Current and former Owl baseball players reunited in February to play ball!

Current
and former Owl baseball players reunited in February to
Play Ball!
…………………………………………………………………

Lance Berkman’s
towering home run over the Reckling Park scoreboard highlighted
Team Rice’s 9-7 win over Team Owls in the Feb. 2 Rice
Baseball Alumni Classic.

Berkman, who
led Rice to its first appearance in the College World Series
in 1997, hit a two-out offering from freshman Philip Humber
to give his squad a 3-1 lead. The home run followed a line-drive
double off the center field wall by Jose Cruz Jr.

The Houston
Astros’ Berkman and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Cruz,
whose final Rice season was in 1995, joined Detroit’s
Matt Anderson (at Rice from 1995 to 1997) as current major-leaguers
appearing in the game. More than 100 former Rice players
participated in the classic.

The team of
former Owls in professional baseball played the 2002 varsity
squad for the first four innings, leaving with a 3-2 lead.
The final five innings pitted Owl lettermen from as far
back as 1945. A crowd of 2,720 was on hand.

The ’02
Owls, who recently ranked ninth in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN
coaches poll and 10th in the Collegiate Baseball and Baseball
America polls, opened the season with a 2-1 record.