It's Winning Time As NCAA Baseball Tournament Opens

Texas Longhorns (46-11, ranked No. 3 by Baseball America)

Best Player: The four-headed monster pitching staff of Cole Green, Brandon Workman, Taylor Jungmann, and Chance Ruffin. It's hard to pick out the best among this group. Green went undefeated in the regular season and was just named a first-team All-American. Workman received second-team All-American honors and leads the team in victories with 11. Jungmann's 6-3 record isn't as showy, but he's got a 2.16 earned-run average and 113 strikeouts in 104 innings. Ruffin made the move from starter to closer this season and finished with 13 saves, a 0.77 ERA and a first-team All-American spot.

Coach: There's not much that Augie Garrido hasn't accomplished in his 42 years of coaching. He's got five national titles in four different decades with two different schools. He's racked up more wins than any other Division I coach in history, and made friends with both Kevin Costner and Richard Linklater.

Clever Aside: Texas' style of play is often referred to as "small ball"; where walks, sacrifice bunts, and timely singles combine to put runs on the board. But this year's team has added power to the mix with a school-record 73 home runs.

Rice Owls (38-21, ranked No. 18 by Baseball America)

Best Player: Third baseman Anthony Rendon. The sophomore from Houston has won Conference USA Player of the Year in both of his college seasons. This year, he's hitting .393 with 78 RBIs in 59 games and has more home runs (23) than strikeouts (21).

Coach: Wayne Graham is Rice's Garrido. His San Jacinto Junior College teams won five national titles in six years. He's added more than 800 more victories since moving to Rice, including a College World Series title in 2003, the first national championship for the school in any sport.

Clever Aside: Sophomore right-hander Matthew Reckling's grandfather, T.R. Reckling, played baseball at Rice in the 1950s and is the namesake for the Owls' home field of Reckling Park.

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (37-20)

Best Player: The one-two punch of Chad Keefer and Jordan Poirrier. The two have put up remarkably similar numbers, both batting.330 or better with 70-plus hits. Keefer has 15 homers and 57 RBIs, while Poirrier has 12 homers and 56 RBIs.

Coach: Tony Robichaux has led the Ragin' Cajuns since 1995. Like Garrido and Graham, he has more than 800 career victories, and in 2002, he became one of only eight coaches in NCAA Division I history to win his 500th career game before his 41st birthday

Clever Aside: The best player in school history is famed New York Yankees left-hander Ron Guidry, who played back in the 1960s when the school was known as Southwestern Louisiana University.

Rider Broncs (36-21)

Best Player: Second baseman A.J. Albee was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament MVP as Rider defeated top-seeded Canisius to advance to the NCAA regionals. Albee, a junior, set school records this season for runs scored (62), RBI (60) and assists (173).

Coach: Barry Davis took over for Sonny Pittaro, who coached the Broncs for 34 years. This was his second conference tournament championship in six seasons.

Clever Aside: Legendary college basketball coach Clair Bee was Rider's first baseball coach and the person who founded varsity athletics at the school. Bee then went on to fame at Long Island University and created several aspects of modern basketball, like the three-second rule and the 24-second shot clock in the NBA.