The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, February 3, 2006 Page: 15 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER BASEBALL 2006 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3,2006
B7
A
4
2006 RICE BASEBALL SCHEDULE
February
4 CENT. MISSOURI ST. (2 p.m.)
7 MCNEESE ST. (4 p.m.)
10 #Texas Tech (3:30 p.m.)
11 #UT (7 p.m.)
12 #Texas Christian (6 p.m.)
17 %OKLAHOMA (4:30 p.m.)
18 %LONG BEACH ST. (1 p.m.)
19 % LAMAR (3:30 p.m.)
21 SAM HOUSTON ST. (4 p.m.)
24 &ST. JOHN'S (4:30 p.m.)
25 &NEBRASKA (1 p.m.)
26 &TEXAS ST. (3:30 p.m.)
28 at A&M-CC (6 p.m.)
March
3 CAL ST. FULLERTON (7 p.m.)
4 CAL ST. FULLERTON (2 p.m.)
5 CAL ST. FULLERTON (1 p.m.)
7 UT (7 p.m.)
10 ITexas Christian (2:30 p.m.)
11 lArizona St. (5:30 p.m.)
12 !A&M-CC (3:30 p.m.)
14 SAN DIEGO (7 p.m.)
15 at Sam Houston St. (7 p.m.)
18 A&M-CC (2 p.m.)
19 A&M-CC (1 p.m.)
22 at UT (6:15 p.m.)
24 *EAST CAROLINA (7 p.m.)
25 *EAST CAROLINA (2 p.m.)
26 *EAST CAROLINA (1 p.m.)
28 at Texas St. (6:35 p.m.)
31 *at Tulane (6:30 p.m.)
April
1 *at Tulane (2 p.m.)
* denotes a Conference USA game
CAPS denote a home game at Reckling Park
# denotes a Minute Maid Park College Classic game
% denotes a Coca-Cola Classic game
6 denotes a Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational game
! denotes a Corpus Christi College Classic game at Whataburger Field
2 *at Tulane (1 p.m.)
4 at Texas A&M. (7 p.m.)
7 *UAB (7 p.m.)
8 *UAB (2 p.m.)
9 *UAB (1 p.m.)
11 at Baylor (6 p.m.)
14 *at Memphis (6:30 p.m.)
15 *at Memphis (2 p.m.)
16 *at Memphis (noon)
18 at Oklahoma (7 p.m.)
21 ^SOUTHERN MISS (7 p.m.)
22 *SOUTHERN MISS (2 p.m.)
23 * SOUTHERN MISS (1 p.m.)
25 TEXAS ST. (7 p.m.)
28 *atUCF (5:30 p.m.)
29 *atUCF (5:30 p.m.)
30 *at UCF (noon)
May
10 LAMAR (7 p.m.)
12 *UH (7 p.m.)
13 *UH (2 p.m.)
14 *UH (1 p.m.)
16 at LSU (7 p.m.)
18 *at Marshall (1 p.m.)
19 *at Marshall (1 p.m.)
24-28 C-USA TOURNAMENT
June
2-4 NCAA Regionals
9-11 NCAA Super Regionals
16-26 College World Series
C-USA PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Rice (9 first-place votes)
2. Tulane
3. Southern Miss
4. Houston
5. Central Florida
6. East Carolina
7. Alabama-Birmingham
8. Memphis
9. Marshall
Preseason players to watch
East Carolina: T.J. Hose, P; Adam Witter, 1B/DH
Marshall: Adam Frederick, IF; Adam Ptacek, OF
Memphis: Adam Amar, IB; Drew Jaudon, P
Rice: Josh Rodriguez, SS; Joe Savery, P/IF
Southern Miss: Daniel Best, P; Marc Maddox, IF
Tulane: Mark Hamilton, IF; Nathan Southard, OF
UAB: Ryan Metcalf, SS; Zac Ward, 3B
UCF: Tim Bascom, P; Matt Ray, IF
UH: Dustin Kingsbury, IF; Brad Lincoln, P/IF
Player of the Year: Joe Savery, Rice
Pitcher of the Year: Tim Bascom, UCF
Tougher schedule awaits Owls
BASEBALL AMERICA RANKINGS ,top 251
1. Texas
14. South Carolina
2. Clemson
15. Florida State
3. Florida
16. Arizona State
4. Georgia Tech
17. Southern California
5. Cal State Fullerton
18. Arkansas
6. North Carolina
19. Texas Christian
7. Rice
20. Louisiana State
8. Oregon State
21. Fresno State
9.Tennessee
22. Long Beach State
10. Missouri
23. Mississippi
11. Pepperdine
24. North Carolina State
12. Tulane
25. California
13. Mississippi State
Rice enters the 2006 season
coming off its 10th con-
secutive conference cham-
pionship — nine in the Western
Athletic Conference and one in the
Southwest Conference — and 11
straight NCaA tournament berths.
After amassing a 45-19 record in
2005, the seventh-ranked Owls look
toward their2006schedule with pride.
Their non-conference slate is the third
toughest in the country according to
boydsworld.com, behind Ix>ng Beach
State — who they will face Feb. 18 at
Reckling Park — and UCLA.
"I think [a strong schedule] is
needed," sophomore left-hander/first
baseman Joe Savery said. "It's not
football where you have to win every
game. In college baseball, it's okay
to lose a couple of games. If we go
and have as tough a schedule as pos-
sible. it's only going to help us on the
back end. Facing those teams early
is going to help us mature quicker
and hopefully be hitting stride a little
sooner."
Rice's strong non-conference
schedule begins with Saturday's open-
ing day game against Central Mis-
souri State, which is ranked second in
I )ivision II. Then, following a rematch
of the first game of the 2003 NCAA
regional against McNeese State at
Reckling Park, the Owls will vie to be
the top team in Texas at the Minute
Maid Classic, where they will face
Texas Tech University, Texas Chris-
tian University and the University of
Texas, the marquee match-up. TCU,
which faced Rice in a three-game se-
ries last year at Reckling Park, comes
into the tournament ranked 19th, and
defending national champion UT will
defend its top ranking.
Following the Minute Maid Clas-
sic, Rice will host two tournaments at
Reckling Park: the Coca-Cola Classic,
which will field the University of
Oklahoma, No. 22 I^ong Beach State
University and I .amar University—all
traditionally strong teams — and
the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational,
which will feature 2005 College World
Series participant Nebraska along
with St. John's and Texas State.
The most exciting series of the
year for Rice, which has won 30
straight home series, could be its
weekend clash with No. 5 Cal State
Fullerton, the 2004 national cham-
pion, March 3-5. The Owls are 1-3
against Fullerton under head coach
Wayne Graham, although the teams
have not met since 1996, when Rice
defeated the Titans 13-10 in an NCAA
regional game.
'Facing those teams
early is going to help
us mature quicker and
hopefully he hitting
stride a little sooner.'
— Joe Savery
Sophomore first baseman/pitcher
"We're going to see how good we
are and see how well we compete
[by playing a tough schedule]," ju-
nior shortstop Josh Rodriguez said.
That's only going to help us later on
when we get into the playof fs, becau se
we're going to be able to face that ad-
versity early and know what we have
to fix and where we stand."
After playing Fullerton, the Owls
will face UT the following Tuesday at
Reckling Park before traveling to Cor-
pus Christi to face off with TCU, No.
16 Arizona State and A&M-Corpus
Christi in the Corpus Christi College
Classic at Whataburger Field, home
of the Astros' AA affiliate.
Conference USA, in addition to
being a stronger conference, will
minimize Rice's travel. The Owls will
no longer have to make multiple treks
to the West coast and Hawaii as they
did in the WAC. Rice, the coaches'
pick to win C-USA, will play a 24-game
conference schedule compared to a
30-game schedule in the WAC.
The slate begins with East Caro-
lina at Reckling Park March 24-26
and a series against No. 12 Tulane
— played at Zephyr Field in Metai-
rie, La., due to hurricane damage at
Tulane — March 31-ApriI 2.
"The only thing that makes our
conference schedule a little tougher
than it might have been is the fact
that we're playing [at] the No. 2 team,
[Tulane]," Graham said. "The only
thing I don't like about our conference
is [that] we're only playing 24 games.
I wish we could get another team or
two so that we could play a 30-game
schedule."
In other C-USA series, the Owls
will play at home against UAB.
Southern Miss and No. 28 Houston,
and at Memphis, Central Florida and
Marshall. Mixed among the confer-
ence games is a strong schedule of
mid-week games against in-state rivals
Baylor and Texas A&M. as well as
Oklahoma and Louisiana State.
Unlike the WAC, C-USA has a
conference tournament to end the
season. Rice will host the C-USA
Tournament at Reckling Park May
24-28, less than a week before the
NCAA tournament begins.
"We've got a conference tourna-
ment, which is good," Graham said.
"With a short [conference] schedule,
things can happen where you don't
finish as high as you'd like, but I hope
that we can contend to be No. 1 or
No. 2. [But] you don't have to win the
league to get into a regional."
SCOUTING CONFERENCE USA
Rice has won 10 straight conference titles, but the Owls will face their best conference slate since the South-
west Conference disbanded in 1996. Rice was picked to win Conference USA by the league's coaches, but the
road will not be easy. Here's the rundown:
Tulane Green Wave
2005 record: 56-12
C-USA: 24-6 (1st)
Postseason: Beat Oregon State
before losing to Baylor and UT in the
College World Series.
Returning position starters: 3
Returning starting pitchers: 1
Outlook: Even after losing much of
the cast that led the Green Wave to
a No. 1 ranking and a College World
Series berth, Tulane is ranked No.
12 in the country.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
2005 record: 41-21
C-USA: 20-10 (t-2nd)
Postseason: Went two-and-out in its
NCAA regional appearance, losing to
Oklahoma and Maine
Returning position starters: 6
Returning starting pitchers: 4
Outlook: Southern Miss returns the
most starting pitchers of all C-USA
teams with four. This experience
should translate into another NCAA
regional berth.
Hotrs ton- Cowficw
2005 record: 29-30
C-USA: 16-13 (5th)
Postseason: none
Returning position starters: 4
Returning starting pitchers: 4
Outlook: UH is hungry to return to
the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars
are led by a strong group of pitchers
including Brad Lincoln and Matt Far-
rington. Expect UH to contend in C-USA,
particularly against rival Rice.
Central Florida Golden Knights
2005 record: 42-18
C-USA: first year
Postseason: none
Returning position starters: 3
Returning starting pitchers: 1
Outlook: Central Florida is coming off
a solid final season in the Atlantic
Sun Conference and has the C-USA
preseason pitcher of the year in right-
hander Tim Bascom. The Knights are
a dangerous team with a good group
of newcomers trying to fill the void
left by their top four hitters.
East Carolina Pirates
2005 record: 35-26
C-USA: 18-12 (4th)
Postseason: Went two-and-out. los-
ing to Arizona State and UNLV
Returning position starters: 4
Returning starting pitchers: 2
Outlook: East Carolina has advanced
to six straight NCAA tournaments and
looks to do the same this year under
new head coach Billy Godwin.
Alabama-Birmingham Blazers
2005 record: 31-27
C-USA: 14-16 (8th)
Postseason: none
Returning position starters: 3
Returning starting pitchers: 2
Outlook: UAB is a young team that
looks to continue growing its program
in a strong conference
Memphis Tigers
2005 record: 13-42
C-USA: 5-25 (12th)
Postseason: none
Returning position starters: 7
Returning starting pitchers: 2
Outlook: Basketball-focused Mem-
phis will probably finish near the
bottom of C-USA.
Marshall Thundering Herd
2005 record: 16-34
C-USA: first year
Postseason: none
Returning position starters: 7
Returning starting pitchers: 2
Outlook: Marshall is a team that has
never made a splash in baseball, and
little should change this year.
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, February 3, 2006, newspaper, February 3, 2006; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443127/m1/15/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.