Three Rice Players Named First Team Preseason All-Americans - CONFERENCEUSA.COM - The Official Athletic site of The Conference USA

Three Rice Players Named First Team Preseason All-Americans
Owls Join Arizona State as Only Schools with Three First-Teamers

	Aaron Luna

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.

2008 Preseason NCBWA All-America Team (2007 Stats)

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