United Athletic Conference

RICE WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP The Owls advanced to its fourth College World Series in seven years and came away with the national championship, Rices first ever team title in any sport. Rice began the CWS with a 4-2 win over Southwest Missouri State and then beat Texas, 12-2. The Owls then defeated Texas again, 5-4, to move on to the championship series against Stanford. Rice won the first game of the best of three series, 4-3, in 10 innings. The Cardinal evened the series the next day, 8-3. The Owls then won the deciding game, 14-2, to win the title. In the final contest, Philip Humber pitched a complete game to pick up the win, allowing just five hits. The 12-run margin of victory was the most in a title game in CWS history. The Owls hit .279 in the CWS compared to their opponents .202 average. Rices ERA was 2.83 while its opponents had a 5.88 ERA. Its the first team national title for a WAC squad since Fresno State won the softball championship in 1998. Its also the sixth baseball national title for a WAC team, but first since 1977.

CWS ALL-TOURNAMENT Three Rice players made the all-tournament team in Omaha; 2B Enrique Cruz, OF Chris Kolkhorst and P Jeff Niemann. Cruz led the Owls with a .409 average (9-22) and six RBI. Kolkhorst was 8-for-22 (.364) with eight runs scored, three doubles and four RBI. Niemann was 1-0 in two appearances with a 2.25 ERA. He struck out 14 in 16 innings and allowed nine hits and three walks.

WAC AND THE CWS Rice made the WACs 22nd appearance in the College World Series and the fifth in the last seven years. The WAC has had six national champions as Arizona State won it four times (1965-67-69-77), Arizona once (1976) and Rice once (2003) as members of the league. WAC teams are a combined 54-38 (.587) in CWS play. In recent history, Rice was 0-2 in 1997, 1-2 in 1999, 0-2 in 2002 and 5-1 in 2003 while San Jose State went 0-2 in 2000.

GRAHAM NAMED NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR Rice head coach Wayne Graham was named National Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball. It marked the first time a WAC coach has received the honor, though Fresno States Mike Batesole earned the award in 1998 as coach at Cal State Northridge.

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). Baseball America: Niemann (first) and Townsend (first).

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.

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.

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.

RICE SECOND IN ERA, FIELDING In the NCAAs final rankings, Rice was ranked number two in both ERA (2.74) and fielding percentage (.980). Joining Rice in the top 30 in fielding were Fresno State (5th), Nevada (21st) and San Jose State (25th). Rice pitcher Jeff Niemann was first in wins with 17 and 10th in ERA (1.70). Niemann tied the NCAA record of most wins in a season without a loss (17-0). His teammate, Wade Townsend, was seventh nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.4).

STREAKING Nevada senior Ryan Strain had the WACs longest hitting streak to finish the season at 10 games. Strain hit .444 (16-for-36) with five RBI and nine 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 the final polls, Rice was ranked number one in all four: Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and 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 The WAC was 104-68-1 (.604) in non-conference games this season. Fresno State was 16-13 (.552), Hawaii was 19-7 (.731), Louisiana Tech was 8-14-1 (.370), Nevada was 13-14 (.481), Rice was 33-7 (.825) and San Jose State was 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 were second in the WAC in ERA (3.93) ... senior Brent Cook tied for the WAC lead 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 led 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 led 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 was second in the WAC in saves with nine ... the Wolf Pack had 81 home runs, 30 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 ... was 10-2 in the NCAA Tournament ... Chris Kolkhorst reached base in 31 of his last 32 games ... Jeff Jorgensens 18 stolen bases were tied for second in the WAC and were the most by an Owl since Jason Gray also had 18 in 1999 ... six Owls had hitting streaks of at least 10 games ... Rice has won 21 consecutive WAC series ... Rice led the WAC in attendance, averaging 3,063 per home game ... the Owls total attendance of 119,479 was the most ever for the Owls in a season ... Rice beat 16 ranked opponents this season ... Rice led the WAC in hitting (.313), ERA (2.74) and fielding percentage (.980) ... Rice shut out a WAC-high 10 teams this season, breaking a school record ... Jeff Niemann has won 18 games in a row (setting a school record), including 17 this season ... the 17 wins sets a new single-season school record ... Rices three starting pitchers consisting of Philip Humber (11-3), Jeff Niemann (17-0) and Wade Townsend (11-2) were a combined 39-5 ... David Aardsma led the WAC with 12 saves, setting a new single-season school record ... Aardsma had 17 career saves, a new school record ... the Owls scored more runs (505) than opposing teams had hits (503) ... earlier this year, Rice won 30 games in a row, setting a school record ... 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 were 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.