HITTER OF THE WEEK ? Fresno State outfielder Steve Susdorf, a junior from Newhall, Calif. (Hart HS), hit .545 (6-11) with four runs, seven RBI and a home run as Fresno State swept New Mexico State in a three-game series to move into first place in the WAC standings. In Friday’s opener, he was 2-for-4 with three RBI and drove in three more in Saturday’s second game after going 3-for-5 with a home run. He also stole two bases during the series. It is Susdorf’s fifth career WAC Hitter of the Week award and the first for a Bulldog player this year.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK ? Fresno State right-handed pitcher Clayton Allison, a junior from Visalia, Calif. (College of the Sequoias), threw seven innings and got the win in Fresno State’s 7-0 victory over New Mexico State on Friday. He allowed just five hits, one walk and struck out eight. It is Allison’s first career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and the first for a Bulldog pitcher this year.
Other hitters nominated:
Justin Frash, Sr., 3B, Hawai?i - was 6-for-10 with five runs, two RBI and was walked five times in the three-game series against Louisiana Tech. His best game came on Friday when he was 3-for-4 with two runs, one RBI and a double.
Brian Rike, Jr., OF, Louisiana Tech - hit .455 (5-11) in three games at Hawai?i last week. In a 10-9 win on Saturday, he was 3-for-4 with three runs and his 20th home run of the season that proved to be the game winner.
Ricky Philippi, Jr., OF, New Mexico State - was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI double in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Fresno State.
David Flores, Jr., 3B, Sacramento State - hit .421 (8-19) in four games last week. He got six of those hits with back-to-back three-hit games on Saturday and Sunday against San Jose State.
Other pitchers nominated:
Ian Harrington, Sr., Hawai?i - pitched his first complete game of the season in the Rainbows’ 7-2 win over Louisiana Tech on Sunday. He allowed just five hits, two walks and struck out seven in the contest.
Alan Knotts, Jr., Louisiana Tech - threw 3.1 innings of relief to pick up a win in Tech’s 10-9 win at Hawai?i on Saturday. He allowed two hits, no run, walked two and struck out three during the appearance.
Matt Van Deelen, Jr., New Mexico State - pitched five innings of relief in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader at Fresno State. He allowed three runs, five hits while striking out a career-best four hitters.
Steven Vidal, Sr., San Jose State - made two appearances last week and earned a complete-game victory against Sacramento State on Saturday. He allowed seven hits, no walks and struck out nine in the 5-1 victory. On Tuesday, he pitched 2.2 innings of relief against Pacific, allowing three runs (one earned), two hits and one walk. For the week, he had an ERA of 1.54 over 11.2 innings.
FRESNO STATE TAKES LEAD ? With Louisiana Tech losing two of three at Hawai?i and Fresno State sweeping New Mexico State last weekend, Fresno State is now sitting in first place in the WAC standings with a record of 11-4. Louisiana Tech is one game back in second while Nevada (which was idle last week) is in third, two and a half games back at 7-5. Fresno State takes a break from conference play this week and hosts Cal Poly in a three-game series, Friday-Sunday. The remaining six teams will be playing league series with San Jose State at Louisiana Tech, Sacramento State hosting Nevada and Hawai?i traveling to New Mexico State.
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. Go to www.wac.tv to sign up or login.
STREAKING ? New Mexico State’s Marcus Quade had his nation-leading 33-game hitting streak come to an end when he went 0-for-4 against Fresno State in Saturday’s first game. It was one of the longest streaks in WAC history as the record is 45 games set by Arizona State’s Roger Schmuck in 1972. Currently, the WAC’s longest hitting streak now belongs to Louisiana Tech’s Dennis Winn. Winn has hit .436 (24-for-55) with 12 RBIs and nine runs scored during his streak.
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 110-93 (.542). Fresno State is 15-17 (.469), Hawai?i is 19-10 (.655), Louisiana Tech is 20-11 (.645), Nevada is 16-14 (.533), New Mexico State is 15-13 (.536), Sacramento State is 5-18 (.217) and San Jose State is 20-10 (.667). Last year, the WAC was 128-94 (.577) in non-conference matchups. Against Collegiate Baseball top 25 opponents this season, the WAC is 4-14 (.222) as Fresno State is 2-4, Hawai?i is 1-6, 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 form follows at the end of this release. Credential requests are due back to the WAC office by Monday, May 14. There will not be a media hotel for the tournament.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (26-21, 11-4 WAC)
Freshman 3B Tom Mendonca became the third Bulldog (Lapin, Storey) to hit two triples in a game when he did so against New Mexico State on Saturday ... sophomore RHP Tanner Scheppers struck out 11 batters in that game, the most by a Fresno State pitcher this year ... senior OF Loren Storey leads the WAC in stolen bases with 18 (20 attempts) ... the Bulldogs have five players with six or more home runs (Storey-7, Tom Mendonca-7, Steve Susdorf-7, Todd Sandell-6, Alan Ahmady-6), the most in the WAC ... junior RHP Allison Clayton leads the WAC in wins with eight ... junior RHP Jason Breckley is tied for the WAC lead in saves with five .
Hawai?i Rainbows (27-17, 8-7 WAC)
Opened its 10-game road trip with a 9-2 loss at sixth-ranked Arizona State on Wednesday ... is now 5-6 on the road ... senior 3B Justin Frash drew four walks in Saturday’s 10-9 loss against Louisiana Tech ... 4,666 fans attended that game, Hawai?i’s first sellout of the season ... is averaging a WAC-best 2,605 fans per home game ... UH leads the WAC in team ERA (3.57) ... has four of the top eight pitchers in the WAC by ERA ... senior LHP Ian Harrington became the third Rainbow to pitch a complete-game in Sunday’s 7-2 win over Louisiana Tech ... senior 1B Kris Sanchez leads the WAC in hitting (.390) and doubles (18).
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (30-16, 10-5 WAC)
Has lost two of its last three games after putting together a 10-game winning streak ... has the WAC’s best road record at 10-7 ... senior SS Dennis Winn is the fifth Bulldog to put together a hitting streak of at least 10 games this year ... junior OF Brian Rike leads the WAC in runs scored (66), RBI (60), home runs (20-one shy of the school record held by four different Bulldog players), total bases (136), slugging percentage (.782) and is third in stolen bases (15) ... his 20 homers rank second in the nation ... he also ranks fifth in the nation in runs scored per game (1.43) ... sophomore RHP Luke Burnett leads the WAC in strikeouts (86).
Nevada Wolf Pack (23-19, 7-5 WAC)
Has been off since a 17-2 loss at San Francisco on April 17 (10-day layoff) ... has shut out four opponents this year, the most since 2000 (4) ... has 13 triples this year after hitting just six all of last year ... three of the top seven hitters in the WAC are from Nevada ... in WAC games only, junior OF Terry Walsh leads the league in hitting (.469) while senior C Konrad Schmidt is second (.404) ... senior RHP Ryan Rodriguez leads the WAC in ERA (2.75) ... he is the WAC’s active career leader in wins (28), innings pitched (364.1) and strikeouts (307) ... head coach Gary Powers is one win shy of 750 for his career.
NMSU Aggies (19-24, 4-11 WAC)
Swept a mid-week two-game series against Hawai?i-Hilo to improve to 15-13 in non-conference games ... is in a stretch of playing five games in six days ... Wednesday’s 4-3 10-inning win was the first this season for NMSU when scoring less than six runs (1-16) ... New Mexico State scored just four runs in the three-game series at Fresno State ... the Aggies are 10-1 in games decided by two runs or less ... sophomore 2B/SS Richard Stout is second in the WAC in stolen bases with 17 ... junior C Marcus Quade has gotten a hit in 36 of the last 37 games ... is one of two WAC teams to not post a shutout this year (Fresno State).
Sacramento State Hornets (11-30, 6-12 WAC)
Beat San Jose State on Sunday in 12 innings to snap a seven-game losing streak (five straight WAC games) ... went eight games without a home run before hitting a season-high three in Sunday’s win against the Spartans ... tied a season-high with 16 hits in that game ... senior RHP Billy Sinacori earned his first save of the year after recording five in 2006 ... has lost 15 of its last 17 games ... sophomore 1B Gabe Jacobo leads Sacramento State in hitting (.325), runs (30), RBI (27), doubles (12) and home runs (7) ... junior RHP Alvaro Orozco is the Hornets’ top pitcher with a record of 4-4 and an ERA of 4.65 ... the Hornets are last in the WAC in hitting (.274).
SJSU Spartans (25-17, 5-7 WAC)
Has won three of its last four games ... beat Stanford for the first time in nine games on Tuesday, 11-8 ... had a season-high 18 hits in that game ... the Spartan’s starters combined to throw 19.1 innings without any walks in the three games against Sacramento State ... sophomore RHP Scott Sobczak is tied for the WAC lead in saves with five ... senior OF Ryan Angel is the WAC’s active career leader in games played (196), at-bats (716), runs (128), hits (217), doubles (51) and stolen bases (47) ... Angel has not committed an error since Feb. 26, 2005 (247 chances) ... SJSU leads the WAC in fielding percentage (.973) but has committed 10 errors over its last four games.