C-USA Football, Basketball & Baseball blog by CUSA Fans

Rice enters their first season as a member of Conference USA and were picked to win the C-USA championship in 2006 by the league coaches. The Owls are ranked in the top 10 in all polls released and rank as high as 2nd in one other. Not only that, Rice returns 20 letterwinners from last years team that finished 45-19. Last year was another stellar year for the Owls as they won their tenth consecutive Championship, plus won the Baton Rouge Regional and came a few outs away from reaching another College World Series. Wayne Graham enters his 15th season as the head coach of the owls, in 15 seasons he has posted 627 wins to 257 losses.

2006 Roster:

Player: Number: Position: Year:

Bobby Bramhall, 3, Outfielder, Sophomore
Greg Buchanan, 17, Infielder, Senior
Jimmy Comerota, 2, Infielder, Freshman
Jordan Dodson, 7, UTIL, RHP, Sophomore
Lyndon Duplessis, 35, Catcher, Senior
Kenny Ford, 10, Outfielder, Freshman
Brian Friday, 4, Infielder, Sophomore
Andrew Guerra, 15, Infielder, Outfielder, Freshman
Tyler Henley, 13, Outfielder, Sophomore
Danny Lehmann, 11, Catcher, Sophomore
Chad Lembeck, 22, Outfielder, TR Sophomore
Aaron Luna, 9, Infielder, Freshman
Derek Myers, 1, Infielder, Sophomore
Travis Reagan, 19, Catcher, Infielder, Junior
Josh Rodriguez, 12, Infielder, Junior
Trey Sperring, 26, Infielder, Freshman
Chase Taylor, 16, Outfielder, TR Senior
Jacob Yunis, 39, Catcher, Sophomore
Adam Zornes, 30, Catcher, RS Freshman

Bobby Bell, 40, RHP, Sophomore
John-Michael Christovich, 45, RHP, RS Freshman
Daniel Cooper, 29, RHP, TR Sophomore
Bryce Cox, 21, RHP, Senior
Craig Crow, 33, RHP, RS Junior
Eddie Degerman, 32, RHP, Senior
Kyle Forrest, 44, RHP, Sophomore
Kyle Gunderson, 8, RHP/Infielder, Junior
Mark Haynes, 27, RHP, Freshman
Scott Lonergan, 34, RHP, TR Junior
Will McDaniel, 36, RHP, Sophomore
Garret Pennington, 14, RHP, Senior
Kurt Pessa, 25, RHP, Sophomore
Bryan Price, 23, RHP, Freshman
Joe Savery, 20, LHP, Pitcher/Infielder, Sophomore
Cole St. Clair, 42, LHP, Sophomore
Ryne Tacker, 31, RHP, Senior
Adam Traweek, 47, LHP, Senior
Hank Williamson, 28, RHP, TR Sophomore

Expectations:

Since the Rice Owls are picked by most to win Conference USA I would say the expectations are high. The Owls are packed with talent and should be tough to beat. They return two starting pictures from last season both All-American selections in Joe Savery and Eddie Degerman. Rice will also rely on the arms of Cole St. Clair, Bobby Bell, Bryce Cox and Ryne Tacker. Joe Savery will see action from the mound and at the plate. He will be joined in the field by fellow All-American Josh Rodriguez. Other key players that will be relied upon to produce runs will be Tyler Henley and Danny Lehmann. Rice has all the components to win their eleventh conference championship but I’m sure a few teams like Tulane and Southern Miss will have a few things to say about that. With that said, in 2006, the Owls should still be hard to beat.

The Memphis Tigers look for vast improvement from a disappointing 2005 season, in which the Tigers finished 13-42 and last in Conference USA. Daron Schoenrock starts his second season as the head coach of the Tigers. If anything is apparent its that the Tigers coaching staff is looking to turn around this program and make it a respectable threat for the C-USA Championship. During the offseason the staff signed 14 for this coming season, including nine transfers that could provide immediate support.

2006 Roster:

Player: Number: Position: Year:

Adam Amar, 16, Infielder, Junior
Cory Barton, 8, Catcher, Senior
Collin Bastien, 28, Outfielder, Senior
K.K. Chalmers, 22, Outfielder, Sophomore
Zach Clark, 38, Infielder, Freshman
Alex Fennell, 1, Catcher, Sophomore
Wes Fink, 5, Infielder, Freshman
Robbie Goss, 36, Infielder, Senior
Ben Grisham, 6, Outfielder/RHP, TR Junior
Patrick Hope, 35, Infielder, Senior
Josh Irvin, 17, Outfielder/RHP, TR Junior
Joseph Lieberman, 9, Infielder/Outfielder, TR Junior
Kyle Moffitt, 31, Infielder, Junior
Bill Moss, 10, Infielder, Junior
Michael Murray, 3, Infielder, TR Junior
Chris Newsom, 42, Outfielder, Sophomore
Kyle Nored, 7, Infielder, TR Junior
Will Petersen, 2, Outfielder, TR Junior
John Peterson, 29, Catcher/Infielder, Senior
Jordan Tolliver, 4, Infielder, Senior
Steven Watson, 37, Catcher, Freshman
Troy Wiedman, 15, Outfielder, Freshman

Marc Ashley, 34, RHP, Freshman
Brach Davis, 18, LHP, Freshman
Dusty Davis, 27, LHP, TR Junior
Lance Davis, 25, RHP, TR Senior
Stephen Gostkowski, 20, RHP, Senior
Garrett Hachtel, 44, RHP, Freshman
Drew Jaudon, 39, RHP, Senior
Mark Jobe, 17, RHP, Freshman
Josh Langley, 41, RHP, TR Senior
Brennon Martin, 30, LHP, Freshman
Scott McGregor, 26, RHP, Freshman
Chris Novikoff, 23, RHP, Freshman
Neil Schenk, 12, LHP, Sophomore
Lance Scoggins, 24, LHP, TR Junior
Tim Senter, 32, RHP, Senior
Chris South, 33, RHP, Sophomore
Matt Yokley, 14, RHP, Freshman

Expectations:

Well anything will be better than last place for the Tigers. Last year the pitching staff gave up way to many runs and the offense could not produce enough to keep them in the game. The Tigers could move up a few spots in the C-USA standings but they will have to have vast improvement to compete for the championship. The positives for the Tigers are that they play a relatively easy non-conference schedule plus they will have depth this year due to the amount of transfers signed. At the plate the Tigers will depend on the bats of Adam Amar, K.K. Chalmers and Jordan Tolliver and from the mound Memphis should rely on the arms of Chris South, Stephen Gostkowski and Drew Jaudon.

The Thundering Herd hope that the 2006 season results are an improvement from the past few seasons. The Herd, under Coach Piepenbrink(12th season), finished a disappointing 16 & 34 last season and hope to improve on that record in 2006. The bad part is that C-USA is increasingly harder than the MAC and this means the Herd will be competing in their toughest schedule ever. The downside is that this could be another trying season for the Herd but in the long run moving to Conference USA could benefit Marshall in recruiting.

2006 Roster:

Player: Number: Position: Year:

Chris Borgognoni, 35, Outfielder, Sophomore
Alex De La Vega, 39, Outfielder/Catcher, Sophomore
Adam Frederick, 11, Infielder, Senior
Derek Hagen, 18, Infielder, Sophomore
Matt Helm, 21, Infielder, Sophomore
Aaron Jamison, 26, Infielder, Senior
Tommy Johnson, 19, Catcher, Sophomore
Aaron Levinson, 34, Infielder, Senior
Brent Mason, 23, Infielder, Senior
Marshall Murray, 2, Infielder, Senior
Chris Peak, 14, Outfielder, Junior
Justin Perry, 7, UTIL, Sophomore
Bubba Pfaff, 25, Outfielder, Senior
Adam Ptacek, 4, Outfielder, Senior
Jeff Ritter, 32, Outfielder, Sophomore
Rich Russell, 48, Catcher, Senior
A.J. Sikula, 15, Infielder, Sophomore
Robby Stieger 10, UTIL, Senior
Aaron Thompson, 24, Catcher, Sophomore
Nick Wolle, 8, Catcher, Junior

Andrew Blain, 35, LHP, Sophomore
Brenden Bump, 36, RHP, Senior
Brian Chrisman, 9, LHP, Junior
Chris Cummings, 50, RHP, Senior
Adam Dobies, 28, RHP, Junior
Andrew Hancock, 20, RHP, Sophomore
Brian Knippelmeyer, 33, RHP, Senior
Chris Koutsavlis, 55, LHP, Senior
Bryson Meyers, 5, LHP, Senior
Tom Ponietowicz, 41, RHP, Sophomore
Jeremy Slone, 17, RHP, Junior
David Slovak, 31, RHP, Sophomore

2006 Newcomers:

Alan Gentry, RHP
Mike Gielarowski, RHP
Sean Holiday, LHP
Jarrod Johnson, RHP
Adam Kuhr, RHP
Clay Maddox, Catcher
Jimmy Mathias, Infielder
Brendan Murphy, Infielder
Jimmy Stanley, RHP
Brit Vincent, Outfielder

Expectations:

The Herd can expect good things from joining Conference USA but unfortunately I don’t expect them to contend for the championship this year. They do return an experienced team from last year, only losing five players from last years team. So, they could surprise a few ball clubs in conference play. The Herd will be lead by Adam Frederick at the plate and will look for a few others to step up and produce at the plate. The pitching staff is the real question mark for Marshall. Last year the pitching staff surrendered too many runs early forcing the team to play catchup the rest of the game. As I said earlier, I do not expect the Herd to be in contention this year but they could sneak up on a few teams in conference play and help to shake things up come tournament time.

Last year did not finish the way the Houston Cougars had hoped, with a 29 & 30 record and missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. This has to leave a bitter taste in Coach Rayner’s mouth going into his 12th season as the skipper. Fortunately for the Cougars (at least on paper) this season looks like it could turn out much better. The cougars return seven position players and 10 players from the bullpen (3 starters, & 8 returning relievers).

2006 Roster:

Player: Number: Position: Year:

Jeremy Aranda, 38, UTIL, RS Senior
Josh Aranda, 37, UTIL, RS Senior
Keith Colquitt, 19, Outfielder, RS Freshman
Travis Cougot, 1, Infielder, Freshman
Isa Garcia, 10, Infielder, TR Senior
Will Hutchins, 42, Catcher/Infielder, RS Freshman
Chris Joseph, 48, Outfielder, Sophomore
Dustin Kingsbury, 8, Infielder, Junior
Brett Logan, 27, Catcher, Senior
Mark McGonigle, 17, Outfielder, Sophomore
Bryan Pounds, 14, Infielder, Sophomore
Jake Stewart, 12, Outfielder, Junior
John Stirneman, 33, Infielder, TR Junior
Brian Temko, 34, Catcher/Infielder, Junior
Bryan Tully, 30, Outfielder/UTIL, Sophomore
Cody Waller, 44, Catcher, Sophomore
Kyle Walton, 28, Infielder/Outfielder, TR Junior
Stephen Whalen, 13, Infielder, Sophomore
Matt Weston, 31, Infielder/Outfielder, TR Senior
Kori Williams, 2, Outfielder, Sophomore
Tom Williams, 20, UTIL, Freshman
Clayton Boone, 29, RHP, RS Junior
Aaron Brown, 21, RHP, Sophomore
Clint Corrigan, 41, LHP, RS Junior
Donnie deRegnier, 45, LHP, RS Freshman
Matt Farrington, 15, LHP, Senior
Luis Flores, 9, RHP, Freshman
Brady Glos, 5, RHP, Sophomore
Shea Hancock, 24, RHP, Junior
Ricky Hargrove, 7, RHP, Sophomore
Brad Lincoln, 18, RHP, Junior
Sean McLemore, 36, RHP, Sophomore
Wesley Musick, 4, LHP, Freshman
Jimmy Raviele, 26, LHP, Freshman
Chris Wright, 11, RHP, Sophomore

Expectations:

For the Houston Team the expectations could not be any higher. The reason for this is the fact that the cougars are returning so many veterans for the 2006 season. Honestly, the team is loaded with depth, from the plate to the bullpen. Plus, it did not hurt that the team picked up a few transfers from other colleges that will only help in the effort. At the plate Dustin Kingsbury, Bryan Tully and Kori Williams will lead the team, plus they are hoping for a boost from transfers Isa Garcia and the Aranda Twins (Jeremy & Josh). They will also look for improvement out of other players that had minimal playing time last year. The pitching staff should be the strongest point for the Cougars. They will rely on the strong arms of Matt Farrington, Brad Lincoln, and Aaron Brown. Matt Farrington returns as the ace of the lineup, while Brad Lincoln was selected 2nd Team All American by Baseball America Magazine. Lincoln’s success this year could lean on consistency because it is evident that he can strike out batters but can he keep those others from hitting him hard. Also, the team will need Aaron Brown and someone else, maybe Ricky Hargrove, to step-up as serious starters. The bullpen is full of young talent and if used effectively could earn Houston a few important victories. Talent plus depth does not always result in success, fortunately for the Houston Cougars I believe it will result in them making a push for the postseason.

The East Carolina Pirates enter the 2006 season with a new coach but expecting the same results, competing for the C-USA championship and obtaining their eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA Regional’s.

I would consider the 2005 season for the pirates as good. Last year the Pirates finished the season 35-26, and 4th place (18-12) in the standings in Conference USA. Unfortunately, the end of 2005 was not as kind. The pirates head coach was suspended for unspecified reasons and would later resign from the position. The pirates replaced Randy Mazay on October 28th with Billy Godwin (Billy Godwin joined to ECU baseball staff in June as an assistant coach) Now Billy Godwin is no push over. Before coming to ECU Godwin coached at Louisburg College (N.C.), posting an impressive record over six seasons consisting of 262 wins to only 85 losses.

2006 Roster: