TicketSmarter WAC Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Announced
DENVER – Sacramento State's Matt Smith and Grand Canyon's Pierson Ohl have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 3 to May 9.
Smith, a senior outfielder from Placerville, Calif., was about as good as it gets on the weekend as the Hornets split a crucial WAC series with league-leading California Baptist. In 14 plate appearances, he was only retired three times, posting a .727 batting average and .786 on-base percentage with eight hits and three walks. Smith had his best game in the series opener on Friday, going 4-for-4 with a grand slam, a double, two runs scored and a walk. He added a two-run pinch hit base hit in game two of Saturday's doubleheader before homering again and driving in another pair in Sunday's series finale 14-1 win. On the week, he was 8-for-11 with 10 RBIs, four runs scored and three extra-base hits.
Ohl, a junior right-hander from Simi Valley, Calif., threw his sixth complete game of the season and picked up his seventh win as well in a 10-0 victory over Dixie State on Friday night. Allowing just two hits on the night, he struck out six and walked none to help GCU get their first win of the weekend en route to a four-game sweep over the Trailblazers. On the season, Ohl boasts a 7-1 record and 2.42 earned-run average with 85 strikeouts and just eight walks in 74.1 innings pitched.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Mitchel Simon led CBU with eight RBIs and six runs scored in a series split with Sacramento State … Dixie State's Jake Engel hit .385 in a four-game series at Grand Canyon … Grand Canyon's Elijah Buries hit safely in all five games the Lopes played this week, including going 6-of-12 in a series sweep of Dixie State … NM State's Tommy Tabak reached base in all four games and hit .500 in the Aggies' series split at Utah Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Coleman Grubbs had a pair of multi-hit games and drove in seven total runs as the Vaqueros earned a series win over visiting Tarleton … Utah Valley's Kade Poulson pushed his hitting streak to 10 games as UVU earned a series split with NM State.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's William St. Marseille threw 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three, in Saturday's 7-6 win over Sacramento State … Dixie State's Jack Gonzales tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing two hits and striking out six, in a no-decision at Grand Canyon on Saturday … NM State's Sammy Natera struck out 10 and allowed a single run on two hits over 5.2 innings to earn the win in Saturday's nightcap at Utah Valley … Sacramento State's Travis Adams tossed a complete game on Sunday, striking out five with a single run allowed on six hits in the nine-inning appearance … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens was perfect through 6.1 innings and finished with three hits allowed in a 3-2 complete-game win over Tarleton … Utah Valley's Mason Gray earned the complete-game win on Saturday against NM State, allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over seven innings on the hill.