DENVER - NM State's Tristen Carranza and Grand Canyon's Jake Wong have been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 27 - April 2.
Carranza, a sophomore first-baseman from El Centro, Calif. (Brawley HS), led the Aggies to a WAC sweep at Seattle U, going 6-for-11 from the plate in the three-game series. On the week, he was 7-for-15 with three home runs, four RBIs and four runs scored, posting a .467 batting average and a 1.133 slugging percentage. He was also solid in the field, recording 34 putouts and one assist with no errors.
Wong, a sophomore right-hander from Chandler, Ariz. (Hamilton HS), allowed just two hits and struck out five over 7.1 innings to earn the win in Friday's WAC series opener against Northern Colorado. He retired 12 consecutive batters from the fourth to eighth innings as he earned his third scoreless outing of at least six innings this season. He currently leads the WAC with a 1.36 earned run average in seven appearances, holding a 3-1 record on the year.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Andrew Penner was 9-for-19 on the week as the ‘Runners went 1-3 … Grand Canyon's Tyler Wyatt was 7-for-13 on the week as the Lopes remained undefeated in WAC play … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ivan Estrella hit .412 on the week as the Vaqueros earned the series win at CSU Bakersfield.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: NM State's Kyle Bradish allowed just one run on one hit over seven innings to earn the win on Friday at Seattle U … Sacramento State's Justin Dillon scattered nine hits over seven innings and allowed just one run to earn a win at Utah Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Josh Witherspoon earned his first career save on Sunday at CSU Bakersfield … Utah Valley's Paxton Schultz struck out seven in five innings of relief to get the win on Saturday against Sacramento State.