WAC NOTES
NEW MEXICO STATE’S PHILLIPS AND BECK NAMED VERIZON WAC BASEBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State centerfielder Kyle Phillips and pitcher Ryan Beck have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 12-18.
Phillips, a junior from Tacoma, Wash. (Curtis HS), helped the Aggies to four-straight wins last week as he hit a team-high .533 (8-of-15) without striking out. He had a .650 on-base percentage on the week as he also reached base on three walks, twice by being hit by a pitch. Phillips was also very effective in centerfield as he did not allow an error and had 12 putouts. He started the week 3-of-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored in a 6-2 win over in-state rival New Mexico. Phillips tallied three RBI and four runs scored after going 3-of-5 at the plate with two home runs in game one of a doubleheader against SE Missouri State. Through four games last week, Phillips hit .533 with seven runs scored, eight hits, two doubles, two home runs, five RBI and three walks.
Beck, a junior from Fort Collins, Colo. (Fort Collins HS), earned his third win of the year after seven innings of work without allowing any runs to cross the plate. Beck’s ERA fell to 2.00 after the evening and has a team-high 41 strikeouts after posting nine in his win over the Redhawks last week. He also gave up only five hits after facing 25 batters.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Fresno State sophomore catcher Austin Wynns … Hawaii freshman second baseman Stephen Ventimilia … Louisiana Tech sophomore shortstop Ryan Gebhardt … Nevada senior infielder Joe Kohan … Sacramento State freshman infielder/outfielder Rhys Hoskins … San Jose State sophomore infielder Caleb Natov.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: Fresno State junior Justin Haley … Hawaii junior Matt Sisto … Louisiana Tech junior Jeb Stefan … Nevada sophomore Bradey Shipley … Sacramento State freshman Brennan Leitao … San Jose State junior Kyle Hassna.
2012 WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO MESA’S HOHOKAM STADIUM
After succesful 2010 and 2011 tournaments, the WAC baseball tournament will return to Mesa, Arizona this May. The event will be played at Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium, the Chicago Cubs Spring Training home. The City of Mesa, Mesa Convention & Visitors Bureau and Phoenix Regional Sports Commission worked in tandem to secure the event for a third-straight season, which features Hawai‘i, Fresno State, Louisiana Tech, Sacramento State, Nevada, New Mexico State and San Jose State. The City of Mesa will once again host the double-elimination tournament with the winner earning the WAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The top six teams from the WAC’s regular season standings will advance to the tournament. The WAC Baseball Tournament is no stranger to the state of Arizona and the City of Mesa. The league’s championship has been played in Arizona 11 times (1963, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 2010 and 2011) and the event was held in Mesa in 1971, 1973, 2010 and 2011. Mesa has fast become the third largest metropolitan city in the state of Arizona offering a variety of lifestyle and leisure pursuits that are in high demand by visitors and residents alike. Now boasting 460,000 residents, Mesa’s population is greater than such well-known cities as Minneapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Miami. Mesa is unique among cities in the Phoenix area as it is embraced by the Sonoran Desert – a playground for sought-after outdoor recreation and one-of-a-kind attractions. As a sports destination, Mesa shines offering some of the nation’s best training facilities for field sports paired with unbeatable year-round weather and award-winning hotels. Mesa has been recognized as one of the country’s most desirable destinations for hosting dynamic sporting events and athletic competitions on all levels: amateur, youth, collegiate, and professional. Hohokam Stadium is best known as the winter home of the Chicago Cubs and is major league baseball’s most popular spring training venue. Boasting one of the largest capacities in the Cactus League, more than 240,000 attendees pass through its gates each March. In addition to hosting Cactus League Spring Training, Hohokam Stadium is also the home of the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. Hohokam Stadium and adjacent training facility opened in February 1997. The stadium seats 13,030 and includes one practice field and one practice infield.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (11-9, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State is a perfect 4-0 over its last four games ... the Bulldogs defeated UC Santa Barbara by a score of 3-2 and took down CSU Bakersfield in a pair of games, 2-1 and 5-0 last week ... the team also defeated Kent State 14-2 on Tuesday night ... over the last four games, Aaron Judge has led the Bulldogs at the plate, hitting .462 with six hits, four runs, on edouble, two RBI and three walks ... Austin Wynns has hit .417 during the four-game win streak, tallying three runs, three doubles and three RBI ... on the mound, Justin Haley picked up a win this past week, going 7.1 innings without allowing a run ... Haley also registered six strikeouts ... Thomas Harlan also picked up a win in 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts.
Hawai‘i Rainbows (14-7, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai‘i went 3-1 in a four-game series at home against San Francisco this past week ... UH won the opener 2-1 before dropping game two 0-3 ... the team then won the final two games of the series by scores of 3-1 and 3-2 ... Stephen Ventimilia led the Rainbows at the plate, batting .357 with five hits, three runs and a pair of walks ... Collin Bennet hit .300 at the plate over the four games with three hits, two runs scored and four walks ... Bennett was also hit by a pitch two times ... Matt Sisto picked up a win on the mound for UH after going 7.0 innings without giving up an earned run ... Sisto tallied three strikeouts and did not walk a batter ... UH continues play this week on the road against Gonzaga.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (10-10, 0-0 WAC)
Tech defeated Nebraska 6-5 in the final game of the five-game road trip … the Bulldogs dropped its only game against Creighton, 3-1 as Jeb Stefan pitched 6.2 innings … the Bulldogs hit three home runs in the home stand as Taylor Burch’s solo home run on Sunday was the eventual game-winning RBI … Taylor Terrasas and Justin Gordey also hit solo home runs as the two recorded their first home runs of 2012 … Ryan Gebhardt leads the team with a .430 batting average while freshman Bre’shon Kimbell is hitting .390 with a .493 on-base percentage … first baseman Alex Williams has six home runs and 24 RBI to lead the Bulldogs … freshman Phil Maton leads all Tech pitchers with a 3-1 record, along with a 3.56 ERA.
Nevada Wolf Pack (10-8, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada went 1-2 in a three-game series at home against UC Irvine last week ... the Wolf Pack won the opener 8-3 before dropping the next two games by scores of 6-1 and 6-5 ... Joe Kohan hit .545 with two runs scored, two RBI and a home run starting all three games of the UC Irvine series at second base ... Kohan collected hits in all three games with two being multi hit contests ... Bradey Shipley won his fourth game of the season pitching six innings allowing one run on two hits as the Pack defeated UC Irvine 8-3
on Thursday ... Shipley did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth inning and the second hit came in the sixth inning ... he struck out two and threw 113 pitches ... Nevada plays at Arkansas and at home against LMU this week.
New Mexico State Aggies (16-8, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies opened play last week with a 6-2 victory at in-state rival New Mexico ... the team then swept a three-game home series against Southeast Missouri State ... the Aggies won SEMO by scores of 9-1, 23-7 and 8-6 ... during the four games last week, Kyle Phillips led the Aggies at the plate, hitting .533 with seven runs, eight hits, two doubles, two home runs and five RBI ... Phillips also was walked three times and was hit by a pitch twice ... Kurt Snowley highlighted the first game of a doubleheader (March 17) as he became the third Aggie to ever hit for the cycle ... former Aggie Joe Leghorn accomplished the feat in 2007 and current Aggie designated hitter Cody Edwards did it on Feb. 25 against Sacred Heart ... NM State also defeated No. 5 Arizona 7-4 on Tuesday and continues the series this week in Tucscon.
Sacramento State Hornets (10-11, 0-0 WAC)
Sacramento State evened up a five-game series with Dartmouth at two games each with an 8-2 victory on Sunday ... the Hornets and Big Green conclude the series on Monday before Sacramento State ends its homestand with a single game against Pacific ... the Hornets also play at Utah and Utah Valley this week ... Rhys Hoskins hit his second grand slam of the season in the Hornets’ 11-3 win over Dartmouth on Thursday in the first game of a five-game series ... the freshman hit .438 in four starts (LF and DH) with a team-high six RBIs ... Brennan Leitao threw a complete game in his second collegiate start, giving up just two runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk while holding Darmouth to a .167 batting average.
San Jose State Spartans (9-10, 0-0 WAC)
The Spartans went 1-2 last week ... the team defeated Columbia 6-1 before dropping a pair of games at UC Davis by scores of 4-0 and 2-1 ... Caleb Natov extended his hitting streak to a season-high seven games and tied the team high streak this season for reaching base to nine games with hits in all three of the Spartans’ games during the week ... Natov led the team with a .417 average and joined the leaders in the WAC by adding two more doubles to his season total Monday ... Kyle Hassna’s first career start for San Jose State got off to a shaky start Monday, but the right-hander recovered to go seven innings and give up one run on two hits in leading the Spartans to a 6-1 win over Columbia at Municipal Stadium ... SJSU continues play this week at home against Seattle U.