Baseball To Battle Rice In NCAA New Orleans Super Regional
Jun 10, 2005 | Baseball
June 10, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, La. -
2005 NCAA New Orleans Super Regional Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The top-ranked Tulane University baseball teams opens play in the 2005 NCAA New Orleans Super Regional on Saturday, June 11, at noon when the Green Wave take on Baton Rouge Regional champion Rice at Turchin Stadium.
Tulane and Rice will play a best-of-three series - with Sunday's game slated for noon and the if-necessary game on Monday yet to be determined - and the winner will advance to the 2005 College World Series in Omaha, Neb. This weekend's games mark the second consecutive season and third time in the last five years the Green Wave has advanced to the Super Regional round. Tulane is 2-3 all-time in the round of 16, including a 2-1 showing vs. arch-rival LSU in the 2001 NCAA New Orleans Super Regional at Zephyr Field.
All of the Green Wave's postseason games will be broadcast live on the radio on WRBH 88.3 FM, and at least the first two contests will be simulcast on WTIX AM 690. In addition, all of Tulane's Super Regional contests will air live on television as Saturday's game will be on ESPN2 and Sunday's contest on ESPN. The station which Monday's game, if played, will be broadcast will be announced following Sunday's action.
Tulane enters the Super Regional 53-9 on the year, including the Conference USA regular-season championship via a 24-6 league record, a share of the 2005 C-USA Tournament title and the NCAA New Orleans Regional crown after winning the opener vs. Southern and taking a pair of games over Alabama.
As a team, the Green Wave are hitting .321 with a .512 slugging percentage courtesy of 149 doubles, eight triples and 81 home runs. Junior centerfielder Nathan Southard leads the team with a .359 batting average, and senior shortstop Tommy Manzella is next with a .354 clip. Junior utility athlete Micah Owings paces Tulane with 18 home runs, while he and Manzella are tied for the team lead with 60 RBI each.
From the mound, the Green Wave have a 3.83 ERA and have held opponents to a .254 batting average. As a staff, Tulane hurlers have combined for 541 strikeouts and just 169 walks in 549.1 innings. Junior southpaw Brian Bogusevic leads the team with a 2.72 ERA and 119.1 innings pitched, while Owings paces the club with 123 strikeouts. Sean Morgan and Daniel Latham have been the team's best bullpen arms as Morgan has six wins and five saves, while Latham has 12 saves and a win in 28 appearances.
Rice, meanwhile, advanced to Super Regional play after going 44-17, claiming the WAC championship with a 21-9 league record and winning the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional with an opening-round win over Northwestern State and back-to-back victories over host LSU.
The Owls are hitting .294 as a team with a .459 slugging percentage on the strength of 125 doubles, 15 triples and 63 home runs. Joe Savery paces the squad with a .376 batting average, followed by Josh Rodriguez and Adam Rodgers with marks of .347 and .332, respectively. Rodriguez paces the club with 11 home runs and 51 RBI while Tyler Henley leads the way with 12 stolen bases.
As a staff, Rice has a 3.14 ERA and has held opponents to a .219 batting average. Rice hurlers have combined for 551 strikeouts and 197 walks in 538.1 frames. Savery paces Rice with a 2.49 ERA and 125 strikeouts while Josh Geer paces the club with 11 wins and 118.1 innings pitched. Cole St. Clair leads Rice with 29 appearances, and Bryce Cox has three of the Owls' nine saves in 2005.
Saturday's Super Regional opening contest will mark the ninth meeting between Tulane and Rice on the diamond. The Owls lead the all-time series 6-2, and Tulane is 1-5 vs. Rice under current head coach Rick Jones.
The last meeting between the two teams was back on Feb. 16-18, 1996 when the Owls swept the weekend series in Houston with 14-8, 7-3 and 9-6 victories. Tulane claimed the series finale of the 1995 weekend series with a 6-5 win over the Owls on March 12 at Turchin Stadium.
PITCHING ROTATIONSaturday, June 11 B/T ERA W-L G/GS IP H R ER BB KTulane-Brian Bogusevic L/L 2.72 13-1 17/17 119.1 107 43 36 38 119Rice-Josh Geer R/R 3.19 11-4 18/16 118.1 95 50 42 40 102Sunday, June 12 B/T ERA W-L G/GS IP H R ER BB KTulane-Micah Owings R/R 3.64 10-4 17/17 113.2 104 52 46 20 123Rice-Joe Savery L/L 2.49 8-4 18/16 112.0 100 42 31 34 125Monday, June 13* B/T ERA W-L G/GS IP H R ER BB KTulane-J.R. Crowel R/L 5.15 10-1 15/15 80.1 84 48 46 27 74Rice-Eddie Degerman R/R 3.07 8-1 17/13 91.0 63 32 31 37 109*if necessary
