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| Vincent Sinisi |
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| Philip Humber |
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| Steve Herce |
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HOUSTON Rice first-baseman Vincent Sinisi and pitchers Steven Herce and Philip Humber have been named to the preseason all-America team as selected by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
Sinisi was named to a first-team berth, Humber was a second-team selection, and Herce was tabbed for the third team.
Sinisi, a sophomore from The Woodlands (High), was the 2002 Western Athletic Conference player of the year after leading the Owls with a .428 batting average. He also had 11 home runs and 80 runs batted in.
Humber, a sophomore from Carthage (High), was 11-1 as a freshman in 2002 with a 2.77 earned run average. He struck out 130 batters in 110.2 innings to win all-WAC and freshman of the year honors.
Herce, a senior from Houston (St. Thomas High), was 13-3 with a 2.79 ERA in '02. He was also a first-team all-WAC selection.
Texas had four players selected to the three teams, while Rice, Florida State, Stanford and Wake Forest had three all-America selections each.
The Owls, 52-14 a year ago with their third trip to the College World Series, will seek to extend their streak of seven consecutive conference championships in 2003. Rice won the final Southwest Conference tournament title in 1996 and has won every WAC title from 1997 through 2002.