The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 10, 2006 Page: 14 of 20
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Page 14
THE RICE THRESHER
Friday, March 10, 2006
Errors plague Owls in losses to Titans, Longhorns
by Matt McCabe
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The baseball team's streak of losses to
21st-ranked University of Texas is now at
eight games after Tuesday's 9-5 defeat.
However, Rice took two of three games
from No. 7 Cal State Fullerton Univer-
sity over the weekend. The third-ranked
Owls committed a season-high five errors
against UT following a four-error perfor-
mance against Fullerton in the Sunday
finale, a 15-4 loss.
"Everybody can have a bad game, and
we did," head coach Wayne Graham said.
These guys have all proven that they can
handle adversity. We're in the midst of a
little adversity."
Rice (13-4) will aim to end its first
two-game losing skid of the year at the
Whataburger College Classic this weekend
in Corpus Christi. The Owls open the tour-
nament with familiar foe Texas Christian
University today at 2:30 p.m. TCU (8-7)
also enters the tournament having lost two
straight, dropping games to Oklahoma and
Florida Atlantic. The Horned Frogs will toss
ace Jake Arrieta at the Owls, who enters the
game with an undefeated 4-0 record and a
1.37 earned run average. Rice will counter
with senior right-hander Eddie Degerman,
who has been dominant in his five appear-
ances, striking out 42 in 30 innings with an
ERA of 0.90.
The Owls will send sophomore left-
hander/first baseman Joe Savery to the
mound Saturday against Arizona State
University (14-5), which is ranked 17th
nationally. The Sun Devils will throw their
ace — Jeff Urlaub, who is undefeated on
the year with four wins and a 1.93 ERA.
Arizona State enters the Whataburger
College Classic on a four-game winning
streak, including a three-game sweep of
Auburn University, in which the Sun Devils
outscored the Tigers 34-6.
Degerman's 12-to-6 breaking ball and
MNSON^RESHER
Sophomore catcher Danny Lehmann watches UT's Chance Wheeless score a run in the seventh inning of Rice's 9-5 loss to UT Tuesday. The Longhorns
have won their last eight games against the Owls, who took two out of three in their series against No. 7 Cal State Fullerton last weekend. Rice will
face No. 17 Arizona State, TCU and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as part of the Whataburger College Classic in Corpus Christi. this weekend.
Savery's left-handed power pitching make
them effective against left-handed batters.
"We may not win the games, but Deger-
man is a good match for TCU and Joe is a
good matchup for Arizona State because both
teams are loaded with left-handed hitters,"
Graham said.
Rice will round out the tournament with
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (9-8),
a team the Owls beat 6-4 Feb. 28. With sopho-
more right-hander Bobby Bell still hampered
by a shoulder injury, the Owls will probably
pitch by committee Sunday, as they did last
Sunday against Fullerton.
"We're going to have to find some more
pitching somewhere," Graham said. "I think
the guys can do it if they just focus on making
good pitches."
After losing a heart-breaking game to
UT at Minute Maid Park Feb. 11, the Owls
wanted revenge but were unable to execute
in Tuesday's loss. UT used 12 hits and 5
walks to lead the game from start to finish.
Junior right-hander Craig Crow took the
loss, surrendering five hits and two runs in
2.2 innings. However, he was also hindered
by errors.
"We didn't play behind him," Graham
said. "I thought he was behind in the count
a lot, and when he was ahead in the count
he didn't make the pitches that he usually
makes."
The bright spot in Tuesday's game was
freshman right-hander/infielder Trey Sper-
ring, who saw his first appearance on the
See BASEBALL, page 16
Men's basketball falls to
SMU in C-USA tourney
by Chris Pasich
THRESHER STAFF
Just four days after defeating
Southern Methodist University
in a 68-66 thriller in its regular-
season finale Saturday, the men's
basketball team ended its season in
the first round of the Conference
USA tournament with a 61-59 loss
to those same Mustangs.
Wednesday's loss marked yet
another game in which junior guard
Morris Almond was the only effec-
tive option for the Owls offensively.
Almond scored 28 points on 12-17
shooting, and senior forward J.R.
Harrison added 13 points in his final
game at Rice, but no other Owl had
more than 5 points.
Rice was out-rebounded 42-30
and allowed SMU to shoot 46.6 per-
cent from the field. The Mustangs'
21 turnovers kept the game close,
although the Owls' last lead in the
game came with 13:32 remaining
in the first half. Freshman Cory
Pflieger tied the game on a three-
pointer with about six minutes
remaining, but Rice could never
regain the lead.
Entering the game, the Owls
knew they were in for a struggle
against the Mustangs, given the
teams' previous two meetings this
season. Rice lost at SMU 80-69 in
overtime Jan. 21 and came back
from an eight-point deficit in the
final eight minutes in Saturday's
rematch.
In Saturday's game, Almond
led the Owls with a career-high
40 points and a game-high 9 re-
bounds. It was the first 40-point
game by an Owl since Ricky Pierce,
See BASKETBALL, page 17
Women's tennis improves to 5-0 at home
by Adriene Giese
THRESHER STAFF
The women's tennis team
snapped a five-match losing
streak last weekend, beating
Texas State University 7-0 Satur-
day and the University of Texas-
Arlington 5-2 Sunday to improve
its home record to 5-0. No. 72 Rice
will take on Columbia University
and No. 70 Sacramento State
University at Jake Hess Tennis
Stadium Thursday and Friday,
respectively.
Freshman Family Braid said
she believes Rice can be com-
petitive against with any team
it faces.
"I see us neck-and-neck with
the top players," Braid said.
"There is really no difference in
ability level. It just comes down
to a few moments in the match
where [you need] to finish a point.
Every single team that we have
played — from [No. 15J Georgia
Tech to [No. 33] Mississippi State
— we have been able to compete
with, and I feel no differently
about the teams that we still have
to play on our schedule."
'Wefeel much more
confident at home,
especially since we
are undefeated on
our home court.'
— Emily Braid
Freshman
Columbia enters the weekend
with a four-match winning streak
and a 4-2 record. The Lions are
not ranked and have not played
a ranked team since losing to
then-56th-ranked Boston College
5-2 Feb. 4.
Head coach Roger White said
the Owls have a good chance to
beat the lions.
"Columbia has the strongest
team [I think they] have ever
[had]," White said. "Most of
their players are ranked around
[the top] 100 in the nation, but
player-to-player I think that we
have a stronger lineup."
Sacramento State has been
successful against ranked
schools this season, narrowly
losing to then-No. 9 Harvard 4-3
Feb. 12 and beating then-No. 46
University of San Diego 5-2 in
its season opener Feb. 5. White
said the more experienced
Hornets will pose a threat to
the Owls.
See TENNIS, page 17
WL00K - THE WEEK IN SPORTS
Friday 3/10
Saturday 3/11
2:30 p.m.
11:00 a.m.
5:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
7 p.m.
Sunday 3/12
Tuesday 3/14
Wednesday 3/15 7 p.m.
Thursday 3/16 10 a.m.
Friday 3/17 1:30 p.m.
Baseball vs. TCU (Corpus Christi)
Part of Whataburger College Classic
Men's Tennis vs. Minnesota (Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
Baseball vs. Arizona State (Corpus Christi)
Baseball vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi)
Baseball vs. San Diego (Reckling Park)
Baseball vs. Sam Houston State (Huntsvllle)
Women's Tennis vs. Columbia (Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
Women's Tennis vs. Sacremento State (Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
The C-USA women's basket-
ball final was one of the more
painful games I've watched in a
while. Rice did everything it could
possibly do lo lose to aTulsa team
it had annhilated two weeks ago.
There were too many turnovers,
too many missed jumpers, too
many wide open shots passed up
and so on and so forth. These were
not the same Owls I saw win 10 of
their previous 11 games.
What hurt me most was that
Tulsa looked just as bad as Rice
did. The Golden Hurricane shot
a dreadful 29 percent from the
field and could not defend at all.
The Owls could have blown this
team out of the water if they played
anything like they had the past
couple of months.
Next year, Rice will be back
in this position, and hopefully the
Owls won't back dowr; fom the
challenge.
— Stephen Whitfield
■ • —-
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 10, 2006, newspaper, March 10, 2006; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443086/m1/14/: accessed July 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.