DENVER - NM State's Marcus Still and Grand Canyon's Jake Wong have been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 12 - Feb. 18.
Still, a senior outfielder from New Orleans (Queen Creek HS), was nearly perfect from the play, going 8-for-9 with four walks as the Aggies took two of three from Towson. In the season opener, Still was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and a pair of RBIs in a 24-2 win. His only falter came in game two, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored in an 11-6 loss. The Aggies and Still bounced back on Sunday as the outfielder was 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored in a 13-3 win. His .889 average leads the WAC after the opening weekend of play.
Wong, a junior from Chandler, Ariz. (Hamilton HS), was in line for the win against fourth-ranked TCU on opening night before settling for a no-decision after a late Horned Frogs rally. In six scoreless innings pitched, he struck out a career-high nine and walked just two of the 22 TCU hitters he faced.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jassen Oliver hit .300 on the weekend and have five RBIs in Sunday's 14-7 win over UC Davis … Chicago State's Matt Paciello helped the Cougars open the season 2-1, hitting .417 in a neutral-site series against LIU Brooklyn … Grand Canyon's Quin Cotton hit his first career home run on Saturday and then drove in the game-tying RBI on Sunday against fourth-ranked TCU … Northern Colorado's Tyler Yamaguchi was 7-for-16 in a series split with San José State … Sacramento State's Matt Smith hit a home run on Saturday and was 4-for-11 from the plate as the Hornets opened the series with Washington by taking two-of-three … Seattle U's Curtis Perrin collected four extra-base hits as the Redhawks took three-of-four from Pacific to open the year … UT Rio Grande Valley's Elijah Alexander was 7-for-13 from the plate with five RBIs and four runs scored as the Vaqueros opened the year with four straight wins … Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund had a triple and a home run as the Wolverines battled with USC to open the season.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Chicago State's Joe Fitka struck out six and allowed just one unearned run on one hit in four innings of relief to earn the save on Sunday against LIU Brooklyn … Northern Colorado's Keenan Lum allowed just one run and struck out seven over six innings to earn the win at San José State … NM State's Kyle Bradish picked up his first win of the year with 11 strikeouts over 5.1 innings in a 24-4 win over Towson … Sacramento State's Parker Brahms struck out nine with just two hits and no walks allowed against Washington … Seattle U's Zach Wolf earned the win in the nightcap on Friday and picked up the save in Saturday's opener to help lead the Redhawks to a series win over Pacific … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ryan Jackson picked up the win in the season opener against Central Michigan and returned to the mound Saturday to earn the save as the Vaqueros opened the season 4-0 … Utah Valley's Jake Mayer notched a win on Friday night, striking out six and allowing just one run over six innings in a 5-1 win at USC.