TicketSmarter WAC Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Announced
DENVER – Grand Canyon's Jacob Wilson and Daniel Avitia have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 14 – March 20.
Wilson, a sophomore infielder from Thousand Oaks, Calif., had multiple hits in each of the Lopes' five games on the week and had a streak of 10 consecutive at-bats with a hit. He started the week with a 4-for-4 game at Oregon State on Tuesday and then went 3-for-5 in Corvallis the next day to help the Lopes earn a 13-7 win over the fifth-ranked Beavers. Returning home for WAC play, he was 11-of-14 at the plate in a three-game sweep of Utah Valley, including a 5-for-5 game on Saturday. On the week, he finished with 18 hits, 13 RBIs, nine runs scored, four doubles and three home runs for a .783 batting average and 1.348 slugging percentage.
Avitia, a freshman right-hander from Phoenix, was dialed in on Saturday against Utah Valley, going 6.2 shutout innings to earn the victory in an 8-0 win over the Wolverines. On the day, he struck out a career-high 11 batters while allowing just three hits and one walk to pick up his second win of the season.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Colton Eager drove in a team-high seven runs, including four in Sunday's series-finale against Stephen F. Austin … California Baptist's David Martin hit .692 on the week with three multi-hit games as the Lancers picked up a win over UNLV before taking a weekend series from Yale … Dixie State's Kaden Hollow batted .353 for the week with three extra-base hits and seven RBIs as the Trailblazers split a series at Nevada before taking a WAC series from NM State … Lamar's Josh Blakenship drove in six runs for the Cardinals, including four in the Cardinals' 8-2 win over Sam Houston on Saturday … NM State's Kevin Jiminez hit .333 with three extra base hits, including a grand slam at Nebraska … Tarleton's Carter Dobrinski compiled seven hits in four games, including a 3-for-5 outing in a midweek-win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi … UT Rio Grande Valley's Brandon Pimentel was 4-for-5 with a pair of runs scored in the Vaqueros' middle-game at Tarleton … Utah Valley's Mick Madsen led the Wolverines on the week, batting .333 with a home run, three runs scored and one RBI.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Carter Sells recorded his first career win at ACU, providing 3.2 innings of no-hit relief in Sunday's 11-6 win over Stephen F. Austin … California Baptist's Jared Villalobos earned a pair of wins in relief, going 0.2 innings against UNLV on Monday before returning to the mound on Friday against Yale … Dixie State's Dillon Holliday earned his second win of the season, allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits over seven innings in a 12-2 win over NM State on Friday … Lamar's Adam Wheaton allowed four runs on four hits over seven innings to earn the win on Saturday against Sam Houston … NM State's Rorik Maltrud struck out seven Nebraska hitters on Wednesday, allowing two runs, just one earned, on one hit over seven innings in a no-decision … Tarleton's Luke Baley earned the win on Friday against UT Rio Grande Valley, allowing five hits over six scoreless innings in the 6-2 victory … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jesus Aldaz set a new career-high with 11 strikeouts over 6.0 innings in a loss to Tarleton on Sunday afternoon … Utah Valley's Nick Sims made a pair of appearances for the Wolverines, allowing three hits over four combined innings in a pair of games against Grand Canyon.