United Athletic Conference

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Hawaii right-handed pitcher Clary Carlsen, a senior from Poulsbo, Wash. (Edmonds College), pitched his first career complete-game in Hawaiis 8-1 win at Louisiana Tech on Saturday. Carlsen allowed one unearned run on six hits and no walks while striking out four. He improved to 5-3 on the season with a 3.31 ERA. It is Carlsens first career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and second for a Rainbow this season.

OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Isaac Omura, So., 2B, Hawaii - was 6-for-8 in two wins over Louisiana Tech last week. He drove in four runs, scored twice and was walked twice.
Jeff Walker, Sr., OF, Louisiana Tech - hit .462 and his first two home runs of the season in three games against Hawaii. He also drove in five runs and stole a base.
Brandon Fromm, Fr., 1B, San Jose State - was 6-for-13 (.462) and hit two home runs in three games against Nevada. He also drove in seven runs and scored six.

Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Jeff Niemann, Jr., Rice - in two appearances was 1-0 with a 1.12 ERA. Against Texas A&M, he struck out the two batters he faced in the ninth inning and then pitched 7.2 inning against Fresno State, striking out a season-high 12 batters while allowing just two hits, two walks and one run.
Branden Dewing, So., San Jose State - recorded his first career complete-game in an 8-1 win over Nevada on Sunday. He allowed seven hits, one run, two walks and struck out five in the contest.

UPCOMING WEEKEND ACTION For the second week in a row, all six teams compete in conference play this weekend and the three series start on Friday. Nevada hosts Rice, Louisiana Tech is at Fresno State and San Jose State travels to Hawaii.

STREAKING Hawaii junior Greg Kish currently has the WACs longest hitting streak at 12 games. Kish has hit .450 (18-for-40) with nine RBI and 11 runs scored during his streak. The streak is tied for the longest by a WAC player this year as Nevada sophomore infielder Ben Mummy hit safely in 12 games dating back to last season (May 24-Feb. 27).

IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is fourth in Sports Weekly/ESPN, fourth in Baseball America, fourth in the NCBWA poll and seventh 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: has a current five-game losing streak, the longest by any WAC team this year ... had won its first five one-run games this year before losing at Rice on Saturday, 6-5 ... head coach Mike Batesole is two wins shy of 300 for his career ... senior second baseman Ryan Haag leads the WAC in hits with 44 ... Haag has been the toughest WAC player to strike out this season with 0.19 per game ... sophomore outfielder Richie Robnett leads the WAC in total bases with 71 and is tied for the WAC lead in doubles with 14 ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in fielding percentage (.971).

Hawaii: has won three of its last four games ... earlier in the season, the Bows had an eight-game winning streak, the longest by a WAC team this season ... junior outfielder Greg Kish, a transfer from Oklahoma, is second in the WAC in hitting with a .378 average ... sophomore outfielder Matthew Inouye leads the WAC in doubles per game with 0.54 ... senior Clary Carlsen and junior Ricky Bauer are tied for the WAC lead in wins with five.

Louisiana Tech: has lost four of its last five games ... plays its next five games on the road and is in the midst of playing 12 of 15 away from Ruston ... leads the WAC in stolen bases with 50 on the season ... junior second baseman Brandon Haygood leads the league with 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts ... freshman Brady Bascle had his first career hit on Thursday in the tenth inning with the bases loaded to beat Hawaii, 7-6 ... the Bulldogs have committed 78 errors, 35 more than the next worst team in the WAC.

Nevada: beat San Jose State on Friday to record its first three-game winning streak of the season before losing its next two games against the Spartans ... is 0-8 in Saturday games this season ... leads the WAC in home runs with 30 ... junior outfielder Chris Gimenez has been hit by a pitch a WAC-high 16 times this year ... sophomore catcher Brett Hayes was named to the 2004 Johnny Bench Award watch list ... Hayes was the WACs Freshman of the Year last season ... Hayes had an 11-game hit streak snapped against San Jose State on Sunday.

Rice: has struck out 42 batters in a WAC series two straight weekends (Fresno State and Hawaii) ... against Fresno State, junior Jeff Niemann had a season-high 12 strikeouts, junior Wade Townsend tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts and junior Philip Humber had 13 ... Rice pitchers have struck out 10 or more batters in seven straight games ... has a four-game winning streak for the third time this year ... the Owls have not put together a five-game winning streak this season ... has won six of its last seven games ... 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 top-ranked Texas ... the Owls have won 24 consecutive WAC series (16 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 2-of-3, May 11-13 ... senior outfielder Chris Kolkhorst has been hit by a pitch 39 times in his career (an ongoing school record) after getting hit twice last week against Fresno State.

San Jose State: scored a WAC season-high 19 runs in the win over Nevada on Saturday ... has won four of its last five games after losing five of its previous six contests ... has turned a WAC-best 30 double plays ... junior outfielder Nathan Corrick and freshman outfielder Ryan Angel each had a WAC season-high 10 total bases in the 19-13 win over Nevada on Saturday as both hit two home runs and two singles in the game ... sophomore outfielder Travis Becktel is tied for the WAC lead with three triples ... freshman outfielder Mitch Ponza has been caught stealing his last two attempts after being successful in his first nine ... junior Matt Durkin has pitched a WAC-high 55.1 innings.

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 22-7-1. 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.