Graham’s era at Rice ends with loss in C-USA tournament
BILOXI, Miss. — Rice fell to Florida Atlantic 9-8 in 10 innings early Sunday morning in an elimination game at the Conference USA tournament, bringing an end to the remarkable Wayne Graham era at Rice.
Florida Atlantic later fell 12-3 to Southern Mississippi in the C-USA final. Rice won the event one year ago and was the defending champion.
The 2017 title was the program’s 21st league crown, all earned on Graham’s watch. He finished his Rice tenure with 1,173 wins and a .689 win percentage that is the best in school history. The Owls won the 2003 national title.
In finishing with a 26-31-2 record, Rice’s quest for a 24th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament also come to an end. Rice’s streak of 23 straight NCAA appearances was the third-longest active streak in college baseball.
Last month, Graham, 82, said the school informed him his contract would not be renewed after 27 seasons.
BAYLOR 6, TCU 5
Shea Langeliers’ bases-loaded single in the 11th inning gave the Bears a win over the Horned Frogs in the Big 12 title game at Oklahoma City.
Conner Shepherd’s RBI single put TCU up 5-4 in the top of the 11th, but Baylor scored twice in the bottom half.
Fifth-seeded Baylor (36-19) earned the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
TCU’s A.J. Balta hit two homers, but he misjudged a fly ball in right field with two outs in the ninth when an out would have clinched the win for the Horned Frogs (33-23).
MISSISSIPPI 9, LSU 1
Tim Rowe and Michael Fitzsimmons hit two-run homers and Nick Fortes went 4-for-4 to lead the Rebels to a victory over the Tigers in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game at Hoover, Ala.
NORTHWESTERN ST. 7 NEW ORLEANS 5
The Demons beat the Privateers at Sugar Land’s Constellation Field to win their first Southland Conference tournament championship.
REGIONAL HOSTS ANNOUNCED
Florida State will host a regional in the NCAA Tournament for the 35th time, while Stetson was selected as a firsttime host.
The 16 teams announced as hosts have locked up spots in the national tournament, and the rest of the 64-team field will be unveiled Monday.
Arkansas (39-18), Clemson (45-14), Florida (42-17), Florida State (43-17), North Carolina (38-18), Oregon State (44-10-1), Stanford (44-10) and Texas Tech (39-17) hosted regionals in 2017.
Other regional sites are: Georgia (37-19), Texas (37-20), Coastal Carolina (42-17), East Carolina (43-16), Minnesota (41-13), Mississippi (46-15) and North Carolina State (40-16).
Stetson (45-11) will be playing in its 19th regional, but is hosting for the first time after sweeping the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season and tournament titles. At 15 games, the Hatters own the nation’s longest active win streak.