Dec. 12, 2007

A trio of Rice players have been named preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), as the organization announced its 2008 preseason squad on Wednesday. Rice junior outfielder Aaron Luna, sophomore pitcher Ryan Berry and senior pitcher Cole St.Clair were each named to the organization's first team list.

Luna was a third team All-American and second team All-Conference USA selection last season who batted .315 (third on the team) with 15 doubles and team-highs of 13 home runs and 66 RBI. He also led Rice with 48 walks, a .570 slugging percentage and a .447 on-base percentage. Luna has hit 29 homers in his first two seasons in an Owls uniform, a total that has him tied for ninth place on the school's all-time list.

Berry produced a remarkable rookie campaign for the Owls, earning first team All-Conference USA honors and being named the conference's Freshman of the Year and a national Freshman of the Year by multiple agencies. He finished the season 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA. Berry struck out 125 batters and walked just 34 in 122.2 innings. With 11 wins, Berry tied the Rice freshman school record for victories, set by former first round draft pick Matt Anderson in 1995.

St.Clair missed the first two months of last season with an injury, but proved to be quite effective upon his return in April. In 16 appearances, he posted a 1.91 ERA with nine saves. St.Clair threw 28.1 innings, allowing six earned runs on 22 hits, while striking out 26 batters and walking just eight. Opposing batters hit only .214 against the 2006 All-American closer last season and he enters 2008 as the school's career leader in saves with 22.

Conference USA's 13th baseball season gets underway on February 22. The conference tournament is scheduled for May 21-25 in New Orleans, with Tulane University serving as the host. C-USA's nine baseball schools have produced 54 NCAA appearances and eight College World Series teams over the past 12 seasons.

First Team

Pos. Name, School	      Class	BA      G      AB	R	H      2B-3B-HR RBI
C Petey Paramore, Arizona State	Jr.	.379	64	224	64	85	18-1-6	    52
1B Brett Wallace, Arizona State	Jr.	.404	63	265	75	107	17-8-16	    78
2B Johnny Giavotella, New Orleans	Jr.	.385	64	247	65	95	19-4-15	    65
3B Pedro Alvarez, Vanderbilt		Sr.	.386	66	272	76	105	21-3-18	    68
SS Derek Shunk, Villanova		Sr.	.357	54	210	49	75	12-3-2	    34
UTIL Zach Putnam, Michigan	Jr.	.330	61-61	224	38	74	14-2-8	    59
Pitching: 8-5, 3.87 ERA, 16 G, 102.1 IP, 94 H, 38 BB, 87 SO, 0 SV
DH C.J. Ziegler, Arizona		Sr.	.355	59	228	59	81	23-2-13	    63
OF Aaron Luna, Rice		Jr.	.315	66	236	57	74	15-3-13	    66
OF Kyle Russell, Texas		Jr.	.336	63	223	68	75	11-5-28	    71
OF Dominic de la Osa, Vanderbilt	Sr.	.376	66	249	65	94	23-2-20	    62
Pitchers
Pos. Name School               Cl.	W-L	ERA    G	IP	 H	BB	 SO	SV
SP Ryan Berry, Rice          So. 11-3   3.01  23   122.2  112  34     125   0
SP Scott Gorgen, UC Irvine   Jr. 13-3   2.83  22   136.2  118  41     117   0
SP Preston Guilmet, Arizona  Jr. 12-2   1.87  18   135    100  34     146   0
SP Brian Matusz, San Diego   Jr. 10-3   2.85  18   123     98  37     163   0
SP Josh Satow, Arizona State Sr. 13-3   2.76  20   133.2  119  53     119   0
SP Jacob Thompson, Virginia  Jr. 11-0   1.50  17   114     79  32     101   0
RP Daniel Edwards, Kansas St Sr.  3-0   2.27  23    35.2   22  13      49  11
RP Eryk McConnell, NC State  Sr.  3-2   1.72  28    52.1   43  11      35  11
RP Cole St. Clair, Rice      Sr.  0-0   1.91  16    28.1   22   8      26   9

Second Team

Pos. Name, School	      Class	BA      G      AB	R	H      2B-3B-HR RBI
C Tim Federowicz, North Carolina	Jr.	.333	73	291	46	97	19-1-4	    65
1B Justin Smoak, South Carolina	Jr.	.315	66	260	64	82	16-0-22	    72
2B Brandon Turner, Mississippi State	So.	.399	55	208	46	83	13-1-3	    48
3B Conor Gillaspie, Wichita State	Jr.	.325	73	295	55	96	24-4-6	    63
SS Danny Espinosa, Long Beach State Jr.	.319	53	210	44	67	13-4-7	    38
UTIL Josh Romanski, San Diego	Jr,	.335	56	224	43	75	10-2-3	    30
Pitching: 10-1, 3.05 ERA, 18 G, 112 IP, 90 H, 24 BB, 92 SO, 3 SV
DH Kiel Roling, Arizona State	Jr.	.356	58	194	57	69	10-0-15	    63
OF Ollie Linton, UC Irvine		Jr.	.342	57	152	30	52	4-8-0	    21
OF Mike Bianucci, Auburn		Jr.	.326	47	175	46	57	11-1-14	    51
OF Mike McKenna, FAU		Sr.	.413	56	218	46	90	14-2-16	    60
Pitchers
Pos. Name School               Cl.	W-L	ERA    G	IP	 H	BB	 SO	SV
SP Bobby Gagg, Coastal Car.  Jr. 12-2   2.57  17   112    102  27      84   0
SP Buddy Leake, Arizona St.  So. 13-2   3.69  25   127    126  29      94   1
SP Lance Lynn, Ole Miss      Jr. 8-5    2.85  18   123.1   94  44     146   0
SP Mike Minor, Vanderbilt    So. 9-1    3.09  19    90.1   76  19      88   2
SP Zack Pitts, Louisville    Sr. 10-3   2.52  20   121.2  105  24      91   0
SP Mike Stutes, Oregon State Sr. 12-4   4.07  22   132.2  111  60     129   0
RP David Cales, UIC          Jr. 3-0    0.74  24    36.1   21   1      34  13
RP Pat Venditte, Creighton   Sr. 8-2    1.88  38    95.2   62  22      99   4
RP Drew Weatherford, MS St.  Jr. 3-2    3.53  20    66.1   58  25      72   5

Third Team (ties in voting)

Pos. Name, School	      Class	BA      G      AB	R	H      2B-3B-HR RBI
C Buster Posey, Florida State		Jr.	.382	62	246	66	94	21-2-3	    65
1B Dustin Ackley, North Carolina	So.	.402	73	296	70	119	20-3-10	    74
2B Alex Buchholz, Delaware		Jr.	.387	55	238	46	92	27-6-11	    63
2B Blake Stouffer, Texas A&M	Sr.	.398	67	256	58	102	23-5-12	    85
3B Matt Prokopowicz, Hofstra	So.	.416	54	197	41	82	11-1-6	    52
SS Brandon Crawford, UCLA	Jr.	.335	61	248	50	83	17-2-7	    55
UTIL Cole White, Army		Sr.	.408	48	179	27	73	12-3-4	    29
Pitching: 7-3, 3.49 ERA, 14 G, 67 IP, 59 H, 19 BB, 54 SO, 0 SV
DH Scott Hawkins, La.-Lafayette	Jr.	.344	59	209	54	72	11-2-16	    49
OF Tony Campana, Cincinnati-60 SB	Sr.	.329	56	237	51	78	5-1-1	    18
OF Ike Davis, Arizona State		Jr.	.349	62	238	56	83	23-0-8	    61
OF Scott Krieger, George Mason	Jr.	.365	54	219	59	80	12-2-20	    68
OF Ryan Lavarnway, Yale		Jr.	.467	43	150	33	70	17-1-14	    55
OF Mike McKenna, FAU		Sr.	.413	56	218	46	90	14-2-16	    60
Pitchers
Pos. Name School               Cl.	W-L	ERA    G	IP	 H	BB	 SO	SV
SP Jared Bradford, LSU       Sr. 10-4   4.41  23    96     94  16      81   5
SP Aaron Crow, Missouri      Jr. 9-4    3.59  18   117.2  109  33      90   0
SP Eric Erickson, Miami (Fla)So. 10-4   2.50  16    90     84  16      63   1
SP Ben Mancuso, Creighton    Sr. 10-3   2.34  14    77     77  20      60   0
SP Rob Musgrave, Wichita St  Sr. 10-2   2.59  18   111.1   96  17      85   0
SP Aaron Shafer, Wichita St  Jr. 8-2    2.23  15    84.2   69  23      90   0
SP Anthony Shawler, Old Dom. Jr. 11-2   2.20  15   114.2   95  29     130   0
RP Nick Cassavechia, Baylor  Sr. 6-2    3.12  50    52     43  20      72   11
RP Joe Kelly, UC Riverside   So. 3-1    1.32  22    27.1   28  11      19   6
RP Chris Manning, Belmont    Jr. 3-0    2.67  24    27     20   4      17   11