United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Nevada third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, a senior from Evergreen, Colo. (Arkansas-Little Rock/Evergreen HS), hit .556 (5-for-9) with three runs scored and six RBI in two games last week. On Friday, he injured his finger during infield practice, but played the entire game against San Jose State and was 4-for-6 with three runs, six RBI and two home runs. The six RBI matched a WAC season-high this year. Kouzmanoff leads the WAC with nine home runs this season. It is Kouzmanoffs first career WAC Player of the Week award and second for a Wolf Pack player this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Rice right-handed pitcher Wade Townsend, a sophomore from Dripping Springs, Texas (Dripping Springs HS), picked up two wins last week. On Tuesday, he allowed just three hits, one walk and struck out 10 batters in eight innings of an 8-0 victory over 17th-ranked Texas A&M. On Sunday, he pitched the final three innings of a 3-2 victory over Fresno State, giving up one hit, one walk, no runs and striking out six. For the week, he pitched 11 innings, struck out 16 and allowed just four hits and two walks. It is Townsends third straight WAC Pitcher of the Week award and sixth for Rice this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Tim Montgomery, Jr., OF, Hawaii - hit .313 (5-16) in four games last week. Montgomery hit three home runs, drove in four runs and scored four runs.
Jody Wood, Sr., IF, Louisiana Tech - was 5-for-13 (.385) in three games last week. He had three hits and a RBI in the first game against Hawaii and then added two more RBI on two hits in the second game.
Enrique Cruz, Jr., 2B, Rice - hit .368 (7-19) in five games. On Sunday, he knocked in all three runs in a 3-2 win at Fresno State that included a two-run home run in the ninth. For the week, he had five RBI, scored five runs, hit two doubles and two home runs.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Cody Smith, Jr., Fresno State - pitched a career-high and team season-high 8.2 innings in a 7-3 win over top-ranked Rice. Smith allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out four.
Chris George, Sr., Hawaii - recorded a complete game victory in a 4-1 win at Louisiana Tech on Saturday. George allowed just one run, four hits and two walks, while tying a career-high with 12 strikeouts.
Matt Varner, Jr., Louisiana Tech - picked up a win and a save in the first two games against Hawaii last week. On Thursday, he recorded the win pitching the 10th inning and then earned his first career save in Louisiana Techs 7-6 win on Friday. Varner struck out three in 2.0 innings of work last week.
J.T. Sherman, Jr., Nevada - earned his third straight victory by pitching his first complete game of his career in an 8-4 win against San Jose State on Saturday. Sherman struck out nine and allowed 12 hits, four runs and no walks in the contest.

RICE TOPS IN PITCHING AND FIELDING The NCAA released its first national statistics today and Rice is ranked number one in both ERA (2.22) and fielding (.986). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann is tied for first in wins with nine.

RICE-HOUSTON ON CSTV College Sports Television, the first television network devoted exclusively to college sports, will launch its live baseball schedule on Wednesday when Rice visits Houston at 7:00 p.m. (CT). CSTV will also provide live remote pre-game coverage of the contest.

SINISI, TOWNSEND NAMED TO WATCH LIST Rice teammates Vincent Sinisi (1B) and Wade Townsend (SP) have been named to the 25-player Golden Spikes Awards watch list. The award is given to the best amateur baseball player in the country by USA Baseball.

SJSU-NEVADA RAINED OUT Last Sundays game in Reno between San Jose State and Nevada was rained out. No makeup dated has been scheduled as the teams have finished their season series.

RICES STREAK ENDS AT 30 Rices winning streak finally ended last week at 30 games after the Owls lost against Lamar on Wednesday night. Rices streak was two games shy of tying the WAC record and four games short of the NCAA record. The loss also snapped a 25-game home winning streak. On Friday, the Owls lost at Fresno State, ending Rices consecutive conference winning streak at 19 games as well as its 19-game road winning streak.

UPCOMING CONFERENCE ACTION This week, Louisiana Tech is at San Jose State beginning Thursday night while Rice hosts Nevada and Fresno State is at Hawaii beginning Friday. Earlier this year, Louisiana Tech swept San Jose State and Fresno State won two of three versus Hawaii. Nevada and Rice are playing each other for the first time this season. Nevada trails Rice by three games in the standings.

STREAKING Rice junior second baseman Enrique Cruz currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 13 games. Cruz has hit .440 (22-50) with 14 RBI and 12 runs scored during his streak. It is the longest streak by an Owl this season. His teammate, sophomore first baseman Vincent Sinisi, has the WACs second longest current hitting streak at 11 games. The longest streak by a WAC player this year was 19 games by Nevada freshman catcher Brett Hayes (Feb. 28-April 6).

IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is number one in all four polls (Baseball America, Sports Weekly/ESPN,Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) for the fourth consecutive week. No other WAC teams are ranked.

NON-CONFERENCE After a 3-2 week, the WAC is 82-55-1 (.598) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State is 13-12 (.520), Hawaii is 17-6 (.739), Louisiana Tech is 7-12-1 (.375), Nevada is 10-14 (.417), Rice is 21-2 (.913) and San Jose State is 14-9 (.609).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs have lost four of their last five games after winning 14 of their previous 15 games ... the win over Rice on Friday snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Owls ... senior Scott Beshears had his nine-game hitting streak snapped against Rice on Saturday ... it was the longest streak by a Bulldog this year ... Hawaii: has lost five of its last seven games ... the win over Louisiana Tech on Sunday snapped the Bulldogs six-game home winning streak ... the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (3.99) after posting a 2.06 ERA last week in four games ... senior Brent Cook is tied for the WAC lead with three triples ... sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer has allowed only 1.01 walks per game, the best in the WAC ... Louisiana Tech: Tech ended its six-game losing streak with a win against Hawaii last Thursday ... the streak is tied for the longest in the WAC this season (Fresno State and Nevada) ... Tech embarks on a seven-game road trip this week ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in stolen bases with 64 while seniors Fairon Allen and John Brandon are a combined 27-of-29 ... junior Jeremy Alford has hit four of his five home runs in league play ... Nevada: has won seven of its last nine games... Nevada has won eight straight conference games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... the Pack hit six doubles against San Jose State on Saturday, the most be any team in the WAC this season ... Nevadas 9-2 record in the conference is its best start since joining the WAC ... the Pack hit a WAC-best eight home runs last week ... junior Mateo Miramontes has won six straight starts and has a 2.28 ERA during that span ... senior Tony Cappuccilli leads the WAC in slugging percentage (.618) ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs with nine ... the Wolf Pack have 46 home runs, 16 more than Louisiana Techs second best total in the WAC ... Rice: the Owls 30 straight wins set a new school record ... Rice has won 16 consecutive WAC series ... Rice is 4-0 this season against crosstown rival Houston, Wednesdays opponent ... Rice leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 2,842 per home game ... Rices road loss at Fresno State on April 11 was its first since losing at Texas, 3-2, in 10 innings on April 9, 2002 ... Rice has beaten nine ranked opponents this season ... the Owls are 9-1 in one-run games ... its team ERA is 2.22 ... the top four ERA marks in the WAC are all Owls ... Rice has committed just 20 errors on the year, including three last week, 17 less than Fresno States second best total of 37 ... the Owls have scored more runs (285) than opposing teams have hits (253) ... in conference games only, Owls own the top four spots in hits, runs scored and RBI, including the top seven spots in runs ... sophomore Vincent Sinisi leads the WAC in multiple hit games (22) while junior Austin Davis leads the WAC in multiple RBI games (12) ... sophomore Philip Humbers streak of 17 straight wins came to an end last week against Fresno State ... junior David Aardsma leads the WAC in saves with seven ... San Jose State: SJSU takes on No. 4 Stanford tonight and are trying to snap a five-game road losing streak ... the Spartans have been outscored 64-10 on the road in the last five games ... senior pitcher Andy Cook has been suspended for four games after being ejected on April 11 for intentionally hitting a batter ... the Spartans five extra-inning games are the most in the WAC this season (3-2) ... Doug Thurman, in his eighth season on the San Jose State coaching staff, was promoted to associate head coach prior to the start of the 2003 season ... Thurman has assumed all gameday coaching responsibilities for head coach Sam Piraro (536-384-4; 16 years) and will accumulate all of the Spartans wins and losses on his coaching record.

POSTSEASON The WAC does not conduct 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 30.