TicketSmarter WAC Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Announced
DENVER – Sam Houston's Carlos Contreras and NM State's Pablo Cortes have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 28 – March 6.
Contreras, a junior outfielder from El Paso, Texas, had a huge weekend in the Bearkats' three-game sweep of Texas Southern. After recording a double against top-ranked Texas on Tuesday, he turned the dial up to 11 on Friday, going 3-for-4 with six RBIs. He showed he wasn't done on Saturday, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs and four runs scored and then followed that up with four RBIs on 3-of-5 batting on Sunday. On the week, he was 10-for-17 from the dish with 15 RBIs, six runs scored, two home runs, two doubles and a triple, posting a .588 batting average and 1.176 slugging percentage.
Cortes, a sophomore right-hander from Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, made a last-second spot start for the Aggies on Saturday and threw a complete-game shutout against Prairie View A&M to earn the victory. His first start in an NM State uniform resulted in six strikeouts and zero walks while allowing four hits over seven scoreless innings for the win.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Hunter Gieser had an RBI in all five games the Wildcats played, finishing the week with eight RBIs … California Baptist's Russell Stevenson hit .500 on the week as the Lancers opened WAC play against Grand Canyon … Dixie State's Shane Taylor was 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored in the Trailblazers' series-clinching win over Utah Valley on Saturday … Grand Canyon's Jacob Wilson drove in nine runs and scored five times as the Lopes earned a non-conference win over UC San Diego before sweeping California Baptist in the opening weekend of WAC play … Lamar's Josh Blakenship led the Cardinals in nearly every offensive category as LU dropped a tight game at Houston before completing a four-game sweep of Mount St. Mary's over the weekend … NM State's Logan Gallina tallied hits in each of the Aggies' four games with Prairie View, finishing with a 3-for-5 afternoon on Sunday … Tarleton's Carter Dobrinski was 3-for-4 in the Texans' series-finale at Missouri … UT Rio Grande Valley's Brandon Pimentel totaled four home runs in the Vaqueros' series win over Youngstown State over the weekend … Utah Valley's Trey Cutchen led the Wolverines at the dish, hitting .500 with six hits in the WAC-opening series at Dixie State.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Breck Eichelberger struck out four and allowed one run on two hits over 5.0 innings to earn the win in Saturday's 23-1 blowout of Marist … California Baptist's CJ Culpepper had another quality start on Friday night against Grand Canyon, striking out six and allowing one run on four hits over 6.0 innings in a no-decision … Dixie State's Jacob Taggart was dominant in two appearances, striking out nine Arizona hitters and allowing just one hit over 5.0 innings in a no-decision and then making another relief appearance on Saturday, striking out five UVU hitters and again allowing just one hit over 2.1 innings pitched … Grand Canyon's Daniel Avita earned his first collegiate win, striking out nine and allowing just three hits over 5.2 scoreless innings in a 10-3 win over California Baptist on Saturday … Lamar's Trhea Morse had a pair of quality starts and picked up his first win as a Cardinal in Saturday's 5-0 win over Mount St. Mary's after striking out three and scattering two hits over 4.0 innings … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens struck out nine over five scoreless innings to keep his ERA at 0.00 on the season … Utah Valley's Josh Brown kept his season ERA at 0.00 with three innings of relief to pick up the save in Sunday's 6-3 win at Dixie State.