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March 24, 2006 > Sports > After loss to Longhorns, baseball readies for C-USA

After loss to Longhorns, baseball readies for C-USA

By Matt McCabe | Thresher Editorial Staff

After succumbing to the University of Texas for the ninth straight time on Wednesday, the baseball team will open its inaugural season of Conference USA play tonight at 7 p.m. at Reckling Park. Rice (18-7), ranked second nationally by Baseball America, will host East Carolina University (16-7). With only 24 conference games in the nine-team league — as compared to the Western Athletic Conference’s 30-game slate — Rice will have to take advantage of its home series to win its 10th straight conference title.

“There is a premium on every game because there are good teams out there and you can’t afford to slip up against the second [tier], or you’re going to end up battling,” head coach Wayne Graham said. “[And] you need to win two out of three when you play the good — [that is] going to be tough.”

East Carolina, like Rice, has played a formidable non-conference schedule, including a three-game series — all losses — against Cal State Fullerton. The Pirates will meet the Owls for the first time in Graham’s 15-year tenure and will likely send right-hander T.J. Hose to the mound Friday to face senior right-hander Eddie Degerman, the Rice ace. Degerman enters the game with a perfect 5-0 record, a 0.86 earned run average and 58 strikeouts in 41.2 innings.

With a lingering shoulder injury still sidelining sophomore right-hander Bobby Bell, Degerman and sophomore left-hander Joe Savery, the Sunday starter, will have to pitch well for the Owls to be successful in C-USA. In addition, Rice will need its bullpen, especially senior right-hander Bryce Cox and sophomore left-handers Bobby Bramhall and Cole St.Clair, to be reliable in order to close out tight games down the stretch.

“We need Degerman to have a good start,” Graham said. “[In conference], the things that win [are] executing the small game and getting good starting pitching. I think the relief pitching is going to come into play. The bullpen structure for conference is really Cox, Bramhall and St.Clair and perhaps extra innings from others, but that’s it.”

Graham said junior right-hander Craig Crow will make the Saturday start this weekend. Crow has made three starts this season and has a 2.62 ERA in 24 innings. Graham said he thinks Crow, who is coming off Tommy John surgery last year, is capable of throwing 100 pitches and going seven innings as a starter.

The injuries to Bell, senior right-hander Ryne Tacker and junior shortstop Josh Rodriguez have allowed reserves to see action on the mound and in the field.

“Having a couple of injuries gives guys some opportunities to step up, which I think will help in the long run,” sophomore right-hander Will McDaniel said. “It gives guys more experience on the mound. And once we get Bell, Rodriguez and Tacker back we’ll have more guys with experience, and we’ll be at full strength with everybody going.”

McDaniel got the nod as the starting pitcher against defending national champion and 18th-ranked UT (16-10) Wednesday and pitched well, allowing three hits and two runs while striking out three and walking none in 4.2 innings.

“Will has got a lot of character and I think that he is a pitcher very much in the developmental stage,” Graham said. “He’s going to keep getting better and he showed [Wednesday] that he can pitch under pressure.”

But the Longhorns took the early lead in the game, scoring a run in the bottom of the third inning and again in the bottom of the fifth, before sophomore shortstop Brian Friday and senior second baseman Greg Buchanan scored for Rice in the top of the sixth. Friday scored when Rodriguez grounded into a double play, and Buchanan scored on sophomore leftfielder Jordan Dodson’s infield hit.

The score remained tied 2-2 until the bottom of the seventh, when Bramhall walked UT centerfielder Drew Stubbs and then surrendered a double to UT leftfielder Carson Kainer. The hit plated Stubbs, knocking the ball out of sophomore catcher Danny Lehmann’s glove as Stubbs scored.

After UT starter Riley Boening gave up two runs in the sixth, the Longhorn bullpen was perfect, allowing no hits and striking out three in 3.1 innings. Weekend starter Adrian Alaniz pitched the ninth inning and got the save to secure the 3-2 win for the Longhorns.

UT has now won the team’s past seven meetings at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, dating back to 1998, and has won a remarkable 28 of the teams’ last 29 midweek games dating back to 2003, a tribute to the Longhorns’ pitching depth.

With a 1-4 night at the plate, Buchanan extended his hitting streak to 11 games. He had just one of the three Owl hits, while Rice held UT to only four hits — pitching ruled the day.

Friday batted in the leadoff spot Wednesday and continues to hit first in games against left-handed starters.

“The only thing I change when I hit leadoff is [that] in the first at bat, I’ll generally take the first pitch every time or try to work the count more to get our batters [a chance] to look at the ball,” Friday said. “The rest of the game I’m not even thinking about being leadoff — I’m just trying to hit the ball.”

The UT game was McDaniel’s second start in as many weeks. McDaniel looks to see continued action in mid-week games as his confidence increases and his endurance improves.

“All through last year, I didn’t get a whole lot of innings, but just being around and getting that year under your belt helps a lot,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel showcased a good fastball and breaking ball against UT, and he said he needs to be able to throw his curveball for a strike in order to be effective.

Over the break, Rice played seven games, including four on the road. Last weekend, the Owls hosted Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and took both games, winning 17-2 on Saturday and 3-0 Sunday. During spring break, Rice split its two games, losing 9-8 at Sam Houston State March 15 and winning 11-2 at home March 14 against San Diego. The Owls also won two of three games at the Whataburger College Classic in Corpus Christi before spring break, March 10-12. Rice notched wins over TCU and A&M-Corpus Christi but lost to Arizona State.

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