56 minute discussion of the rise of Rice baseball as national power...
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/...ATYtAdaLLc
Among the topics covered:
- What allowed Graham to be successful at Rice
- Rice’s pitching development
- The great Rice players of the era
- The 2003 College World Series
- What Graham’s legacy is at Rice
They do get a bunch of the facts wrong (e.g., it was Baker and not Herce who was the #4 and Sunday starter on the 2003 team), but it's a fun listen.
While I agree that Baker was the 4th starter, I would suggest that Herce was expected to be the #1 or #2 starter that season but unfortunately had injury issues and pitched very few innings. Makes what that team accomplished even more impressive.
(06-22-2020 03:54 PM)Owl Is In Chains Wrote: [ -> ]While I agree that Baker was the 4th starter, I would suggest that Herce was expected to be the #1 or #2 starter that season but unfortunately had injury issues and pitched very few innings. Makes what that team accomplished even more impressive.
Agreed, but he was clearly refering to Baker, as he had mentioned that he was a 3rd round draft pick himself. They also spoke of Wayne using Wade in mid-week games where we face our stiffest competition, but only mentioned playing UH. Failed to mention that Wade also beat UT twice in mid-weekers, as well as Nebraska, Baylor and the Aggies. He also closed a few games early in the season.
Thanks for posting this. Fun to listen to. Nice that Gritman was mentioned as an important part of the offense, but wish also Ace had gotten a mention.
IIRC Baker was the #3 and Sunday starter all year. It was only in the postseason that Coach Graham shuffled the order to move Wade up in the pecking order. What an embarrassment of riches in that team. Baker would’ve been the staff ace for half of college baseball in 2003.
(06-22-2020 06:31 PM)Baconator Wrote: [ -> ]IIRC Baker was the #3 and Sunday starter all year. It was only in the postseason that Coach Graham shuffled the order to move Wade up in the pecking order. What an embarrassment of riches in that team. Baker would’ve been the staff ace for half of college baseball in 2003.
Yes, Baker was the Sunday starter all year, but Wade was arguably the #2 pitcher in all of college baseball two consecutive seasons (behind his roomy and then Jared Weaver). Wade pitched mid-week instead of weekends because our midweek schedule in 2003 consisted of 9 ranked opponents: UH x 4, UT x 2, Nebraska, Baylor and A&M...and we won all but one of those games (a late season loss to UH). I believe Wade was 6-1 in those games.