WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (10-9, 0-0 WAC)
The Fresno State baseball team battled Loyola Marymount tough in a four-game series on the road ... the Bulldogs lost all four games and lost two by only one run ... Gavin Hedstrom and Tom Mendonca each hit a pair of home runs over the weekend ... Mendonca needs eight home runs to become the new career home run leader ... the Bulldogs had 39 hits with 12 doubles, six home runs, and 23 RBIs ... the infield turned three doubles plays and have 16 on the season after leading nation in double plays in 2008 ... the Bulldogs host Atlantic Sun Conference champs Lipscomb Bisons March 27-29 at Beiden Field.
Hawai?i Rainbows (13-8, 0-0 WAC)
Ryan Morford batted .429 in the Rose City Baseball Invitational, driving in three runs while scoring two ... the senior is now batting .313 on the season ... Matt Sisto picked up the win vs. Oregon (Mar. 21), allowing just one run in 7.0 innings, leading UH to a 3-1 win over the Ducks ... the freshman is now 2-1 on the season with a 4.05 ERA in 26.2 innings ... Hawai`i won the Rose City Baseball Invitational, beating Washington, Oregon and Portland ... Christian Johnson had a pinch-hit home run in the top of the 12th inning of the championship game vs. Portland (March 22) ... UH is currently ranked No. 15 in the RPI on WarrenNolan.com with a strength of schedule that ranks 14th.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (12-6, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech went 3-1 last week after they defeated UALR once and Houston Baptist twice ... Kevin Winn continued his consistent hitting by leading Tech in their four games with a .471 batting average, a double, two home runs and 12 RBI ... Chris Kersten smashed five doubles on the week ... the Bulldogs were defeated by Houston Baptist on Sunday in 12 innings and are now 2-1 in extra inning games in 2009 ... the loss snapped Tech’s third four-game winning streak of the season ... Louisiana Tech had games on both Tuesday and Wednesday cancelled due to weather ... Louisiana Tech’s game with Grambling which was scheduled for March 24 has been rescheduled for May 9.
Nevada Wolf Pack (8-13, 0-0 WAC)
Brock Stassi led the Pack last week ... Stassi hit .533(8-for-15) with five runs scored, five RBI, a double and a game winning home run as the Pack split four road games during the week ... he started the week going 4-for-6 at UNLV with career highs with four hits and four RBI in Nevada’s 14-6 victory. Friday he took to the mound and allowed just one run on three hits in a 1-0 loss at #10 UC Irvine tossing six innings ... Nevada has played six one-run games in the last nine games played going 4-2 in the one-run contests. On the season the Pack are 5-3 in one-run games ... Nevada posted season highs in runs(14), hits(18), RBI(13) and at bats(43) in its 14-6 win at UNLV ... the Pack has won 10 of the last 11 games from intrastate rival UNLV.
NMSU Aggies (22-3, 0-0 WAC)
after last week, NMSU’s 20-3 record marks the best start in program history ... NM State continues to have one of the most powerful offenses in the home runs with 58 on the year, while boasting a team batting average of .381 ... the team is averaging 13.1 runs per game, which leads the nation ... heading into week six, NM State leads the WAC in stolen bases with 36, while senior Richard Stout leads with 14 ... The Aggies have already picked up a pair of wins this week at UT-Brownsville ... NMSU took a 21-1 victory at UTB on Tuesday before taking another victory, 12-6 on Wednesday ... NMSU continues play at Texas-Pan American on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Sacramento State Hornets (12-9, 0-0 WAC)
The Hornets posted a 5-0 record last week, and have now won 11 of their last 13 games ... sophomore Brent Hottman hit .538 for the week with a home run and four RBI ... senior Jeff Roth hit a game-winning home run in the 11th inning of Tuesday’s 6-5 victory over San Francisco, and followed it up with his first career grand slam on Saturday in the Hornets 18-5 victory over Cornell ... the Hornets split a two game series with Oregon on Tuesday and Wednesday ... the Hornets defeated Oregon 10-5 on Tuesday before taking a 6-4 setback on Wednesday ... the team now continues play at home against Menlo College on Friday for a three game series that will wrap up on Saturday.
SJSU Spartans (16-5, 0-0 WAC)
The Spartans are winners of seven out of their last nine games and are coming off a dominant five-game homestand in a four-day span last week, in which they out-scored Chicago State and Dartmouth, 77-6 ... Chicago State went on to take a 6-4, seven-inning decision at No. 12 Pepperdine over the weekend, just three days after the Spartans scored 31 times in six innings in a 31-1 mercy-rule defeat of the visiting Cougars ... head coach Sam Piraro reached win No. 700 following the 6-1 defeat of Dartmouth on Thursday, March 19, and is now 701-525-6 in his 22nd season at the helm at his alma mater ... the Spartans continue to lead the WAC in team ERA (2.55) and fielding percentage (.984), and moved up to second in batting average (.338) with fielding (.979, 2006) and batting (.319, 1993) clips that are each on pace to break school records.
WAC NOTES
SAN JOSE STATE’S BRUNS NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
San Jose State outfielder Jacob Bruns has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for Mar. 16-22.
Bruns, a senior from Lakewood, Wash. (Shasta College/Lakewood HS), helped the Spartans to a 5-0 record last week. Bruns batted .588 with five doubles (three in one game) his first home run as a Spartan, seven runs and nine RBI. Bruns provided multiple hits and RBI in each of SJSU’s final four games last week. His home run opened the scoring in a 6-1 victory over Dartmouth on Thursday, which marked SJSU head coach Sam Piraro’s 700th career win.
The other hitter of the week nominations were Fresno State senior second baseman Gavin Hedstrom, Hawai?i senior second baseman Ryan Morford, Louisiana Tech senior second baseman Kevin Winn, Nevada sophomore designated hitter Brock Stassi, New Mexico State junior first baseman Ben Harty and Sacramento State junior outfielder Tim Wheeler.
SACRAMENTO STATE’S SANDOVAL NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State right-handed pitcher Brandon Sandoval has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for Mar. 16-22.
Sandoval, a sophomore from Tulare, Calif. (Tulare HS), threw 7.1 innings on Friday in Sacramento State’s 9-0 victory over Cornell, combining for a shutout of the Big Red. Sandoval allowed just five hits without walking a batter. He also collected five strikeouts in the process. Sandoval lowered his ERA to 2.83 and improved to 2-2 on the season.
The other pitcher of the week nominations were Fresno State freshman Derek Benny, Hawai?i freshman Matt Sisto, New Mexico State senior Jared Jordan and San Jose State senior David Berner.
NEVADA’S POWERS EARNS 800th WIN, SAN JOSE STATE’S PIRARO PICKS UP 700th
Head coach Gary Powers recorded his 800th career victory when the Wolf Pack defeated Oregon 6-5 on March 12. Powers the longest tenured coach in the history of Nevada athletics is in his 27th year as skipper of the Pack. Coming into the 2009 season he ranked 26th among NCAA Division I active coaches in career victories. Currently his career mark stands at 801-631-4. San Jose State’s 6-1 victory over Dartmouth College inside Municipal Stadium on Thursday night, March 19, marked win No. 700 for 22nd-year Spartan head coach Sam Piraro. The winningest coach in program history, he now has a record of 701-523-6 in charge at his alma mater.
NMSU BREAKS INTO NATIONAL POLLS, SJSU’S RANKING ON MARCH 9th FIRST SINCE 2002.
The New Mexico State baseball team jumped into the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division I baseball poll, Monday, March 23 after an impressive showing against San Francisco. The Aggies, at No. 24 in the poll, are off to their best start in program history and continue to be among the best teams in the nation offensively with 58 home runs, while boasting a team batting average of .381. NM State hasn’t had a start close to this since the 1990 team went 19-3 to open the season. This is the first time NM State has been ranked in any polls since 2004, when the Aggies started 19-4. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll is the oldest college baseball poll, which started during the 1957 college baseball season.
San Jose State entered Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s NCAA Division I baseball poll at the No. 25 spot on Monday, March 9. It was San Jose State’s first in-season national ranking since the 2002 campaign, which marked the last time the Spartans made the NCAA Championship field, finishing with a school-record 45 wins at 45-17. In addition to the No. 25 ranking, the Spartans were among other teams receiving votes in both the NCBWA and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 baseball coaches’ polls. San Jose State fell out of the national rankings on Monday, March 16, but was still receiving eight votes in the USA Today/ESPN poll, 21st out of 36 teams rated just outside the top 25.
WAC RPI ON THE RISE
As of March 26, the WAC now owns a league RPI of 14 according to WarrenNolan.com. The WAC ranks just ahead of the Atlantic Sun, Big South and Missouri Valley. The WAC stands right behind the Big East and the Big Ten. Hawai?i holds the top RPI in the WAC at 23, followed by San Jose State at 107.
SJSU ENJOYS BEST START IN TWO DECADES
San Jose State’s incredible 9-0 start marked the program’s best in two decades, since the Spartans reeled off 15 straight victories to begin the 1989 season, 22nd-year head coach Sam Piraro’s third in charge. The Spartans’ nine-game win streak was their longest since an 11-game stretch between April 28 and May 15, 2001. It’s 16-3 start is the best 19-game mark for San Jose State also in almost two decades, since the Spartans began the 1990 season at 17-2. That team went on to start 29-2, with the only two blemishes a pair of one-run road defeats at area rivals Stanford and USF, before finishing 43-17. Piraro and associate head coach Tom Kunis were together on both the 1989 and 1990 staffs.
NEW MEXICO STATE SETS SCHOOL RECORD FOR HOME RUNS IN A SINGLE GAME, JUST THREE SHY OF TYING WAC RECORD
The New Mexico State baseball team set the school record for most home runs in a game when it hit 10 home runs against Chicago State, Friday, Feb. 27. The old record was nine, when the Aggies accomplished that feat against Pacific, May 3, 1997. Steven Anderson, Chuck Howard, Leo Aguirre, Bryan Marquez, Nate Shaver, Mike Sodders, and Max Taylor all got in on the fun, with Aguirre, Marquez and Sodders each hitting two bombs in the game. The all-time WAC single game record for home runs is 13, set by Cal State Northridge against Fresno State in 1997. The 10 home runs are just three shy of tying the WAC single-game record of 13 set by Cal State Northridge in 1997.
MENDONCA HITS CAREER HOME RUN #37
Tom Mendonca hit a pair of home runs against the Ducks and recorded five RBIs this past week. The junior hit his sixth long ball of the season against Buffalo, it was also his first grand slam since last year against New Mexico State. Mendonca hit another two home runs against LMU. He is in fourth on the Fresno State career home run list with 37 and needs seven more to tie Giuseppe Chiaramonte’s record of 43 career home runs.
WAC REPRESENTED AMONG NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Louisiana Tech senior Chris Kersten was named National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) on Feb. 24. Kersten, along with David Berner, was named to the Week No. 1 National All-Star Lineup presented by The College Baseball Foundation and Diamond Sports. Jeff Farnham was named to week two’s National All-Star Lineup for his play last week.
In Week #4, Bryan Marquez was named to the College Baseball Foundation’s National All-Star Lineup. Marquez had two grand slams on the weekend, and finished the week going 9-for-15 at the plate with nine hits, 13 RBI, four home runs and six walks.
TECH SCORES MOST RUNS IN A THREE-GAME SERIES SINCE 1972
The Bulldogs opened the 2009 season with a bang as they swept Grambling State in a three-game series. Tech scored 15 runs in the season opener at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park on Friday, Feb. 20 and then followed that effort by scoring 20 runs at Tiger Stadium in Grambling on Saturday. Th ey topped off their weekend by scoring 20 more in Ruston on Sunday. Tech’s 55 runs are the most runs scored in a three-game or more series dating back to 1972 involving the Bulldogs. The team also illuminated the hits section of the scoreboard as they totaled 48 in their three wins. Senior Chris Kersten led the Bulldogs in the series with a .700 batting average (7-for-10), 13 RBI, two doubles, four home runs and zero strikeouts. He also contributed to the three big wins by scoring nine times, walking twice and stealing a base. He concluded his weekend with a .769 on-base percentage and an astonishing 2.200 slugging percentage.
2009 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2009 WAC Tournament will be held at Les Murakani Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, May 21-24. The top six teams in the WAC’s regular season standings will advance to the double-elimination tournament. The winner receives the WAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.