RAIN OR SHINE, RICE HAS BEEN DELIVERING
Owls Play Through It All This Year—and Look at the Results

By Mark Anderson

The U.S. Post Office in New York City has a slogan engraved all around the building that says, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” But that slogan is not original with the Post Office. Historically, it comes from the Greek historian Herodotus. The original saying was actually "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" and was said about the Persian army’s mounted postal couriers whom he observed and held in high esteem some 2500 years ago.

This saying could easily be said of the Rice Owls baseball team this season. They have played in rain (and lots of it, and the possibility of more tonight). They have played in the cold. It’s beginning to heat up here in Houston, and they’ve played in that, too. And they’ve played at night, usually with a combination of rain and/or cold.

What has been the result?

They’ve delivered, baby.

This team has weathered some adversity, and now is on a roll, winning nineteen out of the last twenty, and the last eleven in a row. They’ve played through the adversity of not having All-American Cole St. Clair to close out many games. They battled through early season hitting difficulties. They’ve battled through a variety of injuries and not having players available to them, namely Bobby Bell, recovering from Tommy John surgery. They’ve had to adjust to the loss of such players as Josh Rodriguez, Eddie Degerman, Greg Buchanan, and Craig Crow, now playing in the minor leagues.

Yet take a good look at this team. Ry-an Ber-ry has stepped into the Friday night role held by Degerman last year, and gone 7-2. Joe Savery has battled back from surgery to lead the team in hitting at this point (.349) as well as post a 7-1 record with a gaudy ERA. And what about Ryne Tacker’s courageous comeback from injury to post an 8-1 record?

How about the newcomers’ contributions? I’ve already mentioned Ry-an Ber-ry. But what about the Bellville Banger, Jess Buenger? How about Jared Gayhart’s white-hot bat? How much can be said of the job that Diego Seastrunk has done this year at third replacing Josh Rodriguez? And while Jimmy Commerota is no newcomer to this team, how much can be said of the job he did when he filled in for Brian Friday in the ECU series?

This year’s Owls are a breed apart. They’ve weathered just about everything that could have come their way—a poor start out of the gate, an anemic offense to open the first part of the season, battling injuries to key players both lost for parts or all of the season, as well as key players fighting injuries during the season. Yet they have the opportunity to sew up the C-USA title this weekend and a magic number of two. Any combination of two wins or losses by Rice and Memphis will sew up the crown for this year. They come into this weekend as a consensus number three team in the nation.

Not bad, wouldn’t you say?

Especially not too bad when you look at the last seven games, where Jared Gayhart leads the way with a .500 average, Brian Friday hitting .480, Aaron Luna hitting .474, and J,P. Padron hitting .400. That doesn’t include what Savery has done in his last 53 at bats (20 hits, 2 doubles, a triple, 2 HRs, and a .377 average). And don’t forget how consistent the play of Jordan Dodson, Chad Lembeck, or Danny Lehman has been, either. Each has had key hits and key defensive plays this year.

Simply put, they’ve kept on delivering.

The couriers of Herodotus’ day are remembered by a slogan that is on the New York City Post Office. It will be interesting to see how this team will be remembered long after this season has passed. They have endured it all, or so it would seem, this year. And no matter what the circumstances have been, they have delivered.