United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno State first baseman Brian Pierce, a senior from Clovis, Calif. (Clovis HS), hit .538 (7-for-13) with six RBI, four runs scored and three home runs in helping the Bulldogs win two of three games at Nevada over the weekend. On Friday, he went 3-for-4 with two home runs and a career-high four RBI in an 11-7 win. Two days later, he went 3-for-5 with two singles and another home run. Pierce also had a double, stole two bases and raised his season batting average in the three games from .264 to .289. It is Pierces first career WAC Player of the Week award and third for a Bulldog this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Rice right-handed pitcher Jeff Niemann, a sophomore from Houston, Texas (Lamar HS), pitched seven innings in Rices 11-0 win over San Jose State on Saturday to improve to 13-0 on the season. He struck out eight, walked two and allowed five hits. It is Niemanns third career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and eighth for an Owl this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Robert Marcial, Fr., SS/OF, Nevada - hit .556 (5-for-9) with two runs and a RBI against Fresno State. On Sunday, he had his first four-hit performance going 4-for-5. He ended the week with a .636 on-base percentage.
Jeff Jorgensen, Jr., OF, Rice - went 8-for-16 (.500) with four runs and four RBI in four games for the Owls last week. He also hit two doubles and was walked twice during the week. Jorgensen extended his hitting streak to eight games, one shy of his season-high.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Zak Basch, Sr., Nevada - made two relief appearances and picked up a win on Saturday against Fresno State. In that game, he pitched 2.1 innings, allowed four hits, one run and one walk. He then pitched a scoreless ninth inning against the Bulldogs on Sunday.
Jose Amaya, Jr., San Jose State - pitched 1.2 innings to earn a win against Rice on Sunday afternoon. He allowed no hits, walked two and struck out three.

THIS WEEK IN THE WAC This weekend marks the final games of the WACs regular season. Nevada travels to Louisiana Tech, Rice hosts Fresno State and Hawaii is at San Jose State. All three series begin Friday. Earlier this year, Nevada swept Louisiana Tech (April 4-6), Rice won two of three against Fresno State (April 11-13) and Hawaii won two of three versus San Jose State (April 25-27).

RICE WINS WAC TITLE AND AUTOMATIC BID Last week, Rice clinched the WACs outright league title and the Owls seventh straight as members of the WAC. Rice also earned the conferences automatic bid into this years NCAA tournament. The 64-team bracket will be announced live on ESPN2, Monday, May 26 at 10:30 a.m. (MT). The 16 four-team regionals begin Friday, May 30. The winners will advance to one of eight Super Regionals, June 6-8. The eight Super Regional champions will then move on to play in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., June 13-21.

ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT The WAC had six players named to the Verizon Academic All-District teams as selected by CoSIDA. Rice had five players named to the District VI team. P Wade Townsend, C Jeff Blackinton and IF Vincent Sinisi were first team selections while P David Aardsma and IF Enrique Cruz were second-teamers. Nevada IF Erick Streelman was a first team selection on the District VIII team. All first-team selections will be eligible for the Academic All-America team to be selected next month.

RICE THIRD IN FIELDING, FOURTH IN ERA In this weeks NCAA rankings, Rice is ranked number three in fielding percentage (.980) and fourth in ERA (2.8). The Owls are also 23rd in batting (.323) and are one of three teams ranked in the top 30 in all three categories (Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton). Joining Rice in the top 30 in fielding are Fresno State (7th), Nevada (26th) and Hawaii (27th). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann is tied for first in wins with 13 and 11th in ERA (1.60). His teammate, Wade Townsend, is third in strikeouts per nine innings (13.6).

STREAKING Nevada senior third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 16 games. Kouzmanoff has hit .449 (31-for-69) with 29 RBI, seven home runs and 18 runs scored during his streak. Its the second 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 1-0 week, the WAC is 93-65-1 (.588) 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 23-5 (.821) and San Jose State is 15-13 (.536).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs have won four of their last six games ... after playing at Nevada last week, Fresno State returns home for one last game tonight against USC before traveling to Rice to finish the regular season ... the Bulldogs are two wins shy of 30 ... the last time Fresno State did not win 30 games was during the 1986 season (29-27-1) ... Hawaii: has won 12 more games than last season ... the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (3.87) ... 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: had its game against Louisiana-Monroe cancelled last week due to rain ... Louisiana Tech hosts Nevada this week ... at home, the Bulldogs have won nine of their last 11 games including 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 tie the Tech record if he plays in the Bulldogs final three games ... Nevada: Sundays crowd of 2,227 was the largest crowd to ever see a game at Peccole Park ... has won 30 games in nine of its last 10 seasons ... the Pack has lost four of their last six games after winning eight of their previous nine ... Nevada finished its 11-game homestand with a 7-4 record ... the Packs 17 conference wins are seven more than all of last year ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs (16), multiple hit games (27) and multiple RBI games (19) ... the 16 home runs are the fifth best single season total in school history ... Zak Basch is tied for the WAC lead in saves with nine ... the Wolf Pack have 75 home runs, 32 more than Louisiana Techs second best total in the WAC ... Rice: has won at least 40 games the last nine seasons ... has won nine of its last 11 games ... Rice completed its seven-game road trip with a 5-2 record ... the Owls weekend rotation of Jeff Niemann (13-0), Josh Baker (8-0) and Philip Humber (10-1) is now a combined 31-1 ... 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 ... if Jorgensen extends his current eight-game hitting streak to 10, he would become the seventh Owl to have a 10-game hitting streak this season ... the streak is currently the second longest in the WAC ... Rice has won 20 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 (.323), ERA (2.88) and fielding percentage (.980) ... Rice has shut out 10 teams this season, the most in the WAC, which breaks a school record ... Jeff Niemann has won 14 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 the same number of runs (409) as opposing teams have hits (409) ... San Jose State: SJSU will finish with less than 30 wins and a losing record for the first time since 1996 (28-28) ... 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.