United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno State catcher Ben Fritz, a junior from San Jose, Calif. (Oak Grove HS), hit .364 (8-22) as Fresno State took the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic title winning all six games it played. Fritz was named the MVP after driving in 13 runs and scoring seven. He hit two home runs and a double. Fritz also pitched one game against Oral Roberts and picked up a complete game victory. He gave up just one earned run, five hits and two walks while striking out nine.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK San Jose State right-handed pitcher Mike Malott, a sophomore from San Jose, Calif. (Valley Christian HS), was 2-0 in two appearances last week. On Tuesday, he pitched his first complete game and picked up a 7-1 victory against Sacramento State. Malott allowed three hits and struck out a career-high six batters. He then earned another victory when he came into a game against Louisiana Tech with the score tied 4-4. He pitched the last inning and two-thirds and gave up just one hit and one walk while striking out two as San Jose State won 5-4 in the bottom of the 10th inning.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Brent Cook, Jr., 3B, Hawaii - hit .412 (7-17) in four games and was 4-for-4 in stolen bases.
Craig Markel, Jr., C, Nevada - was 6-for-11 (.545) from the plate in three games last week. In two games against Cal State Fullerton, Markel was 5-for-8 with three runs scored and two RBI.
Eric Arnold, Sr., 2B, Rice - hit .625 (5-8) in a three-game sweep of Harvard. He had a total of four RBI, including three in the final game.
Gabe Lopez, Sr., 2B, San Jose State - extended his hitting streak to 16 games by hitting .357 (5-14) in four games last week. In the first game of Saturdays doubleheader against Louisiana Tech, he was 1-for-5 but hit a grand slam to give the Spartans a seven-run lead. In the second game, he hit a lead-off double in the 10th inning and eventually scored the winning run.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Mike Hernandez, So., Fresno State - made three appearances and picked up three saves to tie the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic record. Hernandez pitched a total of 6.1 innings and gave up five hits, one walk and struck out seven.
Chris George, Jr., Hawaii - struck out 12 batters in just six innings, but gave up six runs to take the loss.
Lee Gwaltney, Sr., Louisiana Tech - picked up the win in Techs first ever WAC game against San Jose State on Friday. Gwaltney pitched eight innings, gave up eight hits, two walks, two runs and struck out 10.
Bryan Johnson, Fr., Nevada - made two relief appearances and picked up a win against 15th-ranked Cal State Fullerton. In that game, he pitched 4.1 innings and allowed one run on three hits.
Philip Humber, Fr., Rice - recorded the victory against Harvard on Sunday by shutting out the Crimson on five hits over six innings. He also struck out five in the game.

WAC ACTION HEATS UP Beginning Friday, all six teams will be competing in conference games. Louisiana Tech hosts Fresno State, San Jose State travels to Hawaii and Rice hosts Nevada. For the Wolf Pack, it will be their first league games of the year. The meeting between Louisiana Tech and Fresno State will be the first in the schools histories.

STREAKING San Jose State second baseman Gabe Lopez has the longest current hitting streak in the WAC at 16 games which is also the longest of the season in the league. Lopez has hit .390 with 12 runs, 25 RBI and seven doubles during that span.

IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is 4th in both the Baseball America and Baseball Weekly/ESPN polls and 5th in the Collegiate Baseball poll. The Owls are also 4th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.

NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 69-53 (.566). Fresno State is 12-11 (.522), Hawaii is 7-13 (.350), Louisiana Tech is 12-8 (.600), Nevada is 10-11 (.476), Rice is 15-4 (.789) and San Jose State is 13-6 (.684).

BASEHITS Fresno State: has an eight-game winning streak, currently the longest in the WAC and second longest in the WAC this season (Rice won nine in a row from Feb. 9-24) ... sophomore Mike Hernandez has struck out 35 batters in 35 innings ... head coach Bob Bennett is the fifth winningest active coach in Division I with 1,282 victories ... Bennett is retiring after this season ... Hawaii: the Rainbows seven-game losing streak is the longest in the WAC this season ... UH has lost 10 of its last 11 games after winning four of its previous five including a three-game sweep of UCLA ... junior 3B Brent Cook leads the WAC in stolen bases (11-for-12) ... Louisiana Tech: senior Lee Gwaltney has struck out at least 10 batters in a game three times this season ... Gwaltney leads the WAC with a 1.79 ERA ... Cullen Simmons is second in the WAC in hitting with a .403 batting average ... Nevada: head coach Gary Powers will sit out this afternoons game against Pacific due to a NCAA mandated suspension relating to a self-reported secondary violation that occurred last fall ... ended Cal State Fullertons streak of 60 consecutive wins when leading after the seventh inning after defeating the Titans, 8-7, on Saturday ... Nevada was the last team to beat Cal State Fullerton when trailing after seven innings (May 7, 2000) ... Sundays game against Cal State Fullerton was cancelled due to snow flurries and will not be rescheduled ... Rice: has a six-game winning streak, its second longest of the season ... the Owls won nine in a row from Feb. 9-24 ... during its current streak, Rice is hitting .367 and has a team ERA of 2.17 ... the Owls play Houston tonight in game two of the Silver Glove Series ... game three will be tomorrow night at Houston, a rescheduled game from Feb. 26 due to cold weather ... when Rice resumes conference play this weekend against Nevada, the Owls will have a seven-game WAC winning streak dating back to last season ... San Jose State: has won eight of its last 11 games ... senior Gabe Lopezs 16-game hitting streak is the longest of his career.

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 31.