United Athletic Conference

RICE MAKES FOURTH TRIP TO CWS IN SEVEN YEARS In last weekends Super Regional, host Rice beat Houston two games to one to advance to the College World Series for the fourth time in seven years. After dropping the first game, 5-2, Rice won on Sunday, 10-2, behind Jeff Niemanns 16th win of the season. Wade Townsend picked up his 10th win of the year in Rices 5-2 series clincher on Monday. Offensively, Austin Davis led the Owls, hitting .375 with three RBI and four runs during the three games. Enrique Cruz, Paul Janish, Craig Stansberry and Vincent Sinisi all hit home runs during Sundays contest.

CWS OPPONENTS The Owls (No. 5 national seed) open the College World Series in game three against Southwest Missouri State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (CT). Rice is ranked number one nationally by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA while Southwest Missouri State is ranked eighth in Collegiate Baseball. The game will be televised by ESPN. If it wins, Rice would play the winner of the Texas-Miami game on Monday at 6:00. Should they lose, the Owls would play the loser of that game on Monday at 2:00. Of the seven possible opponents in the College World Series, the Owls have only played Texas this season. Rice beat the Longhorns, 2-1, in 10 innings on March 11. In all games, Texas is 205-44-2 versus the Owls. The teams met last year for the first time in the NCAAs postseason when Texas beat Rice, 2-1, in the first game of the 2002 College World Series.

WAC AND THE CWS This is the 22nd time a WAC team has made an appearance in the College World Series and the fifth in the last seven years. The WAC has had five national champions as Arizona State won it four times (1965-67-69-77) and Arizona one (1976) as members of the league. WAC teams are a combined 49-37 (.570) in CWS play. In recent history, Rice was 0-2 in 1997, 1-2 in 1999 and 0-2 in 2002 while San Jose State went 0-2 in 2000.

RICE NOTES has won at least 40 games the last nine seasons and 50 or more for the third time in its history ... has won 16 of its last 20 games and is 5-1 in the NCAA Tournament ... is 0-3 in first round games at the CWS with all three opponents going on to win the national title (LSU-1997; Miami-1999; Texas-2002) ... Chris Kolkhorst has reached base in his last 26 games ... Jeff Jorgensens 18 stolen bases are tied for second in the WAC and are the most by an Owl since Jason Gray also had 18 in 1999 ... six Owls have had hitting streaks of at least 10 games this season ... Rice has won 21 consecutive WAC series ... Rice led the WAC in attendance, averaging 3,063 per home game, after averaging 4,426 during last weekends Super Regional ... the Owls total attendance of 119,479 is the most ever for the Owls in a season ... Rice has beaten 11 ranked opponents this season ... Rice leads the WAC in hitting (.316), ERA (2.74) and fielding percentage (.980) ... Rice has shut out a WAC-high 10 teams this season, breaking a school record ... Jeff Niemann has won 17 games in a row (tying Philip Humbers school record), including 16 this season ... the 16 wins sets a new single-season school record ... Rices three starting pitchers consisting of Philip Humber (10-3), Jeff Niemann (16-0) and Wade Townsend (10-1) are a combined 36-4 ... David Aardsma leads the WAC with 11 saves, setting a new single-season school record ... Aardsma has 16 career saves, a new school record ... the Owls have scored one less run (463) than opposing teams have hits (464) ... earlier this year, Rice won 30 games in a row, setting a school record.

NIEMANN NAMED ROTARY SMITH AWARD FINALIST Rice sophomore pitcher Jeff Niemann was named as one of three finalists for the Rotary Smith Award signifying the top player in Division 1 baseball. Niemann, the WACs Pitcher of the Year, is a perfect 16-0 this season, leads the WAC with a 1.63 ERA and is second in the conference with 142 strikeouts. He is the third finalist ever from Rice, joining Lance Berkman (1997) and Mario Ramos (1999). The other two finalists this season are Billy Becher of New Mexico State and Rickie Weeks of Southern. The 16th Rotary Smith Award winner will be announced in Houston on June 26.

ALL-AMERICANS Collegiate Baseballs Louisville Slugger All-Americans: Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann (first team); Rice pitcher Wade Townsend (second); Nevada third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff (third); Rice second baseman Enrique Cruz (third); and Rice pitcher Philip Humber (third). Sports Weekly: Niemann (first); Townsend (first); and Kouzmanoff (second). NCBWA: Niemann (first); Kouzmanoff (second); and Townsend (second).

ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA A total of four WAC players were named to the 2003 Verizon Academic All-America teams as selected by CoSIDA. Nevada junior infielder Erick Streelman was named to the first team while Rice sophomore pitcher Wade Townsend was a second team selection. Rice also had two players named to the third team; junior catcher Jeff Blackinton and sophomore infielder Vincent Sinisi. Streelman was already named an Academic All-American this year as a tight end in football.

FRESHMEN ALL-AMERICANS Four WAC players were named to the 2003 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team: Nevada catcher Brett Hayes, San Jose State designated hitter Aaron Bates and Hawaii teammates second baseman Isaac Omura and outfielder Matthew Inouye. Hayes was the WACs Freshman of the Year.

SIX OWLS NAMED ALL-REGIONAL A total of six Owls earned all-regional honors May 30-June 1: OF Chris Kolkhorst, 1B Vincent Sinisi, SS Paul Janish, 3B Craig Stansberry, P Wade Townsend and P Jeff Niemann. Kolkhorst was named the regionals Most Outstanding Player after hitting .444 (4-for-9) with a home run, four RBI and four runs scored in the three games.

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.

RICE SECOND IN ERA, FIELDING In this weeks NCAA rankings, Rice is ranked number two in both ERA (2.74) and fielding percentage (.980). Joining Rice in the top 30 in fielding are Fresno State (5th), Nevada (21st) and San Jose State (25th). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann is first in wins with 16 and 10th in ERA (1.63). His teammate, Wade Townsend, is third in strikeouts per nine innings (13.0).

STREAKING Nevada senior Ryan Strain currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 10 games. Strain hit .444 (16-for-36) with five RBI and nine runs scored during his streak. The longest current streak by a Rice player is eight games by Craig Stansberry. 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 one in the Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA polls and number two in Sports Weekly/ESPN. Nevada also earned votes in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll.

ALL-WAC TEAMS The all-WAC baseball teams were announced on May 27. The complete teams can be found later in this release.

NON-CONFERENCE After a 2-1 week, the WAC is 99-67-1 (.596) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State is 16-13 (.552), Hawaii is 19-7 (.731), Louisiana Tech is 8-14-1 (.370), Nevada is 13-14 (.481), Rice is 28-6 (.824) and San Jose State is 15-13 (.536).

BASEHITS Fresno State: the Bulldogs won 30 game for the 17th year in a row ... the last time Fresno State did not win 30 games was during the 1986 season (29-27-1) ...Hawaii: the Rainbows won 14 more games than last season ... Hawaii won 30 games for the first time since the 1999 season (37-20) ... the Rainbows are second in the WAC in ERA (3.93) ... senior Brent Cook leads the WAC with four triples ... sophomore pitcher Ricky Bauer allowed only 0.75 walks per game, the best in the WAC ... Rocky Russo was walked 0.74 times per game, also the best in the WAC ... Louisiana Tech: the Bulldogs won 10 of their last 14 home games and three of their last four home WAC series ... Louisiana Techs 10 conference wins surpassed last years total of seven ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in stolen bases with 86 while seniors Fairon Allen and John Brandon were a combined 37-of-40 ... senior shortstop Wade Robinson finished his career with 221 games played, tied for the most in school history ... Nevada: has won 30 games in nine of its last 10 seasons ... the Pack went 4-5 in their last nine games after winning eight of their previous nine ... the Packs 19 conference wins were the most since joining the WAC in 2001 ... senior Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the WAC in home runs (17) and multiple RBI games (21) ... the 17 home runs are tied for the third most in school history ... Zak Basch is second in the WAC in saves with nine ... the Wolf Pack have 81 home runs, 32 more than Rices second best total in the WAC ... San Jose State: finished with less than 30 wins for the first time since 1996 (28-28) and with a losing record for the first time since 1995 (21-33-1) ... the Spartans eight extra-inning games are the most in the WAC this season (3-5) ... 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 assumed all gameday coaching responsibilities for head coach Sam Piraro (536-384-4; 16 years) and accumulated all of the Spartans wins and losses on his coaching record.