Related Material
|
Complete Release.pdf
|
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rice second baseman Josh Rodriguez, a sophomore from South Houston, Texas (South Houston HS), hit .692 (9-for-13) in four games last week. He had four home runs and a double for a 1.692 slugging percentage and also scored seven runs and drove in nine. On Tuesday, he was 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBI against Sam Houston State. In the opener of a three-game series against Nevada on Friday, Rodriguez hit two home runs and had five RBI while going 4-for-4 from the plate. Yesterday, he extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games. It is Rodriguezs first career WAC Player of the Week award and third for an Owl player this year.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK San Jose State left-handed pitcher Brad Kilby, a senior from Elk Grove, Calif. (Laguna Creek HS), pitched a five-hit complete-game shutout against Louisiana Tech on Saturday to give the Spartans a series win over the Bulldogs. He struck out nine, walked two and didnt allow a runner past second base in the 4-0 victory. It is Kilbys first career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and second for a Spartan player this year.
OTHERS NOMINATED Other player of the week nominations included:
Nick Moresi, So., OF, Fresno State - hit .600 (6-10) in a three-game sweep of Hawaii. He scored two runs, drove in three, hit three doubles and stole three bases in the series.
Additional pitcher of the week nominations included:
Matt Garza, Jr., Fresno State - pitched seven innings of Fresno States 6-3 win over Hawaii on Friday. He allowed two runs, four hits, two walks and struck out 11 to record his second straight game with at least 10 strikeouts.
Eddie Degerman, Jr., Rice - pitched a career-high 6.1 innings and allowed no runs, two hits, three walks and struck out a career-high nine batters in a 14-6 win over Nevada on Saturday.
FRESNO STATE SWEEPS RAINBOWS Fresno State jumped out to a 3-0 start in WAC play after sweeping a three-game series at home against Hawaii. The Rainbows were limited to three runs in each game and scored a total of five earned runs. It is the second time in the last three seasons that Fresno State has opened the WAC season with a three-game sweep as the Bulldogs took three from Louisiana Tech in 2003.
GRAHAM WINS 600TH On Saturday, Rice defeated Nevada, 14-6, to give head coach Wayne Graham his 600th win with the Owls. Graham is in his 14th year at Rice and has a record of 600-247 (.708). Combined with 11 years as a junior college coach at San Jacinto-North, Graham has now won 1,175 games.
RICE PENALIZED FOR USE OF INELIGIBLE PLAYER Rice has been penalized by the WAC for violation of the WAC code in using a non-roster player in last weekends series against Nevada. Rice has accepted the penalty and will comply by reducing its travel squad for this weekends series at Fresno State from 25 to 23 players. League rules state that the home team in a conference series may dress up to 32 student-athletes but only 25 are eligible to play in the series. Eligible student-athletes must be declared prior to the start of the series and changes cannot be made for any reason once the series has begun. On Saturday, Rice led 14-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning against Nevada and inserted a player into the game not listed on the 25-man roster and, therefore, that player was ineligible. The Owls went on to win the game 14-6.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC All six teams play each other in WAC series this week beginning with Nevada at Louisiana Tech on Thursday evening. On Friday, Fresno State hosts Rice and San Jose State travels to Hawaii.
STREAKING Rice third baseman Greg Buchanan has the WACs longest current hitting streak at 13 games. Buchanan has hit .333 (18-for-54) with six RBI and nine runs scored during his streak. The longest streak this season was 16 games by Fresno States Nick Moresi whose streak began last year and ended on March 11.
IN THE POLLS In this weeks polls, Rice is 13th in Baseball America, 14th in Sports Weekly/ESPN and 23rd in Collegiate Baseball. San Jose State received votes in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll.
WALLACE WATCH LIST The WAC has seven players on the 2005 Wallace Watch as announced by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, Texas. The Brooks Wallace Award is presented to the national college baseball payer of the year. The WAC candidates are Fresno States Christian Vitters (2B), Hawaiis Matthew Inouye (OF), Nevadas Jacob Butler (OF), Rices Josh Geer (P), Paul Janish (SS) and Lance Pendleton (OF) and San Jose States Travis Becktel (OF). The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semifinalists by May 24. Additional candidates will be added as the season progresses.
NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 70-61-1 (.534). Fresno State is 14-15 (.483), Hawaii is 12-11 (.522), Louisiana Tech is 7-14 (.333), Nevada is 11-8 (.579), Rice is 16-5 (.762) and San Jose State is 10-8-1 (.553). Against Collegiate Baseball top 25 opponents, the WAC is 9-18 (.333) as Fresno State is 0-5, Hawaii is 4-1, Louisiana Tech is 1-6, Nevada is 0-2, Rice is 4-4 and San Jose State is 0-0.
NCAA STATS The NCAA will not begin compiling national statistics until Tuesday, April 12.
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 3.
WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE AND SACRAMENTO STATE Last year, the WAC issued invitations to Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State effective July 1, 2005, the same date that Rice, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa are moving to Conference USA. Of the three incoming schools, only New Mexico State has baseball. Sacramento State will also join the WAC as an affiliate member in baseball beginning in the 2006 season. The Hornets previously were an affiliate member of the WAC from 1993-96.TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (17-15, 3-0 WAC)
Has won eight of its last 10 games including six in a row ... has now won seven straight games against Hawaii ... finishes a 27-game homestand with three games against Rice this weekend ... is 16-8 in its previous 24 home games ... won its last series (2-1) against Rice late last year ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC with seven triples ... Nick Moresi leads the WAC in hits with 44 ... he has stolen 11 bases in 11 attempts this season ... freshman Beau Mills leads the WAC in RBI with 33 and home runs with nine ... Matt Garza has struck out a WAC-high 64 batters and has three games with 10 or more strikeouts on the year.
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (13-16, 1-5 WAC)
Has lost six games in a row and eight of its last 10 ... was 0-4 in its first road trip of the season ... has played five extra inning games (2-3), the most in the WAC ... junior Isaac Omura leads the WAC in batting average (.396), doubles (13) and multiple hit games (15) ... Omura and Eric Ammon each have seven-game hitting streaks ... freshman Joe Spiers leads the WAC in stolen bases with 22, twice the number of the WACs runner-up ... Greg Kish has been the hardest WAC player to strike out with 0.36 per game ... senior Stephen Bryant lost his first game of the year last week and is now 4-1 with a 2.74 ERA on the year.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (10-17, 3-3 WAC)
Techs 3-3 WAC start is its best ever after six games since joining the conference prior to the 2002 season ... went four games without an error before making five against San Jose State on Saturday ... has not scored a run in 22 innings ... is in the midst of an 11-game road trip (5-5) ... junior third baseman Ryan Hamilton has a 10-game hitting streak, the longest by a Bulldog this season ... leads the WAC in stolen bases with 42 in 56 attempts, but has allowed a WAC-high 43 stolen bases from its opponents ... is last in the WAC in hitting (.242) and is the only WAC team to not have a team batting average of at least .260.
Nevada Wolf Pack (12-10, 1-2 WAC)
The win over Rice on Sunday snapped an eight-game losing streak for Nevada against the Owls ... reliever Wesley Dorsett picked up the win, his first of the year ... the Pack trailed 5-0 going into the eighth inning of the 7-5 victory ... the Pack is the only WAC team with a winning road record (8-7) ... sophomore Ryan Rodriguez had his five-game winning streak snapped in a 14-6 loss to Rice on Saturday ... junior Wesley Dorsett leads the WAC in saves with four .. sophomore Baker Krukow had his 13-game hitting streak snapped in the first game against Rice last Friday ... junior Brett Hayes leads the WAC in RBI per game with 1.18.
Rice Owls (18-9, 2-4 WAC)
Plays 11 of its next 12 games on the road ... in four games last week, the Owls hit .391 with 13 home runs ... hit seven home runs in the win against Nevada on Saturday, tied for the third-highest single game total in school history ... leads the WAC in ERA (2.73), more than a full run better than the next best team in the league ... also leads the WAC in hitting (.291) and home runs (27) ... junior Josh Geer has won a WAC-high six games ... Josh Rodriguez leads the WAC in slugging percentage (.663) ... junior 3B Greg Buchanan has a 13-game hitting streak, the longest current streak by a WAC player ... freshman pitcher/DH Joe Savery has a .378 batting average and 2.35 ERA.
San Jose State Spartans (15-9-1, 5-1 WAC)
Has won 11 of its last 13 games ... has not allowed a run in 22 innings ... had back-to-back shutouts last weekend for the first time since March, 2002 ... finished a 14-game homestand with an 11-3 record ... hit .167 as a team against Louisiana Tech, but still won two of the three games as the Spartans pitching staff had an ERA of 1.33 ... Branden Dewing threw a complete-game four-hitter in a 1-0 win over Louisiana Tech on Friday ... Dewing struck out 10 and walked just one ... senior Brad Kilby leads the WAC in ERA (1.10) ... he is 5-1 with a save and has won his last four starts ... junior OF Travis Becktel has been hit by a pitch a WAC-high nine times this season.