Weekly Baseball Notes (April 10)
PITCHER OF THE WEEK Rice right-handed pitcher Steven Herce, a sophomore from Houston (St. Thomas HS), started one game and had a relief appearance in another. He threw eight innings against Texas A&M on Tuesday to pick up a win and gave up six hits, one earned run, one walk and struck out seven. Against San Jose State, he pitched 3.1 innings and allowed two hits, one unearned run and struck out two in a 7-5 loss.
OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Kevin Gilbride, So., OF, Hawaii - went 4-for-8 from the plate with a double, a run scored, two RBI and a stolen base in two games against Fresno State.
Keola Park, Jr., IF, Hawaii-Hilo - hit .500 (5-10) in four games against Washington. He had one single, three doubles and a home run.
Zack Zwissig, Sr., DH, San Jose State - started in four games and was 6-for-12 with three runs, two RBI and two doubles.
Jason Price, Sr., C/OF, TCU - hit .563 (9-16) with four runs scored and six RBI in five games. He also had a double and home run in the four-game series against Nevada.
Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Mateo Miramontes, Fr., Nevada - threw his second straight complete game and struck out 12 batters in a 7-3 victory over TCU. He gave up 12 hits and the three runs were earned.
Chris Sherman, Sr., San Jose State - pitched six innings and picked up a win against Rice. He gave up two runs, 11 hits, walked three and struck out three in the contest.
STREAKING Nevada shortstop Matt Maguire has the longest current hitting streak in the WAC at 13 games. The longest streak this season was by Nevada third baseman Mike Gillies who hit safely in 21 straight games from Feb. 27-April 7.
WAC GAMES Three WAC series will be played this week. Fresno State travels to Hawaii-Hilo for three games beginning Thursday night. On Friday, Nevada hosts Rice for three games, and beginning Saturday, Hawaii plays TCU in Fort Worth. Only TCU and Hawaii have already met this year. The Horned Frogs swept the Rainbows in Honolulu. San Jose State hosts two non-conference games against California on Tuesday and Hawaii Pacific on Saturday.
TEAMS/PLAYERS RANKED IN NATIONAL STATISTICS In the most recent NCAA statistics (April 8), three players and teams are ranked nationally. Rice leads the country in pitching with a team ERA of 2.45. San Jose State is third in fielding with a .975 percentage. The Owls are 14th in win-loss percentage at .769. TCU teammates Ramon Moses and Rudy Rivera are ranked 6th and 19th, respectively, in triples, while Rices Kenny Baugh is 16th with a 1.55 ERA.
NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 69-47-1 (.594). Fresno State is 16-7 (.696), Hawaii is 10-6 (.625), Hawaii-Hilo is 2-10 (.167), Nevada is 9-6 (.600), Rice is 12-6 (.667), San Jose State is 11-4-1 (.719) and TCU is 9-8 (.529).
BASEHITS Fresno State has won three of its last four games ... catcher Brad Harper is one of 35 players nationally to be named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list ... Hawaii concluded its 19-game homestand with a 10-9 record ... the Rainbows have lost three of their last four after winning eight of their previous nine ... CF Matthew Purtell stole a WAC-high five bases last week in just three games ... Hawaii-Hilo beat Washington in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday to snap a six-game losing streak ... Nalei Sooto hit his first career home run to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning ... the Vulcans have lost 18 of their last 20 games ... Nevadas Mike Gillies had his WAC-best 21-game hitting streak end on Sunday against TCU ... the Wolf Pack have three players with current hit streaks of 11 or more games: shortstop Matt Maguire (13), outfielder Chris Dickerson (11) and infielder Alex Rangel (11) ... Rice was 2-3 last week and had no errors in its two wins and 12 errors in its three losses ... only six of the 24 runs scored against the Owls last week were earned ... Rices Kenny Baugh had his streak of 10 straight WAC decisions come to an end, but Jon Skaggs has won his last 13 decisions overall ... Rices ERA of 2.45 would be a school record if maintained ... San Jose State won the series against Rice last week, snapping the Owls winning streak at 12 WAC series in a row ... all seven of San Jose States runs in a 7-5 victory against Rice were unearned ... the Spartans were 2-2 last week against the top two teams in the country as they lost to No. 2 Stanford 5-3 in 10 innings and won two of three against No. 1 Rice ... TCU catcher Jason Price is one of 35 players nationally to be named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list.
POSTSEASON The WAC does not have a postseason tournament, but the regular season champion as determined by winning percentage in conference games will earn an automatic berth into this years NCAA Tournament which begins May 25.
WAC EXPANDS IN 2002 Next year, the WAC will have six baseball teams. Louisiana Tech will join the conference, while TCU and Hawaii-Hilo are leaving. The teams will continue to play each other a total of six times for a 30-game schedule