The WAC will feature four three-game series this week that all begin on Friday. WAC matchups include Nevada at Sacramento State, Fresno State at New Mexico State and San Jose State at Hawai'i. Louisiana Tech plays host to non-conference foe Alabama-Birmingham.
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XBOX LIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER ?“ Fresno State designated hitter Beau Mills, a sophomore from Visalia, Calif. (Golden West), hit .583 (7-12), had eight RBI and scored four runs in a three-game sweep of Sacramento State that extended Fresno State?™s winning streak to 15 in a row. On Saturday, he was 2-for-4 with four RBI which included a three-run home run. In Sunday?™s contest, he was 4-for-5 with another four RBI. For the week, he was walked three times, stole three bases and hit three doubles and a home run. It is Mills?™ second career WAC Hitter of the Week award and second for a Bulldog player this year.
PITCHER ?“ San Jose State left-handed pitcher Branden Dewing, a senior from Modesto, Calif. (Grace M. Davis HS), pitched a complete-game shutout in San Jose State?™s 2-0 win against Louisiana Tech last Thursday. He allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out nine. At one point, he retired 12 batters in a row. Dewing has now allowed a run in his last 17 innings. It is Dewing?™s fourth career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and third for a Spartan this year.
Other hitters nominated:
Shawn Scobee, Sr., OF, Nevada - hit .545 (6-11) with three runs, six RBI and two home runs in a three-game sweep of New Mexico State. He had two hits and at least one RBI in each game. In Sunday?™s first game, he was 2-for-4 with four RBI and both home runs.
Kyle Atrat, Sr., 1B/DH, Sacramento State - hit .500 (7-14) with three runs, eight RBI and two home runs in the series at Fresno State. He also was walked three times and hit a double.
Other pitchers nominated:
Doug Fister, Sr., Fresno State - pitched seven innings and recorded a win in the Bulldogs?™ 5-1 victory over Sacramento State last Friday. He allowed six hits, one run and three walks while striking out five.
Tim Schoeninger, Sr., Nevada - pitched a complete-game in Nevada?™s 9-1 win over New Mexico State on Friday night. He allowed three hits and no walks while striking out a career-high 11 batters. At one point, he retired 17 consecutive hitters.
FRESNO STATE, NEVADA OPEN WAC WITH SWEEPS ?“ Both Fresno State and Nevada hosted WAC newcomers last week and both came away with three wins. Fresno State welcomed Sacramento State to the WAC with three wins that improved its winning streak to 15 in a row. New Mexico State traveled to Nevada and after losing the first game, 9-1, last Friday, the Aggies lost a pair of close games in a doubleheader on Sunday.
FOUR GAMES RAINED OUT ?“ On Tuesday, March 28, all four games scheduled for WAC teams were rained out. Sacramento State, San Jose State and Hawai'i were slated to host California, Saint Mary?™s and UC Santa Barbara, respectively. Nevada was to travel to UC Davis. No make up dates were announced.
STREAKING ?“ The WAC has three players?“Hawai'i teammates Luis Avila and Esteban Lopez and Sacramento State?™s Kyle Atrat?“ with seven-game hitting streaks, currently the longest active streaks in the conference. The longest streak this season was 17 games by New Mexico State teammates Luke Hopkins and Abe Aguirre. The WAC record is 45 games set by Arizona State?™s Roger Schmuck in 1972.
IN THE POLLS ?“ No WAC teams are ranked in this week?™s polls, but both Fresno State and Hawai'i are currently receiving votes in both the baseball writers?™ poll (NCBWA) and coaches?™ poll (USA Today). The highest a WAC team has been ranked this season was when Fresno State earned the 21st spot in Baseball America?™s preseason poll.
WALLACE WATCH LIST ?“ The WAC has five players on the 2006 Wallace Watch as announced by the Collge Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, Texas. The Brooks Wallace Award is presented to the national college baseball player of the year. The WAC candidates are Fresno State?™s Beau Mills (3B), Hawai'i?™s Joseph Spiers (SS), Hawai'i?™s Steven Wright (SP), New Mexico State?™s Luke Hopkins (1B) and San Jose State?™s Branden Dewing (SP). The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semifinalists by late May. Additional candidates will be added as the season progresses.
NON-CONFERENCE ?“ In non-conference games, the WAC is 98-78 (.557). Fresno State is 19-8 (.704), Hawai'i is 22-6 (.786), Louisiana Tech is 9-10 (.474), Nevada is 10-12 (.455), New Mexico State is 10-17 (.370), Sacramento State is 11-16 (.407) and San Jose State is 17-9 (.654). Last year, the WAC was 85-80-1 (.515) in non-conference matchups. Against Collegiate Baseball top 25 opponents this season, the WAC is 9-16 (.360) as Fresno State is 3-3, Hawai'i is 2-2, Louisiana Tech is 1-4, Nevada is 1-5, New Mexico State is 2-1, Sacramento State is 0-1 and San Jose State is 0-0.
NCAA STATS ?“ The NCAA will not begin compiling national statistics until Tuesday, April 11.
2006 FORMAT ?“ The 2006 season features a few differences from the last few years. The WAC is comprised of the six baseball playing members of the conference along with an affiliate member ?“ Sacramento State. The seven teams play a 24-game league schedule. Each team will play a three-game series home and home versus two opponents and a three-game series either home or away against the other four opponents.
POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT ?“ For the first time since the 1999 season, the WAC will conduct a postseason tournament. The top six finishers in the WAC standings will play a double-elimination format at Pete Beiden Field in Fresno, Calif., May 25-28. The winner will receive the WAC?™s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. A credential request will be sent to the media about a month before the tournament. There will not be a media hotel for the tournament.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (22-8, 3-0 WAC)
Has won 15 games in a row, tied for the longest current streak in the nation and the most for the Bulldogs since winning a school-record 32 straight during the 1988 season ... it?™s the longest winning streak by a WAC school since Rice won 30 in a row in 2003 ... finished its 24-game homestand with a 20-4 record ... junior SS Christian Vitters has a 15-game hitting streak in WAC games dating back to last season, the longest current streak in the WAC ... junior Eddie Romero leads the WAC in wins and is 7-1 on the season ... senior Doug Fister leads the WAC in strikeouts (57) ... sophomore 3B Beau Mills moved into a tie for eighth on the school?™s all-time list for home runs (27).
Hawai'i Rainbows (22-8, 0-2 WAC)
Has won nine of its last 11 with the only losses coming against Louisiana Tech ... Justin Costi and Darrell Fisherbaugh combined for a one-hit seven-inning shutout (3-0) of UCSB in the second game of a doubleheader on Monday ... Fisherbaugh picked up his WAC-leading fifth save of the season ... it was the second one-hitter for the Rainbows this season and 17th in their history ... has a seven-game road winning streak, tied for the longest in the nation ... freshman Matt Daly leads the WAC in ERA (1.15) ... senior OF Matt Inouye is hitting .418 but doesn?™t qualify for the WAC leaders list as he does not have enough ABs due to an injury that forced him to miss a couple of weeks.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (12-12, 3-2 WAC)
Freshman RHP Jericho Jones improved to 4-0 on the season after the Bulldogs beat San Jose State, 8-2, in the third game of the series against San Jose State ... Jones also was 1-for-3 at the plate with a three-run home run (his fourth of the season) and is currently hitting .444 on the year ... plays 12 of its next 13 games at home ... leads the WAC in hitting with a .310 team average ... senior 2B Amos Ramon is the Bulldogs?™ leading hitter with a .393 average ... Ramon had his 12-game hitting streak come to an end in the first game against San Jose State last week ... senior RHP Matt Lacy leads the WAC in fewest walks allowed per game with 0.99.
Nevada Wolf Pack (13-12, 3-0 WAC)
Has won eight games in a row, the second longest streak by a WAC team this year (behind Fresno State?™s current 15-game streak), and currently the fourth longest in the nation ... it?™s the longest streak for Nevada since winning eight in a row in 1999 ... the last time it won nine in a row was in 1998 ... is 3-0 in the WAC for the first time since joining the league in 2001 ... has a winning record for the first time since May 7 of last year ... the Pack concluded its season-long 10-game homestand with a 9-1 record ... junior 2B Leo Radkowski drove in the winning run in both games of Nevada?™s doubleheader sweep of New Mexico State on Sunday.
NMSU Aggies (10-20, 0-3 WAC)
Has lost 12 games in a row, the longest streak by a WAC team this year ... has scored 231 runs, 29 more than the second best team in the WAC, but has the lowest winning percentage of the seven WAC teams ... head coach Rocky Ward needs five more wins to reach 200 for his career ... sophomore 1B Luke Hopkins leads the WAC in hitting with a .430 average ... he also leads the WAC in hits (46), runs (34), RBI (53), home runs (12) and total bases (90) ... Hopkins has 22 more RBI than the player with the second most in the WAC (Hawai'i?™s Luis Avila-31) ... senior OF Vince Rodden leads the WAC in stolen bases with 24 in 28 attempts.
Sacramento State Hornets (11-19, 0-3 WAC)
Had both games against California cancelled this year due to rain (Feb. 28 and March 28) ... has lost five of its last six games ... junior Mick Joyce has recorded nearly half of the Hornets?™ wins this season (5-1, 2.65 ERA) ... Joyce had pitched three straight complete games before allowing seven runs in 4.1 innings last week against Fresno State ... junior 2B/OF Gary Johnson is the only Hornet to start all 30 games this season ... senior DH Pat Keiper is fourth in the WAC with a .387 batting average ... junior 2B/OF Gary Johnson has been hit by a pitch a WAC-high 11 times this season ... Sacramento State was also an affiliate member of the WAC from 1993-96.
SJSU Spartans (19-10, 2-1 WAC)
Completed a 12-game homestand with a 10-2 record ... junior RHP Loren Moneypenny pitched his second consecutive complete game in the Spartans?™ 6-2 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday ... SJSU leads the WAC in team ERA (3.54) ... has played the most 1-run games of any team in the WAC (10) and is 7-3 in those contests ... set a school record last year in fielding percentage (.978) and leads the WAC this season (.983) ... was 16-0 when scoring first but lost its last game against Louisiana Tech on Saturday after jumping out to a 1-0 lead ... senior Steve Jones has nine saves in his career, one shy of tying the school record.