Rice announces 2009-2010 Class

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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
HOUSTON — The Rice baseball program has signed nine recruits in the early period who will join the team for the 2010 season, announced head coach Wayne Graham. The latest Rice baseball class is composed of eight high school standouts and one transfer from the junior college ranks. Nine are from the state of Texas and seven are from the greater Houston area who can continue their careers in front of hometown crowds at Rice’s Reckling Park.

The signees include pitchers Chris Anagnostou, Tyler Duffey, Jeremy Fant, Will Gray, Kevin Hahn and Tyler Spurlin, along with infielder Michael Ratterree and outfielders Chase McDowell and Will Maxwell. The signees officially enroll at Rice in the fall of 2009. Their first baseball season with the Owls would be in the spring of 2010. Coach Graham had high praise for the Owls’ latest class and his assistant coaches who brought the group together.

“Our recruiting class is heavy on pitching, and we also brought people in who we thought could play in the middle of the field,” said coach Graham, who has led the Owls to seven appearances in the College World Series in 17 seasons at the helm of the program. “That is what we usually do, recruit the middle of the field and specifically pitching. It’s a strong class and is needs-oriented.

“As usual, (assistant coach) Mike (Taylor) and (assistant coach David) Pierce did an exceptional job with the recruiting,” Graham said. They addressed our immediate needs, identified players who could help us and who could handle Rice’s academics. This class is very high on academics and they can play.”

The signees are a talented group of high school players with one from the junior college ranks. Chris Anagnostou, a right-handed pitcher and left-handed hitter, joins the Owls from nearby Alvin Community College. Prior to enrolling at Alvin, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Anagnostou pitched in seven games at TCU in 2008. He went 1-0 with a 4.85 ERA while striking out 10 in 13.0 innings. Anagnostou was a local prep standout at LaPorte High School.

The Owls’ 2010 signing class is like a who’s-who from some of the local high schools. Tyler Duffey is a right-handed pitcher from Bellaire who earned First Team All-District 20-5A honors in his sophomore and junior seasons. Duffey is a three-year varsity letterman, two-time selection to the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO) All-Tournament team and a 2008 Houston Area Baseball Coaches Association all-star.

Jeremy Fant emerged as one of the stars for Cy Woods High School’s new varsity baseball program competing in District 17-5A. Not only did Fant maintain a 2.42 ERA with 45 strikeouts in the Wildcats’ inaugural season of 2008, the right-handed pitcher is an outstanding student who is ranked in the Top 15 in his class of 947.

Will Gray is an right-handed pitcher from The Kinkaid School who earned All-Southwest Preparatory Conference honors in each of the past two seasons. In 2008 the 6-foot-5, 210-pound, standout posted eight wins, a 1.56 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 45 innings.

Tyler Spurlin was a First Team All-District 15-5A pitcher and two-sport star at The Woodlands High School. As a junior the right-hander was named to the TASO All-Tournament squad. He went 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA on the mound and hit .437 with 25 RBI in 30 high school games.

Chase McDowell is a right-handed pitcher and left-handed hitting outfielder for A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound, versatile student-athlete pitched in the Area Code games in California over the summer. He batted .375 with a .563 slugging percentage in high school and was named to the Brazos Valley All-Academic Team.

Kevin Hahn is the lone left-handed pitcher in the signing class. At Stratford High School Hahn maintained a 2.14 ERA and piled up an eye-opening 105 strikeouts in 55.2 innings of work. He is a First Team All-District 19-5A honoree and a member of the National Honor Society.

First Team All-Greater Houston selection Michael Ratterree is also a 2008 honorable mention High School All-America by Collegiate Baseball. As a junior the 5-11, 195-pound, shortstop from Memorial High School hit .381 and was among the area leaders with 11 home runs and 41 RBI.

The lone out-of-state signee is Will Maxwell of Marietta, Ga. Maxwell (6-foot-2, 192) earned First Team All-Region honors and is a three-time all-county selection as an outfielder at The Walker School. He batted .421 as a junior last season with 21 RBI, 22 runs scored and 24 stolen bases. Maxwell is another outstanding student in the signing class. The average SAT score for all nine signees is 1200 on the 1600 scale.

Last season the Rice baseball team compiled a 47-15 record and reached the College World Series in Omaha for the third year in a row. The 2009 season begins on Feb. 20 with a three-game weekend series on the road at Cal Poly. The 2009 home-opener at Reckling Park is Feb. 25 against the crosstown rival Houston Cougars.

Rice Baseball Signees (2008-09 School Year)

Name Pos. B-T Ht. Wt. Hometown (Previous School/High School)
Chris Anagnostou P L/R 5-11 200 LaPorte (Alvin College/LaPorte HS)
Tyler Duffey P R/R 6-3 195 Houston (Bellaire)
Jeremy Fant P R/R 6-1 195 Cypress (Cypress Woods)
Will Gray P R/R 6-5 210 Houston (Kinkaid)
Kevin Hahn P L/L 5-11 195 Houston (Stratford)
Will Maxwell OF L/R 6-2 192 Marietta, Ga. (The Walker School)
Chase McDowell P L/R 6-2 175 College Station (A&M Consolidated)
Michael Ratterree IF/OF R/R 5-11 190 Houston (Memorial)
Tyler Spurlin P/OF R/R 6-3 190 The Woodlands (The Woodlands HS)