Jared Gayhart led the Rice offense with 6 RBIs, and All-American Joe Savery drove in three. Aaron Luna was named tournament MVP, Luna went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and 1 run scored today.

"I've been hitting the ball well and I just tried to come in here and not do to much," said Luna. "It helps when I have guys like Jess Buenger and Joe Savery hitting around me."

Even though the score seemed lopsided, the game was close until Rice blew things open late in the game.

"We hit some balls hard," said Rice coach Wayne Graham. "I thought we had an awful lot of quality at-bats today and got some big hits that were important."

After Rice struggled yesterday morning, scoring only 1 run a loss to Memphis, the potent Owl's responded, scoring 36 runs on 35 hits in its final two games.

"I think our guys are maturing as hitters and with their approaches to the plate," said Graham. "We like the fact that right now we're strong one through nine and guys are picking eachother up, and if that trend keeps going we could be dangerous."

Rice will be dangerous indeed, as the NCAA Tournament starts next weekend. ECU and Southern Miss should join the Owls, making C-USA a 3-bid leauge. ECU can also be dangerous in the NCAA Tournament, the Pirates will be a strong No. 2 seed wherever they go, and coach Godwin seems confident with his team heading into the NCAA Tournament, despite today's loss.

Final note, I would like to thank Russ Anderson, Malcolm Gray and everyone else that helped in putting on a great C-USA Tournament here at Clark-LeClair Stadium. This was a great postseason atmosphere and tournament!