United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK San Jose State designated hitter Hector Zamora, a junior from Culver City, Calif. (Cerritos College), hit .438 (7-16) with six RBI and scored three runs in four games last week. The Spartans won all four contests to extend their winning streak to seven games. Zamora had multiple hits in three of the four games. He hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, against Santa Clara. In a three-game sweep of Louisiana Tech, he was 5-for-11 with five RBI and two runs.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Fresno State right-handed pitcher Ben Fritz, a junior from San Jose, Calif. (Oak Grove HS), threw a complete-game shutout versus Nevada on Friday. Fritz allowed only three hits and four walks while striking out a career-high 15 batters in the 1-0 victory. The 15 strikeouts were the most by a WAC pitcher this season. Fritz also hit .400 (6-15) in four games last week with three runs and three RBI. In the game he pitched, Fritz was 2-for-4 and scored the winning run for the Bulldogs.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Chris Patrick, So., SS, Fresno State - hit .333 (4-12) in three games last week. On Sunday against Nevada, he hit his fifth home run of the season, drove in four and scored four runs.
Nick Cauley, Sr., 1B/DH, Louisiana Tech - extended his career-high hitting streak to nine games as he was 10-for-19 (.526) in five contests last week. He tied a career-best with four hits versus San Jose State on Friday.
Chris Kolkhorst, So., OF, Rice - hit .353 (6-17) in four games and had seven RBI, two home runs and scored five times. Against No. 7 Houston, he hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Owls a 7-5 win.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Casey Blalock, Sr., Louisiana Tech - was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts last week. Against Hawaii he allowed just one run and struck out seven in recording a complete-game victory.
Philip Humber, Fr., Rice - picked up a win versus Hawaii by pitching eight innings and allowing no runs, three hits and four walks while striking out seven. All three hits were singles.
Matt Durkin, Fr., San Jose State - won his fifth straight game with a complete-game shutout versus Louisiana Tech on Sunday. He allowed just five hits, no walks and struck out 10 in the game. The 10 strikeouts tied his career-high.

FRITZ NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK Collegiate Baseball also named Fresno State pitcher Ben Fritz as one of its national players of the week. It was the first time this season a WAC player had earned such an honor.

TOP THREE SWEEP This past week, the top three teams swept their WAC series. Rice took all three from Hawaii, San Jose State defeated Louisiana Tech and Fresno State swept Nevada. There have been 10 series sweeps this year and all 10 have come from the top three teams: Rice (5), Fresno State (3) and San Jose State (2).

FULL SLATE OF WAC ACTION THIS WEEK This week, Rice hosts Louisiana Tech beginning Thursday, San Jose State travels to Nevada on Friday and Hawaii hosts Fresno State Friday evening. This will be the first meetings of the year between the teams in all three series.

NON-CONFERENCE GAMES Beginning today, three teams will play non-conference opponents this week. Nevada hosts San Francisco and Rice travels to Texas A&M this evening. UC-Irvine hosts Fresno State on Wednesday night. Earlier this season San Francisco lost two games against San Jose State in the Dons only meetings with a WAC school. UC-Irvine won two of three versus Hawaii, March 1-3. Rice lost a game against Texas A&M on Feb. 8, 5-2, in the Astros College Classic. It was the second game of the season for the Owls. Tonights game will feature two top 20 teams as Rice is No. 2 and Texas A&M is 19th.

STREAKING Fresno State third baseman Casey McGehee currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 19 games. McGehee is hitting .410 (32-78) with 13 RBI and 15 runs during that span. 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 2nd in the Baseball America poll, 2nd in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll and 2nd in the Collegiate Baseball poll. The Owls are also 2nd in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. San Jose State is ranked 28th in the Collegiate Baseball poll and 26th in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll.

NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 85-63 (.574). Fresno State is 12-13 (.480), Hawaii is 11-14 (.440), Louisiana Tech is 13-11 (.542), Nevada is 12-11 (.522), Rice is 18-7 (.720) and San Jose State is 19-7 (.731).

BASEHITS Fresno State: after starting 2-8 at home, Fresno State has won 14 in a row at Beiden Field ... the Bulldogs are 26-4 against UC-Irvine and have won the last 15 meetings ... head coach Bob Bennett (who is retiring at the end of the season) is the fifth winningest active coach in Division I with 1,293 victories ... he is seven wins shy of becoming the seventh baseball coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,300 wins ... Hawaii: the Rainbows have lost seven of their last eight games ... after winning its first game on the mainland on April 13, UH lost five in a row on the road ... the 11-inning 7-6 loss against Rice on Sunday was the closest a WAC team has been against the Owls in their 17 wins ... junior 3B Brent Cook leads the WAC in stolen bases (15-for-17) ... Louisiana Tech: the Bulldogs have lost nine of their last 11 games ... Louisiana Tech posted its two highest hit totals in the WAC last week with 14 on Friday and 16 on Saturday ... the Bulldogs have played four straight games against ranked teams (0-4) and will play three more games this week against No. 2 Rice ... Tech has an ERA of 4.06, 1.53 better than last year ... Nevada:catcher Craig Markel has a 12-game hitting streak, currently the second longest in the WAC ... Nevada has lost six games in a row, its longest streak since losing nine straight in 1991 ... the Pack led the WAC in hitting (.316) and home runs (73) last year but are third in hitting (.285) and tied for fourth in home runs (36) this season ... Rice: has won 23 of its last 27 games ... the Owls are 7-2 against ranked teams this year ... Rice has won 14 home games in a row and 12 WAC home games in a row ... Rice leads the WAC in hitting (.333) and ERA (2.77) ... the Owls are the only WAC team hitting over .300 and the only team with an ERA below 3.00 ... Rice pitchers have struck out 383 batters in 390.1 innings ... in conference games only, the Owls are hitting .379 and have the top five hitters in the league led by freshman Vincent Sinisis .493 average ... the Owls have 44 stolen bases, equalling their total from last year, but have not stolen a base in 11 games ... Rice is the only team in the country ranked in the top 20 in batting, pitching and fielding ... Sinisi is the only WAC player with an overall batting average over .400 (.401) ... Sinisi leads the WAC in multiple hit games (21), getting at least three hits in 16 of those games ... senior shortstop Eric Arnold leads the conference in multiple RBI games (14), getting at least three RBI in eight of those games ... in WAC games only, Rices ERA of 2.65 is 1.6 runs better than San Jose States second best mark of 4.25 ... San Jose State: the Spartans have won seven games in a row, one shy of their best winning streak of the season (8: March 23-30) ... SJSU is second nationally in fielding percentage (.976) ... senior second baseman Gabe Lopez has hit safely in 34 of his last 36 games ... Lopez also has the WACs best fielding percentage (.980) for any player with at least 100 assists (105-140-5) ... catcher Adam Shorsher leads the WAC with 11 home runs but hasnt hit one since March 27 (14 games).

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.