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| |
College Baseball
Poll -
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
Friday, Dec. 22, 2006
RICE NO. 1 IN
COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER
(www.baseballnews.com) POLL
- TUCSON, Ariz. — Rice University has been
ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball newspaper’s Fabulous 40 NCAA
Division I pre-season baseball poll.
-
- The Owls, which finished third at the
College World Series last season, return seven position player starters and
six remarkable pitchers from a team that rolled to a 57-13 overall record.
-
- The team features four Louisville Slugger
pre-season All-Americans in LHP Cole St. Clair (11 SV, 7-2 record, 1.82 ERA,
100 K, 26 BB), LHP/1B Joe Savery (5-1, 2.76 ERA, 62 K, 24 BB, .353 batting
avg., 9 HR, 22 2B, 57 RBI, 17 SB), CF Tyler Henley (.336, 8 HR, 26 2B, 54
RBI) and SS Brian Friday (tremendous range on defense, .353, 9 HR, 22 2B, 57
RBI, 17 SB).
-
- Another superb player who returns is
Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American LF/2B Aaron Luna. He set the
all-time freshman home run record with 16 last season. Luna hit more homers
during his freshman season than Houston Astros’ All-Star Lance Berkman did
when he played for the Owls. Berkman is the career home run record holder at
Rice with 67 from 1995-1997.
-
- Also, consider Rice was ranked No. 1
nationally in total number of doubles hit (162), strikeouts per nine innings
by their pitching staff (9.5 per game with 653 in 618.7 innings) and
finished with the top won-loss record in the nation last season at 57-13
(.814 winning percentage). Rice also finished fourth in the nation with a
team ERA of 3.16.
-
- And if that wasn’t enough to convince you
that Rice is loaded, keep in mind the Owls were ranked No. 1 five straight
weeks heading into the College World Series last season and captured 37 of
their last 40 games prior to finishing third in the nation.
- Rice has qualified for the College World
Series five times under coach Wayne Graham and won it all in 2003.
-
- POLL NOTES: Oregon St.,
which won the College World Series for the first time in school history last
year with a 50-16 overall record, was not ranked in the top 40 pre-season
poll. The Beavers, which would have been ranked 41st, suffered heavy losses
as seven starting position players left along with the team’s top three
pitchers. Key losses include RHP Dallas Buck (13-3), RHP Jonah Nickerson
(13-4), LHP closer Kevin Gunderson (20 SV), LF Cole Gillespie (Pac-10 Player
of The Year), CF Tyler Graham, and 3B Shea McFeely, among others.
-
- The "Collegiate Baseball"
Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took
place during the 1957 college baseball season.
-
|
Collegiate
Baseball Newspaper's |
|
NCAA Div. I Pre-Season Poll (As
of Dec. 22, 2006) |
|
www.baseballnews.com |
|
Rank School (’06 Final
Record) |
Points |
Final ’06 Rank |
|
1. Rice (57-13) |
497 |
3 |
|
2. Clemson (53-16) |
492 |
5 |
|
3. South Carolina
(41-25) |
490 |
12 |
|
4. Arkansas (39-21) |
488 |
25 |
|
5. North Carolina
(54-15) |
487 |
2 |
|
6. Miami, Fla. (42-24) |
483 |
6 |
|
7. Texas (41-21) |
482 |
17 |
|
8. Vanderbilt (38-27) |
479 |
— |
|
9. Nebraska (42-17) |
477 |
22 |
|
10. Virginia (47-15) |
474 |
20 |
|
11. Georgia Tech.
(50-18) |
472 |
8 |
|
12. Cal. St. Fullerton
(50-15) |
469 |
4 |
|
13. Florida St. (42-21) |
467 |
24 |
|
14. Arizona St. (37-21) |
464 |
— |
|
15. Texas Christian
(39-23) |
462 |
— |
|
16. Tulane (43-21) |
459 |
27 |
|
17. Wichita St. (46-22) |
456 |
— |
|
18. Tennessee (31-24) |
453 |
— |
|
19. Pepperdine (42-21) |
450 |
30 |
|
20. Mississippi (44-22) |
448 |
11 |
|
21. Baylor (37-26) |
447 |
26 |
|
22. Georgia (47-23) |
444 |
7 |
|
23. Stanford (33-27) |
441 |
15 |
|
24. Oklahoma St. (41-20) |
438 |
23 |
|
25. Southern California
(25-33) |
435 |
— |
|
26. UCLA (33-25) |
433 |
— |
|
27. Arizona (27-28) |
431 |
— |
|
28. Evansville (43-22) |
429 |
19 |
|
29. Oral Roberts (41-16) |
426 |
14 |
|
30. Long Beach St.
(29-27) |
424 |
— |
|
31. Louisiana St.
(35-24) |
421 |
— |
|
32. Mississippi St.
(37-23) |
420 |
— |
|
33. Houston (39-22) |
417 |
21 |
|
34. Oklahoma (45-22) |
414 |
10 |
|
35. Troy (47-16) |
412 |
— |
|
36. San Francisco
(39-23) |
409 |
— |
|
37. Winthrop (46-18) |
407 |
— |
|
38. Michigan (43-21) |
406 |
— |
|
39. Notre Dame (45-17-1) |
403 |
— |
|
40. Ohio St. (37-21) |
401 |
— |
|
Other Teams
Receiving Votes: Oregon St., Kentucky, Florida, Alabama,
Auburn, Hawaii, McNeese St., Missouri St., Jacksonville, Maine,
North Carolina St., Wake Forest, U.C. Irvine, Fresno St., San Jose
St., Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Missouri, San Diego, Loyola Marymount,
Santa Clara, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama,
Stetson, North Florida, Washington, Washington St., California,
Western Carolina, College of Charleston, Rhode Island, Louisville,
Minnesota, Cal. Poly-SLO, U.C. Riverside, Old Dominion, Southern
Mississippi, East Carolina, Memphis, Central Michigan, Kent St.,
Ball St., Creighton, San Diego St., Samford, Army.
Source:
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper |
|
