Owls Sweep WAC Tourney, Head to Regionals

Owls Sweep WAC Tourney, Head to Regionals

BY JOSÉ LUIS CUBRÍ
Special to the Rice News
May 27, 1999

Behind stellar pitching and an offensive explosion in the championship game,
the top-ranked Rice baseball team won the Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
baseball championship in Fresno, Calif., last weekend.

The title sweep marked the third year in a row that the Owls have won the WAC
postseason tournament with a 4-0 record. And, dating back to 1996, when Rice
swept the final Southwest Conference baseball tournament and was crowned "SWC
Champions Forever," the team has won four straight conference tournaments
and amassed an unbelievable 16-0 record in that span.

"It’s a great thing for the program," Head Coach Wayne Graham said.
"It’s a tribute to the kids we’ve had because it’s not easy. Everybody
we play wants to beat us, obviously, and they’ve got to be up."

The top-seeded Owls put an exclamation point on the title by smashing Texas
Christian University, the No. 2 seed, 18-3 in Saturday’s championship game.

Junior left fielder Charles Williams, named the tournament’s Most Valuable
Player, led the attack with a three-run homer, a double, two runs and four RBIs.

Williams, senior first baseman Jacob Baker, senior reliever Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl
and junior starter Mario Ramos were all named to the all-tournament team.

In addition to Baker and Kurtz-Nicholl, the senior class that has won four
straight conference tournaments includes relievers Stephen Bess and Peter Terrana,
designated hitter Justin Berg and two two-year seniors who transferred from
junior college, shortstop Damon Thames and catcher Zane Curry.

According to Bess, the team’s unprecedented success has had as much to do with
the senior leadership as anything else.

"It’s incredibly special, and it’s due to the senior leadership,"
Bess said. "We all try to lead by example more than by yelling. It’s almost
impossible to do this four straight years without having a good base of leaders.
And guys like Baker and Zane and Damon lead by example every day. You don’t
see anyone of them slacking off and that’s where all the wins start."

The Owls’ (52-11) next step toward the coveted national championship begins
this weekend when they head to Lubbock as the No. 1 seed to face the University
of Wisconsin&endash;Milwaukee, the No. 4 seed, Friday. The UW&endash;Milwaukee
team was the Mid-Continent Conference Champion with a record of 30-27. Second-seeded
Texas Tech University, the host school, faces No. 3 seed Rutgers University.

Individual game tickets for the tournament are $10 for adults and $5 for children.
An all-tournament pass is available for $50. Contact the Texas Tech ticket office
at 1-888-GOBig12 or (806) 742-4412 for more information or to purchase tickets.