Berry leads Owls in toppling top-ranked A&M

By Dylan Farmer     3/12/09 7:00pm

Junior pitcher Ryan Berry needed only a week of warming up to get the offseason rust out of his system. Bouncing back from a disappointing performance against California Polytechnic State University in the baseball team's season opener, Berry, Conference USA Pitcher Of the Week, pitched a complete-game shutout against formerly top-ranked Texas A&M University two weeks ago at the Minute Maid College Classic. Last Saturday, he followed up with an almost identical performance against Notre Dame University in Rice's own Academy Sports and Outdoors Rice Classic tournament.

Berry held both teams to two hits each and no runs on his way to collecting two consecutive Conference USA Pitcher of the Week awards, and Collegiate Baseball named him National Pitcher of the Week for his performance against Texas A&M. The Aggies had scored at least one run in 156 consecutive games until they ran into the right-hander from Humble, Texas.

In his last two starts, Berry has faced just 57 batters, three over the minimum possible number, and he has 20 strikeouts without any walks. By any standard, he has had an impressive two weeks, but consider this: As far as recorded Rice baseball history can show, no Owl pitcher has ever recorded two consecutive complete-game shutouts.

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"A hitter can give a tremendous lift, but nobody can give a better lift to a team than a pitcher pitching shutouts," head coach Wayne Graham said. "A pitcher dealing the way he's dealing can really give a team hope. I don't mean just the immediate adrenaline fix, but hope."

Since dropping the final series game against Cal Poly on Feb. 21, the ninth-ranked baseball team has roared back with a renewed fire: The Owls are 7-2 in their last nine games, including a win over rival University of Houston and a perfect 3-0 showing in the College Classic.

In fact, 12 games into the season, Rice's performance thus far bears an uncanny resemblance to last year's campaign. Then, as now, the Owls opened the year with a road series loss in California, after which they sported both a midweek win over Houston and a sweep of the competition at the College Classic. After the Rice Classic the following weekend, last year's team stood at 8-5.

This year, Rice has no visible respite from a schedule that so far has been fairly grueling. After this weekend's four-game series against the University of San Diego, which is ranked No. 20 by Baseball America, the Owls will host the University of Texas, Baseball America's new No. 1 team. The Longhorns are 12-1 on the year, their only loss coming against Stanford University last weekend.

After that, Rice has another midweek game at Houston before heading to Hattiesburg, Miss., to open C-USA play with a series against the always-dangerous University of Southern Mississippi.

"I think since we've played such a hard schedule coming up to this point, and seen such quality arms this year . we've been prepared," Berry said. "So now when we look at who we have to play with San Diego and Texas and Houston and Southern Miss, they do have very good pitching, but luckily we've seen that pitching up to the point. So hopefully we can adapt and win those games."

The Owls will look to ride the coattails of their recent success to wins in the coming weeks. Their turnaround in the past nine games has been mainly a result of more consistent pitching, not just from Berry, but from fellow junior Mike Ojala, freshman Taylor Wall and the bullpen staff.

Though overshadowed by Berry, Ojala has strung together three very impressive starts: In three appearances, the right-hander has allowed only four earned runs despite giving up seven hits per contest, and he is averaging nearly 10 strikeouts a game. Meanwhile, senior Jordan Rogers has emerged as the bullpen ace, holding opposing hitters to a measly .098 batting average through 12.2 innings of work.

Ojala said the emergence of the pitching staff has been as much a total team product as anything else. He said the team has found a great camaraderie off the field that translates into success on the diamond.

"What people can't see in the field is the chemistry in the locker room and the dugout - it's unbelievable," Ojala said. "Everybody gets along so well and everyone's so confident in everybody else. There are a lot of leaders on the team, which is good, and I'm excited. There's no doubt in my mind that we can go to the College World Series and win it this year."

But if Rice is to win its second national championship, they will have to find a more consistent offense. The team is batting .279 on the year, which is mediocre at best, and the Owls are leaving an average of eight runners on base per game.

Additionally, as a whole the team has 87 strikeouts compared to only 57 walks, an indication that the players' plate discipline needs to improve. In fact, only two Owls - catcher Diego Seastrunk and first baseman Jimmy Comerota - have more walks than strikeouts. Comerota, however, is only batting at a .147 clip, and the team will need him to improve to keep the batting order balanced from top to bottom.

Graham said the fluctuation in batting performance is normal at the beginning of the season, but also that making offensive progress will be crucial for the team's future success.

"Hitting comes and goes in general, and this time of year it comes and goes worse than any other time," Graham said. "It's obvious from our performance so far that we have a lot of possibility, but we've got to improve."

While Rice has evident consistency problems, it also has a number of offensive stars. Freshman Anthony Rendon has been on a tear from the opening game, batting .413 with three home runs and 16 runs batted in through the first 12 games. Shortstop Rick Hague has returned to 2008 form, batting .375 with a .563 slugging percentage.

Second baseman Brock Holt and catcher Diego Seastrunk also have batting averages around .350, and Seastrunk is tied with Rendon with three home runs of his own.

If the results of the past few years are any indication, this is about the part of the season when the Owls should commence a hurried rounding into form. After starting last season 8-5, the team went on a 34-6 streak to close out the regular season. In 2007, Rice was 19-10 in the middle of March, but broke out to win 37 of its next 39 games. In 2006, the Owls were 18-8 heading into conference play but won 28 of the final 30 regular season games. Each season ended with a trip to the College World Series.

Graham said the team's formula for success this season was not complicated.

"We need to stay healthy, swing at strikes and get our bunts down," Graham said. "It's a simple life, isn't it?

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