Meet the Team

2/19/09 6:00pm

Click here to meet the 2009 Baseball Owls.

TAYLOR WALL

According to head coach Wayne Graham, the universe is tilted in freshman Taylor Wall's favor.

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"Wall is a left-hander, [and] the world is tilted toward left-handers," Graham said. "Physics in the world work in left-handers' favor. Physics majors haven't discovered exactly why that is."

Just another thing, it appears, that is propelling the freshman pitcher to an embarrassment of riches.

The failings of physics majors comes at the expense of batters, who, if Wall's past successes continue, are set to squirm when facing the rookie southpaw. With a heady three-pitch arsenal and a solid 6'2" frame, the freshman has thrown his way into a starting rotation that features junior right-handers Ryan Berry and Mike Ojala.

As it stands, Wall seems like a perfect fit for a pitching corps roughed up by departing draftees. He came to Rice last fall with knowledge of Reckling Park's history in his back pocket after growing up only a few miles from campus. Wall had frequented both Owl ballgames and Reckling Park baseball camps in his adolescent baseball career, acquainting himself with the staff and a few of the players.

But this familiarity, and Rice's 13 consecutive conference championships, was almost not enough to convince Wall to join the Owls.

"My mom pretty much brainwashed me," Wall, who attended Westside High School, said. "She wanted me to go to the University of Texas, so I grew up as a Texas fan. Come recruiting day [Texas] just wasn't good for me, and Rice came and offered me a lot."

Actually, college was not the sole option for the Houston Chronicle's 2008 All-Greater Houston Pitcher of the Year. After going 14-1 with a 0.64 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 86.2 innings in his senior year - all while leading his Wolves to the Class 5A Region III finals - the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Wall in the 40th round of the 2008 Major League draft.

The 19-year-old passed up a shot at the big leagues to play for Graham and the Owls, a move neither he nor his parents regret.

"[My parents] definitely told me I made the right choice," he said. "I just welcome [Rice's storied success]. I'm just having fun with it."

Sporting a running fastball, a tantalizing changeup, and a newfound slurve - "I couldn't really decide [between a curveball and a slider], and I just started throwing it harder when I got here," he said - Wall has slid into the role of No. 3 starter.

However, he left any appearance of intimidation in the dugout. In addition to some mentoring from Berry, Rice's last superstar freshman pitcher, Graham instilled Wall with the team's mantra.

"[We use] the serenity prayer: You control what you can, and what you can't control, you don't let it bother you," Graham said. "It's what you've got to do, or you'll go crazy in this game, because there's a lot of capriciousness."

When he takes the hill for the first time tomorrow, the capriciousness will be exacerbated by some gastric butterflies. Fortunately, Wall will have both universal quirks and a terrific three-pitch cache at his disposal. And as it stands, he could not be happier.

"It's a dream come true," he said.

- Casey Michel

ANTHONY RENDON

Anthony Rendon was in the eighth grade when Rice's baseball team won the 2003 national championship. Having been raised playing baseball in the Houston area, Rendon took notice.

"I remember hearing about how good [Rice was] doing," Rendon said. "When they won the national championship, I knew that they were a good program."

Four years later, halfway through his senior year of high school, Rendon learned he would be joining the ranks of Owls searching to repeat the achievement. On his way to a baseball tournament Rendon, then attending Lamar High School, received an important phone call.

"I was talking on the phone to the Rice coaches on my way to Waco," the 18-year-old said. "I ended up committing early on the phone on the way to a baseball tournament."

A few months later, however, Rendon's baseball skills had attracted attention beyond South Main. In fact, this attention was coming all the way from Atlanta, Ga., from the offices of the Atlanta Braves. The Braves drafted Rendon In the 27th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft, just days after he was set to graduate from high school.

Suddenly Rendon was faced with a big decision: to attend college or make to leap to the pros. This decision racked him for days, but after talking with his parents and coaches, the choice was easy.

"I wanted to get my education first because I know my parents are big on education," Rendon said. "My coaches also had an influence on it. My coach from the summer, coach Sinisi, had a son who came here, Vincent, so he was high on Rice and he wanted to see me come play here."

Now Rendon is at Rice, and while nearly every college freshman goes through some adjustments his first year, the freshman's transition from high school to college was relatively smooth. Perhaps the biggest change for Rendon was his switch from shortstop, the position he played throughout high school, to third base, where he'll likely start for the Owls this season.

Despite the change, Rendon has grown to enjoy his new position.

"It's quicker reaction [at third base]," he said. "You don't have to think so much, the ball jumps on you quickly, and you just make the play instead of waiting. I'm not a very patient guy. I just like to get things done."

Now that he is playing third base, Rendon identifies a little more with his favorite Major League player, Alex Rodriguez. The New York Yankee has spent plenty of time in the news lately after his admission of using steroids from 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers, but his use did not surprise Rendon.

"I kind of knew because he kind of got big after his rookie year, but he's my favorite player and I didn't want to admit it," Rendon said. "It probably takes a lot of fans away from him because he's such a big character."

While playing third for the Owls, Rendon has several goals. He'd love to become a freshman All-American, win a championship for Rice and eventually get drafted again to play in the big leagues. Rendon isn't picky about where he ends up in the pros, however.

"I just want to play baseball, that's always been my dream," Rendon said. "It doesn't really matter which team but I just want to get out there and play."

- Natalie Clericuzio

DIEGO SEASTRUNK

Following a crushing loss to Louisiana State University in last year's College World Series, the baseball team went home for the summer. Some players prepared to enter the pros, while those with a college career left to finish took to summer leagues to hone their games.

But for junior Diego Seastrunk, the coming of summer brought with it tough choices and a chance for change.

After two years at Rice, Seastrunk has emerged as the squad's ultimate utility player. After being named to the Freshman All-American year in 2007, he rasied his batting average 49 points last year to .353. In addition to his stellar performance at the plate, head coach Wayne Graham used him at almost every spot in the infield at one time or another, including an appearance out of the bullpen for an inning in the 2008 campaign.

However, in keeping with the Rice tradition of striving for perfection on the diamond and despite his already gaudy numbers, Seastrunk wanted to do more.

"Coaches are looking at me to be a leader," he said. "I have to look into myself to be a leader . I needed to make a change. Now, I have to do whatever it takes to get this team back to Omaha."

What it took for Seastrunk was a complete restructuring of his role on the squad and a move from a third-base position that required relatively fleeting attention to a post that will make him the air-traffic controller of the diamond - catcher.

"It is a transition," he said. "Just being in the infield, you don't get the ball hit to you every time. You might not get the ball hit to you every game. But when you are behind the plate, you get the ball every pitch."

The decision to move to catcher had a counterintuitive motivation behind it, which Graham conceived. Seastrunk approached Graham when he began having consistency problems on defense.

"I had some trouble focusing in the infield," he said. "[Graham] said that [catcher] was the best place for me if I am having trouble focusing. . I was one of the loose guys around. I needed to make a change. I can still be loose, but the guys need to know that they have somebody in their corner that is going to step up and take care of things when they need to get done."

Following the 2008 Major League draft, the Owls had a very noticeable hole at the catcher position. It slowly became evident to Seastrunk over the summer that he needed to fill that hole.

Up until he was 14 years old, Seastrunk was accustomed to crouching behind the plate but dropped that role as he developed as a pitcher and infield player.

"I didn't really want to leave the infield," he said. "But I knew that it would be better for the team if I moved to catcher. I talked to coach Graham about it a couple times. He said that it would help the team more than anything, and it would help me in the draft."

Now, Seastrunk says that he has rediscovered his love of the catcher spot. He has also found unexpected changes that accompany putting on the mask.

"As infielders and position players we depend on the pitchers, but even in intersquads we mess around with them," he said. "We want to get hits off them. Now, I find myself pulling for the pitcher as well. It has been fun for me getting to know these pitchers better."

Though he seems to be having plenty of fun now, both Seastrunk and Graham have repeatedly shown that they are committed to doing what it takes to win, so it should come to no surprise if Seastrunk's number is called, once again, to make a move for the better of the team.

"You never know how the year is going to go," Seastrunk said. "I wouldn't mind getting back into the pen."

- Yan Digilov

RYAN BERRY

The pile of teams vanquished by junior pitcher Ryan Berry stacks high, and it keeps getting higher. Since he became the baseball team's Friday night starter two years ago, the 6'1", 190-lb. Berry has spent most of his time on the mound dominating both conference and non-conference foes for the Owls. His first win came over Baylor University in the 2007 Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park, and in the two years since then he has posted marquee wins against several baseball powers, including the University of Houston, Tulane University and Texas Christian University.

If you ask him, however, he would prefer to downplay his accolades and focus on what he considers to be a more important goal: getting Rice its fourth straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

"I know, that being a junior and this being my draft year, most people would say that I should have more strikeouts, or that my strikeout-to-walk ratio should be greater than it was the past two seasons," Berry said. "But to me, being successful is leading the team to Omaha, putting them in a position to win every time I go out there [and] having a quality start every time I go out there. If I can do that, it would be, for me, a successful season."

In order to help Rice reach the College World Series, Berry will have to take on more of the pitching burden than he has the past few years. Last year's relief corps, anchored by the nearly untouchable Bobby Bell and Cole St.Clair (Sid '08), was hit hard by the Major League draft, and for the first time in the past few seasons, Rice's pitching staff is running a little thin.

As a result, Berry will likely have to extend most of his starts to near-complete-game efforts.

"This year [head coach Wayne Graham] is asking me to be more efficient," Berry said. "That means lengthening my starts. . So instead of coming in trying to strike out everybody, I'm trying to get the ball in play so my defense can get outs. That way, I can throw more innings and save our bullpen."

Berry will use his refined three-pitch set to keep batters off balance in his quest for innings. He features a fastball, an offspeed pitch and a so-called "knuckle curve," and he can throw all of them for strikes.

He is not an overpowering pitcher in terms of velocity, but he displays uncanny accuracy and relies on crafty spot selection to get his outs. This repertoire lends itself well to the strategy of using defense rather than power pitching to hold opposing teams at bay. Berry said he and the other pitchers only have to keep the ball in the ballpark, and the speedy Rice infield will make the plays they need to make.

"This year we're probably going to lean on the defense a little more," Berry said. "I can say that we're very fast, and we're going to be able to make plays. If we go out there to pitch to contact and keep the ball down, our defense is going to get us out of a lot of things, and hopefully we can get those wins."

Since he first donned an Owl uniform two seasons ago, the 2007 National Freshman Pitcher of the Year has led the baseball team to 19 wins and two trips to Omaha. But while he insists he will always put the team's needs before his own, Berry admits that he has at least one small personal goal left to accomplish:

"I'm actually 0-2 against the University of Southern Mississippi," Berry said. "So I'd like to go out there and prove to them that I can pitch."

- Dylan Farmer

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