By Daniel Townsend
Standout pitcher and first baseman for Rice University Joe Savery smashed his eighth home run of the year Sunday in an 11-5 loss to Oklahoma.
Sophomore Joseph Cain Savery, whose uncle George Cain played football for Ole Miss, is a managerial studies/sports management major.
A native of Bellaire, Texas, Savery is considered by Rice coaches to be one of the premier two-way players in the country. “Joe is very important as both hitter and pitcher,” said Rice coach Wayne Graham.
Savery’s connections to Mississippi are many, said his grandmother, Peggy Cain. Between her and her late husband, Leonard, she said they are kin to most of Attala County.
Savery’s parents, Warren Savery and Pam Aderholt, went to Ole Miss and moved to Houston in 1981. “He’s a Mississippi product,” Peggy Cain said. “He always loved Mississippi.”
When Savery’s grandparents lived in Jackson, he would visit often, she said.
Leonard Cain was quite an athlete himself, Savery’s grandmother said. Cain was a star football player for Holmes Junior College in 1951.
After Rice University defeated crosstown rival Houston 11-5 in the Conference USA Championship Final on May 28, five Owls earned all-tournament honors, including sophomore 6-foot 3, 215 pound Savery. Savery, the grandson of the late Leonard Cain of Sallis and of Peggy Cain of Corinth, was also named the most valuable player of the baseball tournament and hit the game-winning home run at Reckling Park.
In front of 3,732 fans, the top-seeded Owls’ 10th win in a row clinched the program’s 11th consecutive conference title as Rice earned C-USA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
With a 22-2 C-USA ledger, Rice had the best conference winning percentage (.917) and fewest losses in league history.
This year Rice head baseball coach Wayne Graham had eight Owls achieve all-conference accolades, one of whom was Savery.
Savery, a left-hander, suffered a broken right hand early in game one of the Super Regional last year when he fell against a fence. Savery stayed in the game and batted in the next inning.
With two outs and runners on first and third, he bunted with an injured hand for a base hit to score a run. He came back the next day in game two of the series and pitched 6 innings to beat top-ranked Tulane on the road.
This year, Savery has been plagued with problems in his left shoulder and has played first base more than pitcher.
In spite of the setbacks, his grandmother said the prospect of playing professional baseball is still in his mind. “He’s a great athlete,” she said. “He’s always been on top of everything he did.”
