BULLDOGS HEAD TO SAN DIEGO ? Fresno State earned the WAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winnings last week’s WAC Tournament. It is the second straight postseason appearance for the Bulldogs. Fresno State will travel to San Diego, Calif., as the number four seed of the regional and will play No. 1 San Diego (43-16) on Friday at 8:00 p.m. (PT). The Toreros are the national number eight seed. The first game of the day pits No. 2 Cal State Fullerton (33-23) against No. 3 Minnesota (40-16) at 4:00 p.m. All of the games will be shown on ESPNU. Fresno State and San Diego met last year in the Fullerton Regional where Fresno State won both meetings eliminating the Torerors before it lost to Cal State Fullerton in the regional championship game. The two teams also met earlier this year in Fresno where the Bulldogs won two of the three games against the Torerors, March 2-4. The winner of this regional would meet the winner of the Long Beach Regional (Long Beach State, UCLA, Pepperdine, Illinois-Chicago) in a Super Regional the following week.
FRESNO STATE WINS SECOND STRAIGHT WAC TOURNAMENT TITLE ? Fresno State beat host Nevada, 17-4, on Sunday afternoon to claim the WAC’s tournament title for the second year in a row. The Bulldogs got on the board in the first inning on center fielder Brian Lapin’s two-run shot. Nevada halved the lead in the bottom of the first, but Fresno State added five in the second including three on another Lapin home run. Lapin hit his third of the game in the fourth giving the Bulldogs a 10-2 lead. Fresno State put the game away with six in the seventh.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM ? Fresno State placed three players, including the MVP, on the WAC’s all-tournament team as selected by the media in attendance. The 11-member team: C-Landon Hernandez, Hawai?i; 1B-Ryan Angel, San Jose State; 2B-David Ciarlo, Nevada; SS-Kyle Bellows, San Jose State; 3B-Jason Rodriguez, Nevada; OF-Brian Lapin, Fresno State; OF-Loren Storey, Fresno State; OF-Kevin Macdonald, Hawai?i; DH-Shaun Kort, Nevada; SP-Clayton Allison, Fresno State; RP-Matt Renfree, Nevada. Lapin was named the tournament MVP after hitting .412 (7-17) with 14 RBI, five home runs and six runs scored. He tied two tournament records with three home runs in a single game and five for the tournament. He was one shy of tying the tournament record of 15 RBI. In the championship game against Nevada, he was 3-for-4 with three home runs, seven RBI and was walked once.
ATTENDANCE ? The 2007 WAC Baseball Tournament was attended by a total of 4,553 fans over the four days (1,138/day). The title game drew 937 to Peccole Park in Reno, Nevada.
FRESNO STATE WINS SECOND STRAIGHT REGULAR SEASON TITLE ? Fresno State won its second straight WAC regular season title with a 17-7 record in WAC play. The Bulldogs finished two games ahead of second place Nevada. It was the sixth regular season conference or divisional title for Fresno State since joining the WAC in 1993.
SUSDORF NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT ? Fresno State junior outfielder Steve Susdorf was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII team. To be eligible, 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. Susdorf will now be on the ballot for the Academic All-America Team.
ALL-WAC TEAMS ? The all-WAC teams as selected by the league’s head coaches were announced on May 23. Fresno State led the conference with six players on the all-WAC first team. Both Louisiana Tech and Nevada had four while Sacramento State placed one on the first team. Repeat first team selections from 2006 included Fresno State’s Erik Wetzel, Loren Storey and Steve Susdorf and Louisiana Tech’s Brandon Hudson.
TOP INDIVIDUAL HONORS ? Besides selecting all-WAC teams, the coaches also voted for the league’s top individual awards. Louisiana Tech outfielder Brian Rike was named the Player of the Year, Nevada’s Ryan Rodriguez earned Pitcher of the Year honors, and the Freshman of the Year award went to Nevada first baseman Shaun Kort. Louisiana Tech head coach Wade Simoneaux was selected as Coach of the Year. Rike, a junior from Richmond, Texas (Stephen F. Austin HS), hit .370 with 28 RBI, seven doubles, nine home runs, five stolen bases and scored 28 runs in 24 conference games. Rodriguez, a senior from Reno, Nevada (McQueen), earned the WAC’s Pitcher of the Year award after putting together a record of 9-7 in 18 appearances. He had an ERA of 3.92 and is second in the WAC in strikeouts with 106. Rodriguez is the WAC’s active career leader in wins (32), innings pitched (398.2) and strikeouts (330). Kort, a native of Woodland Hills, Calif. (El Camino Real HS), hit .424 in 24 conference games. He had 23 RBI, nine doubles, three home runs and scored 17 runs. Simoneaux, in his fifth season with Louisiana Tech, led the Bulldogs to a 35-24 overall record. Louisiana Tech finished the conference season in third place with a 14-10 record, its best finish and record since joining the WAC in 2002. It’s Simoneaux’s first career WAC Coach of the Year award.
STREAKING ? Sacramento State sophomore first baseman Gabe Jacobo has the WAC’s longest current hitting streak at nine games. Jacobo has hit .459 (17-for-37) with seven RBI and seven runs scored during his streak. The longest current streak by a Fresno State player is Loren Storey at four straight. The longest streak this season was 33 games by New Mexico State’s Marcus Quade. The WAC record is 45 games set by Arizona State’s Roger Schmuck in 1972.
RIKE A GOLDEN SPIKES SEMIFINALIST ? Louisiana Tech’s Brian Rike was named one of 50 semifinalists for the 2007 Golden Spikes Award as announced by USA Baseball. The award is given annually to baseball’s premier amateur player. Rike is among the national leaders in home runs, runs scored and RBI. The winner will be announced July 29 during the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
NON-CONFERENCE ? In non-conference games, the WAC is 119-108 (.524). Fresno State is 15-20 (.429), Hawai?i is 22-10 (.688), Louisiana Tech is 21-12 (.636), Nevada is 17-15 (.531), New Mexico State is 16-16 (.500), Sacramento State is 7-24 (.226) and San Jose State is 21-11 (.656). 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 plays 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.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.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (36-27, 17-7 WAC)
Has won 10 of its last 13 games ... is the first WAC team besides Rice to win outright back-to-back regular season conference championships since Hawaii in 1991-92 ... the four starting pitchers for the Bulldogs were 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA ... Tanner Scheppers pitched 7.2 innings and allowed just six hits, one run and struck out nine against SJSU on Saturday ... the Bulldogs have seven players with six or more home runs (Steve Susdorf-12, Brian Lapin-9, Tom Mendonca-9, Alan Ahmady-7, Loren Storey-7, Ozzie Lewis-7, Todd Sandell-6), the most in the WAC ... Susdorf is third in the WAC with 65 RBI ... junior RHP Allison Clayton leads the WAC in wins with 10.
Hawai?i Rainbows (34-25, 11-13 WAC)
Lost six of its last nine games ... had a team ERA of 7.50 in three games of the WAC Tournament after coming into it with the WAC’s best ERA ... Kevin Macdonald had six RBI in the WAC Tournament ... recorded four shutouts and was the only WAC team to not be shut out this year ... averaged a WAC-best 2,696 fans per home game ... allowed a total of just nine runs in ninth innings this season ... leads the WAC in team ERA (3.97) ... has three of the top four pitchers in the WAC by ERA ... senior 1B Kris Sanchez leads the WAC in doubles (23) and is tied for the WAC lead in RBI (66) ... his 10 home runs were the ninth most in a single season in school history.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (35-24, 14-10 WAC)
Lost seven of its last 10 games ... hit .310 on the season but just .250 in its two WAC Tournament games ... won 14 WAC games this season, the most since joining the WAC in 2002 ... leads the WAC in runs scored by 42 with 447 ... had five players put together hitting streaks of at least 10 games this year ... junior OF Brian Rike leads the WAC in runs scored (74), RBI (66), home runs (20-one short of the school record), total bases (153), slugging percentage (.705) and is fourth in stolen bases (16) ... he had just one home run in his last 21 games ... his 20 homers rank seventh in the nation ... sophomore RHP Luke Burnett leads the WAC in strikeouts (115).
Nevada Wolf Pack (35-26, 15-9 WAC)
Won 10 of its last 15 games ... outscored its opponents by 35 runs (67-32) in sixth innings this year ... shut out five opponents this year, the most since 1989 when it also had five ... had 19 triples this year after hitting just six all of last year ... freshman 1B Shaun Kort leads the WAC in hitting (.392) ... in WAC games only, junior OF Terry Walsh led the league in hitting (.434) while Kort was second (.424) ... senior RHP Ryan Rodriguez is the WAC’s active career leader and school record-holder in wins (32), innings pitched (398.2-5th in WAC history) and strikeouts (330) ... his 106 strikeouts this year were the fourth most in a season in school history.
NMSU Aggies (22-34, 6-18 WAC)
Ended its season after getting swept in a three-game series against Dallas Baptist ... lost nine of its last 10 games with the one win coming against Texas Tech ... missed out on the WAC Tournament for the second year in a row ... has finished 6-18 in conference play both seasons in the WAC ... the Aggies were 12-4 in games decided by two runs or less ... sophomore 2B/SS Richard Stout leads the WAC in stolen bases with 26 ... he had a WAC-high three stolen bases in the Aggies’ final game of the season against Dallas Baptist ... Joseph Scaperotta hit safely in his last 18 WAC games ... was the only team in the WAC to not post a shutout this year.
Sacramento St. Hornets (17-40, 10-14 WAC)
Lost eight of its last nine games ... lost to Fresno State in the first game of the WAC Tournament, the 11th consecutive loss against the Bulldogs over the last two years ... has been outscored by 40 runs (71-31) in seventh innings this year ... won two more conference games than it did a year ago ... sophomore 1B Gabe Jacobo led Sacramento State in hitting (.363), runs (44), RBI (44), doubles (12) and home runs (14) ... junior RHP Mitch Lively leads the WAC in saves with eight ... junior RHP Alvaro Orozco was the Hornets’ top pitcher with a record of 5-6 and an ERA of 5.40 ... the Hornets are last in the WAC in hitting (.281) but hit .358 in the WAC Tournament.
SJSU Spartans (34-26, 11-13 WAC)
Won seven of its last 10 games ... senior Ryan Angel led all players in the WAC Tournament with a batting average of .556 (10-18) ... he is the WAC’s active career leader in games played (214), at-bats (796), runs (142), hits (245), doubles (55) and stolen bases (51) ... Angel was one hit shy of tying the school record of 246 set by Kevin Frandsen ... senior OF Donato Giovanatto has been hit by a pitch a WAC-high 20 times this season ... SJSU leads the WAC in fielding percentage (.970) ... has the best winning percentage among the nine Division I baseball teams in Northern California ... had a winning record for the 14th time in head coach Sam Piraro’s 20 seasons.