Six C-USA Baseball Players Named To NCBWA Preseason All-America Teams
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Dec. 13, 2005 Three Conference USA players, including a pair of Rice standouts and one of the nation's top relief pitchers, were named as first team preseason All-Americans, as voted upon and released by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), it was announced Tuesday. Two other C-USA standouts were named to the second team and one player earned a spot on the third team, giving the league six players claiming preseason All-America honors. Fresh off an appearance in the NCAA Super Regional, first-year Conference USA member Rice joined defending National Champion Texas as the only schools to produce multiple first team selections. Junior SS Josh Rodriguez is joined by sophomore utility player Joe Savery, the 2004 National Freshman of the Year, in representing the Owls on the first team. The Rice teammates are joined by Southern Miss closer Daniel Best as first team choices. Best was the third consecutive Golden Eagle relief pitcher to earn All-American status last spring. Tulane outfielder Nathan Southard, who played his best baseball during the Green Wave's postseason run to Omaha, was chosen as a second team preseason All-American. His teammate, Brad Emaus, the 2005 Conference USA Freshman of the Year, was joined on the third team by UCF starting pitcher Tim Bascom.
Conference USA's 11th baseball season gets underway on February 4. The conference tournament is scheduled for May 24-28 in Houston, Texas, with Rice University serving as the host. 2003 National Champion Rice, UCF and Marshall are the three new baseball members of Conference USA. The trio joins East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane and UAB to give C-USA a nine-team baseball league whose members have produced 46 NCAA appearances and six College World Series teams over the past 10 seasons.
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