DENVER Rice right fielder Austin Davis and San Jose State right-handed pitcher Mike Malott have been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 20-26.
Davis, a sophomore from Houston, Texas (Spring Branch Memorial HS), hit .500 (6-12), drove in eight runs, hit three home runs and scored seven times in a three-game sweep of Louisiana Tech last week. Davis hit a home run in each game to double his home runs on the season to six. He is now hitting .369 on the season, second only to teammate Vincent Sinisi (.433) in the WAC.
Malott, a sophomore from San Jose, Calif. (Valley Christian HS), picked up two saves in two appearances over the weekend against Nevada. On Friday, he entered the game with runners on first and second with one out and retired the two batters he faced to preserve the 8-6 win. On Sunday, Malott pitched four innings of hitless ball and induced two double plays. For the week he pitched 4.2 innings, struck out four, allowed no hits and walked two batters.
Other player of the week nominations included: junior outfielder Joey Myers, Fresno State; and senior shortstop Ryan Adams, San Jose State.
Additional pitcher of the week nominations included: senior Bob Runyon, Fresno State; and freshman Philip Humber, Rice.
Also today, the NCAA announced the 64-team field for this years NCAA tournament. Rice and San Jose State both received bids. The Owls are the nations No. 4 overall seed and will host a regional, May 31-June 2. The other three teams traveling to Houston are No. 2 Texas Tech, No. 3 Washington and No. 4 Harvard. San Jose State travels to Palo Alto, Calif. as a No. 3 seed. The Spartans are in a regional with host and No. 1 seed Stanford, No. 2 Long Beach State and No. 4 Cal State Fullerton. Game times will be announced later.
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NOTE: The 2002 all-WAC baseball teams as selected by the coaches will be announced later this afternoon.