DENVER -Northern Colorado's Jack Pauley and Sacramento State's Justin Dillon have been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 27 - March 5.
Pauley, a sophomore outfielder from Overland Park, Kan. (Saint Thomas Aquinas HS), helped lead the Bears to a series win in their home openers, hitting .538 as Northern Colorado took three out of four from North Dakota State. He posted a WAC-best 1.077 slugging percentage as he recorded hits in all four games. His best game came on Saturday afternoon as he went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs in a 7-6 win over the Bison.
Dillon, a senior from Placerville, Calif. (El Dorado HS), earns honors for the second straight week after throwing a gem against nationally-ranked Washington. One week after throwing a no-hitter, he held the Huskies, ranked as high as 11th in the national polls, to just one hit over six scoreless innings. He struck out eight and walked just one of the 21 hitters he faced to earn the win. In 22 innings pitched this year, he has allowed just one run on two hits with two walks and 25 strikeouts.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Mahlik Jones hit .636 on the week, going 7-for-11 as the ‘Runners took two out of three from Brigham Young … Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz hit .385 on the week and had a career-high four runs scored in the series opener at Saint Mary's … NM State's Marcus Still was 8-for-18 as the Aggies took three out of four from Yale … Sacramento State's PJ Floyd had a pair of home runs at Washington … Seattle U's Aaron Stroosma was 7-for-13 from the plate with four runs scored as the Redhawks split a four-game series with Sacred Heart … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jose Garcia had three multi-hit games on the week in a loss at Houston and a series win against Lamar … Utah Valley's Zac Willis had a pair of home runs and six RBIs in the series with Indiana State.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Jake Wong struck out six over six innings in a win at Saint Mary's … NM State's Kyle Bradish had five strikeouts with no walks over seven innings to earn the win over Yale on Saturday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Luis Acosta earned a pair of saves for the Vaqueros in wins over Lamar … Utah Valley's Patrick Wolfe earned saves in both UVU wins in a split with Indiana State.