United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Louisiana Tech second baseman Brandon Haygood, a sophomore from Bossier City, La. (Airline HS), hit .636 (14-for-22) and scored six runs in five games for the Bulldogs last week. Haygood had two two-hit games, two three-hit games and one four-hit game to extend his hitting streak to seven games. He had the four hits in Sundays series clinching 12-7 win over Fresno State. Haygood is now hitting .283 on the season after entering the week with a .190 average. It is Haygoods first career WAC Player of the Week award and second for a Bulldog this season.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Nevada right-handed pitcher Mateo Miramontes, a junior from Danville, Calif. (Monte Vista HS), pitched eight innings and allowed one unearned run on seven hits in Nevadas 3-1 win against Hawaii on Friday. Miramontes tied his season-high with nine strikeouts to improve to 9-2 on the season. It is Miramontes second career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and third for a Wolf Pack pitcher this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Chris Gimenez, So., OF/C, Nevada - hit .412 (7-for-17) with four runs, seven RBI, two doubles and three home runs in four games for the Wolf Pack last week. Gimenez hit all three home runs in three consecutive at-bats in Sundays 13-8 win over Hawaii. He was 3-for-4 with six RBI in that game alone. For the week, his slugging percentage was 1.059.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Adam Kirkendall, Sr., Louisiana Tech - set a school record and tied a WAC conference game only record with 18 strikeouts in Louisiana Techs 9-8, 13-inning victory over Fresno State on Friday. Kirkendall pitched nine innings and allowed eight runs on eight hits and four walks. He struck out the side three times in the game.

THIS WEEK IN THE WAC Every team except for Hawaii plays a non-conference game either today or tomorrow. The headliner may be tonights game between third-ranked Stanford and San Jose State at 7:00 p.m. (PT). Rice returns to action after an 11-game layoff due to finals. The Owls host Sam Houston State on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (CT). In conference action, Nevada hosts Rice, San Jose State travels to Fresno State and Louisiana Tech is at Hawaii. All three of the series begin Friday. Earlier this year, Rice took two of three against Nevada (April 18-20), San Jose State won two of three versus Fresno State (April 4-6) and Louisiana Tech won two of three against Hawaii (April 10-12).

RICE COULD CLINCH TITLE If Rice wins all three games against Nevada this weekend, the Owls would clinch their seventh straight WAC title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Rice would have a 6.5 game lead with six games to go. Even if the Owls would lose its last six and Nevada won out (including a currently unscheduled makeup game with San Jose State) to tie Rice with a 22-8 record, the Owls would win the tiebreaker due to a 5-1 record against the Wolf Pack.

BOTH BULLDOG TEAMS PLAY THREE EXTRA INNING GAMES Both Fresno State and Louisiana Tech played three consecutive extra inning games last week. On Wednesday, Fresno State beat fifth-ranked Long Beach State, 5-3, in 11 innings. Louisiana Tech defeated McNeese State, 9-8, in 10 innings. On Friday, Louisiana Tech beat Fresno State in 13 innings, 9-8, and the following day, Fresno State defeated Louisiana Tech, 7-3, in 10 innings.

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 (2.50). 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 11 and ninth in ERA (1.61). His teammate, Wade Townsend, is third in strikeouts per nine innings (13.3) and 11th in ERA (1.64).

STREAKING Nevada sophomore outfielder Chris Gimenez currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 10 games. Gimenez has hit .439 (18-for-41) with 14 RBI and 10 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 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.

NON-CONFERENCE After a 5-3 week, the WAC is 90-62-1 (.592) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State is 15-12 (.556), Hawaii is 19-6 (.760), Louisiana Tech is 8-13-1 (.386), Nevada is 12-14 (.462), Rice is 21-5 (.808) and San Jose State is 15-12 (.556).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs have won three of five games after losing nine of their last 11 games ... Casey McGehees career totals now stand at 237 hits, 39 doubles and 123 RBI ... McGehee needs one RBI to move into a tie for 10th on the schools all-time list ... Hawaii: the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (4.00), but posted a 7.91 ERA last week, last in the WAC ... senior Brent Cook leads the WAC with four triples ... sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer has allowed only 0.90 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 won three of four games after losing seven of its previous eight games ... Louisiana Techs win over Fresno State on Friday was its first ever against the Bulldogs ... at home, the Bulldogs have won nine of their last 11 games and their last three WAC series ... Louisiana Techs eight conference wins surpassed last years total of seven ... in Techs back-to-back extra inning wins (Wednesday against McNeese State and Friday versus Fresno State), Kyle Humphreys hit four home runs and had 12 RBI ... one home run forced extra innings against McNeese State and another was a walk-off shot in the 13th against Fresno State ... Adam Kirkendalls 18 strikeouts against Fresno State on Friday tied a WAC conference game only record that was set in 1967 and equalled once before in 1975 ... the WAC all-game record is 22 set in 1963 ... the Bulldogs struck out a total of 23 Fresno State batters in the 13-inning game ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in stolen bases with 78 while seniors Fairon Allen and John Brandon are a combined 33-of-35 ... Nevada: has won seven of its last eight games ... the Pack hit eight doubles last week against San Francisco, a WAC season-high ... Nevada has won 11 straight games against Hawaii ... Chris Gimenezs three home runs and 12 total bases against Hawaii on Sunday are WAC season-highs ... Nevada is the only team in the WAC unbeaten at home in conference games (8-0) ... Nevada is 4-0 in its current 11-game homestand ... the Packs 15 conference wins are five more than all of last year ... Nevadas 15-5 record in the conference is its best start since joining the WAC prior to the 2001 season ... the Pack hit a WAC-best 10 home runs last week ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in slugging percentage (.616), home runs (13) and multiple RBI games (15) ... Zachary Basch leads the WAC in saves with nine ... the Wolf Pack have 64 home runs, 22 more than Louisiana Techs second best total in the WAC ... Rice: has won at least 40 games the last nine seasons ... Rice plays at home tomorrow and then will play its next seven games on the road ... the Owls weekend rotation of Jeff Niemann (11-0), Josh Baker (8-0) and Philip Humber (9-1) is now a combined 28-1 ... Jeff Jorgensens 18 stolen bases lead the WAC and are the most by an Owl since Jason Gray also had 18 in 1999 ... Rice has won 18 consecutive WAC series ... Rice leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 2,862 per home game ... Rice has beaten nine ranked opponents this season ... the Owls are 10-2 in one-run games ... Rice leads the WAC in hitting (.322), ERA (2.50) and fielding percentage (.984) ... Rice has committed just 28 errors on the year, 23 less than Fresno States second best total of 51 ... 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 12 games in a row ... the Owls have scored more runs (333) than opposing teams have hits (327) ... sophomore Vincent Sinisi leads the WAC in multiple hit games (25) ... San Jose State: the Spartans seven extra-inning games are the most in the WAC this season (3-4) ... the Spartans have not been shut out in 144 games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... 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.