     
• College World Series Central • Game Notes pdf  • Schedule/Results • Schedule Downloads • Schedule pdf • Roster pdf • Roster html • Statistics (pdf) • Statistics (html) • Media Guide • C-USA League Notebook • Alumni Game Photo Gallery
• Head Coach Wayne Graham • Assistant Coach Mike Taylor • Assistant Coach Dave Pierce • Assistant Coach Patrick Hallmark • Director of Baseball Operations Kim Koehn
• Web Page
• Live Audio/Video
• Reckling Park • Directions
• Camps web site • '08 Kids Take Over the Park registration form • '08 Dollars for Dingers • Prospective Student-Athlete Questionnaire 
There are no events scheduled during the next 60 days.
|
VICTORY! Owls Win C-USA Tournament With 16-8 Win Over East Carolina
May 27, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Junior Jared Gayhart drove in six runs with a home run and a triple, and sophomore Aaron Luna was selected as the Most Valuable Player after a stunning week of action, to highlight the second-ranked Rice baseball team's 16-8 road win over East Carolina in front of 3,810 vocal fans in the championship final of the Conference USA Tournament Sunday afternoon at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, N.C. Rice's 12th-consecutive conference title earned the Owls C-USA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Baseball's "Big Dance" starts next Friday at 16 regional sites around the country, including Rice's home at Reckling Park. The week-long C-USA tournament finished with a three-and-one-half hour championship game that had 24 combined runs on 28 hits. No less than 11 pitchers were used by both teams to try and contain the slugfest, but at the end of the day it was the 3,810 free tacos courtesy of the home-run hitting Gayhart that thanked the fans or a great day and a great week in Greenville. As often is the case for a long tournament (five games in five days in Rice's case), both offenses were in gear early. Playing as the visitor on their home field, East Carolina jumped on the scoreboard for three runs in the top of the first inning. Two of the first three batters drew one-out walks and a single to left by Stephen Batts gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Jamie Ray singled to load the bases and a two-out base hit to center by Jake Dean stretched the margin to 3-0. The Owls got one run back in the bottom of the frame. Brian Friday led off with a single and he advanced to second when Jess Buenger was hit by a pitch. Luna laced a base hit to right field and Friday beat the throw to the plate. The Pirates clubbed back-to-back doubles for a run in the second to take a 4-1 lead, but it proved to be ECU's last of the day. Rice exploded for eight runs in its half of the inning by clubbing five hits and taking advantage of three ECU fielding errors. Diego Seastrunk, Buenger and Danny Lehmann had RBI singles. Gayhart drove his first run of the day and Joe Savery brought home a pair in the scoring outburst. All but one of the runs was unearned, but the Owls moved ahead 9-4. ECU continued the offensive fireworks and scored two in the third. There were a total of 15 runs scored by both teams through the first two-and-one-half innings. The Pirates cut the lead down to one with two more runs on two hits in the fourth make the score 9-8. A Rice group-pitching effort from Mike Ojala, Scott Lonergan, Ryan Berry and Bobby Bramhall kept the Pirates in check from that point with 6.0 scoreless innings on a combined three hits with nine strikeouts. Rice put one more on the board in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 10-8. In the seventh Tyler Henley and Seastrunk led off with identical singles to right. Gayhart slugged a triple to the wall in right-center to score both men. Luna singled to score Gayhart and stretch the lead to 13-8. It was Luna's 13th hit and 13th RBI of the week. Finally, in the eighth, Lehmann walked and Friday singled. Gayhart strode to the plate and crushed a pitch deep to right field. On it's way out of the park, the ball hit a promotional sign from a local fast food restaurant that states if a home run ball hits the sign it means "free tacos for the fans in attendance." The Greenville faithful may not have seen a Pirate win Sunday, but they did have a consolation prize. Rice improved to 49-12 on the season. East Carolina fell to 39-21 overall, but a strong finish in the tournament and second place regular season finish in the league bodes well for ECU. Rice's Lehmann, Savery and Matt Langwell joined Luna, the 2007 MVP, on the C-USA All-Tournament team. The NCAA has already announced Rice will serve as one of 16 regional sites for the NCAA Tournament. The 64-team tournament field will be announced on Monday (May 28). Regional play is scheduled to begin across the country on Friday, June 1.
2007 All-Tournament Team
|
