March 24, 2008

After helping Rice to a 5-0 week that included a sweep at Marshall on the opening weekend of conference play, Rice freshman SS Rick Hague has been named Conference USA Hitter of the Week. This week's Pitcher of the Week honor goes to Southern Miss senior RHP Barry Bowden, his second weekly honor this season, after he led the Golden Eagles to a conference-opening win over UCF.

For the week, Hague hit safely in all five outings to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games. He batted a composite .500, collecting eight hits in 16 at bats with two doubles and two home runs for a 1.000 slugging percentage. For the week he drove in eight runs and scored five times. Hague drew a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch, giving him a .579 on-base percentage. He also executed three sacrifice bunts and made 17 defensive assists and five put outs from his spot at short.

Bowden was strong against No. 16 UCF in the C-USA opener on Friday night, striking out 14 Knights in route to his fourth victory of the season. Bowden allowed only one run through eight innings and two runners left on base scored after he exited the game in the ninth inning. He allowed three hits in the third inning to load the bases but struck out two consecutive UCF hitters to end their only threat of the game. Bowden did not allow another hit until the seventh inning. He struck out seven Knight batters in the first three innings and at least one batter in every inning. Bowden's 14 strikeouts is a new career high and placed him sixth all-time on the Southern Miss strikeout list, giving his 245 for his career, only 21 away from passing the legendary Ray Guy for fifth place.