DENVER - NM State's Tristen Carranza and Northern Colorado's Jacob Howard have been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 8 - May 14.
Carranza, a sophomore first baseman from El Centro, Calif. (Brawley HS), led the Aggies to a sweep in Chicago, going 5-for-10 from the plate for a league-leading .500 average. Earning a hit in all three games, his best game came on Saturday, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in a 10-4 win. He leads the WAC in home runs this season with 16 and is tied for the lead in total bases with 118. With the sweep, NM State clinched the top seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament on May 24-28 in Mesa, Ariz.
Howard, a senior from Puyallup, Wash. (Puyallup HS/Skagit Valley College), was instrumental in helping keep the Bears' playoff hopes alive last weekend at UT Rio Grande Valley. On Friday night, he pitched the final inning to earn the save in Northern Colorado's 6-5 extra-inning win over the Vaqueros. He again finished the game for the Bears on Saturday, earning the win in a 5-4 extra-inning victory, allowing two hits over 3.0 innings with a strikeout.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Mahlik Jones was 7-for-18 on the week as the ‘Runners clinched the number two seed at the upcoming WAC Tournament … Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz hit .409 on the week as the Lopes clinched at least a share of the 2017 WAC baseball title … Northern Colorado's Evan Johnson drove home the game-winning run on Friday and set up the winning run on Saturday … Sacramento State's Vinny Esposito hit a two-run home run on Sunday at San Diego to give the Hornets the win … UT Rio Grande Valley's Noah Lee had his eighth multi-hit game of the season on Friday … Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund batted .400 with four doubles and a home run against Grand Canyon.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Aaron Charles earned the win in Friday's 7-6 win over Seattle U … Grand Canyon's Mick Vorhof earned the win with 3.2 innings of an 11-inning game at Utah Valley, striking out five … NM State's Kyle Bradish struck out 10 and allowed just one run on five hits to earn the complete game win at Chicago State … Sacramento State's Austin Root earned his first career save on Sunday at San Diego … Seattle U's Tyler Oldenberg earned wins at Washington and CSU Bakersfield in his first two starts of the season … UT Rio Grande Valley's Andrew Garcia struck out seven in two appearances over nine innings against Northern Colorado ... Utah Valley's Jake Mayer earned the complete game win with seven strikeouts and just one walk in a 9-2 victory over Grand Canyon.