United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawaii third baseman Brent Cook, a senior from Alamo, Calif. (California), hit .636 (7-for-11) in four wins for the Rainbows last week. He began the week going 3-for-3 with two RBI and two doubles against Hawaii-Hilo on Tuesday. In Hawaiis first-ever three-game sweep of Fresno State, he was 4-for-8 with two runs, one triple, one stolen base and was walked three times. Hawaii has a five-game winning streak, currently the longest in the WAC. It is Cooks second career WAC Player of the Week award and second for a Rainbow this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK San Jose State right-handed pitcher Matt Durkin, a sophomore from Willow Glen, Calif. (Willow Glen HS), pitched a complete-game shutout in a 7-0 victory against Louisiana Tech on Thursday. Durkin struck out 14 batters and allowed just four hits and two walks to help snap the Spartans three-game losing streak. It is Durkins third WAC Pitcher of the Week award this season and fifth in his career.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Brett Hayes, Fr., C, Nevada - hit .438 (7-for-16) with three RBI, two doubles and a triple in four games for the Wolf Pack. He had three two-hit games and drew two walks.
Dane Bubela, Sr., DH, Rice - was 7-for-16 (.438) in five games for the Owls. On Friday, he had a career-high four hits against Nevada and was 2-for-5 with two RBI versus the Wolf Pack on Sunday. For the week, he scored two runs, hit two doubles and drove in three.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Ricky Bauer, So., Hawaii - pitched eight innings in Hawaiis 3-0 shutout of Fresno State on Friday. Bauer tied a career-high with seven strikeouts and allowed just five hits and no walks. It was Bauers first-ever win in WAC play.
Zak Basch, Sr., Nevada - made two appearances last week, pitching 1.2 innings against UC-Davis and five innings against Rice. Basch came into the Rice game in the fifth inning with the score tied 5-5. He allowed just one run and struck out five to pick up the win.
Jeff Niemann, So., Rice - threw the Owls first complete-game shutout of the season in a 3-0 win over Nevada on Saturday. Niemann struck out eight and allowed six hits and one walk in running his scoreless inning streak to 29.

SAN FRANCISCO-NEVADA GAME POSTPONED Todays game between San Francisco and Nevada has been postponed due to rain. The game has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 29 at 2:00 p.m. in Reno.

THIS WEEK IN THE WAC Only one non-conference game is scheduled this week. Rice visits Lamar tonight for a 7:00 p.m. (CT) contest. In conference action, Louisiana Tech travels to Rice for a series beginning on Thursday. Earlier this year, Rice swept Louisiana Tech (March 7-9). Fresno State hosts Nevada and San Jose State is at Hawaii on Friday. In both of these series, the teams are facing each other for the first time this season.

RICE TOPS IN FIELDING, SECOND IN ERA In this weeks NCAA rankings, Rice is ranked number one in fielding percentage (.984) and second in ERA (2.42). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann is tied for first in wins with 10. His teammate, Wade Townsend, is fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.2) and sixth in ERA (1.29).

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.

STREAKING Hawaii junior shortstop Brian Finegan currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at nine games. Finegan has hit .316 (12-38) with three RBI and eight runs scored during his streak. 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 three in the Baseball America, Sports Weekly/ESPN and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls and number five in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Rice had been the unanimous number one team in the country the previous four weeks. No other WAC teams are ranked.

NON-CONFERENCE After a 3-3 week, the WAC is 85-58-1 (.594) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State is 14-12 (.538), Hawaii is 18-6 (.750), Louisiana Tech is 7-12-1 (.375), Nevada is 11-14 (.440), Rice is 21-4 (.840) and San Jose State is 14-10 (.583).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs have lost seven of their last nine games after winning 14 of their previous 15 games ... junior Casey McGehee now has 226 career hits, the 10th best total in school history ... the Bulldogs were shut out twice last week against Hawaii and have now been shut out five times this year, the most in the WAC ... Hawaii: has won five games in a row, currently the longest streak in the WAC ... the streak is the second longest of the season for the Rainbows after winning six in a row in mid-February ... Hawaii had two shutouts in the Fresno State series for the first time since 1999 when it shut out UCLA twice ... UH swept Fresno State for the first time ever ... Rainbow starters had a 0.39 ERA against Fresno State ... the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (3.77) after posting a 1.75 ERA last week in four games ... senior Brent Cook leads the WAC with four triples ... sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer has allowed only 0.85 walks per game, the best in the WAC ... Rocky Russo has been walked 0.73 times per game, also the best in the WAC ... Louisiana Tech: has lost nine of its last 12 games ... Tech is 1-2 during its current seven-game road trip ... Louisiana Tech began the season 0-8 on the road in WAC games until it beat San Jose State on Saturday ... Jeremy Alford hit his sixth home run of the season in Saturdays game ... Louisiana Tech has stolen home four times this season ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in stolen bases with 70 while seniors Fairon Allen and John Brandon are a combined 29-of-31 ... Nevada: has won 11 of its last 15 games ... Nevadas eight-game conference winning streak came to an end on Friday against Rice ... Nevada is the only team in the WAC with a winning record at home in conference games (5-0) ... the Packs 10 conference wins match last seasons total ... Nevadas 10-4 record in the conference is its best start since joining the WAC prior to the 2001 season ... the Pack hit a WAC-best three home runs last week ... junior Mateo Miramontes six-game winning streak came to an end on Friday against Rice ... senior Tony Cappuccilli leads the WAC in slugging percentage (.608) ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs with nine ... the Wolf Pack have 49 home runs, 18 more than Louisiana Techs second best total in the WAC ... Rice: Jeff Jorgensens 17 stolen bases lead the WAC and are the most by an Owl since Jason Gray had 19 in 1999 ... Rice turned a triple play and three double plays in the game at Houston on Wednesday ... Rice has won 17 consecutive WAC series ... Rice leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 2,849 per home game ... Rice has beaten nine ranked opponents this season ... the Owls are 9-2 in one-run games ... Rice leads the WAC in hitting (.322), ERA (2.42) and fielding percentage (.984) ... Rice has committed just 26 errors on the year, including six last week, 14 less than Fresno States second best total of 40 ... Rice has shut out nine teams this season, the most in the WAC, and ties a school record (1981 and 1984) ... Jeff Niemanns complete game against Nevada on Saturday was the first by an Owl this season ... Niemann has not given up a run in 29 innings ... the Owls have scored more runs (305) than opposing teams have hits (296) ... sophomore Vincent Sinisi leads the WAC in multiple hit games (24) while junior Austin Davis leads the WAC in multiple RBI games (12) ... junior David Aardsma leads the WAC in saves with seven ... San Jose State: senior Frank Esposito struck out a career-high 10 batters and threw his first-ever complete game in Fridays 3-1 win over Louisiana Tech ... the Spartans travel to Hawaii this week and have lost six road games in a row ... SJSU is the only WAC team to not win a conference road game (0-8) ... 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.