TicketSmarter WAC Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Announced
DENVER –Sam Houston's Clayton Chadwick and California Baptist's CJ Culpepper have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 2 – May 8.
Chadwick, a sophomore outfielder from La Vernia, Texas, played a big part in the Bearkats' three-game sweep of Stephen F. Austin, hitting .667 with a .714 on-base percentage and a 1.444 slugging percentage. In nine at-bats, he totaled nine RBIs, seven runs scored and three of his six hits were for extra bases.
Culpepper, a sophomore right-hander from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., threw a gem against NM State on Saturday, striking out 12 and allowing just three hits over seven innings to earn the complete game shutout. Without allowing a walk, he had a strikeout in each inning pitched, including striking out the side in the third inning.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Grayston Tatrow hit his 14th and 15th home runs of the season in the Wildcats' series win at Tarleton … California Baptist's Chad Castillo recorded a hit in each game and finished the week hitting .444 for the Lancers … Dixie State's Tyson Fisher hit .438 on the week, driving in four runs and scoring four times of his own … Grand Canyon's Tayler Aguilar homered twice in a win at Arizona and then drove in the game-winning run in Sunday's WAC series finale against Sacramento State … Lamar's Matthew McDonald hit .533 with eight total hits for the Cardinals … Tarleton's Kemuel Thomas-Rivera had seven RBIs and hit .583 in the Texans' three-game series against Abilene Christian … UT Rio Grande Valley's Bryan Sturges had a career-high five RBIs in a series-clinching win at Lamar … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez hit .462 in the Wolverines' three-game series at Washington State.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Genner Cervantes struck out a career-high 11 batters and allowed two runs on six hits over 5.0 innings to earn the win over Tarleton … Grand Canyon's Daniel Avitia struck out 14 on Saturday night to earn the win over Sacramento State … Lamar's Adam Wheaton picked up the win on Saturday against UTRGV, allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts over 7.1 innings … NM State's Ian Mejia totaled 11 strikeouts in a losing effort at California Baptist on Friday night … Sam Houston's Lance Lusk earned a pair of saves, posting four strikeouts and one hit allowed over three combined innings … UT Rio Grande Valley's JC Ariza threw a season-high 6.0 innings, striking out five and earned the win over UTSA … Utah Valley's Coop Rust threw five innings but didn't earn the decision in the Wolverines' 9-7 loss to Washington State on Saturday.