WAC NOTES
UTSA’S ROCKETT NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
UTSA outfielder Daniel Rockett has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for February 11-17.
Rockett, a senior from Sugar Land, Texas (Austin HS), helped the Roadrunners to a 4-0 sweep over Air Force. Rockett went 10-for-15 (.667) with two doubles, a solo home run and four RBIs in four games. His 15 total bases turned into a 1.000 slugging percentage, and he reached base at a .714 clip. He had at least two hits in each of the four games and he started the season with a 4-for-5 performance. In addition to his offensive performance, Rockett was perfect in six chances in the field. He recorded one outfield assist in which he threw a runner out at home plate.
The other hitter of the week nominations: CSU Bakersfield junior shortstop Tyler Shyrock … Dallas Baptist junior infielder RJ Talamantes … Louisiana Tech junior infielder Tyler Ervine … New Mexico State senior first baseman Bobby Lecount … Sacramento State sophomore first baseman Rhys Hoskins … Seattle U junior outfielder Ryan Somers … Texas State freshman infielder J.D. Stinnett … UT Arlington junior infielder John Michael Twichell.
UTSA’S COX NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
UTSA’s Wesley Cox has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for February 11-17.
Cox, a junior from Rockwall, Texas (Rockwall HS/Texarkana JC), played a key role in both games of a Saturday doubleheader against Air Force. Cox recorded a win in the first contest and a save in the nightcap. He came in to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings and struck out two while allowing two hits to pick up the victory in relief. A few hours later, Cox was called on again as he logged the final 3.1 innings to notch the save against the Falcons. In the nightcap, he allowed only one run on four hits and struck out four. In his two relief appearances, Cox combined to throw 93 pitches, including 60 strikes.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: CSU Bakersfield senior Scott Brattvet … Dallas Baptist freshman Cory Taylor … New Mexico State senior Adam Mott … Sacramento State sophomore Brennan Leitao … Texas State sophomore Taylor Black … UT Arlington junior Andy Scott.
WAC TOURNAMENT HEADS TO GRAND PRAIRIE’S QUIKTRIP PARK
After succesful tournaments in Mesa, Ariz., the past three years, the WAC baseball tournament will now head to Grand Prairie, Texas this May. The event will be played at QuikTrip Park, home of the Grand Prairie Air Hogs. The Air Hogs play in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. The cities of Grand Prairie and Arlington will host the tournament with the winner earning the WAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The top eight teams from the WAC’s regular season standings will advance to the tournament. The brand-new QuikTrip Park at Grand Prairie located in the heart of Grand Prairie’s Entertainment District directly between Lone Star Park and Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, TX. The $25 million venue, seats 5,500 guests and features 13 luxury suites. Amenities at the stadium include: The AirHogs Pool and Party Deck, the 17,000 sq. ft. Grand Prairie Wide World of Parks Playground, the FieldHouse Grill & Bar, the 3rd Base Party Deck, the Coors Light Officers Club and the Admirals Club. QuikTrip Park hosts special events such as live boxing, concerts, car shows, festivals and corporate events.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
CSU Bakersfield (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
CSUB went 2-1 playing in front of school record setting crowds in each of the three games at Hardt Field this past weekend ... CSUB, which only reached 1,000+ attendance mark three times in the first four years of the program, saw over 1,000 fans attend each game this past weekend with the now school record 1,358 seeing the Roadrunners play No. 22 Cal State Fullerton Sunday ... CSUB head coach Bill Kernen, the only mentor the program has seen in 4+ years, has won 99 games at the helm of the Roadrunners entering this week’s action ... Kernen is 339-274-3 in 11+ years as a college head coach ... Tyler Shryock tied the CSU Bakersfield school record for most hits in a game as CSUB defeated Nebraska 9-4 in the 2013 baseball season opener for both teams ... Shryock was 5-for-5 with two RBI’s, tying CSUB first base coach Brandon Boren who had five hits in a game in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Dallas Baptist (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
Dallas Baptist opened the season with a 0-3 record, marking the first time since 1992 that the Patriots have opened the season with a 0-3 mark ... DBU dropped the first game of the series 11-9 ... the team then dropped game two 15-6 and game three by a score of 3-1 ... RJ Talamantes led the team at the plate over the three games, batting .364 with four hits, two runs scored and four RBI ... Mike Wesolowski hit .333 with four hits, three runs scored, one walk and an RBI ... Michael Miller also hit .333 with three hits, three RBI, one double and one run scored ... Cory Taylor had the most impressive outing on the mound for the Patriots, going 5.0 innings with five strikeouts while iving up only four hits, one walk and two earned runs ... Dallas Baptist will look to get back on track this week as the team plays at Rice on Tuesday before playing at Mississippi Valley State on Thurs.-Sat.
Louisiana Tech (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
Tech fell to UT Arlington in all three games of the series by close margins, with two of the three games being one-run contests ... Tyler Ervine led the Bulldogs at the plate with six hits in 12 at bats to give him a team-high .500 batting average after one weekend of play ... sophomore RHP Phil Maton leads the team in ERA with 1.80 after pitching 5.0 innings Friday and receiving a no decision in a 7-6 loss to UT Arlington ... Maton allowed five hits, one run and one earned run, while striking out three batters in five innings of work ... this week, Louisiana Tech looks to get back on track as the team travels to play UALR on Tuesday before returning home to host Oral Roberts on Saturday and Sunday.
New Mexico State (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State opened the season with a 2-2 record at home against Wisconsin-Milwaukee ... the team won the season-opener 4-3 before falling 11-0 in game two ... the Aggies then lost 13-8 in game three before rebounding to win the series finale 16-8 ... Robert Lecount leads the league with eight RBI after going 6-of-13 at the dish against UW-Milwaukee … Lecount started the season picking up at least one hit in each of the four games played this week ... Tanner Rust hit .333 over the four games and collected two RBI, two walks, three doubles, six hits and six runs scored ... starting pitcher Adam Mott went 8.0 innings and struck out seven batters while giving up only two walks, all while facing 33 batters ... New Mexico State continues play this week at the Keith LeClaire Classic in Greenville, North Carolina ... the team will face East Carolina, Illinois and Ohio at the event.
Sacramento State (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Sacramento State took one of three games at Texas in its opening series of 2013 but very nearly won it ... the Hornets scored five runs in a big eighth inning but left the bases loaded in its opening day 6-5 loss ... the Hornets tallied 26 hits in the series, including five doubles and two home runs ... freshman Sutter McLoughlin earned a save on Saturday in his first collegiate appearance, allowing just one hit in 1.2 innings with no walks and one strikeout ... freshman OF Nathan Lukes matched Rhys Hoskins with a team-high .385 batting average in the series and tallied a team-best four runs while hitting leadoff ... the Hornets will continue play this week on Tuesday at Fresno State before retuning home to host UC Riverside for a four-game series.
San Jose State (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State opened the season with a 2-1 against Pacific ... the Spartans defeated Pacific by scores of 6-4 and 10-0 in the first two games played in San Jose ... Pacific picked up the win in game three by a score of 8-1 in Stockton ... Jacob Valdez led the Spartans at the plate, collecting five hits, three runs, one double, one walk, three RBI and two hit by pitches while hitting a team-best .556 ... Nick Schulz batted .462 over the three games ... he recorded six hits, one double, three RBI and two runs ... David Wayne Russo picked up a win on the mound after working 6.0 innings ... Russo did not allow a single run and gave up only four hits ... he also struck out two ... Kyle Hassna also picked up a win after pitching 4.2 innings while giving up only two hits with no runs ... San Jose State continues play this week at UC Davis on Wednesday before a three-game series at Arizona.
Seattle U (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Seattle U’s offense was in solid shape, but its defense and pitching struggled as the Redhawks needed a ninth-inning comeback to win the third and final game of a weekend series against Santa Clara, 15-13, after losing the first two games of the series, 7-6 and 16-11 ... the 32 runs over the weekend are the second-most scored by Seattle U in a three-game series since reestablishing the program in 2010 ... freshman Landon Cray started his collegiate career by batting 6-for-10 with three walks, a triple, and seven runs scored ... Ryan Somers batted .583 with a team-high seven RBI, and Sean Narby hit .500, including the two-out double in the ninth inning Sunday that scored the game-winning runs ... the eight errors committed by Seattle U Saturday were the most in a single game in the modern incarnation of the SU baseball program ... SU hosts Portland Tuesday before a three-game series at Cal Poly Feb. 22-24.
UT Arlington (3-0, 0-0 WAC)
UT Arlington swept its season-opening series at home against Louisiana Tech ... the Mavericks defeated the Bulldogs by scores of 7-6, 4-3 and 9-3 ... Jake Pinchback led the team with a .500 batting average over the three games ... Pinchback recorded six hits and one run ... Justin Copeland batted .462 over the three games with six hits, one double, two RBI and two runs ... John Michael Twichell hit .455 with a team-best six runs scored ... Twichell also had three RBi , one double and two triples ... Brad Vachon worked 5.0 innings on the mound while giving up only two hits and no runs ... Vachon picked up the while fanning five ... Andy Scott also went 5.0 innings without giving up a run ... he also picked up five strikeouts and gave up only two hits ... Chad Nack picked up a win after going 4.0 innings with five strikeouts ... UT Arlington continues play this week at Texas on Tuesday ... the team will then return home to host Northeastern in a three-game set.
Texas State (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Texas State hosted three schools, all of which were receiving votes in national polls with Missouri State leading the way, ranked 31st by Collegiate Baseball ... the Bobcats had respectful showings against all three teams, beating Tulane (2-1), 2-0 ... the Bobcat pitching stood strong in the first two games of the week with Kyle Finnegan and Taylor Black combining for 18 strikeouts ... the staff as a whole struck out 25 batters in the first two games and the bats got going in the third with an eight-run seventh inning ... the Bobcats will travel to Baylor Tuesday and return home to host Houston over the weekend.
UTSA (4-0, 0-0 WAC)
UTSA started the season with a four-game sweep of Air Force last weekend ... it marked the first four-game sweep for the Roadrunners since 2008 ... the Birds hit .411 and racked up 62 hits, 40 runs and 34 RBIs ... UTSA’s bullpen allowed only four runs and registered a 1.89 ERA in 19.0 innings ... Jason Marshall became the first head coach in program history to win his debut after the Roadrunners topped Air Force, 9-2, in the season opener last Friday ... Daniel Rockett and RJ Perucki each logged 10 hits over the weekend ... Rockett led the charge with a .667 batting average ... he also swatted a solo home run in the series finale on Sunday afternoon ... UTSA continues play this week at Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Wednesday before playing a three-game series at Louisiana-Lafayette.