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Cougar Baseball
Tyler Davenport Gets the Start vs Rice University
Wayne Graham stood on the top step of the dugout, pausing for a moment to enjoy the latest milestone in his Hall of Fame career.
Fittingly, the legendary Rice baseball coach who regularly preaches to his players about 'grinding it out' needed extra innings Tuesday night.
John Williamson delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning to send No. 15 Rice to a 4-3 win over Texas State for Graham's 1,000th Division I win at the school.
"A friend from high school said, 'You always do it the hard way, Wayne,' " Graham said. "That was the hard way."
The Owls twice rallied, erasing a 2-0 deficit in the first inning — aided by a pair of fielding errors — with two runs in the eighth and again in the 11th after falling behind 3-2.
In the bottom of the 11th, Leon Byrd drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a single by Charlie Warren. Keenan Cook tied the game with a double to the right-field gap.
The next batter, Williamson, who was hitless in the his previous three at-bats, lined a fastball from Texas State righthander Dylan Bein down the right-field line.
"To get the 1000th win in this fashion, it just goes along with Coach Graham's legacy," Cook said. "It's all about grinding it out. That's everything he preaches day in and day out."
A winning tradition
In his 23rd season at Rice, Graham has a career record 1,000-401, a .714 winning percentage that ranks fourth among active Division I coaches.
Graham has built Rice into a baseball powerhouse, guiding the Owls to 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 18 consecutive conference championships. His crowning moment came in 2003 when the Owls beat Stanford for the national championship.
"He refuses to lose," Cook said. "It spreads to the whole locker room. It's awesome to have a leader you can trust no matter what."
After a near sweep at Stanford to begin the season, Graham said it was important for the Owls (3-1) to get the milestone out of the way early.
"I don't want that kind of pressure on the kids," he said.
Breaking through late
The Owls had plenty of pressure early on, committing a pair of errors that led to two unearned runs for Texas State (2-2) off Rice starter Chase McDowell in the first inning.
Meanwhile, the Owls struggled against Bobcats starter Tyler Davenport, who scattered three hits over six shutout innings.
Rice finally broke through in the eighth on RBI singles by Skyler Ewing and John Clay Reeves.
Ewing went 3-for-5 and is hitting .588 during the opening week of the season.
Jon Duplantier struck out six in four scoreless innings of relief. Zech Lemond picked up the win, allowing one run — on an RBI single by Tanner Hill to give Texas State a 3-2 lead in the top of the 11th — and striking out five in two innings.
Graham said he considered reaching 1,000 wins at Rice 'outlandish' since he didn't become head coach until 55 years old.
"But I'll take it," Graham said. "I'll really take it."
Crosby wins opener 5-3 over PN-G
Posted: Thursday, May 5, 2011 12:24 am
Crosby wins opener 5-3 over PN-GDavid Coleman
The Port Arthur NewsPort Arthur News OnlineIt didn’t go the way the Indians would have drawn it up, but at least they find themselves in a familiar position: with their backs against the wall.
The Port Neches-Groves baseball team is a loss away from being bounced from the Class 4A playoffs after it lost 5-3 to Crosby Wednesday in Game 1 of the bidistrict series at Lamar’s Vincent-Beck Stadium before a crowd of 675.
“It was a tough, hard-fought game like we knew it would be,” PN-G head coach Mark Brevell said. “Their pitcher (Jeremy Gabryswski) was very good and you have to give a lot of credit to him. I was pleased with how we battled. We made some mistakes and they came out on top of this one, but I still feel good about this series.
‘‘Our backs are against the wall now, but this group of guys, their backs have been up to the wall all year. They never give up and quit, they come out fighting.”
Crosby struck first with an RBI double by catcher Zane Harbor in the bottom of the first, which drove in center fielder Gage Larking to make it 1-0.
PN-G answered back in the top of the third, scoring two runs off Crosby right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski. Center fielder Amir Jalali reached on an error and stole secodn two pitches later. He advanced to third on a sharp line drive to right field by Colin Gizzi, putting runners on the corners with one out.
Gizzi then stole second, prompting a throw down to the base that went wide of the Crosby defenders. That allowed Jalali to score from third and tie the game at 1-1.
Designated hitter Aaron Graham gave PN-G its first lead with an RBI single to right that scored Gizzi from second, making it 2-1.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that can run,” Brevell said. “When we get an opportunity, that’s what we like to do. It’s hard to do that when you fall behind late in the game. That’s why it’s always easier to play with a lead, because you can be a little more aggressive. We expect to continue to be aggressive.”
Errors sink Vidor in one-game series
RYAN S. CLARK
Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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Vidor pitcher Trae Hester, center, has a meeting on the mound with teammates and head coach Kyle Green during the third inning of their playoff match-up on Wednesday at Lamar's Vincent-Beck Stadium. Valentino Mauricio/The Enterprise Photo: Beaumont
He stood in the dugout that's he's going to call home for the next four years.
With an icebag attached to his left arm, Vidor pitcher Trae Hester counts on having some good memories at Lamar University's Vincent-Beck Stadium. Wednesday night, his last as a Vidor Pirate, wasn't one of those. An error-filled third inning helped Crosby score a 7-1 win against Vidor in a one-game playoff in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Vidor ends its season with a 19-7 record after finishing third in District 20-4A. Crosby, which finished second in District 19-4A, improves to 23-5, and in the next round will face powerhouse Brenham as it looks to return to the state tournament.
"I thought we stayed in it pretty well, and yeah, we had a few errors. But I did not see anyone get down about it," Hester said. "Outside of that one inning, I think we played a good game."
There had been buzz around the stadium about the potential performance from Hester, who is one of two area players to sign with Lamar for next season.
A few people talked about how Hester was recorded at 91 miles per hour while he was warming up.
Crosby downs Vidor 7-1, advances
From sports staff reports
Baytown SunPublished May 6, 2010
BEAUMONT - The Crosby Cougars took advantage of three Vidor errors to score six runs in the third inning and score a 7-1 win over the Pirates in a one-game bidistrict playoff at Lamar University.
Cougar pitcher Jeremy Gabryswski pitched a complete game for the win, yielding four hits, including two in the sixth inning when Vidor scored its only run on a wild pitch.
Gabryswski struck out six batters and did not walk any.
After Crosby loaded the bases in the bottom of the third on a walk, single and an error on Vidor ace Trae Hester, Zane Harber pushed across the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly.
James Rachel followed with an RBI single. Cody Ressler knocked in another run and runs scored on an error, a passed ball and a double steal.
Crosby, now 23-5, added its final run on a wild pitch in the sixth, and had five hits off Hester as both pitchers went the routeCougar bats enough to outlast Patriots
Jacob Dauzat
CorrespondentPublished March 24, 2010
An early first-place showdown in District 19-4A baseball did not disappoint Tuesday as Crosby needed 10 innings to punch out a 5-3 win over Goose Creek Memorial.
The visiting Cougars were in control for the first part of the game with a 3-1 lead until Patriot Price Jacobs lifted a two-run home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth to tie it up.
No other runs crossed the plate for either team until the 10th inning when a wild throw from Goose Creek catcher Jacob Wilburn went sailing over first base, bringing a runner on third home to give Crosby a one-run lead.
Jeremy Gabryszwski knocked in another run for Crosby soon after and that was enough to seal the deal.
Gabryszwski also picked up the win for the Cougars as he came onto the mound in the sixth and piled up nine strikeouts to hold GCM at bay.
Despite the loss, the Patriots claimed one new school record, thanks to pitcher Cody Butler. He struck out 16 batters over nine innings pitched and gave up three runs, four hits, and six walks.
Patriot coach Chris Rupp was impressed with Butler's performance but could not look past his team's mistakes.
"Cody did a good job but we made a couple mistakes early that we simply couldn't afford," Rupp said.
"We faced some good pitching tonight and it was a good game with a lot of adrenaline. Looking ahead, we have to play better and everything matter."
Cougar Caleb Mangum stepped up for Crosby early and finished with a good game, going 2-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.
"You don't want to play in these types of games too often but we came through and it was tough," Crosby coach Chris Wiggins said. "Butler did a great job but we hung in there and kept it up."
The loss drops the Patriots down to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in district while Crosby improves to 13-2 and 3-0.
GCM will travel to play Barbers Hill on Friday night and Crosby will host Dayton.Crosby posts top mark at Kilgore tourney
From sports staff reports
Baytown SunPublished March 9, 2010
KILGORE - Crosby High posted the best record of 3-1 in the round robin Oil Belt Classic tournament at Kilgore this past weekend.
The Cougars, now 6-2, were led by all-tournament selections Billy Upshaw, James Rachel, Cody Ressler, and Jeremy Gabyszwski.
They opened with an 8-0 win over Kilgore Thursday that included five innings of four-hit, shutout pitching by Ressler, who helped his own case by going 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs. Cori Langley went 3 for 4 with two RBIS and Matthew Bench was 2 for 4 with a double and RBI.
The Cougars had a tougher time in a 5-4 win over Longview PineTree.
Upshaw relieved a sore-armed Langley on the mound and threw no-hit ball for the final 3 1/3 innings to earn the win in a game that saw Crosby rally from a 4-0 deficit.
Timely hitting by Caleb Mangum, Langley, Willie Hebert, Gabryszwski, and Zane Harber fueled a five-run fourth for Crosby.
Bullard handed Crosby its only loss of the weekend, 9-1, Friday afternoon.
LSU signee Nick Rumbelow dominated on the mound for Bullard, with James Rachel's 2-for-3 performance leading Cougar hitters.
The Cougars finished the trip with a 10-0 win over Hallsville Saturday that included a five-inning no-hitter by Garbryszwski. Crosby had 11 hits, including a 3-for-3, 2-RBI performance by the pitcher, who homered and doubled. Ressler was 2 for 3 with a double.Baseball roundup for March 2, 2010
From sports staff reports
Baytown SunPublished March 2, 2010
Crosby goes 2-1
in rainy weekend
CROSBY - When the Little Cypress-Mauriceville tournament was rained out Friday, Crosby coach Chris Wiggins moved some of it to Crosby and the Cougars wound up 2-1 on the weekend, 3-1 overall.
Crosby lost its lone game at LC-M 8-6 to Lufkin Hudson despite a 2-for-3, 4-RBI performance from Caleb Mangum that included a three-run homer. Cori Langley also had a two-run homer and James Rachel went 2 for 3 with a double.
Saturday, the Cougars won games over Hardin-Jefferson and Hamshire-Fannett.
Willie Hebert pitched 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball against Hardin-Jefferson, striking out five. Matthew Bench went 2 for 3 with an RBI double.
Cody Ressler went 2 for 2 against Hamshire-Fannett with a double and a triple and Rachel was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Langley and Mangum were each 2 for 4, with Langley getting a double and triple and three RBIs to top a 10-hit attack.
The Cougars played Lumberton Monday night.All District Honors 2009
SuperlativesCaleb Mangum- MVP 19-4AJeremy Gabryszwski- Defensive Player of the Year1st TeamCori Langley- OFSam Malchar- 3rd BaseBen Skinner- 1st Base2nd TeamJames Rachel- OFFrank Rangel- CHonorable MentionCade Ramirez- 2nd BaseCody Ressler- 3rd BaseAcademic All-DistrictBen SkinnerSam MalcharCaleb Mangum
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