PITCHER OF THE WEEK - San Jose State left-handed pitcher Jahseam George, a senior from Clovis, Calif. (Buchanan HS), pitched a seven-inning complete game shutout against Hawai'i-Hilo on Saturday. George allowed just two hits, struck out six and walked none for his first shutout and complete game of the season. The Spartans won the game 16-0 to complete a five-game sweep of the Vulcans.
OTHERS NOMINATED - Other player of the week nominations included:
Ben Fritz, So., DH, Fresno State - was 4-for-14 from the plate in four games with four RBI, five runs, a triple and two home runs. He hit both home runs in Friday's 11-5 victory against TCU and had three RBI and three runs scored.
Matt Purtell, Sr., MI, Hawai'i - hit .471 (8-17) in four games. He scored four runs, drove in four and hit two doubles.
John Fagan, Sr., 1B, San Jose State - was 9-for-17 (.529) in five games against Hawai'i-Hilo and scored eight runs, drove in seven and hit three doubles and two home runs.
Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Ben Fritz, So., Fresno State - pitched in two games against TCU and allowed one run, four hits and four walks in five innings. He picked up the win on Saturday pitching 4.1 innings.
Darrell Rasner, So., Nevada - threw his third complete game of the season as Nevada defeated Hawai'i 11-6 on Thursday. He allowed eight hits, six runs (four earned), no walks and struck out seven. Rasner had five 1-2-3 innings in the game.
WAC GAMES - In the second to final weekend of the regular season, there will be three WAC series played Friday-Sunday. Fresno State hosts Rice, San Jose State travels to Nevada and Hawai'i-Hilo hosts Hawai'i. TCU will play three games against Texas-Arlington on the weekend. Earlier this year, Rice swept Fresno State in Houston and San Jose State swept Nevada in San Jose. The two Hawai'i schools have not met this year and will play again the following week in Honolulu.
OWLS GO FOR 5TH IN A ROW - Rice would win its fifth straight WAC title if it sweeps Fresno State this weekend. The Owls would improve to 25-8 and would finish the season against TCU. Even if Rice lost all three to TCU, Rice would be 25-11, while TCU would finish 24-12. If Rice wins two of three against the Bulldogs, it would do no worse than tie for the WAC championship.
STREAKING - Hawai'i's Gregg Omori, Rice's Hunter Brown and San Jose State's Gabe Lopez have the longest current hitting streaks in the WAC at 8 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.
IN THE POLLS - In this week's polls, Rice dropped to ninth in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll, 11th in the Baseball America poll and moved up to 12th in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Fresno State, TCU and Nevada received votes in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll as well. The Owls are also 14th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
RICE FIRST IN ERA, SJSU FIRST IN FIELDING - In the most recent NCAA statistics (May 6), two players and three teams are ranked nationally. Rice is first in the country in pitching with a team ERA of 2.80. San Jose State is first in fielding with a .977 percentage and TCU is 11th in fielding with a .971 percentage. Rice's Kenny Baugh is eighth with a 1.44 ERA, and his teammate, Steven Herce, is 47th in ERA at 2.48.
NON-CONFERENCE - In non-conference games, the WAC is 82-59-1 (.581). Fresno State is 17-8 (.680), Hawai'i is 13-7 (.650), Hawai'i-Hilo is 2-12 (.143), Nevada is 12-7 (.632), Rice is 16-7 (.696), San Jose State is 12-7-1 (.625) and TCU is 10-11 (.476).
BASEHITS - Fresno State has won seven of its last eight games and received votes in the Baseball Weekly poll for the first time this year ... Bob Runyon's record of 7-1 this year is the best in the WAC by winning percentage of any pitcher in the WAC's top 15 of ERA ... catcher Brad Harper is one of 35 players nationally to be named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list ... Hawai'i was swept in a WAC series for the fourth time this year last week against Nevada ... Hawai'i-Hilo has lost 14 games in a row and 31 of their last 33 games ... the Vulcans are last in the WAC in hitting, pitching and fielding ... senior outfielder Ryan Petersen is second in the WAC in stolen bases per game with 0.44 and is tied for fourth in triples per game with 0.06 ... Nevada has a five-game winning streak, its longest of the year, and has won seven of its last eight games ... the Wolf Pack's sweep of Hawai'i was their first WAC series sweep ... Nevada leads the WAC in homers with 68 and has had a home run in 25 of 33 WAC games this year ... third baseman Mike Gillies has a hit in 36 of his last 38 games and is hitting .433 during that stretch ... first baseman JaRell McIntyre leads the WAC in hitting with a .398 average while Gillies is second at .397 ... Rice is 2-2 against Houston this year and plays the deciding game for the 2001 Silver Glove on Wednesday versus the Cougars ... Rice leads the WAC and the nation in pitching with an ERA of 2.80 ... the Owls have committed a WAC-worst 91 errors ... Rice returns to the field on Wednesday when it hosts Houston after a 10-day break for spring semester final exams ... Kenny Baugh and Matt Fox will pick up their degrees on Saturday morning before flying out to Fresno to join the team for Saturday night's game ... Rice is 8-0 versus ranked teams this year ... the Owls have lost six of their last 10 games ... Baugh has a consecutive scoreless streak of 16 innings ... Baugh has 401 strikeouts and 38 wins in his career ... the win total is tied for the fourth-most in WAC history ... San Jose State has a five-game winning streak its second longest of the year (7) ... SJSU outscored Hawai'i-Hilo 59-4 and had 70 hits to the Vulcans' 25 in the five games last week ... all five starting pitchers had complete games in the series ... Brandon Macchi became the school's career leader in RBI last week, breaking the old record of 125 set by current assistant coach Robert Berns ... Macchi now has 132 RBI ... John Fagan tied the school's career home run record of 23 last week and is currently tied with Berns (1985-86) ... San Jose State leads the nation in fielding percentage (.977) ... TCU picked up its only win against Fresno State last week in the first game when it rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to win 4-3 ... 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 year's 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 Hawai'i-Hilo are leaving. The teams will continue to play each other a total of six times for a 30-game schedule.