United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rice third baseman/shortstop Craig Stansberry, a junior from Plano, Texas (Plano HS/North Central JC), hit .500 (10-for-20) in five games for the top-ranked Owls last week. Stansberry was 2-for-5 versus Houston including a three-run homer to give him three home runs on the season, tied for the team-high. On Friday, he was 4-for-4 with five RBI against Liberty. For the week, he scored seven runs, hit two doubles, was walked four times and drove in nine. Stansberry has a 12-game hitting streak, tied for the second longest in the WAC this season, as the Owls have won 21 straight games (24-1 overall/6-0 WAC). It is Stansberrys first career WAC Player of the Week award and third for an Owl this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Nevada right-handed pitcher Zachary Basch, a senior from Sylvanice, Ohio (Hofstra), recorded three straight saves in a sweep of Hawaii in Honolulu. Basch pitched 2.2 innings and allowed no runs, no walks and one hit while striking out three batters in the weekend series. He is now tied for second in the WAC with five saves on the season. It is Baschs first ever WAC Pitcher of the Week award and second for Nevada this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Isaac Omura, Fr., 2B, Hawaii - was 5-for-16 in three games against Nevada. He scored three runs, had two RBI and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Wade Robinson, Sr., SS, Louisiana Tech - extended his hitting streak to eight games after hitting safely in all five last week. Robinson was 9-for-21 (.429), scored four runs and drove in two.
Erick Streelman, Jr., OF, Nevada - hit .444 (4-9) in a three game sweep at Hawaii. He scored two runs, had two RBI and hit one home run.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Justin Cayetano, Fr., Hawaii - started and pitched seven innings against Nevada on Sunday, allowing two runs, one walk, seven hits and striking out five.
Adam Kirkendall, Jr., Louisiana Tech - threw his second career complete game in a 3-2 win against San Jose State on Saturday. He allowed five hits and three walks while striking out six in the game.
Wade Townsend, So., Rice - picked up a win against Nebraska, pitching eight innings and striking out a career-high 12 batters. He allowed just three hits (all in the third inning). Townsend also pitched 1.1 innings in relief against Liberty on Sunday.

UPCOMING WEEKEND ACTION Rice and Fresno State return to WAC play this weekend, hosting San Jose State and Louisiana Tech, respectively. Rice is a perfect 6-0 in the league, while Fresno State is just 2-1 and hasnt played a WAC game since taking two of three against Hawaii, March 7-9. Hawaii hosts its annual Rainbow Easter Tournament welcoming Western Illinois, Lewis Clark State and Air Force while Nevada opens up a 12-game homestand. The Wolf Pack have only played five games at home this year.

STREAKING Nevada freshman catcher Brett Hayes and Rice junior infielder Craig Stansberry currently have the WACs longest hitting streaks at 12 games. Hayes has hit .442 (23-52) with 15 RBI during his streak while Stansberry has hit .380 (19-50) with 12 RBI during his streak. The longest streak of the year was by San Jose State junior DH/catcher Nick Guerra who hit safely in 13 games from Feb. 7-March 1.

IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is number one in all three polls that come out on Monday: Baseball America, Sports Weekly/ESPN and Collegiate Baseball. The Owls were also ranked first by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in last Tuesdays poll. No other WAC teams are ranked.

NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 68-49-1 (.581). Fresno State is 12-12 (.500), Hawaii is 13-4 (.765), Louisiana Tech is 6-12-1 (.342), Nevada is 8-11 (.421), Rice is 18-1 (.947) and San Jose State is 11-9 (.550).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the 14-1 loss on Sunday against Minnesota snapped a nine-game winning streak ... the 14 runs were the most given up by Fresno State this year ... the Bulldogs finished its 13-game homestand with a 10-3 record ... Fresno State plays at Southern California on Tuesday before returning home for a three-game series against Louisiana Tech ... Hawaii: the Rainbows have lost seven of eight games after a 13-5 start to the season ... Hawaii is hosting the 28th Rainbow Easter Tournament this week ... UH has not won the tournament since 1999 ... freshman second baseman Isaac Omura has an 11-game hitting streak ... Louisiana Tech: swept San Jose State last week, its first conference sweep since joining the WAC last year ... it was also its first series win against a WAC team other than Hawaii ... the Bulldogs trailed in all three wins ... the 10-1 victory on Sunday was Techs largest margin of victory in league play since joining the WAC ... the three wins follow a stretch where the Bulldogs were 1-10-1 ... Jeremy Alford hit three home runs last week ... Wade Robinsons batting average of .379 is the third highest in the WAC ... Nevada: has won eight of its last 11 games... Brett Hayes is tied for the WAC lead in RBI with 26 ... Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs with seven ... the Wolf Pack have 31 home runs, 12 more than Hawaiis second best total in the WAC ... Rice: this weeks WAC opponent, San Jose State, was the only conference team to beat the Owls last year as Rice was 28-2 in the WAC ... the Owls 21 straight wins are a school record ... Rice clinched its third straight Silver Glove (city championship) after beating Houston last week for the third time this year ... the Owls have played three games of a 13-game homestand ... Rice has won 19 straight road games and has not lost on the road since losing at Texas, 3-2, in 10 innings on April 9, 2002 ... Rice has beaten six ranked opponents this season ... the Owls are 7-1 in one-run games ... its team ERA is 2.49 ... Rice has committed just seven errors on the year ... Rice has three pitchers with 10 or more strikeouts per game (Wade Townsend-12.76; Jeff Niemann-10.52; and Philip Humber-10.31) ... Austin Davis reached base safely in 12 consecutive plate appearances last week with 11 hits and one walk ... two Owls are hitting at least .400: Austin Davis (.413) and Vincent Sinisi (.400) ... sophomore Philip Humber has won 15 straight decisions (including his last nine in 2002) ... Humber struck out 13 on Friday night, equaling an Owl high this season ... David Aardsma leads the WAC in saves with six ... senior catcher Justin Ruchti was named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list last week ... San Jose State: the Spartans current four-game losing streak is its longest of the season ... SJSU was swept in a WAC series for the first time since March 23-25, 2001, at Hawaii ... Nick Guerra is tied for the WAC lead in RBI with 26 ... the Spartans five extra-inning games are the most in the WAC this season (3-2).

POSTSEASON The WAC does not conduct a postseason tournament, but the regular season champion as determined by winner percentage in conference games will earn an automatic berth into this years NCAA Tournament which begins May 30.

NCAA STATS The NCAA will not begin compiling national statistics until Tuesday, April 8.