Husson College vice president for sports leadership and assistant baseball coach Dr. John Winkin will be the tournament director for the Houston Regional in the NCAA Division I Tournament at Rice University’s Reckling Park beginning Friday.

The host school will take on McNeese State (La.) in Friday’s four-team, double-elimination opener with Mississippi and Wichita State squaring off in the nightcap.

Winkin will then direct a Super Regional the following weekend, a best-of-three series between two regional winners.

“I will probably stay in Texas for a Super Regional,” said Winkin, noting that the University of Texas and Texas A&M are also hosting regionals this weekend.

The winners of the Rice and Texas A&M regionals will vie in one Super Regional, according to Winkin.

The former University of Maine baseball coach said he figures he has been involved in a regional as a coach or director since the 1970s.

He has directed a number of regionals in the south (i.e. Florida State, Florida, Miami, Clemson) and he said he likes being moved to a different region.

“I asked them [NCAA] to move me around,” said Winkin whose 1996 Maine team played a pair of games at Rice, losing both. Houston Astros star Lance Berkman played on that Rice team.

He enjoys directing regionals, saying, “You get to see the best of everything. I like to see different venues. And I’ve seen some great pro prospects.”

Among those prospects were Georgia Tech’s Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, Kevin Brown and Jay Payton.

He said the current Rice team has one of the best pitching staffs in the nation including three Major League prospects.

The Super Regional will be “trickier” for Winkin this season because ESPN is televising them for the first time.

He explained that if bad weather alters a game time, ESPN will have input into when to reschedule it so they can air it.

Winkin left today at 4:30 a.m. for Houston.

Five Bears to play in all-star game

Five University of Maine baseball players have been selected to play in the 29th annual New England Intercollegiate Baseball Coaches Association All-Star game at Boston’s Fenway Park Thursday at noon.

The university division stars will play the college division stars.

Senior second baseman Brett Ouellette and designated hitter Alain Picard were chosen to the first team, senior third baseman Joe Drapeau and junior pitcher Mike Collar were named to the second team and sophomore catcher Aaron Izaryk will take the place of Central Connecticut’s Tim D’Aquila because the Blue Devils are playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Ouellette, Drapeau, Picard and Collar were First Team All-America East choices a week ago and Izaryk was a second team choice.

Ernest fails to make Pan Am team

University of Maine junior forward Heather Ernest of Temple, the America East Player of the Year after averaging 20 points and 10.2 rebounds through 28 games, failed in her quest to earn a spot on the United States’ Pan Am Games team.

Ernest was one of 58 players who participated in a four-day USA Basketball National Team trial at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Col. last week.

There were 12 players chosen along with six alternates.

The only players picked from New England schools were the University of Connecticut’s Barbara Turner and Ann Strother. Boston College’s Amber Jacobs was an alternate.

Ernest racked up 15 double-doubles and was a first team All-America East and America East all-tourney pick.

Terriers retain Haskell Cup

For the second straight year, Boston University’s Terriers won the 2002-2003 Stuart P. Haskell Jr. Commissioner’s Cup which recognizes the best athletic program in America East as determined by a scoring system which rewards schools for regular season and tournament success in the conference’s 21 sports.

Maine finished sixth.

BU tallied 326 points. New Hampshire was second with 293 followed by Northeastern (286), Vermont (271), Stony Brook (267), Maine (248), Albany (236), Hartford (208) and Binghamton (191).