United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK San Jose State first baseman Jordan Bergstrom, a senior from Boulder Creek, Calif. (Cabrillo College), hit .667 (6-9) in three games for the Spartans last week. On Saturday, he was 3-for-4 and hit a two-out double in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive in the winning run in a 4-3 victory against Fresno State. In Sundays game, he was 2-for-2 and also reached base on a hit by pitch and a base on balls. For the week, he scored three runs, had two RBIs, hit a double and a triple and was walked three times. It is Bergstroms first career WAC Player of the Week award and first for a Spartan this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Rice right-handed pitcher Wade Townsend, a sophomore from Dripping Springs, Texas (Dripping Springs HS), picked up a win and a save in two appearances last week. Against Houston on Tuesday, he allowed just one hit in seven innings while striking out 10 in an 11-0 win. On Saturday, he pitched the final two innings against Hawaii and struck out six in the 2-0 victory. For the week, he allowed two hits, no runs, three walks and struck out 16 in nine innings. It is Townsends second straight WAC Pitcher of the Week award and fifth for Rice this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Brett Hayes, Fr., C, Nevada - hit .467 (7-15) with four RBI and four runs scored in three games. On Sunday, he was 4-for-6, his third four-hit game of the year. Hayes had a hit in all three games to extend his WAC season-best hit streak to 19 games.
Enrique Cruz, Jr., 2B, Rice - was 7-for-14 in four games for the Owls. He drove in four and scored twice in helping Rice win all four contests. Cruz extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Eddie Bonine, Sr., Nevada - pitched seven innings and struck out a career-high 12 batters in an 11-6 win versus Louisiana Tech. He allowed nine hits, six runs and two walks on a cold windy day.
Matt Durkin, So., San Jose State - pitched 7.2 innings and picked up the win in a 3-0 shutout of Fresno State on Sunday. He allowed three hits and three walks while striking out eight. Durkin retired the side in three of the first four innings.

TOWNSEND NAMED NATIONAL CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) selected Rice sophomore RHP Wade Townsend and Oral Roberts sophomore RHP Dennis Bigley as its co-Pitchers of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.

RICE WINS 29 STRAIGHT Rice was 4-0 last week to extend its nations best winning streak to 29 in a row. The Owls began the week with a win over Houston and then swept Hawaii in three games to improve to 32-1 on the season. The WAC record for consecutive wins is 32 set by Arizona State in 1972. The NCAA record is 34 in a row set by Texas in 1977 and matched by Florida Atlantic in 1999. Rice has also won 19 straight conference games dating back to last year and 24 consecutive at home.

UPCOMING ACTION This weeks action begins today when four WAC teams play non-conference opponents. Rice hosts Texas A&M at 7:00 p.m. (CT) tonight and then takes on Lamar tomorrow evening. This afternoon, Nevada and San Jose State host Sacramento State and California, respectively, while Hawaii plays at Centenary tonight. In conference action, Hawaii is at Louisiana Tech beginning Thursday night while Nevada hosts San Jose State and Rice is at Fresno State beginning Friday. San Jose State and Nevada played a series earlier this year and the Spartans took two of three in San Jose.

STREAKING Nevada freshman catcher Brett Hayes currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 19 games. Hayes has hit .452 (38-84) with 23 RBI and 18 runs scored during his streak. It is also the longest hitting streak by any WAC player this year. The longest streak last year was 31 by Fresno States Casey McGehee.

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 third consecutive week. No other WAC teams are ranked.

NON-CONFERENCE After a 1-0 week, the WAC is 79-53-1 (.598) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State is 13-12 (.520), Hawaii is 16-6 (.727), Louisiana Tech is 7-12-1 (.375), Nevada is 10-13 (.435), Rice is 20-1 (.952) and San Jose State is 13-9 (.591).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs have lost two straight after winning 14 of their previous 15 games ... senior Scott Beshears has an eight-game hitting streak, tied for the longest by a Bulldog this year (Ryan Haag) ... in conference games only, Beshears leads the WAC with a .483 batting average ... Hawaii: has lost three games in a row and 12 of its last 16 ... the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (4.21) ... senior Brent Cook leads the WAC with three triples ... freshman Rocky Russo has been walked 0.79 times per game, the most in the WAC while sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer has allowed only 0.69 walks per game, also the best in the WAC ... Louisiana Tech: Techs current six-game losing streak is tied for the longest in the WAC this season (Fresno State and Nevada) ... senior Wade Robinson had his team season-high 12-game hitting streak come to an end against Nevada on Friday but had hits in the next two games ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in stolen bases with 58 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 ... Tech hit a WAC-best five home runs last week, including three in an 11-6 loss on Sunday ... Nevada: has won eight of its last 10 games... Nevadas 7-2 start is its best in three years in the WAC ... the Pack struck out 16 Louisiana Tech batters twice last week (April 4 and 6) ... the 16 strikeouts tied a WAC season-high ... junior Mateo Miramontes has won five straight starts and has a 2.23 ERA during that span ... senior Tony Cappuccilli leads the WAC in slugging percentage (.606) ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs with seven ... the Wolf Pack have 38 home runs, 12 more than Louisiana Techs second best total in the WAC ... Rice: the one-hitter against Houston on Tuesday is the best outing in the WAC this season ... the Owls 29 straight wins are a school record ... Rice is 4-0 this season against crosstown rival Houston ... the Owls have played 11 games of a 13-game homestand ... Rice leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 2,787 per home game ... 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 ... the Owls only loss this year was against Alabama, 6-5, at a neutral site ... Rice has beaten eight ranked opponents this season ... the Owls are 8-1 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 17 errors on the year, including four last week ... the Owls have scored more runs (257) than opposing teams have hits (225) ... in conference games only, Owls own the top five spots in hits, runs scored, RBI and total bases ... two Owls are hitting at least .400 junior Chris Kolkhorst (.410) and sophomore Vincent Sinisi (.403) ... Sinisi leads the WAC in multiple hit games (20) while junior Austin Davis leads the WAC in multiple RBI games (11) ... Sinisis career batting average is .420 ... sophomore Philip Humber has won 17 straight decisions (including his last nine in 2002) ... junior David Aardsma leads the WAC in saves with seven ... senior Steven Herce made his first appearance of the season on Sunday and pitched one inning against Hawaii retiring the side ... San Jose State: has won two straight after losing eight of its previous 10 games ... SJSU had a WAC season-high five sacrifice hits in its 4-3 win against Fresno State on Saturday ... 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 will assume 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.

NCAA STATS The NCAA will not begin compiling national statistics until next Tuesday, April 15.