The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 22, 2005 Page: 17 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS FRIDAY, APRIL 22,2005
17
BASEBALL
From page 15
rebounded with 4-0 and 4-1 victories
to win the series. Junior right-hander
Eddie Degerman helped the Owls
rebound Saturday, pitching the first
nine-inning shutout by an Owl since
WadeTownsend took a no-hitter into
the eighth inning in a 1-0 victory
over San Jose State April 17, 2004.
Degerman walked a season-high five
batters but held the Rainbows to four
hits, winning his fourth consecutive
start and earning WAC Pitcher of the
Week honors. Geersaid Degerman's
unorthodox arm angle confuses op-
posing batters.
"Not many hitters see where that
ball's coming from — through that
window," Geersaid. "His curveball is
a 12-to-6 curveball dropping straight
down. It's unbelievable. And not
many hitters have seen that, so it's
really effective."
Senior designated hitter Adam
Rodgers contributed most of the
Owls' offense Saturday, backing De-
german with a solo home run—the
only long ball of the weekend in Les
Mu rakami Stadiu m, a pitchers' park
— and an RBI double.
Rodgers, who is playing through
a quadriceps injury, provided the
crucial hit Sunday as well, slicing a
two-run double to the right-center
field gap to give Rice a 3-1 lead in
the sixth inning.
"Rodgers hitting in that four slot
(has) been feastor famine,"Graham
said. "But he's gotten an awful lot
of big hits, and he basically carried
the team the last two days in Hawaii.
Those were huge."
Freshman left-hander/first base
man Joe Savery made the lead stand
up, working eight strong innings
before freshman left-hander Cole
St.Clair recorded his first career
save. Savery (4-4, 2.19) also leads
the Owls in hitting at .381, although
Rodriguez is also playing well offen-
sively, hitting .346. Rodriguez started
the last four games at shortstop after
starting 34 of the Owls' first 36 games
at second base. With Rodriguez at
short, Buchanan and senior Matt
Moake shared second-base duties,
and senior Clay Reichenbach started
at both corner infield spots last week-
WOMEN
From page 15
"I think there's a good chance that
Boise could upset Tulsa, but I think
the girls are ready for either team,"
White said. "Boise has been here for
almost a week — they beat Hawaii in
a dual match Tuesday — and I think
they're really ready to play."
Should Rice advance to tomorrow's
championship match, it would likely
face second-seeded Fresno State
University or third-seeded Southern
Methodist University. The 68th-ranked
Mustangs defeated the Owls 6-1 in Dal-
las April 9 but will be the underdogs
against 53rd-ranked Fresno State,
which has won three consecutive WAC
titles. Fresno State has beaten SMU
once already this year, 5-2 in Fresno,
Calif. March 17.
The Bulldogs advanced to the
Sweet 16 as a team in 2004, but
their top returning player, Jelena
Pandzic — who lost in the NCAA
championship match in singles last
year — was ruled ineligible in Feb-
ruary for playing for a professional
team in Germany last summer.
"I know that Fresno hasn't had the
season they were hoping to have,"
DiSesa said. "But now that they're at
the WAC tournament, they're going
to be out for blood."
Rice has made three NCAA tourna-
ment appearances, earning at-large
berths in 1996-1998. Because of the
Owls' high national ranking, a loss in
the WAC final would probably be good
enough for them to get an at-large
NCAA tournament bid.
"We have lot of wins over ranked
teams, so I think we would really
have to absolutely fall on our face
not to get in—but that's collateral at
this point," White said. "We want to
MARSHALL ROBINSON/THRESHER
Senior third baseman Clay Reichenbach (pictured) overthrows freshman first
baseman Joe Savery in Rice's 7-6 loss to Texas Wednesday. The Owls committed
four errors leading, to two early Longhom runs. A Reckling Park-record 5,227
fans attended the game. Rice hosts La. Tech tonight at 7 p.m. at home.
end. The Owls turned a season-high
three double plays Saturday, aided
somewhat by the true bounces of the
artificial turf surface at Les Murakami
Stadium. However, Rodriguez and
Reichenbach combined for three
errors Wednesday on the natural
surface at Reckling Park.
"It was a good thing to bring
(Rodriguez) into shortstop at a
time when he was going to get true
hops on Astroturf and get more
confidence," Graham said. "We felt
(Rodriguez) could play shortstop,
(and) Buchanan was excellent at
second base."
win the first conference champion-
ship for women's tennis, and that's
where our energy and concentra-
tion are right now."
'Now I that Fresno
State is] at the WAC
tournament, they're
going to be out for
blood.'
— Blair DiSesa
Junior women's tennis player
Before traveling to Hawaii Tues-
day, the Owls recorded a pair of
home wins April 14. defeating WAC
foe University of Texas-El Paso 7-0 at
Jake HessTennis Stadium and beating
University of Texas-San Antonio 44)
later that day. Rice's final preparation
for the WAC tournament came Sat-
urday, when Texas A&M University
parlayed a narrow victory in doubles
into a 4-0 dual-match win. Hie Owls
were ahead in the three remaining
singles matches when the remain-
der of the dual match was cancelled
because A&M had already clinched
the team victory.
"We suspended the match because
we were getting ready to go to the
conference tournament, but I think
we would have gotten the other three
lines," White said. "We had a shot at
the doubles point, so that match could
have gone either way."
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Wright finishes second
in first college meet
by Stephen Whitfield
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The men's track and field
team competed in two separate
meets last weekend. The major-
ity of the team traveled to Nacog-
doches, Tex. to compete in the
Dogwood Invitational at Stephen
F. Austin State University April
15-16, and the distance runners
went to the Mount San Antonio
College Relays in Walnut, Calif.
April 15-17.
Tomorrow the team will
compete in the Louisiana State
University Alumni Gold Meet
in Baton Rouge, La., although
some athletes will not compete
in order to prepare for the
upcoming Rice Twilight meet
April 30 at the Rice Track/Soc-
cer Stadium.
With just three weeks re-
maining until the Western
Athletic Conference Outdoor
Championships May 11-14 in
Tulsa, Okla., Head coach Jon
Warren (Jones '88) said his team
should begin to peak soon.
"We're going in with some
high expectations from a num-
ber of people," Warren said.
"We've got a lot of time to get
it together, but we can't waste
time getting there."
At Dogwood, junior Luke
Stadel again led the Owls,
finishing in the top two in the
discus for the second consecu-
tive week, as he was first among
collegians and second overall.
His mark of 172 feet, 1 inch was
just 2 inches off his personal
best of 172-3 set April 8 at the
Texas Relays. Stadel improved
greatly in the shot put, throwing
a personal-best 56-6 — more
than three feet better than his
throw at the Texas Relays — to
win the event.
"It was a really enjoyable
meet," Stadel said. "We're closing
the gap between what we think I
can do and what I am doing."
Coming back from a chronic
ankle injury that has kept him
out of competition since last
June, freshman Omar Wright
began his Rice career with a
second-place finish in the high
jump, first among collegians.
"I'm really very thankful
(because] it's been very tough
with my injury and everything,"
Wright said. "But I have an excel-
lent coach who's been working
really hard with me — helping
me to get back in shape (and)
strengthen my body so that I
can jump really well. I'm hoping
that if I keep training hard and
putting the work that I need, I'll
see the results and I'll qualify for
regionals."
Freshmen Colby Keithan
and Alex Hoeg finished third
and fourth in the 3,000-me-
ter steeplechase, respectively.
Keithan also finished a distant
fourth in the decathlon with
5,480 points. Sophomore Devon
Fanfair placed third in the triple
jump with a mark of 47-7.75 and
fourth in the long jump with a
jump of 21-5.25.
Some runners went to the
Mt. SAC Relays to take advan-
tage of tough competition in
the distance events, competing
against university and profes-
sional athletes from across
the United States and Mexico.
Sophomores Steve Magness and
Pablo Solares finished a disap-
pointing fifth and sixth, respec-
tively, out of six athletes in the
mile invitational run, more than
10 seconds behind the winner.
Solares also took sixth in the 800
meters less than two seconds off
the winner's pace.
Junior David Axel led the Owl
contingent at Mt. SAC, finish-
ing 9th out of 39 runners in the
3,000-meter steeplechase. Axel
completed the race in 9:08.09,
a personal best that was good
enough to qualify for the NCAA
Regional Championships May
27-28 in Norman, Okla.
Axel said his performance at
Mt. SAC was one of his best.
"I haven't put together a race
(as) well [as the race at Mt. SAC]
almost since high school," Axel
said. "That race was huge for
me in a lot of ways. As far as
how close I am to championship
(form), I feel like I'm heading on
the right track and the team is
heading that way (too]. The way
we work, it all comes together
right for championships, so I'm
just still setting goals and work-
ing towards them."
SENIORS!
Have your 2005 CAMPANILE sent to you
next fall by submitting your mailing address and
$7.50 shipping payment to the Campanile office,
2nd floor, Ley Student Center.
If you never got YEARBOOKS FROM YOUR FRESHMAN,
SOPHOMORE OR JUNIOR YEAR, it's not too late
to pick them up from the Campanile office,
the Clubs office or the Office of Student Media.
SENIOR CARDS are due this Saturday, April 23.
For more info, see ricecampanile.com.
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 22, 2005, newspaper, April 22, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443117/m1/17/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.