riceowlsbaseball: January 2006

Photos from Satuday's game

Kim McDougall, Bobby May, and Coach Graham pass out 2005 WAC Championship rings (notice the sunglasses?)

The search for Aardsma's Len Barker imitation pit

ch (up over the screen).

ABOVE: Janis out at 2nd stetching a single into a double.

BELOW:
Jorgensen gets ready to "take one for the team" (what a face! what sacrifice!).

Sorry, Charlie! Charlie Williams came close to a HR, but it wasn't to be.

OWLS TOP ALUMS IN SPITE OF WEATHERMAN’S FORECAST
By Mark Anderson

January 28, Reckling Park--Remember the rhyme kids recite when it looks like a rainy day is coming? “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day, we want to go out and play.”

Well, for the last week, all we heard was “The rain is coming on Friday and Saturday.” It finally got to Reckling Park—at about 2:10 pm, just in time to save the Alums from doing any damage to themselves in the Alums game.

Trying to score this game was difficult for me because the Alums line-up was not passed out ahead of time. However, the Rice Owls have a recap on their website. You can read the game summary they’ve provided here:
http://riceowls.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/012806aaa.html

For the fans that braved the weather forecast, it was a great time. This year’s Owls had a good time as well. Chad Lembeck told me afterwards, “We had a great time out there. It was good just to be playing for fun.”

The only fun that wasn’t found on this day was in the last inning by the Alum. Bryce Cox was brought in to close it out, and close it out he did. He got the side out in order—and then the game was extended one more out, which he promptly got. Watching him deal in the 6th inning was something else. The Alums might have had better luck with boat paddles—and they could have put them to use right afterwards, too.

UPDATE ON ALUMNI GAME SATURDAY

We've all been hearing about how the weather is supposed to be like on Saturday. Mike Pede of the Owls Atheletic Department has confirmed, rain or shine, there will be some sort of program for this coming Saturday.

If there is no rain and the field is playable, the game will be played.

If the field is unplayable, the program moves to the gym. There, Coach Wayne Graham will speak, and the WAC champioonship will be celeberated. There will also vbe a meet and greet time, and a BBQ afterwards at 2 pm.

So rain or shine, come out and have some fun!

Click here for more information on who will be on hand and the format for the day:
http://riceowls.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/012306aaa.html

More Pictures From Last Friday

Grays Have the Blues Friday

Cox, Blues Pitchers Dominate
By Mark Anderson

January 20, Reckling Park—“Welcome to Reckling Park!”

Those were the words Kenny Ford heard after he hit what should have been a much longer fly ball that ended up being swept back toward the infield by the prairie winds blowing at Reckling on a warm January afternoon. Many a mighty swing became a harmless pop-up or short fly ball this afternoon.

But the wind wasn’t a factor when Bryan Cox was on the mound. He was, in a word, dominating, striking out four in the last two innings of work. All that could be managed against him was an infield single. And you couldn’t blame the wind, either—all of his outs came on strikeouts or groundouts.

But there were other pitchers that were pretty darn good themselves on Froday. Ryan Tacker certainly didn't have anything to be ashamed of, giving up only one run. Gunderson was on for the Grays, mixing in his pitches, keeping the Blues off-stride.

The Blues squad scored two runs early against Dengerman with 3 walks, a stolen base, and an rbi single by Danny Lehmann. They added another in the second off Dengerman—not really roughing him up, but Henley came through with an rbi single that made the score 3-0 after two.

The Grays scored their only run in the fifth when Joe Savery walked with one out. He stole second, and Luna reached on a walk. Reagan hit a ground ball which got one, but the throw was errant and Savery scored. Bramhall walked, but Duplesssis grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Chad Lembeck put an exclamation mark on the Blues scoring in the sixth when he homered to left-centerfield with one out to close out the scoring.

Coach Graham said afterwards, “Cox was great. . . we’re going to need him like that.”

If Saturday was any indication of what the Owls opponents have to look forward to in Owl pitching, expect many more games like this inter-squad one. This pitching effort was against All-Conference preseason picks Joe Savery and Josh Rodriguez, just to name a few. Hopefully for the Owls, this game was a good indicator of what the season will hold—good pitching, clutch defense (three double plays by the Blue squad and two by the Gray squad), and heady base running by creating scoring opportunities.

NEXT SATURDAY: THE ALUMNI GAME

Pitching Dominated Friday in Inter-Squad

Links

http://www.ricefootball.net: The Unofficial site for Rice Owls football
www.riceowls.com: The Official website of the Rice Owls
www.CUSA-fans.com: A good site for Conference USA fans
http://www.ncaabbs.com/frontpage/main.html: Great message board for Conference USA

More Pics From Saturday's Blue-Gray game

Kurt Pessa winds up.

Joe Savery ready at first base.

Josh Rodriguez takes off to steal second.

Travis Reagan dives in vain for single.

Chad Lembeck swings at this pitch in the middle innings.

Owls Knock Off Rust in First Blue-Gray Scrimmage

January 14, 2006, Reckling Park--The stands were sparsely populated for the fist peek of the 2006 Rice Owls baseball team this past Saturday. But for those who ventured out on a beautiful January afternoon, they got a glimpse of what could be the makings of another outstanding season under Coach Wayne Graham.

Chad Lembeck wasted nno time in the first inning when he stepped in as the second batter for the “Blue Team” as he launched a pitch well over the left-field wall. But the Gray Team wasn’t going to be outdone. Danny Lehmann started the second inning with a double to center. He moved to third on a groundout, and scored when Adam Zornes stroked a sacrifice fly to right.

The assault continued against the Blue Team in the next inning when Bobby Bramhall walked and moved to third on a Chase Taylor single to right. Rodriguez plated the first of the two runs with an RBI single to center. The score was now 3-1, in favor of the Grays.

The Blues added a run of their own the next inning when Bobby Friday launched a homer to left-centerfield. But that was the end of the scoring in the fourth for the Blues, and the score was 3-2.

The Grays added a run in the fifth inning, when, with one out, Josh Rodriguez walked, stole second, and went to third on a wild pitch. After Luna struck out, Lehmann walked. He took off for second, and got caught in a run-down. Lehmann went back and forth, and kept the run-down going long enough for Rodriguez to score before being tagged for the third out, extending the Gray’s lead to 4-2.

In the sixth, Lembeck reached on a bunt, and after Friday flied out to right, Dodson doubled to center, scoring both runners. The game was tied up 4-4.

Unfortunately for Bryan Price and the Blues, it wouldn’t stay that way. Buchanan walked and stole second. Rodriguez struck, but Luna walked. Lehmann singled in Buchanan, and both Luna and Lehmann advanced on a wild pitch. Ford singled in both runners, but was thrown out trying to take an extra base, making the score 8-4. Sperring closed down the Blues in the last half of the inning to close it out.