United Athletic Conference

RICE ADVANCES TO SUPER REGIONAL Rice plays host to one of eight NCAA Baseball Super Regional Tournaments this weekend as 16 teams continue to compete for the eight spots in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. The top-ranked Owls take on crosstown rival Houston in a best-of-three series. Game times will be 6:05 p.m. (CT) Saturday, 2:05 p.m. Sunday and 12:05 p.m. Monday (if necessary). The Owls (51-10) are the number-five national seed in the tournament. Rice was a perfect 3-0 in last weeks regional, beating Wichita State in the finals, 5-2, on Sunday. The Owls are playing in their fourth Super Regional in the last five years. Rice won its Super Regional in 1999, two games to one, versus Southwestern Louisiana, lost 2-0 to Nebraska in 2001 and beat LSU, 2-0, last season at Reckling Park. Houston (36-28) beat Texas A&M twice Sunday by identical 7-6 scores to win the College Station Regional. The Cougars are ranked 17th this week by Collegiate Baseball. Rice and Houston met five times this season with the Owls winning four of those contests. Overall, Houston leads the series 62-59, but Rice has won 10 of the last 12 meetings. The winner of the Rice-Houston series will play either Ohio State or Southwest Missouri State in the opening round of the College World Series on Saturday, June 14. If Rice advances to the CWS, it would be the fourth time in seven years (1997, 1999, 2002) for the Owls. It would also be the fifth appearance in those seven years by a WAC team as San Jose State made the trip in 2000.

SIX OWLS NAMED ALL-REGIONAL A total of six Owls earned all-regional honors last week: 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.

ALL-AMERICANS Last week, both Collegiate Baseball and USA Todays Sports Weekly announced their All-American teams. The WAC had a total of five baseball players named to Collegiate Baseballs Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American baseball teams. Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann earned first-team honors. His teammate, pitcher Wade Townsend was a second team selection while Nevada third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, Rice second baseman Enrique Cruz and Rice pitcher Philip Humber were third team honorees. Sports Weekly tabbed Niemann and Townsend as first team selections while Kouzmanoff was named a second team All-America.

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.

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 FIELDING, THIRD IN ERA In this weeks NCAA rankings, Rice is ranked number two in fielding percentage (.980) and third in ERA (2.76). The Owls are also 29th in batting (.320) 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 (5th), Nevada (21st) and San Jose State (25th). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann is first in wins with 15 and 10th in ERA (1.65). His teammate, Wade Townsend, is third in strikeouts per nine innings (13.2).

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 five games by both Craig Stansberry and Vincent Sinisi. 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 Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA polls and number two in Baseball America and Sports Weekly/ESPN. Nevada 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 3-0 week, the WAC is 97-66-1 (.595) 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 26-5 (.839) 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, 36 more than Rices second best total in the WAC ... Rice: has won at least 40 games the last nine seasons and 50 or more for the third time in its history ... has won 14 of its last 17 games including five in a row ... the Owls are 33-3 at home this season (.917) ... 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 leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 2,950 per home game ... the Owls total attendance of 106,200 is the most ever for the Owls in a season ... Rice has beaten nine ranked opponents this season ... Rice leads the WAC in hitting (.320), ERA (2.76) and fielding percentage (.980) ... Rice has shut out a WAC-high 10 teams this season, breaking a school record ... Jeff Niemann has won 16 games in a row, including 15 this season ... the 15 wins tie the school record set by Jeff Nichols in 1999 ... Rices three starting pitchers consisting of Philip Humber (10-2), Jeff Niemann (15-0) and Wade Townsend (9-1) are a combined 34-3 ... Niemann and Townsend are among the 12 semifinalists for the 2003 Rotary Smith Award ... David Aardsma leads the WAC with 10 saves, tying a school record ... Aardsma has 15 career saves, a new school record ... the Owls have scored more runs (446) than opposing teams have hits (444) ... 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.