United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rice third baseman Hunter Brown, a senior from Houston, Texas (Lamar HS/Galveston College), hit. 500 (7-14) in four games last week. In a three-game sweep of Fresno State, Brown was 6-of-11 from the plate. In the last two games against the Bulldogs, he hit a home run, a double and had three RBI in each contest. For the week, he had a total of seven RBI, two home runs, two doubles and scored six runs. He also has not committed an error in nine conference games this year.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK San Jose State right-handed pitcher Mike Malott, a junior from San Jose, Calif. (Valley Christian HS), made two appearances last week at Hawaiis Rainbow Easter Tournament and picked up a win and a save. He earned the save after pitching 2.1 hitless innings against Hawaii Pacific on Tuesday. Against Hawaii, Malott pitched a complete game one-hitter and struck out eight batters. In the two games combined, he pitched 11.1 innings allowing one hit, no runs and struck out 11. Malott was named the tournaments most outstanding pitcher for his efforts.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Kevin Gilbride, Jr., 1B, Hawaii - was 8-for-24 (.333) in six games last week. Gilbride scored four runs and drove in three.
Cullen Simmons, Sr., OF, Louisiana Tech - hit .438 (7-16) as the Bulldogs split their four games last week. Simmons had three RBI, scored two runs and hit a double during the four games.
Erick Streelman, So., 1B/OF, Nevada - was 7-for-13 (.538) in four games as Nevada went 3-1 last week. Streelman drove in six runs and had at least one hit in all four games. He hit his first home run of his career pinch hitting against St. Marys College.
Gabe Lopez, Sr., 2B, San Jose State - hit .476 (10-21) in six games during the Rainbow Easter Tournament and was named the MVP. Lopez scored eight runs, hit three doubles, had three RBI and was walked eight times as the Spartans won all six games.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Sean Yamashita, Sr., Hawaii - earned his first two wins of the year with victories over Birmingham-Southern and Hawaii-Hilo. Yamashita had a 1.72 ERA and struck out 12 batters in 15.2 innings.
Derek Brewster, Sr., Louisiana Tech - made two relief appearances last week, giving up one hit and not allowing a run in three innings. He pitched two innings on Sunday to earn a win at Nevada.
Darrell Rasner, Jr., Nevada - picked up a win in his second complete game of the year after throwing 142 pitches in a 4-2 victory versus Louisiana Tech on Friday. He allowed just two runs (one earned) on seven hits and struck out eight in the game.
Steven Herce, Jr., Rice - pitched Rices first complete game of the year in a 9-2 victory over Fresno State on Friday. He allowed five hits, two runs, four walks and struck out eight.

ALL SIX TEAMS IN CONFERENCE ACTION This week, all six teams will meet in WAC play as league-leading Rice travels to San Jose State for three games beginning Friday, Nevada plays at Hawaii starting Thursday and Fresno State hosts Louisiana Tech, Friday-Sunday. Only Rice plays a non-conference game this week as the Owls travel across town to play Houston at 7:00 p.m. (CT). Rice is ranked third in the nation, while Houston is fifth according to Baseball America. The teams have already played three times this season with Rice winning all three games.

SPARTANS WIN RAINBOW EASTER TOURNAMENT San Jose State won the 27th Ohana Hotels and Resorts Rainbow Easter Tournament that was hosted by Hawaii last week. The Spartans defeated all six opponents they faced: UC-Riverside, Hawaii Pacific, Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii, Birmingham Southern and Lewis Clark State. Combined with winning the last two games of the Hawaii series prior to the start of the tournament, San Jose State now has an eight-game winning streak, currently the longest in the WAC. The Spartans had five players named to the all-tournament team: 1B Bryan Baker, SS Ryan Adams, OF Travis Becktel, 2B Gabe Lopez and P Michael Malott. Lopez was named the tournaments most outstanding player while Malott was the most outstanding pitcher. Hawaii earned second place in the tournament, and pitcher Sean Yamashita earned all-tournament honors.

POWERS WINS 600TH Nevada head coach Gary Powers earned his 600th victory (all with the Wolf Pack) last Friday when his team defeated Louisiana Tech, 4-2. Powers, a 1971 graduate of Nevada, is in his 20th season with the Wolf Pack and is 601-444-4.

STREAKING The Owls currently boast the three longest hitting streaks in the WAC. Rice DH Chris Kolkhorst has the longest current hitting streak at 16 games, the second longest in the WAC this season. Kolkhorst is hitting .391 (25-64) with 11 RBI and 13 runs during that span. Outfielder Austin Davis has the second longest streak at 15 games while second baseman Eric Arnold has a 14-game hitting streak. San Jose State second baseman Gabe Lopez had the longest hitting streak in the WAC this season when he hit safely in 21 straight games from Feb. 16-March 26.

IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is 3rd in the Baseball America poll, Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll and Collegiate Baseball poll. The Owls are also 3rd in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. San Jose State received votes in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll to rank 38th.

NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 83-57 (.593). Fresno State is 12-12 (.500), Hawaii is 11-14 (.440), Louisiana Tech is 13-9 (.591), Nevada is 12-11 (.522), Rice is 17-5 (.773) and San Jose State is 18-6 (.750).

NCAA STATS The NCAA will be releasing the seasons first set of stats next Tuesday, April 9.

BASEHITS Fresno State: had its 11-game winning streak come to an end last week against Houston and has now lost four in a row ... the 11-game winning streak was the longest in the WAC this season ... head coach Bob Bennett is the fifth winningest active coach in Division I with 1,285 victories ... Bennett is retiring after this season ... Hawaii: the Rainbows have won three in a row after losing 14 of its previous 17 games ... junior 3B Brent Cook leads the WAC in stolen bases (13-for-14) ... Louisiana Tech: senior Cullen Simmons has moved into seventh place on the career RBI list at Louisiana Tech with 140 and is ninth on the career hit list with 204 ... the Bulldogs have lost eight of their last 10 games ... Nevada: has won three of its last four games after losing seven of its previous 10 games ... Erick Streelman is hitting .321 in 14 games and is also the starting tight end for the football team ... Darrell Rasner set the school record for career innings last week and now has three Nevada career marks: wins (26), strikeouts (256) and innings pitched (297) ... Curtis Wickwire has seven hits this year and five of them are home runs ... Wolf Pack hitters have struck out a WAC-leading 236 times, 28 more than the next closest team ... senior third baseman Mike Gillies led the WAC last year with a .402 batting average and is currently seventh with a .366 average ... Rice: the Owls 26-5 record is its best ever after 31 games ... had its 11-game winning streak come to an end last week against Southwest Texas State but has won 14 of its last 15 games ... the Owls have the top three hitters in the WAC in Vincent Sinisi (.410), Eric Arnold (.403) and Paul Janish (.383) ... Arnold will play in his 200th game as an Owl tonight ... he also needs just five more at-bats to tie the school career record of 748 ... Arnold leads the WAC in multiple hit games (18) and multiple RBI games (12) ... Rice is hitting .401 in conference games only ... Rice has won 13 straight conference games dating back to last year ... San Jose State: has won 10 of its last 11 games ... senior Gabe Lopez had his 21-game hitting streak come to an end last week ... the streak tied the school record set in 1985 ... catcher Adam Shorsher leads the WAC with 11 home runs.

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.