TicketSmarter WAC Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Announced
DENVER – California Baptist's Nick Plaia and Seattle U's Jarrod Billig have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 24 – March 1.
Plaia, a senior from Santa Clarita, Calif., played a major role in the Lancers earning their first series sweep of the season, taking three at home against Houston Baptist. After starting the week 1-for-3 with an RBI in a loss to rival UC Riverside, he was nearly unstoppable at the plate against HBU, hitting 7-for-12 with three doubles, four runs scored and three RBIs. On the week, he posted a .533 batting average to go with a .733 slugging percentage.
Billig, a junior from Las Vegas, did not allow a hit over six innings on the hill to earn his first victory of the young season in a 4-2 win over Pacific on Friday afternoon. The southpaw struck out six and scattered three walks as the Tigers couldn't get a hit against him. On the year, he has 13 strikeouts in 14.1 innings pitched.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Damian Henderson extended his hitting streak to nine games with base knocks against Holy Cross … Grand Canyon's Juan Colato was 5-for-5 in the Lopes' 3-2 loss on Saturday to Stanford after picking up three hits in an 18-inning marathon win the night before … NM State's Nick Gonzales had a monster Saturday, hitting five home runs with 10 RBIs to lead the Aggies to a doubleheader sweep over Purdue Fort Wayne … Sacramento State's Ryan Walstad slugged .917 in four games with five runs scored and a pair of RBIs as the Hornets split a series with Santa Clara … Seattle U's Chase Wells hit .417 on the week as the Redhawks split a home series with Pacific … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jacob Hirsh went 6-for-14 with two doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored in a series win over South Dakota State … Utah Valley's Kade Poulson hit .429 for the Wolverines as UVU took a three-game series at San José State.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Bryan Pope struck out eight and allowed just two runs on one hit over seven innings to earn the win on Friday against Houston Baptist … CSU Bakersfield's Ethan Skuija posted nine strikeouts over six innings to earn the victory in a 7-3 win over Holy Cross on Sunday … Grand Canyon's Pierson Ohl allowed two runs on six hits with five strikeouts in a 3-2 loss at Stanford … NM State's Chris Jefferson struck out seven over seven innings but took the no-decision in an eventual Aggie win on Sunday against Purdue Fort Wayne … Sacramento State's Travis Adams threw a career-high seven innings to earn the win on Sunday against Santa Clara … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens took a no-hitter into the seventh, striking out 12 and allowing just one run on one hit over 6.1 innings in a no-decision against South Dakota State … Utah Valley's Mason Gray scattered five hits over 8.2 innings in a 1-0 win over San José State on Sunday.