After a six-year hiatus, the WAC will once again conduct a postseason tournament. Fresno State is the host of the six-team tournament that will be played, May 25-28. The winner of the double elimination tournament will earn the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The last time the WAC had a tournament was in 1999 when Fresno State also hosted a six-team field, but did not qualify for the championship.
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HITTER Nevada designated hitter Terry Walsh, a sophomore from Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Loyola HS), hit .500 (6-12) in a three-game sweep of New Mexico State last week. In Friday??s game, he was 3-for-5 with a career-high six RBI, including three on a bases clearing double. For the week, he scored two runs, drove in eight and was walked once. It is Walsh's first career WAC Hitter of the Week award and second for a Wolf Pack player this season.
PITCHER Hawai'i right-handed pitcher Justin Costi, a senior from Elk Grove, Calif. (Sacramento CC), pitched a complete game in Hawai'i's 6-0 win over San Jose State on Saturday. He allowed just six hits and one walk while striking out four. It was his second complete-game shutout of the season as he improved to 8-1 with a 3.45 ERA for the year. It is Costi's third career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and fifth for a Rainbow this year.
Other hitters nominated:
Loren Storey, Jr., OF, Fresno State - was 7-for-9 (.778) in a three-game sweep of Sacramento State. He also scored scored three runs and drove in one during the series.
Matt Inouye, Sr., OF, Hawai'i - was 6-for-15 (.400) in four games last week. He had two three-hit games against San Jose State and scored a total of four runs, drove in two and hit two doubles during the week.
Luke Hopkins, So., 1B, New Mexico State - hit .500 (5-10) with two home runs, three RBI and drew five walks in the three games against Nevada. He hit both home runs in Saturday??s game.
Other pitchers nominated:
Eddie Romero, Jr., Fresno State - threw seven innings and allowed nine hits, three runs (one earned) and one walk in a 14-3 win at Sacramento State on Saturday.
Matt Renfree, Jr., Nevada - pitched four innings of shutout relief in Nevada's 10-4 win at New Mexico State on Saturday. He allowed just one hit and three walks while striking out seven to record his second save of the year.
FRESNO STATE WINS WAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE Fresno State won the 2006 WAC regular season title after sweeping Sacramento State over the weekend. The Bulldogs needed every victory as they finished just a half game ahead of Hawai'i which also swept its final series of the year at San Jose State. It is the first title for Fresno State since it won the 1998 West Division crown.
EVERY GAME TO BE STREAMED VIA INTERNET Every game of this week??s WAC Tournament will be available for free to watch over the internet via WAC.TV. The links to the audio and video streams can be found at www.wacsports.com.
MILLS, WRIGHT NAMED WALLACE SEMIFINALISTS The College Baseball Foundation announced its field of 30 semifinalists for the 2006 Brooks Wallace College Player of the Year Award and two WAC players made the list: Fresno State sophomore third baseman Beau Mills and Hawai'i junior starting pitcher Steven Wright. Three finalists will be selected following the NCAA Super Regionals and the winner will be announced on June 15.
THREE NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT New Mexico State second baseman Jason Long, Fresno State pitcher Doug Fister and Fresno State outfielder Steve Susdorf have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Teams. To be eligible for the Academic All-District Team, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his current institution and be nominated by his sports information director. All three players will now be on the ballot for the Academic All-America Team.
CLEMENS AWARD CANDIDATES Two WAC pitchers - Fresno State's Eddie Romero and Hawai'i's Steven Wright have been added to the Roger Clemens Award watch list, given annually to the top collegiate pitcher in the nation. All Division I head baseball coaches will take part in the voting for the honor, in addition to a selected panel of national media and all past winners of the Rotary Smith Award, which was retired after the 2003 dinner by the committee that is sponsoring the Clemens Award.
ALL-WAC TEAMS The 2006 all-WAC teams as selected by the coaches will be announced at the WAC baseball tournament banquet in Fresno on the evening of Wednesday, May 24. Also announced will be the Freshman, Pitcher, Player and Coach of the Year awards.
ROMERO TIED FOR NATIONAL LEAD IN WINS Fresno State junior Eddie Romero picked up his 12th win of the season last week and is now tied with six others for the most victories in the nation. Romero is 12-2 in 19 appearances with an ERA of 3.63.
HOPKINS TOPS NATION IN WALKS New Mexico State first baseman Luke Hopkins continues to lead the nation in walks per game in the NCAA's statistical release that came out on May 23 for games through May 21. The sophomore is averging 1.20 walks per contest. He is also ranked in RBI per game (3rd-1.48), slugging percentage (5th-.799), home runs per game (10th-0.41) and batting average (24th-.403).
STREAKING Louisiana Tech senior third baseman Ryan Hamilton has the WAC??s longest current hitting streak at 13 games. Hamilton has hit .451 (23-for-51) with six RBI and 12 runs scored during his streak. 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 Hawai'i moved up one spot to 28th in the Collegiate Baseball poll, entered the Baseball America poll at 24th (its first appearance in that poll since 1999) and made an appearance in the NCBWA poll at 29th. Fresno State also re-entered the Baseball America poll at number 21, tying for the highest poll position a WAC team has been ranked this season. Earlier this year, Fresno State earned the 21st spot in Baseball America's preseason poll and was again 21st on April 3 according to Collegiate Baseball.
NON-CONFERENCE In non-conference games, the WAC is 124-90 (.579). Fresno State is 21-10 (.677), Hawai'i is 23-7 (.767), Louisiana Tech is 21-10 (.677), Nevada is 13-14 (.481), New Mexico State is 13-18 (.419), Sacramento State is 12-19 (.387) and San Jose State is 21-12 (.636). Last year, the WAC was 85-80-1 (.515) in non-conference matchups. Against Collegiate Baseball top-30 non-conference opponents this season, the WAC is 11-16 (.407) as Fresno State is 3-3, Hawai'i is 2-2, Louisiana Tech is 2-4, Nevada is 1-5, New Mexico State is 3-1, Sacramento State is 0-1 and San Jose State is 0-0.
2006 FORMAT The 2006 season featured 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 played a 24-game league schedule. Each team played a three-game series home and home versus two opponents and a three-game series either home or away against the other four opponents.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (39-16, 18-6 WAC)
Has an 11-game winning streak, the second longest in the nation ... trailed 4-2 against Sacramento State going into the sixth inning on Sunday, but won 7-4 to win the WAC??s regular season title ... junior LHP Eddie Romero is tied for the national lead in wins and is 12-2 on the season ... the trio of Romero, Andy Underwood and Doug Fister have combined for 29 wins, the most in the WAC ... the three also hold three of the top five spots in strikeouts in the WAC ... hit .392 in its series at Sacramento State and now leads the WAC in hitting with a .313 team average ... sophomore 3B Beau Mills was suspended last Saturday for the remainder of the season due to academics.
Hawai'i Rainbows (40-13, 17-6 WAC)
Has won 11 of its last 12 games ... allowed just two runs (one earned) in its weekend sweep of San Jose State ... has its most wins since going 49-14 in 1992 ... has won six WAC Tournament titles (1980-82-84-87-89-92), the most of any current WAC team ... is 16-3 on the road, the second best record in the nation ... leads the WAC in team ERA (3.53) ... junior Darrell Fisherbaugh leads the WAC in saves with nine ... junior RHP Steven Wright leads the WAC in ERA (2.48) and strikeouts (110) ... his 10 wins this season are the most for a Rainbow since Paul Ah Yat also won 10 in 1996 ... Wright is 5-0 in five road starts with a 0.71 ERA.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (32-23, 11-13 WAC)
Won four of its last five games to end the regular season ... freshman OF/RHP Jericho Jones is currently hitting .370, the second best average in the WAC ... he is tied for second in the WAC in home runs with 16, setting a new freshman school record ... Jones is also 5-3 on the mound ... junior OF/DH Brandon Hudson had his 16-game hitting streak snapped against Louisiana-Monroe last Tuesday ... the streak was the tied for the third longest in the WAC this season ... he finished the season with a hit in 20 straight WAC games, the longest active streak in the WAC ... Hudson led the WAC in hitting in conference games only with a .432 average.
Nevada Wolf Pack (24-26, 11-12 WAC)
Has a seven-game winning streak after losing six in a row ... senior OF Shawn Scobee leads the WAC in home runs with 20 after hitting two last week ... the 20 homers are the third best on the school??s single season records list ... he leads the WAC and is third in the nation in slugging percentage (.828) ... Scobee has also been hit by a pitch 20 times this season, the most in the WAC ... sophomore 3B Matt Bowman is third in the WAC in batting average (.369) ... Bowman hit .280 last year in 41 games ... junior RHP Ryan Rodriguez has 217 career strikeouts, the most of any active WAC player ... the Pack is last in the WAC in both hitting (.265) and fielding (.960).
NMSU Aggies (19-36, 6-18 WAC)
Finished its season losing eight of its last nine games ... senior pitcher Beto Romo recorded a career-high six strikeouts in the Aggies?? last game against Nevada ... sophomore 1B Luke Hopkins hit two home runs in the season finale, his third multi-home run game of the year ... Hopkins leads the WAC in hitting with a .403 average but hit just .302 in WAC games ... Hopkins also leads the WAC in RBI (65), walks (53) and on-base percentage (.548) ... he missed 11 games in April due to a hamstring injury ... Hopkins recorded 53 RBI in his first 24 games and had 12 RBI in his last 20 ... senior OF Vince Rodden leads the WAC in stolen bases (33 in 41 attempts).
Sacramento State Hornets (20-35, 8-16 WAC)
Has lost 11 games in a row ... senior Travis Kane struck out 11 Fresno State batters in the 7-4 loss on Sunday, the second straight week that Kane had 11 Ks ... sophomore 3B David Flores hit .395 in conference games only, fourth best in the WAC ... overall, he leads the Hornets in hitting with a .340 average ... junior 2B/OF Gary Johnson did not play in the regular season finale, the only game he missed this season ... has matched its total number of wins from last season (20) ... head coach John Smith has 793 career victories (all with the Hornets) ... Sac State was also an affiliate member of the WAC from 1993-96, but never competed in a WAC playoff during those years.
SJSU Spartans (33-24, 12-12 WAC)
Has lost six in a row, its longest losing streak since losing seven in a row during the 2004 season ... was held scoreless for a stretch of 18 innings during the series against Hawai'i ... has more than 30 wins for the first time since going 45-17 in 2002 ... senior LHP Branden Dewing is fourth in the WAC in ERA (3.14) ... the Spartans set a school record last year in fielding percentage (.978) and leads the WAC this season (.978) ... OF Ryan Angel has no errors in 122 chances, the most chances by any player in the WAC with a 1.000 fielding percentage ... senior reliever Steve Jones has 10 career saves, tying the school record.