The WAC tournament begins today and the six teams that are participating are the six teams that were picked in the preseason to be in Honolulu at the end of the season. However, that’s where the good prognostication ends.

Fresno State, the three time defending regular season, conference tournament and defending national champion was once again picked to win the league but they faltered in the early part of the conference season and nearly missed the conference tournament but used a four game sweep on the final weekend of play to go from 7th place to a tie for third place. Nevada, the team picked to finish third in the league was swept in the final two weekends of play to finish sixth. At one point the Wolf Pack were in first place in the league. Read the rest of this entry »

Courtesy: Fresno State

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

HONOLULU, HI – The Western Athletic Conference today released its 2009 all-WAC baseball teams and postseason awards as selected by the league’s head coaches.  Fresno State senior third baseman Tom Mendonca was named the Player of the Year and San Jose State senior Ryan Shopshire earned Pitcher of the Year honors. The Freshman of the Year award went to Hawai‘i outfielder Kolten Wong.  San Jose State’s Sam Piraro was named WAC Coach of the Year.
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Courtesy: San Jose State University

The final weekend of WAC play sees four teams with a shot at winning the regular season title. San Jose State (11-7) controls its own destiny as they host Nevada (10-9). If the Spartans win three of four they would clinch the regular season title and the number one overall seed in next week’s conference tournament. They would share the league title with Louisiana Tech (and earn the No. 1 seed via tiebreaker) with a series split and a split in the New Mexico State/Louisiana Tech series. Nevada, currently the third place team, will win the regular season title if they sweep San Jose State or if they take three of four from San Jose State and Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State split their series. Read the rest of this entry »

NM State Pitcher D.J. Simon

Week six in the WAC sees four teams within a half game of each other and all seven WAC teams still with a mathematical shot at the regular season title. Louisiana Tech enters week six as the undisputed hottest team in the league after a stunning sweep over Hawai’i in Honolulu. After starting the league race at 1-7 the Bulldogs have won eight of their last 10 with sweeps over three time defending league champion Fresno State and conference tournament favorite Hawai’i (as the Tournament is being held in Honolulu). Much to the relief of the other six WAC teams, it’s Louisiana Tech’s turn to step out of conference this weekend as the remaining six battle to sort out the mess that is the 2009 WAC race.

SERIES OF THE WEEK
San Jose State (32-16, 8-6) at New Mexico State (38-10, 9-7)
Presley Askew Field, Las Cruces, N.M.
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Courtesy: Nevada

Week five in the WAC begins with four teams within 1/2 game of each other in the standings. Week four saw all six teams playing in conference action split their series keeping the order in the standings intact heading into this week.

SERIES OF THE WEEK:
Nevada (22-20, 7-4) at Fresno State (20-23, 4-8)
Pete Beiden Field, Fresno, CA
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NM State's Nate Shaver

Week four of WAC play sees Nevada and No. 20 Hawai’i atop the league standings at 7-4. New Mexico State is just a half game behind at 7-5, while San Jose State is 5-3, Louisiana Tech is 5-7 and the two other northern California schools, Sacramento State and defending league champion Fresno State are 2-6. The weekend is highlighted by a key battle in New Mexico between New Mexico State and No. 20 Hawai’i.

SERIES OF THE WEEK
No. 20 Hawai’i (24-14, 7-4) at New Mexico State (32-8, 7-5)
Presley Askew Field, Las Cruces, N.M.
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Here are some of the best college baseball articles from around the nation.

The first article comes from the Lockport Union-Sun and Journal which talks about Niagara University’s secret “hit juice” that some players made with some Kool-Aid and some fruit candies. The next three articles come from The Daily Cal which does an excellent job recapping the Oregon and Cal series. The next article comes from BleedCrimson.net which provides a recap of the New Mexico State and Nevada finale. Read the rest of this entry »

New Mexico State's Bryan Marquez

The WAC enters week three of conference play and through two weekends Nevada stands atop the league at 5-2 after winning two of three against Hawai’i who now stands at 4-3 in conference. Fresno State opened league play against New Mexico State and split the series 2-2 with the Aggies winning games one and three by one run while New Mexico State won games two and four by margins of two and four. San Jose State improved to 5-3 overall after sweeping Louisiana Tech. The Spartans are tied for second with New Mexico State. Louisiana Tech dropped to 1-7 in league play. Sacramento State played a non-conference series and returns to league play this week.

SERIES OF THE WEEK

New Mexico State (30-6, 5-3) at Nevada (16-17, 5-2)
Peccole Park, Reno, NV
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Courtesy: Nevada

The first weekend of WAC conference play is in the books and there are three teams tied atop the league. New Mexico State, Hawai’i and Nevada all came away from last weekend’s opening series with 3-1 records. Defending conference champion Fresno State opens league play this weekend when they host #23 New Mexico State. Preseason 2nd place pick San Jose State is 1-3 as are Louisiana Tech and Sacramento State.

SERIES OF THE WEEK:
#23 Hawai’i (20-10, 3-1) at Nevada (14-16, 3-1)
Peccole Park, Reno, Nevada
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WAC Players of the Week

DENVER, CO – Nevada catcher Travis Simas and Hawai‘i right-handed pitcher Jayson Kramer have been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Mar. 30-Apr. 5.

Simas, a senior from Elk Grove, Calif. (Sheldon HS/San Joaquin Delta College), hit .600 in helping the Wolf Pack to three conference wins over Louisiana Tech last week. Simas went 9-for-15 at the plate with eight runs scored, two doubles, three home runs and seven RBI. He also picked off his WAC-leading ninth and 10th runners of the season and caught two of the four base stealers. In the WAC series at Louisiana Tech, Simas hit .692 (9-for-15). He recorded a 1.538 slugging percentage in WAC games after totaling 20 bases. He collected multiple hits in three of his four games at Louisiana Tech, including a career-high four the series finale.

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The 2009 WAC conference schedule kicks off this weekend. Heading into conference play six of the seven WAC teams sport records above .500 with the league heading into the conference play with a combined record of 112-61 (.647 winning %). The league’s best non-conference record belongs to New Mexico State at 25-3. The toughest non-conference schedule belongs to Hawai’i who at 16-9 in conference play picked up arguably the league’s best wins taking three of four from Coastal Carolina. Also among the league’s notable victories are wins over Arizona (Sacramento State), UC-Irvine (Hawai’i), New Mexico (New Mexico State) and Missouri (Nevada).

SERIES OF THE WEEK
San Jose State (19-5) at Hawai’i (16-9)
Les Murakami Stadium. Honolulu, HI
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NM State shortstop Bryan Marquez

DENVER, CO – New Mexico State shortstop Bryan Marquez and Nevada right-handed pitcher Derek Achelpohl have been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Mar. 9-15.

Marquez, a senior from Bonny Lake, Wash. (The Dalles HS), hit .600 in helping the Aggies to a 4-1 record last week. Marquez had a season-high three hits and tied a career high with five RBI as he hit a solo home run and the game-tying grand slam to lead NMSU to a 10-inning, 11-10 victory over Northern Colorado. Marquez had two grand slams on the weekend, and finished the week going 9-for-15 at the plate with nine hits, 13 RBI, four home runs and six walks.

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