DENVER, CO – New Mexico State’s Leo Aguirre and Hawai‘i’s Josh Slaats have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 29-April 4.Aguirre, a senior from Austin, Texas (James Bowie HS), hit .565 (13-for-23) to lead New Mexico State to a 5-0 record with wins over Texas Tech and Houston Baptist. Aguirre did not strike out once in 23 at-bats last week. After going 3-for-3 against Texas Tech and 10-for-20 in a three-game series at Houston Baptist, Aguirre now leads the WAC with a .444 batting average. On the week, Aguirre posted six doubles, seven RBI and seven runs scored to go along with a .826 slugging percentage and a .630 on-base percentage. Playing first base for most of the week, Aguirre was able to stay error free in helping the Aggies commit only five errors in five games played last week.
Slaats, a junior from San Ramon, Calif. (California HS), pitched 7.0 innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 10. Slaats pitched his third home outing in a row without giving up a run, extending his home scoreless inning streak to 20.0 innings. The junior also pitched his second 10-strikeout outing in his last three starts, tying a career high. On the season, Slaats is now 3-1 with a 1.03 ERA, striking out 41 in 35.0 innings pitched.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Fresno State junior Bobby Coyle … Hawai‘i senior Christian Johnson … Louisiana Tech sophomore Kyle Roliard … Nevada senior Kevin Rodland … Sacramento State senior Josh Powers.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: Fresno State junior Greg Gonzalez … Louisiana Tech senior Jamey Bradshaw … Nevada freshman Tom Jameson … New Mexico State senior Justin Cooper … Sacramento State freshman Brandon Creel.
