The hair may be gone, but the hits keep coming for sophomore catcher Matt Rice.

Though Rice’s school-record 31-game hitting streak ended after an 0-for-5 performance at Arkansas State on April 18, he has had a hit in each of the five games since then.

“Whenever it ended, not really much changed,” Rice said. “But I cut my hair. I was growing my hair out, wasn’t going to cut the hair, but I had to cut the hair when the streak was over.”

Rice has scored nine total runs in 20 at-bats since the streak ended, walking three times and striking out only once.

“It’s over, so there’s a little bit more relaxation,” he said. “You just come out here, and you don’t have everybody rooting for you to get a hit. You just come out here and do whatever you do.”

Rice’s hitting streak was halted three games short of the Sun Belt Conference record of 34 games, set by Florida International’s Bryan Pullin in 2005-06, and tied the single-season conference record.

Coach Chris Finwood said that he was “incredibly proud” of Rice’s accomplishment.

“You have a 31-game hitting streak, tied the conference single-season record, set a school record at this level of baseball, it’s amazing,” Finwood said.

Rice has a team-best .404 batting average, 69 hits and 56 runs batted in.

As of April 19, he ranked 16th in the NCAA in both hits and runs batted in.

“He’s just been great this whole year for us,” junior third baseman Wade Gaynor said. “Every time we need a big hit, he’s come up and delivered.”

Rice said he tried not to focus on the streak, keeping his attention on winning games instead.

“I knew I was in the 30s, but I had no idea what the record was. I had no idea what WKU’s record was,” he said. “I didn’t want to try to put pressure on myself, because I felt like if I knew – “All right, this is the record – I’ve got to get a hit today,” – I’d try too hard.”

Finwood said that even though he was proud of Rice’s hitting streak, he was also relieved that the pressure was off.

“I thought a little bit – he might not admit it – but towards the end, he started pressing,” Finwood said. “I told him on Sunday what a great accomplishment it was, but also how happy I was that it was over.”