HITTER OF THE WEEK – New Mexico State outfielder Marcus Quade, a junior from Littleton, Colo. (Highlands Ranch HS), extended his hit streak to 22 games this week. On Tuesday, he was 2-for-2 with two RBI, a walk and a sacrifice fly against New Mexico. In Friday’s 14-8 win at San Jose State, he was 2-for-6 with three RBI. In Sunday’s game, Quade was 2-for-4 with two RBI. One of his two hits was a home run that helped NMSU in its come-from-behind win over San Jose State that gave the Aggies the series’ win. For the week, he was 7-of-13 (.412) with seven RBI and three runs and was walked once. It is Quade’s first career WAC Hitter of the Week award and the first for an Aggie player this year.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK – Sacramento State right-handed pitcher Alvaro Orozco, a junior from San Bruno, Calif. (Skyline CC), tossed a complete game shutout as Sacramento State won at Stanford on Saturday, 7-0. Orozco allowed seven hits, two walks and struck out two for the win. It was the first shutout Sacramento State had recorded against a Pac-10 team since 1997. It is Orozco’s first career WAC Pitcher of the Week award and the first for a Hornet pitcher this year.

Other hitters nominated:
Brian Rike, Jr., OF, Louisiana Tech - hit .357 (5-14) with three home runs and seven RBI in helping the Bulldogs win two of three games against Fresno State. He had two home runs in the series finale on Sunday in which Louisiana Tech won 8-5.
David Flores, Jr., 3B, Sacramento State - was 5-for-12 (.455) with a home run and two runs scored in three games last week.

Other pitchers nominated:
Ryan Rupert, Sr., Louisiana Tech - pitched 7.2 inning and struck out 11 in Tech’s 5-3 win over Fresno State on Saturday. Rupert was perfect through the first four innings. He allowed three hits, three runs and walked four in earning his first win of the season.
Brian Gausman, Sr., New Mexico State - came into Sunday’s game against San Jose State in the first inning with the Aggies down 4-0 and pitched 8.2 innings, struck out seven, allowed one run and earned his sixth victory of the season as New Mexico State came back to win, 6-5.
Steven Vidal, Sr., San Jose State - threw eight innings and struck out six batters in earning his first win of the season by beating Southern Utah, 6-1, on March 20. He followed that up with seven innings against New Mexico State and left the game with a 4-2 lead before the Aggies went on to win, 6-5. For the week he pitched 15 innings, struck out 12 and had an ERA of 1.20.

FULL WAC SCHEDULE ON TAP THIS WEEKEND – This weekend, the WAC again features three conference series. Beginning Friday, Nevada is at New Mexico State, Fresno State hosts Sacramento State and San Jose State travels to Hawai‘i. Louisiana Tech is hosting a three game-series with Dallas Baptist with one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday.

WAC.TV – The Western Athletic Conference officially launched WAC.tv prior to the 2006-07 season. WAC.tv, the Internet based media platform of the Western Athletic Conference, will offer selected baseball games this season. This week, WAC.tv will show Friday and Sunday’s San Jose State-Hawai‘i games. Go to www.wac.tv to sign up or login.

SAN JOSE STATE’S PIRARO WINS 900TH – San Jose State beat New Mexico State, 9-6, on March 24 giving the Spartans’ head coach Sam Piraro his 900th overall win in his 33rd year of coaching. Piraro now has 635 triumphs in his 20th year in charge at his alma mater, to go with 190 in seven years at Mission College from 1980-86 and 74 in three seasons at the helm of the Spartan junior varsity team from 1974-76.

STREAKING – New Mexico State junior catcher Marcus Quade has the WAC’s longest current hitting streak at 23 games. Quade has hit .441 (41-for-93) with 28 RBI and 19 runs scored during his streak. It is the longest streak for a WAC player since San Jose State’s Anthony Contreras finished the 2005 season with a 32-game hitting streak. The WAC record is 45 games set by Arizona State’s Roger Schmuck in 1972.

WALLACE WATCH LIST – The WAC had five players named to the 2007 Wallace Watch as announced by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, Texas. The Brooks Wallace Award is presented to the national college baseball player of the year. The WAC candidates are Justin Frash, UT, Hawai’i; Jericho Jones, P-OF, Louisiana Tech; Matt Bowman, OF, Nevada (who is out for the year due to injury), Adam Harvey, INF, New Mexico State; and Ryan Angel, OF, San Jose State. The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semifinalists by late May. Additional candidates may be added as the season progresses.

NON-CONFERENCE – In non-conference games, the WAC is 93-83 (.528). Fresno State is 13-15 (.464), Hawai‘i is 19-8 (.704), Louisiana Tech is 16-11 (.593), Nevada is 15-12 (.556), New Mexico State is 10-13 (.435), Sacramento State is 5-15 (.250) and San Jose State is 15-9 (.625). Last year, the WAC was 128-94 (.577) in non-conference matchups. Against Collegiate Baseball top 25 opponents this season, the WAC is 4-13 (.235) as Fresno State is 2-4, Hawai‘i is 1-5, Louisiana Tech is 1-3, Nevada is 0-0, New Mexico State is 0-0, Sacramento State is 0-1 and San Jose State is 0-0.

NCAA STATS – The NCAA will not begin compiling national statistics until Tuesday, April 10.

2007 FORMAT – The WAC is comprised of the six baseball playing members of the conference along with an affiliate member – Sacramento State. The seven teams play a 24-game league schedule. Each team will play a three-game series home and home versus two opponents and a three-game series either home or away against the other four opponents.

POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT – Last year, the WAC reinstated a postseason tournament for the first time since 1999 season. The top six finishers in the WAC standings will play a double-elimination format at Peccole Park in Reno, Nevada, May 24-27. The winner will receive the WAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. A credential request will be sent to the media about a month before the tournament. There will not be a media hotel for the tournament.

TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES

Fresno State Bulldogs (14-17, 1-2 WAC)
Had its 11-game WAC winning streak snapped in last Saturday’s loss at Louisiana Tech ... had six different batters hit by a pitch in Friday’s 11-8 win over Tech ... Justin Wilson struck out eight batters on Saturday, the most by a Fresno State pitcher this year ... tied a season-high by allowing 14 hits in Sunday’s loss to Tech ... Loren Storey opened the season with nine successful stolen base attempts but has been caught his last two tries ... the Bulldogs beat UC Davis on Tuesday, 8-2 ... it was the first meeting between the two schools since 1977 ... is one of two WAC teams to not post a shutout this year (New Mexico State).

Hawai‘i Rainbows (21-9, 2-1 WAC)
Hosts SJSU this weekend and will complete a stretch where it played 30 of its first 33 at home ... had its 11-game WAC winning streak snapped in last Saturday’s loss versus Nevada ... three pitchers combined to strike out a season-high 12 in the 5-3 win over Nevada on Friday ... has won six of its last seven games ... Kris Sanchez was hitting .404 last week but went 1-for-10 against Nevada to drop to .376 ... Matt Daly leads the WAC in ERA (2.23) ... UH leads the WAC in team ERA (2.72) and is the only WAC team with an ERA under 4.50 on the year ... has three of the top four pitchers in the WAC by ERA ... Mark Rodrigues is tied for the WAC lead in wins with six.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (19-14, 3-3 WAC)
Plays its next six games at home ... is 9-11 in its last 20 games after putting together a nine-game winning streak ... stranded 15 in Tuesday’s 8-5 loss at Northwestern State ... Aaron Lorio earned a save and a win in the series against Fresno State ... Ryan Rupert (11) and Andrew Alsup (1) struck out 12 Fresno State batters in the game that was saved by Lorio ... Brian Rike leads the WAC in hits (45), runs scored (46), RBI (45), home runs (16), total bases (101) and slugging percentage (.808) ... he is also tied for second in stolen bases (10) ... his 15-game hitting streak was snapped on Wednesday against Northwestern State ... Tech leads the WAC in home runs with 44.

Nevada Wolf Pack (16-14, 1-2 WAC)
Has won six of its last eight games ... has won 10 in a row at home ... is on the road this weekend before beginning an eight-game homestand ... hit three home runs against San Francisco on Tuesday to snap a 14-game homerless streak ... has 10 triples this year after hitting just six all of last year ... Matt Suleski is hitting .404 in 23 games on the season ... Ryan Rodriguez leads the WAC in strikeouts with 56 ... he is the WAC’s active career leader in wins (26), innings pitched (341.1) and strikeouts (280) ... Rodriguez became the school’s all-time leader in innings pitched last weekend and is second in wins and strikeouts.

NMSU Aggies (13-16, 3-3 WAC)
Is 3-5 in its last eight games ... is 6-6 away from home and 7-10 in Las Cruces ... Marcus Quade leads the WAC in hitting (.400) ... his 23-game hitting streak is four shy of tying the school record of 27 set by Gabe Veloz in 2002 ... Brian Gausman is tied for the WAC lead in wins with six ... Richard Stout leads the WAC in stolen bases (13) ... he has stolen two bases in a game three times this year including last Tuesday against Texas Tech ... Joseph Scaperotta leads the WAC in doubles with 14 ... the Aggies lead the WAC in team batting (.316).

Sacramento State Hornets (9-17, 4-2 WAC)
Has lost four of its last five games ... is 4-2 in WAC play and in first place but is just 5-15 in non-conference games this year ... was 2-1 in both of its first WAC series this year with both being played on the road ... plays on the road again this week at Fresno State ... was swept by the Bulldogs last year (0-7) ... Blake Crosby had a team season-high four hits in Saturday’s 6-0 win at Stanford ... Travis Kirkman hit two doubles in that game ... Gabe Jacobo is tied for second in the WAC in doubles with 10 ... Alvaro Orozco has won four straight games and has an ERA of 2.13 during that time ... in conference play (6 games), both Jacobo and Patrick Cummins are 12-for-24.

SJSU Spartans (16-11, 1-2 WAC)
Has lost three of its last four games ... Marcus McKimmy was 0-for-2 against NMSU on Saturday but reached base four times (3 HBP, 1 error), stole two bases and scored four runs in the Spartans’ 9-6 win ... Ryan Angel is the WAC’s active career leader in games played (181), at-bats (661), runs (114), hits (198), RBI (100), doubles (49) and stolen bases (44) ... Angel has not committed an error since Feb. 26, 2005 (237 chances) ... the Spartans lead the WAC in fielding percentage (.976) for the third year in a row ... SJSU set school records the past two years with a fielding percentage of .978 in 2005 and .979 in 2006.