Rice Is Hoping to Throw a New Pitch at Titans

Rice Coach Wayne Graham is confident the team he will send against Cal State Fullerton in the second round of the Midwest Regional tonight at Eck Stadium is stronger than the one that the Titans defeated twice last season.

Fullerton’s College World Series championship team won the regional title at Louisiana State last year with an 8-7 victory over the Owls. The Titans also beat Rice, 17-7, earlier in that tournament.

“I think we have better pitching this year than we did last year,” Graham said. “And I hope our hitting will be as good against them as it was last year.”

Graham saved his top pitcher, Shawn Onley (7-2), for the anticipated meeting with the Titans. He also was able to replace his Thursday starter, Dana Davis, after only five innings because the Owls got out to a 13-0 lead against Missouri en route to a 17-4 victory.

Rice (40-21) won the Southwest Conference tournament last week at Lubbock, beating Texas Tech and winning two consecutive games from Texas. The Owls scored 25 runs in the two games against the Longhorns.

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Titan outfielder Mark Kotsay was named to Collegiate Baseball’s All-America team for the second consecutive season Thursday. Clemson pitcher Kris Benson, a junior right-hander who is 13-0 with a nation-leading 1.48 earned-run average, was named college player of the year.

Fullerton pitcher Brent Billingsley was chosen to the second team, and outfielder Jeremy Giambi was a third-team selection. Long Beach State relief pitcher Ryan Brannan was named to the second team, and starting pitcher Marcus Jones was a third-team choice.

USC sophomore pitcher Seth Etherton, who played at Dana Hills High, was picked to the second team.

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Eck Stadium, site of the Midwest Regional, is known as a hitter’s ballpark.

The Missouri Valley Conference teams hit 37 home runs in 11 games in last week’s conference tournament. They also scored 275 runs, an average of 25 per game.

A brisk wind that blows into left field is typical for this time of year in Wichita.

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Delaware Coach Bob Hannah and his players were impressed with Fullerton’s performance in the Titans’ 19-8 victory Thursday.

“There was nothing wrong with the way we played,” Hannah said. “The only thing wrong was that we didn’t match up. They might be the most talented team in the country from a position-playing standpoint. And Kotsay’s obviously going to be a big league player some day.”

Dan Hammer, one of Delaware’s top hitters, said: “Kotsay was everything I expected him to be.”

Notes

The Fullerton-Rice game today at 5 p.m. (PDT) is scheduled to be broadcast live on KBOK-FM (90.1).