United Athletic Conference

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Rice right-handed pitcher Philip Humber, a junior from Carthage, Texas (Carthage HS), pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout against Hawai'i and struck out a school record 17 batters. Humber allowed just two walks and hit a batter in picking up the 3-0 victory. It is Humbers second career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and third for an Owl this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Greg Kish, Jr., OF, Hawaii - was 4-for-10 in three games against Rice last week. In the 5-3 win on Sunday, he was 1-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored.
Paul Janish, Jr., SS, Rice - hit .353 (6-17) in four games for the Owls. He scored three runs, drove in two and hit three doubles on the week. In the field, he committed no errors in 16 chances and turned or started two double plays.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Stephen Bryant, Jr., Hawaii - pitched a complete game and gave up three unearned runs in a 3-0 loss to Rice on Saturday. He allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out a career-high seven batters.
Jim McCarthy, Fr., Nevada - made three appearances and pitched 4.1 innings without giving up a run. He allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out four. On Sunday, he picked up his first career save after he struck out the final two batters of the game.

HUMBER NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rice pitcher Philip Humber was also named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week as selected by Collegiate Baseball.

UPCOMING WEEKEND ACTION All six teams compete in conference play this weekend. Louisiana Tech hosts Hawaii beginning on Thursday. San Jose State is at Nevada and Rice hosts Fresno State on Friday. For Fresno State and Nevada, this will be the teams first conference action of the season.

STREAKING Hawaii junior Greg Kish and Nevada sophomore Brett Hayes currently have the WACs longest hitting streaks at nine games. Kish has hit .464 (13-for-28) with five RBI and eight runs scored during his streak while Hayes has hit .439 (18-for-41) with six RBI and nine runs scored during his streak. The longest streak this year was by Nevada sophomore infielder Ben Mummy who hit safely in 12 games dating back to last year (May 24-Feb. 27).

IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is fourth in Sports Weekly/ESPN, sixth in Baseball America, and 10th in Collegiate Baseball. No other WAC teams are ranked.

NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 69-61-1 (.531). Fresno State is 12-16 (.429), Hawaii is 14-7 (.667), Louisiana Tech is 9-14 (.391), Nevada is 12-12 (.500), Rice is 12-5 (.706) and San Jose State is 10-7-1 (.583).

BASEHITS Team and individual notes:

Fresno State: is tied for the WAC lead in home runs with 25 on the season ... is 5-0 in one-run games this season ... head coach Mike Batesole is two wins shy of 300 for his career ... senior second baseman Ryan Haag leads the WAC in hits with 41 ... Haag has been the toughest WAC player to strike out this season with 0.14 per game ... sophomore outfielder Richie Robnett leads the WAC in doubles with 13 and in total bases with 64.

Hawaii: snapped a 14-game losing streak against Rice by beating the Owls 5-3 on Sunday ... it was their first win against Rice since April 21, 2001 ... earlier in the season, the Bows had an eight-game winning streak, the longest by a WAC team this season ... junior Greg Kish, a transfer from Oklahoma, is second in the WAC in hitting with a .371 average ... sophomore outfielder Matthew Inouye leads the WAC in doubles per game with 0.48 ... junior Ricky Bauer has won a WAC-high five games this season.

Louisiana Tech: has lost seven of its last nine games ... is now 0-4 versus ranked teams this year after losing against Mississippi State last week ... played its last seven games away from Ruston and was 2-5 in those contests ... leads the WAC in stolen bases with 46 on the season ... junior second baseman Brandon Haygood leads the league with 13 stolen bases in 17 attempts.

Nevada: junior third baseman Carlos Madrid hit a three-run walk off home run versus Lewis-Clark on Friday as Nevada won the game, 13-12 ... the Pack scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to win Fridays game and scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to win 9-8 on Sunday ... Madrid drove in the winning run in Tuesdays 12-11 win over Pacific in the bottom of the 11th inning ... is 0-7 in Saturday games this season ... is tied for the WAC lead in home runs with 25 on the season ... sophomore Brett Hayes was named to the 2004 Johnny Bench Award watch list ... Hayes was the WACs Freshman of the Year last season.

Rice: scored a season-high 15 runs on 17 hits in last nights win over 10th-ranked Texas A&M ... the loss to Hawaii on Sunday snapped a seven-game conference winning streak for the Owls ... Rice struck out 42 Rainbow batters last week led by junior Philip Humbers school record 17 on Saturday ... junior Jeff Niemann opened the series with 13 strikeouts on Friday ... is the only team in the WAC to not lose back-to-back games this season ... is the only team in the WAC to not play an extra inning game this season ... four of its six losses have come against teams ranked in the top 10 including three against Texas ... the Owls have won 23 consecutive WAC series (15 of which have been sweeps) dating back to the end of the 2001 season when they swept TCU, May 18-20, after Fresno State won two-of-three, May 11-13 ... senior outfielder Chris Kolkhorst has been hit by a pitch 37 times in his career, a school record.

San Jose State: has won two straight games after losing five of its previous six contests ... is 4-1 in one-run games this season after beating Louisiana Tech 4-3 in the 11th inning on Sunday ... has turned 25 double plays, tied for the WAC lead ... sophomore outfielder Travis Becktel is tied for the WAC lead with three triples ... freshman outfielder Mitch Ponza has stolen nine bases in nine attempts.

WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE On Oct. 23, 2003, the WAC issued invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State effective July 1, 2005, the same date that Rice, SMU and Tulsa are moving to Conference USA. In baseball, New Mexico State is 19-6. Utah State does not sponsor baseball.

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 bid into this years NCAA Tournament which begins June 4.

NCAA STATS The NCAA will not begin compiling national statistics until Monday, April 12.