DENVER - Seattle U's Chase Wells and Utah Valley's Kaden Schmitt have been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 26 - April 1.
Wells, a sophomore outfielder from Naches, Wash. (Naches Valley HS), led Seattle U to a series sweep at Chicago State. He had multiple hits in each of the three games, going 2-for-5 in the opener with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored in a 10-1 win. He followed that up with a 4-for-5 afternoon, adding a home run and two RBIs to his season totals, in the middle game and then finished the weekend with a 2-for-3 game from the plate to help the Redhawks clinch the series sweep.
Schmitt, a senior right-hander from Shelley, Idaho (Shelley HS), tossed his first career complete game in Saturday's 6-1 series-clinching win over UT Rio Grande Valley. On the hill for all nine innings, he allowed just one run on seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He is one of three pitchers who earned a win in each of the first two weeks of conference play and is tied for the lead in strikeouts in WAC-games with 16.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Pikai Winchester hit his first career home run as the Lopes took 2-of-3 at Northern Colorado … Northern Colorado's Dean Lawson set a school record with four doubles in a 35-11 win over Regis … Sacramento State's Matt Smith went 6-for-13 at the plate as the Hornets took 2-of-3 from NM State … Utah Valley's Trevor Howell was 8-for-17 on the week as the Wolverines earned the series win over UT Rio Grande Valley.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Jake Wong allowed just one hit over six scoreless innings to earn the win on Thursday at Northern Colorado … Northern Colorado's Aaron Hamilton did not allow a run in 7.2 innings of work, including a 6.2 inning win against Grand Canyon on Saturday … Sacramento State's Austin Root allowed just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts over eight innings in a win at NM State … Seattle U's Tarik Skubal strike out 12 batters in just six innings pitched to earn the win at Chicago State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Chase Adams earned the win on Thursday at Utah Valley, allowing just two runs over seven innings pitched.