United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rice outfielder/designated hitter Dane Bubela, a senior from Houston, Texas (Cypress Falls HS/Blinn College), hit .444 (8-for-18) with seven RBI, seven runs scored and two home runs in four games for the Owls last week. Bubela began the week with a 2-for-5 performance against Sam Houston State. In three games at Nevada, he was 5-for-13 with six RBI and two home runs. On Friday, he was 2-for-5 with a home run and a career-high five RBI. It is Bubelas first career WAC Player of the Week award and fourth for an Owl this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Louisiana Tech right-handed pitcher Jon Lockwood, a junior from Toronto (North Central Texas JC), threw a three-hit complete game in Louisiana Techs 3-1 win at Hawaii on Friday. He allowed just one walk, one unearned run and struck out four in recording his first win since March 15. The victory was just the fourth on the road for the Bulldogs this year. It is Lockwoods first career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and first for a Bulldog this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Matthew Inouye, Fr., OF, Hawaii - hit .444 (4-for-9) with a home run, a triple, four RBI and two runs in three games last week. Over the weekend, he was 2-for-3 in both games and hit a three-run home run on Sunday against Louisiana Tech.
Kevin Kouzmanoff, Sr., 3B, Nevada - was 8-for-17 (.471) in four games for the Wolf Pack. He hit two home runs, drove in eight and scored three times. Against Saint Marys, he was 3-for-4 with four RBI and then added two two-hit games against Rice. Kouzmanoff extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
Jordan Bergstrom, Sr., 1B, San Jose State - hit .412 (7-for-17) in four games last week. On Friday against Fresno State, he was 3-for-4 with three runs and a RBI. The following day, he was 3-for-6 with two RBI. He also scored five times during the week.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Cody Smith, Jr., Fresno State - threw a complete-game seven-hitter in the Bulldogs 3-2 win over San Jose State on Sunday. Smith also walked one and struck out three. It was his first career complete-game and first for a Fresno State pitcher this season.
Chris George, Sr., Hawaii - pitched 7.2 innings and struck out 10 in Hawaiis 8-1 win over Louisiana Tech. He allowed just one run, four hits and three walks in the game.
Zak Basch, Sr., Nevada - picked up a win against Rice by pitching five innings in relief on Sunday. He allowed four runs and four hits. It was his second win against Rice this season.
Jeff Niemann, So., Rice - earned his 12th win of the season in Rices 7-4 win against Nevada on Saturday. He allowed 10 hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out 11. At one point, he retired 14 straight hitters during the middle innings.
Matt Durkin, So., San Jose State - pitched eight innings in San Jose States 10-1 win against Fresno State on Saturday. Durking allowed just six hits, one run and three walks while striking out nine.

THIS WEEK IN THE WAC The WAC has a light schedule this week as Louisiana Tech plays just one non-conference game and Hawaii is off this week. On Wednesday, Rice travels to Saint Marys while Louisiana Tech hosts Louisiana-Monroe. In conference action, Nevada hosts Fresno State and Rice is at San Jose State. Both series begin Friday. Earlier this year, Rice swept San Jose State (March 28-30) while Nevada won two of three in Fresno (April 25-27).

RICES MAGIC NUMBER IS 2 If Rice wins two games this weekend, or Nevada loses two, or Rice wins one and Nevada loses one, the Owls would clinch their seventh straight WAC title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. If the two teams ended up tied, Rice would win the tiebreaker due to a 4-2 record against the Wolf Pack.

RICE SECOND IN FIELDING, FOURTH IN ERA In this weeks NCAA rankings, Rice is ranked number two in fielding percentage (.982) and fourth in ERA (2.77). The Owls are also 23rd in batting (.322) and are one of three teams ranked in the top 30 in all three categories (Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann is tied for first in wins with 12 and ninth in ERA (1.72). His teammate, Wade Townsend, is third in strikeouts per nine innings (13.7).

STREAKING Nevada senior third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 13 games. Kouzmanoff has hit .482 (27-for-56) with 25 RBI, six home runs and 15 runs scored during his streak. Its tied for the third longest streak in the WAC this season. 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 two in all four polls: Baseball America, Sports Weekly/ESPN, NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball. Earlier this year, Rice had been the unanimous number one team in the country for four weeks. Nevada earned votes in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll.

ALL-WAC TEAMS The 2003 All-WAC baseball teams will be announced on Tuesday, May 27.

NON-CONFERENCE After a 2-3 week, the WAC is 92-65-1 (.585) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State is 15-13 (.536), Hawaii is 19-6 (.760), Louisiana Tech is 8-14-1 (.370), Nevada is 13-14 (.481), Rice is 22-5 (.815) and San Jose State is 15-13 (.536).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs have won five of nine games after losing nine of their last 11 ... plays six of its last seven games on the road ... Hawaii:has won 12 more games than last season ... the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (3.87) after posting a WAC-best 1.67 ERA last week ... senior Brent Cook leads the WAC with four triples ... sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer has allowed only 0.83 walks per game, the best in the WAC ... Rocky Russo has been walked 0.74 times per game, also the best in the WAC ... Louisiana Tech: at home, the Bulldogs have won nine of their last 11 games and their last three WAC series ... Louisiana Techs nine conference wins surpassed last years total of seven ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in stolen bases with 81 while seniors Fairon Allen and John Brandon are a combined 35-of-37 ... Adam Kirkendall is second in three career categories: strikeouts (280), innings (318.2) and appearances (71) ... Wade Robinson has played in 218 career games and will break the Tech record if he plays in the Bulldogs final four games ... Nevada: scored 13 runs on 12 hits in the sixth inning against Saint Marys last Tuesday ... Jacob Butler was 2-for-3 with a grand slam in that inning ... the extra inning win against Rice on Sunday was Nevadas first of the year (1-3) ... the Pack has won six of their last eight games ... Nevada is 6-2 in its current 11-game homestand ... the Packs 16 conference wins are six more than all of last year ... the Pack hit a WAC-best eight home runs last week ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs (15), multiple hit games (26) and multiple RBI games (18) ... Zak Basch is tied for the WAC lead in saves with nine ... the Wolf Pack have 72 home runs, 29 more than Louisiana Techs second best total in the WAC ... Rice: the extra inning loss against Nevada on Sunday was Rices first of the year (3-1) ... Chris Kolkhorst was hit by pitches four times last week, putting his season total to a school-record 16 ... has won at least 40 games the last nine seasons ... Rice is 2-1 in its current seven-game road trip ... the Owls weekend rotation of Jeff Niemann (12-0), Josh Baker (8-0) and Philip Humber (10-1) is now a combined 30-1 ... Jeff Jorgensens 18 stolen bases are tied for the WAC lead and are the most by an Owl since Jason Gray also had 18 in 1999 ... Rice has won 19 consecutive WAC series ... Rice leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 2,861 per home game ... Rice has beaten nine ranked opponents this season ... Rice leads the WAC in hitting (.322), ERA (2.77) and fielding percentage (.982) ... Rice has committed just 35 errors on the year, 18 less than Fresno States second best total of 53 ... Rice has shut out nine teams this season, the most in the WAC, which ties a school record (1981 and 1984) ... Jeff Niemann has won 13 games in a row ... David Aardsma is tied for the WAC lead in saves with nine ... Aardsma has 14 career saves, tied for the school record with Matt Anderson (1997-99) and Philip Barzilla (2000-01) ... the Owls have scored more runs (370) than opposing teams have hits (369) ... San Jose State: SJSUs streak of not being shut out in 144 games came to end last Tuesday against Stanford, 3-0 ... the Spartans seven extra-inning games are the most in the WAC this season (3-4) ... 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.