TicketSmarter WAC Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Announced
DENVER – UT Rio Grande Valley's Conrado Diaz and Max Balderrama Jr. have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 2 – March 8.
Diaz, a senior catcher/infielder from San Diego, paced the UTRGV offense that saw the Vaqueros outscore NJIT 48-3 over the four-game series. Hitting .615 on the weekend, his best game came in the series finale, going 5-for-5 with four doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored in a 10-2 win. He had multiple-RBIs in three of the four games and slugged 1.000 on the week.
Balderrama, a senior right-hander from Crosby, Texas, made the most of his first career start, pitching a complete game shutout in a 19-0 win over NJIT. Throwing a career-high seven innings, he also set a career-high in strikeouts with 10, walking just one and scattering four hits. The senior is posting a 2.40 earned-run average over 15.0 innings pitched, having earned the win over the weekend and also picking up a save on Feb. 15 against Kansas State.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Harrison Spohn batted .438 for the Lancers, posting a .688 slugging percentage thanks to a pair of double and a triple in a series-split at Nevada … Grand Canyon's Juan Colato hit .364 with three home runs and seven RBIs in a busy week for the Lopes as GCU split a two-game series with New Mexico before earning a series win over Pacific … NM State's Austin Duffy reached base in all three games against 24th-ranked Texas A&M, including picking up his first triple of the season on Saturday … Sacramento State's Dawsen Bacho hit safely in each of the Hornets' four games, adding a double, home run and five RBIs in the 2-2 week … Seattle U's Connor O'Brien came within a home run of the cycle on Friday night in an 11-5 win at Boise State … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez was 4-for-5 on Friday night at Washington, helping the Wolverines earn the 7-0 win to open the series at the Pac-12 foe.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Bryan Pope picked up his third win of the season with eight strikeouts and one walk over 6.2 innings at Nevada … Grand Canyon's Pierson Ohl allowed one run on eight hits with five strikeouts to earn the victory in a 12-1 blowout win over Pacific … NM State's Chance Hroch struck out nine and walked just one in a loss at 24th-ranked Texas A&M on Friday night … Sacramento State's Travis Adams earned the win on Sunday at UC Irvine, allowing just two hits with seven strikeouts over seven scoreless innings … Seattle U's Jarrod Billig put together another solid outing, striking out six and allowing just one earned run to earn the win at Boise State … Utah Valley's Jesse Schmit struck out eight over seven scoreless innings to earn the win at Washington on Friday night.