San Jose State falls on Sunday.

Byline: Laurence Miedema

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ San Jose State might have been Rice's equal in the Western Athletic Conference standings last season. But San Jose State Coach Sam Piraro felt fortunate to beat the Owls once in their six meetings.

That's why winning the weekend series against Rice, No. 1 in two of the college baseball polls and No. 2 in the other two, was so satisfying for the Spartans, even if it ended with SJSU absorbing a 10-1 drubbing Sunday at Municipal Stadium.

"If you told me we were going to get two out of three before this series, and you would cut a deal with the devil to do it, I would have cut that deal so fast your head would have spun," said …