DENVER - NM State's Joey Ortiz and Sacramento State's Tanner Dalton have been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 16 - April 22.
Ortiz, a sophomore infielder from Garden Grove, Calif. (Pacifica HS), led the WAC with a .500 average on the week as the Aggies picked up a pair of wins and the series victory at Northern Colorado. In the series opener, he was 3-for-3 from the plate, knocking in a pair of RBIs and scoring once himself. He followed that up with a 2-for-5 afternoon on Saturday in the Aggies' 12-9 win, again driving in two RBIs and scoring three times. He finished out the weekend going 1-for-4 with a run scored as NM State took the series with a 6-3 win.
Dalton, a junior right-hander from Lethbridge, Canada (Prairie Baseball Academy), allowed just one hit over four innings to earn a pair of saves in three appearances. In a non-conference win over UC Davis, he allowed one hit and struck out one over one inning on the hill. On Saturday, he struck out two over one hitless inning to earn the save in a 3-1 win. He followed that up with two innings of no-hit ball to earn the save on Sunday in an 8-6 victory.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Luis Martinez hit a pair of home runs in a mid-week win over Hawai'i … Grand Canyon's Quin Cotton posted back-to-back three-hit games as the Lopes took 2-of-3 at nationally-ranked Illinois … Northern Colorado's Jack Pauley was 5-for-5 in the Bears' 13-7 win over NM State on Friday … Sacramento State's Ian Dawkins led the Hornets with seven hits as Sacramento State won 3-of-4 on the week, including 2-of-3 at CSU Bakersfield … Seattle U's Sean Sutton drove in the game-winning run in Sunday's extra-inning win over UT Rio Grande Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Noah Lee had a hit in each of the Vaqueros' games this week, including a 2-for-4 day in the win over Seattle U.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Kyle King earned a pair of saves in three appearances for the ‘Runners … Chicago State's Robert Gutierez struck out six and allowed just one hit over five innings of relief to earn the win on Sunday against Utah Valley … Grand Canyon's Jake Wong struck out three and allowed just one run on two hits over six innings to earn the win on Friday against Illinois … NM State's Brock Whittlesey earned two wins on the week, including a five strikeout win on Saturday at Northern Colorado … Northern Colorado's Keenan Lum allowed two runs and struck out four but took the no decision in a 6-3 loss to NM State … Seattle U's Tarik Skubal matched his season high with 12 strikeouts over 5.2 innings in a 12-8 win over UT Rio Grande Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jorge Flores struck out five over seven innings to earn the win on Saturday at Seattle U … Utah Valley's Jake Mayer threw a complete game shutout to earn the 1-0 win on Friday at Chicago State.