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From Staff, Wire Reports

HOUSTON — For the second straight season, Texas A&M and Rice will meet to determine who will represent the Lone Star State in Omaha.

The Aggies (46-17) and sixth-seeded Owls (45-13) are scheduled to contest a best-of-three super regional beginning today at Reckling Park. The winner will advance to the College World Series, scheduled to begin June 14 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.

In last season’s super regional, Rice needed only two games to eliminate A&M. The Owls then won their first two games in the CWS before falling twice to North Carolina in the semifinals.

In forcing the rematch, A&M un-bottled its offense after losing eight of nine games entering the NCAAs. In the College Station Regional, the Aggies scored 53 runs and defeated Houston 13-5 on Monday to avoid elimination and advance.

“We’re extremely excited to be back,” Aggies coach Rob Childress said this week. “We understand the weekend ahead. Rice has a very good program; they’ve been here six years in a row at the super regional.

“I feel good about our team and the way we’re playing.”

Rice, meanwhile, never faced elimination in the Houston Regional. In continuing to flex its status as a national power, the Owls defeated Texas 7-4 in the regional championship.

“I’m happy that we’ve gotten here as healthy as we have,” Owls coach Wayne Graham said. “A&M has good power, speed and good pitching, so we’re going to have to be good. I think we’ve got pretty good hitting too.

“Over the years we’ve been able to produce runs even though we don’t have some of the impressive stats that other people have.”

A&M isn’t thinking about Rice having a home-field advantage.

“I think it’s irrelevant,” Childress. “It would be nice to play at our place, but I understand there will be a lot of maroon in the stands, and it’s somewhat of a familiar place for our players.”

In other series beginning Saturday, No. 2 North Carolina (49-12) meets Coastal Carolina (50-12) in Cary, N.C.; No. 7 LSU (46-16-1) plays UC Irvine (41-16) in Baton Rouge, La.; and No. 3 Arizona State (48-11) takes on Fresno State (40-28) in Tempe, Ariz.

———

TEXAS A&M (46-17)

at RICE (45-13)

SITE: Reckling Park; Houston.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Texas A&M won College Station Regional: beat Illinois-Chicago 15-1; beat Houston 22-4; lost to Houston 4-3; beat Houston 13-5. Rice won Houston Regional: beat Sam Houston St. 3-2; beat St. John’s 11-2; beat Texas 7-4.

COACHES: Texas A&M, Rob Childress. Rice, Wayne Graham.

TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES (LAST): Texas A&M, 24th (2007). Rice, 14th (2007).

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Texas A&M: 1B Luke Anders (.344, 16, 56), DH Darby Brown (.338, 12, 68), CF Kyle Colligan (.318, 14, 38), SS Jose Duran (.382, 6, 67), RHP Clayton Ehlert (6-2, 3.41), RHP Barret Loux (6-2, 4.27), RHP Travis Starling (8-1, 3.55, 9 saves).

Rice: RHP Ryan Berry (8-4, 3.00), SS Rick Hague (.346, 8, 48), RHP Chris Kelley (5-1, 3.28), LF Aaron Luna (.319, 9, 52), LHP Cole St. Clair (9-2, 2.65, 5 saves), 3B Diego Seastrunk (.363, 5, 56), C Adam Zornes (.306, 11, 52).