Pirates, Owls meet in critical Conference USA series this weekend

14th ranked East Carolina to entertain third-ranked Rice at Clark-LeClair Stadium

Conference championships have become an annual occurrence for the Rice baseball program under the leadership of legendary coach Wayne Graham.

Rice, which is in its fourth season in CUSA, has won the league three years in a row while compiling a 65-7 record.

However, the Owls were used to dominating their league long before transitioning to Conference USA. Prior to joining CUSA, Rice had already captured ten straight league championships. They stayed on top of the WAC for all nine years it was a part of the league and the remarkable streak had begun a season earlier when they won the final Southwest Conference title.

The Owls have also established themselves as one of the nation’s elite programs over the past decade and a half. In fact, Baseball America—a publication in Durham, NC—considers the Rice program to be the program of the decade in college baseball.

This title certainly seems justified when you consider that Rice has made 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments, advanced to seven College World Series and captured a national title in 2003. Prior to last year’s CWS team winning only 47 games, the Owls had won 56 and 57 contests the previous two years.

Consistent success, such as that the Owls have achieved, obviously isn’t possible without plenty of talent. Wayne Graham’s program has produced 25 major league draft picks in the last two years alone.

Rice (23-7, 7-2), which is currently ranked anywhere from No. 3 to No. 7 in the national polls, will bring an eight-game win streak to Clark-LeClair Stadium this weekend. The surge has been despite the absence of Friday starter Mike Ojala (1-0, 1.38) and Saturday starter Ryan Berry (4-0, 1.96). That duo had exhibited excellent command, as they’d combined for 71 strikeouts compared to just 15 walks.

However, in their absence the rest of the Owls’ deep pitching step and the club’s potent line-up have done the job. The staff has a 3.79 era while the team fielding percentage is .965.

6’6 junior righty Jared Rogers has assumed the Friday night role. Against Tulane, he went 7.1 innings and allowed just two runs on six hits in Rice’s 11-3 win over the Green Wave.

Freshman southpaw Taylor Wall (4-2, 4.32) has been the Saturday starter and Matthew Reckling received the nod on Sunday against Tulane. Reckling allowed just one hit in 3.1 innings of work, but was lifted after issuing seven walks.

Offensively, the Rice line-up is very potent. It brings a .319 batting average to Greenville. The Owls are slugging nearly .500 with 34 home runs and 59 doubles.

Freshman third baseman Anthony Rendon leads the club with his .388 mark at the plate. He also is tops on the team in home runs (10) and runs batted in (42) while only striking out 14 times—which ranks second fewest on the squad.

Shortstop Rick Hague is hitting .377 with five home runs, eight doubles and 33 RBI’s.

Other leading hitters are Diego Seastrunk (.346 3 HR 22 RBI 10 2B), Brock Holt (.330 5 HR 15 RBI 7 2B) and Chad Mozingo (.306 5HR 26 RBI 7 2B).

They will be facing an East Carolina team that currently sits atop the league standings with an 8-1 record, but the Pirates will be looking to snap a two-game skid after dropping mid-week games at in-state foes No. 2 North Carolina and UNCW.

Against the Tar Heels, ECU was plagued by errors, strikeouts and a costly baserunning mistake late while the inability to deliver the clutch hit cost them against the Seahawks when they left 15 men on base.

East Carolina possesses one of the most potent line-ups in the nation and is hitting .355 as a team. Perhaps even more impressive is the Pirates ability to garner the extra base hit. ECU is slugging .560 as a team with 47 home runs and 91 doubles.

Leadoff man Trent Whitehead leads the team with his .423 average and is second on the club with 12 doubles.

Senior second baseman Ryan Wood is hitting .385 with a team-high 13 two-baggers.

Three and four hitters Stephen Batts and Kyle Roller are hitting .358 and .364, respectively. The duo has hit a combined 16 home runs and driven in 72 runs.

On the mound, Friday starter Chris Heston (5-0, 2.68) and the Pirates’ Saturday man Seth Maness (3-0, 5.40) are yet to lose. Meanwhile, sophomore Brad Mincey (7-1, 1.93), who has won two mid-week starts in his last two appearances will seek to solidify the Sunday spot in the rotation.

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Final Analysis and Prediction

Thus far, it looks as though East Carolina, Rice and Southern Miss are the cream of Conference USA’s crop. The Pirates are looking to capture their first league crown since 2004 (Rice entered the league in 2005) and second overall. However, the road to the championship has run through Houston since they joined the league.

Don’t expect either team to sweep the other although it would be more likely since Rice is without Berry and possibly Ojala. However, with the way the Owls’ line-up and rotation have answered the bell that probably won’t happen.

For East Carolina, it has only won two games in eleven tries against Rice. If it wants the league title, it really needs to win the series. The Pirates’ pitching depth may prohibit a sweep, but is good enough when combined with the potent line-up to win the series at home.

The series may resemble the weekend tilt ECU had with UCLA early in the season when three games were decided by a combined five runs and every mistake was magnified.