HITTER OF THE WEEK ? Louisiana Tech shortstop Dennis Winn, a senior from Bowling Green, Ky. (Western Kentucky), hit .583 (7-12) with three home runs, six RBI and five runs in Louisiana Tech’s three-game sweep of New Mexico State last week. He homered in each game with each home run either adding insurance runs late in the game or giving the Bulldogs the lead. Winn doubled his home run total on the season and also improved his batting average 34 points to .301. It is Winn’s first career WAC Hitter of the Week award and the fifth for a Bulldog player this year.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK ? San Jose State right-handed pitcher Josh Amberson, a senior from Everett, Wash. (Edmonds CC), had a complete-game shutout in San Jose State’s 4-0 win over Santa Clara last Tuesday. Amberson allowed just six hits, one walk and struck out 12. He retired the first 14 batters of the game, nine on strikeouts. It is Amberson’s third career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and the first for a Spartan pitcher this year.
Other hitters nominated:
Brian Lapin, Jr., OF, Fresno State - hit .412 (7-17) and drove in seven in four games for the Bulldogs last week.
Kris Sanchez, Sr., 1B, Hawai?i - was 7-of-13 (.538) in three games against Sacramento State. He had at least two hits in a each game and a home run in two of the contests. He drove in a total of eight and scored five runs during the series.
Shaun Kort, Fr., 1B, Nevada - hit .438 (7-16) in four games last week. Kort scored two runs, drove in three, had a double and was walked twice. On Thursday, he was 4-for-5 with two RBI against Fresno State.
Tim Wheeler, Fr., OF, Sacramento State - was 8-of-12 (.667) in a three-game series against Hawai?i. He scored three runs, had five RBI, hit three doubles and a triple. At one point, he had a hit in seven consecutive at-bats.
Ryan Angel, Sr., OF/DH, San Jose State - hit .667 (8-12) in the Spartans’ three wins last week. He was 2-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and two runs scored against Santa Clara last Tuesday. He was then a perfect 4-for-4 on Friday with an RBI triple against Fresno Pacific. For the week, he scored five runs and had three RBI.
Other pitchers nominated:
Clayton Allison, Jr., Fresno State - pitched one inning of relief against Cal State Northridge and then picked up a win after throwing 6.1 innings in a 7-6 victory over Nevada last Thursday. He allowed just seven hits, one run and struck out three.
Tyler Davis, Sr., Hawai?i - pitched four innings of relief, allowing one earned run and six hits, to pick up a win over Sacramento State last Friday.
Luke Burnett, So., Louisiana Tech - threw seven innings and allowed just three hits, three walks and one run in picking up a win in a 5-1 victory over New Mexico State on Thursday. He also tied his career-high in strikeouts with 14.
Rod Scurry, Jr., Nevada - earned a victory after pitching seven innings in Nevada’s 2-0 shutout of Fresno State on Friday. He allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out eight.
Mick Joyce, Sr., Sacramento State - recorded his first victory in more than a month with a seven-inning performance against Hawai?i on Saturday. Joyce allowed six hits, three walks and three runs in the 8-5 win.
CONFERENCE PLAY CONTINUES ? After a month of conference action, both Bulldog teams?Fresno State and Louisiana Tech?are tied for first place in the WAC with 6-3 records. Six teams are in action beginning Friday as Louisiana Tech is at Sacramento State, Nevada hosts San Jose State and Hawai?i travels to Fresno State in a showdown of the preseason poll’s top two teams. Sunday’s contest between San Jose State and Nevada will be shown nationally on CSTV beginning at 1:00 p.m. PT. New Mexico State heads north for a three-game series with Northern Colorado, Friday-Sunday.
WAC.TV ? The Western Athletic Conference officially launched WAC.tv prior to the 2006-07 season. WAC.tv, the Internet based media platform of the Western Athletic Conference, will offer selected baseball games this season. The next scheduled games are all three of the series between Louisiana Tech and Hawai?i, April 20-22. Go to www.wac.tv to sign up or login.
STREAKING ? New Mexico State junior catcher Marcus Quade has the WAC’s and nation’s longest current hitting streak at 29 games. Quade has hit .413 (50-for-121) with 37 RBI and 22 runs scored during his streak. It is the longest streak for a WAC player since San Jose State’s Anthony Contreras finished the 2005 season with a 32-game hitting streak. The WAC record is 45 games set by Arizona State’s Roger Schmuck in 1972.
WALLACE WATCH LIST ? The WAC had five players named to the 2007 Wallace Watch as announced by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, Texas. The Brooks Wallace Award is presented to the national college baseball player of the year. The WAC candidates are Justin Frash, UT, Hawai’i; Jericho Jones, P-OF, Louisiana Tech; Matt Bowman, OF, Nevada (who is out for the year due to injury), Adam Harvey, INF, New Mexico State; and Ryan Angel, OF, San Jose State. The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semifinalists by late May. Additional candidates may be added as the season progresses.
NON-CONFERENCE ? In non-conference games, the WAC is 104-86 (.547). Fresno State is 15-15 (.500), Hawai?i is 19-9 (.679), Louisiana Tech is 20-11 (.645), Nevada is 16-13 (.552), New Mexico State is 10-13 (.435), Sacramento State is 5-16 (.238) and San Jose State is 19-9 (.679). Last year, the WAC was 128-94 (.577) in non-conference matchups. Against Collegiate Baseball top 25 opponents this season, the WAC is 4-13 (.235) as Fresno State is 2-4, Hawai?i is 1-5, Louisiana Tech is 1-3, Nevada is 0-0, New Mexico State is 0-0, Sacramento State is 0-1 and San Jose State is 0-0.
2007 FORMAT ? 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.
WAC TOURNAMENT ? Last year, the WAC reinstated a postseason tournament for the first time since 1999 season. The top six finishers in the WAC standings will play a double-elimination format at Peccole Park in Reno, Nevada, May 24-27. 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 (21-18, 6-3 WAC)
Has won eight of its last nine games ... tied a season-high with six doubles in the 10-4 win at Nevada on Saturday ... Tom Mendonca hit three home runs in the series against Nevada ... beat UC Davis, 4-3, on Tuesday after Alan Ahmady was walked on a full count with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh and the scored tied, 3-3 ... Loren Storey leads the WAC in stolen bases with 15 ... he is tied for the WAC lead in triples with three after hitting two in the win over UC Davis ... Allison Clayton is tied for the WAC lead in wins with six ... is one of two WAC teams to not post a shutout this year (New Mexico State).
Hawai?i Rainbows (24-13, 5-4 WAC)
Is 2-2 in its current seven-game road trip ... plays 13 of its next 16 away from Honolulu after opening the season with 30 of its first 33 games at home ... is 4-5 in its last nine games ... hit a season-high three home runs in Friday’s win at Sacramento State ... Kris Sanchez leads the WAC in hitting (.400) ... he has had multiple hits in five of the last seven games ... Matt Daly leads the WAC in ERA (2.34) ... UH leads the WAC in team ERA (3.11) and is the only WAC team with an ERA under 4.40 on the year ... has three of the top five pitchers in the WAC by ERA ... Mark Rodrigues is tied for the WAC lead in wins with six.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (26-14, 6-3 WAC)
Has a seven-game winning streak (all at home) ... beat Grambling 8-1 on Tuesday but tied a season-high with 15 runners left on base ... Luke Burnett and Aaron Lorio combined to strike out 18 NMSU batters last Thursday ... Brian Rike was 3-for-3 with seven RBI (2 HR) in Friday’s win over NMSU ... Rike leads the WAC in runs scored (60), RBI (56), home runs (19-two shy of the school record), total bases (122) and slugging percentage (.803) and is third in stolen bases (13) ... his 19 homers rank second in the nation ... Brandon Hudson leads the WAC in hitting (.464) in conference games only ... Burnett leads the WAC in strikeouts (76).
Nevada Wolf Pack (20-18, 4-5 WAC)
Has lost four of its last seven games ... had its 11-game home winning streak snapped last Thursday against Fresno State and has now lost three of four at home ... shut out the Bulldogs on Friday, 2-0, the Pack’s fourth shutout of the season, two less than all of the other six teams combined in the WAC ... is in the midst of an eight-game homestand (2-3 thus far) ... has 13 triples this year after hitting just six all of last year ... Konrad Schmidt has an eight-game hitting streak in WAC games ... he is second in the WAC in hitting (.455) in conference games only ... Ryan Rodriguez is the WAC’s active career leader in wins (27), innings pitched (356.1) and strikeouts (299).
NMSU Aggies (14-21, 4-8 WAC)
Has lost six of its last seven games ... tied a season-high with three home runs in the loss at Louisiana Tech last Friday ... Marcus Quade is third in the WAC in hitting (.384) ... his nation-high 29-game hitting streak broke school record of 27 set by Mark McNelly in 1996 and matched by Gabe Veloz in 2002 ... three of the top seven hitters in the WAC are from NMSU ... Brian Gausman is tied for the WAC lead in wins with six ... Richard Stout is second in the WAC in stolen bases with 14 ... Joseph Scaperotta leads the WAC in doubles with 15 ... is one of two WAC teams to not post a shutout this year (Fresno State).
Sacramento State Hornets (10-23, 5-7 WAC)
Has lost eight of its last nine games ... the win over Hawai?i on Saturday snapped a seven-game losing streak ... had a season-high 16 hits in the loss to Hawai?i last Friday ... added a season-high five doubles in the win over the Rainbows on Saturday ... hit .371 with 11 doubles and three home runs in the series against Hawai?i ... lost to San Francisco on Tuesday to finish the season series against the Dons at 0-5 ... Montana Dye threw out two runners from right field over the weekend to give him nine over the last two seasons ... the Hornets are last in the WAC in hitting (.283) but has hit .361 as a team over the last four games.
SJSU Spartans (22-12, 3-3 WAC)
Has won six of its last seven games ... has scored at least 10 runs in three straight games for the first time since 2002 ... stole seven bases (tying a WAC season-high) against Saint Mary’s on Tuesday ... Marcus McKimmey had five RBI and two home runs against Fresno Pacific on Friday ... Ryan Angel is the WAC’s active career leader in games played (188), at-bats (687), runs (122), hits (209), RBI (103), doubles (50) and stolen bases (47) ... Angel has not committed an error since Feb. 26, 2005 (247 chances) ... the Spartans had gone five games without committing an error before making seven in the last three games including five against Fresno Pacific on Saturday.