite to win what would be his third C-USA Player of the Year Award in as many seasons. The Owls' junior third baseman became the first freshman to win the C-USA player of the year award in 2009, and then just the second player in league history to earn the honor twice when he won it again in 2010. A year ago Rendon batted .394 and ranked among the NCAA leaders in home runs (26), RBI (85) and slugging percentage (.801). The Houston native from nearby Lamar High School was named the recipient of the 2010 Howser Trophy as the National Player of the Year... Junior outfielder Jeremy Rathjen earned second team all-conference honors after a solid sophomore season in 2010. A year ago Rathjen batted a steady .317 with 13 home runs. The local standout from Memorial High School drove-in 69 runs and scored 52 times in 57 games played... Taylor Wall is a left-handed pitcher who earned second-team all-Conference USA accolades in 2010. Wall went 5-5 with a 4.45 ERA in 15 starts. The Houston native from Westside High School finished among the C-USA leaders in starts, innings pitched (85.0) and strikeouts (61). He held all opponents to a composite .233 batting average.
2011 CONFERENCE USA PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(as selected by C-USA's head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Rice (6)
2. Southern Miss (2)
3. East Carolina
4. UCF (1)
5. Tulane
6. Memphis
7. Houston
8. Marshall
9. UAB
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Anthony Rendon, Rice (Junior, Third Baseman)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Todd McInnis, Southern Miss (Senior, RHP)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P, Seth Maness, Sr., East Carolina
P, Todd McInnis, Sr., Southern Miss
P, Taylor Wall, Jr., Rice
RP, Collin Cargill, Sr., Southern Miss
C, Victor Gomez, Jr., Marshall
IF, Garrett Cannizaro, So., Tulane
IF, Anthony Rendon, Jr., Rice
IF, Corey Thompson, Jr., East Carolina
IF, B.A. Vollmuth, Jr., Southern Miss
IF, Chad Zurcher, Jr., Memphis
OF, Jamal Austin, Jr., UAB
OF, Drew Martinez, Jr., Memphis
OF, Trent Whitehead, Sr., East Carolina
DH/UT, Jeremy Rathjen, Jr., Rice
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. It seemed it was only going to be a matter of time before he broke into the Rice top ten for career home runs, and he enters his junior year already in the top three. The junior standout from nearby Lamar High School 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. 46, 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)
Sign Up For "Dollars For Dingers"
Owl fans are encouraged to support Rice Athletics by signing up for the 2011 edition of the Dollars for Dingers program. Signing up on-line at this link is easy and secure... for Dingers is a fun way to support Rice student-athletes. The popular program ties the total number of Owl home runs hit during the season to a financial contribution from our fans. Last year, participants in the Dollars for Dingers program contributed more than $30,000 to the Owl Club Scholarship Fund supporting all of Rice's student-athletes... Rice invites fans to make your pledge today as the Owls try to eclipse last year's home run total of 96. The Development Office will keep track of the count all the way through the College World Series, and let fans know their gift amount at the end of the season. Every pledge of $2 or more qualifies participants for a special souvenir... The Rice baseball team will again be swinging for the fences this year. On behalf of the student-athletes who benefit from your generosity, Rice sends its deepest appreciation and hopes the wind is blowing our way each time the Owls are up to bat!
"At Flex Packs" Now Available
Owl Single game tickets for the 2011 Rice baseball season are now available through the At Bat Flex Packs, the Rice Ticket office announced... The Flex Packs are a convenient and economic way for fans to purchase tickets of their choice, including on-line purchases. The Flex Packs are available in four options; the single, double, triple and home run. Here's what they deliver:
Single - eight tickets for $60
Double - 12 tickets for $80
Triple - 16 tickets for $100
Home Run - 20 tickets for $120
Flex Pack fans will be sent vouchers that can be redeemed for printed tickets at the Rice ticket office or at the Reckling Park ticket window the day of the game. The vouchers may be used all at one game, or spread out over several games. For example, with the Single Pack, a fan and a friend can go to four games, bring a group of eight to one game, or get one ticket to eight different games, etc.... Fans are encouraged to specify the games they would like to attend when they order online or by phone. Otherwise, fans will receive vouchers that can be redeemed during ticket office business hours or at Reckling Park on the day of a game while supplies last... Tickets purchased with the Flex Packs will be in Concourse 2 at Reckling Park, with the exception of games against Texas A&M (April 12) and the University of Houston (March 23 & 29), which will be general admission... For more information, call the Rice Ticket Office at 713-522-OWLS. Link directly to Rice Ticket Page.
Winningest Teams of The 2000's
(Since the beginning of the 2000 season)
Team Yrs. Won Lost Tied Pct.
1. Florida State 552-194-1 .740
2. Rice 534-185-0 .743
3. Texas 529-202-1 .723
4. South Carolina 521-217-0 .706
5. Wichita State 500-236-0 .679
6. North Carolina 497-212-1 .701
7. Cal St. Fullerton 488-213-0 .696
8. Coastal Carolina 487-200-0 .709
9. Georgia Tech 484-201-1 .699
10. LSU 481-232-4 .674
11. Clemson 481-241-1 .666
12. Miami (Fla.) 477-210-3 .693
13. Oral Roberts 476-187-0 .716
14. Nebraska 455-225-2 .662
15. Tulane 454-231-2 .662
16. Arizona State 449-186-2 .706
17. East Carolina 447-232-2 .658
18. Notre Dame 443-224-4 .663
19. Stanford 442-237-2 .651
20 Mississippi 434-252-1 .632
21. Florida 433-256-2 .628
22. TCU 424-247-0 .625
23. Southern Miss 421-237-2 .639
24. Virginia 421-248-1 .629
25. Florida Atlantic 420-256-0 .621
18-Straight 30-Win Seasons; Lookin' For 19!
Rice has reached the 30-win plateau for 18th-straight seasons. Only five other schools in the country have longer active streaks of having won at least 30 games: Arizona State (48 years), Miami-Fla. (40 years), Clemson and Cal State Fullerton (both 36 years) and Georgia Tech (28).
Postseason Streak Now 16-Straight; Lookin' For 17!
A year ago the Rice baseball program made its 16th 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 38th consecutive year, extending its own record, followed by Florida State (33) and Cal State Fullerton (19).
Conference Championship Streak Reaches 15-Straight Years
Rice has now won or shared a total of 15-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 five Conference USA titles in as many years.
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