March 17, 2010

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Tuesday, March 9
New Mexico State 14, @NEW MEXICO 10
No. 7/9 TCU 15, @UT Arlington 2
@Long Beach State 4, SAN DIEGO STATE 3

Wednesday, March 10
@NEW MEXICO 13, New Mexico State 4

Thursday, March 11

@BYU 10, Washington 4
SDSU Invitational (San Diego, Calif.)
@SAN DIEGO STATE 8, UAB 7
UNLV 12, Northwestern 4
Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament (San Jose, Calif.)
UC Davis 14, AIR FORCE 5

Friday, March 12
@No. 7/9 TCU 8, Texas Tech 7, The Mtn. @NEW MEXICO 13, Louisiana Tech 10
@BYU 16, Washington 4
SDSU Invitational (San Diego, Calif.)
Cal State Fullerton 11, @SAN DIEGO STATE 1
Northwestern 20-3, @UNLV 6-4
OSU Spring Tournament (Corvallis, Ore.)
UTAH at No. 21/18 Oregon State - Canceled

Saturday, March 13
@No. 7/9 TCU 9, Texas Tech 1
@NEW MEXICO 15-7, Louisiana Tech 14-6 (Gm. 1-10 inn/Gm. 2-10 inn.)
@UNLV 12, Northwestern 8
Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament (Santa Clara, Calif.)
@Santa Clara 8, AIR FORCE 7 (10 inn.)
Washington 12, @BYU 10 (6 inn.)
SDSU Invitational (San Diego, Calif.)
Fresno State 10, @SAN DIEGO STATE 3
OSU Spring Tournament (Corvallis, Ore.)
Portland 4, UTAH 1
@No. 21/18 Oregon State 5, UTAH 4

Sunday March 14
@No. 7/9 TCU 8, Texas Tech 5
@NEW MEXICO 12, Louisiana Tech 6
OSU Spring Tournament (Corvallis, Ore.)
UTAH 6, Portland 1
Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament (San Jose, Calif.)
AIR FORCE 5-3, @San Jose State 4-7
SDSU Invitational (San Diego, Calif.)
San Francisco 5, @SAN DIEGO STATE 3

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Monday, March 15
@Gonzaga 9, BYU 7
Tuesday, March 16
No. 4/8 TCU 6, @Oral Roberts 4
BYU 3, @Gonzaga 2
@AIR FORCE 12, Colorado School of Mines 10
@Cal State Northridge 13, UNLV 7

Thursday, March 18
BYU at No. 4/8 TCU*, 6:30 p.m. CT

Friday, March 19
UTAH at NEW MEXICO*, 6 p.m. MT
BYU at No. 4/8 TCU*, 6:30 p.m. CT
AIR FORCE at Hawai'i, 6:30 p.m. HT
Long Beach State at UNLV, 7 p.m. PT

Saturday, March 20
BYU at No.4/8 TCU*, 1 p.m. CT
Long Beach State at UNLV, 2 p.m. PT
UTAH at NEW MEXICO*, 2 p.m. MT
Santa Clara at SAN DIEGO STATE, 6 p.m. PT
AIR FORCE at Hawai'i, 6:30 p.m. HT

Sunday, March 21
UTAH at NEW MEXICO*, Noon MT
AIR FORCE at Hawai'i, 1 p.m. HT
Santa Clara at SAN DIEGO STATE, 1 p.m. PT
Long Beach State at UNLV, 1 p.m. PT

MWC teams in all CAPS
*Denotes MWC game.
(DH) Denotes doubleheaders.
Dates and times subject to change.
Rankings listed according to Baseball America/USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top-25 polls.

MWC PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE WEEK - MAR. 15

ALEX WOLFE, SO., 1B/3B, OREM, UTAH (BYU)
BYU's Alex Wolfe, from Orem, Utah, batted .444 (4-of-9) with one double, three home runs, six runs scored and 11 RBI as BYU took two of three from Washington last week. He hit one home run, had two runs scored and drove in at least two runs in every game. In the 10-4 series-opening win on Thursday, Wolfe went 1-for-3 with a home run, two walks, two runs scored and two RBI. He followed that with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate in Friday's 16-4 victory, driving in six runs and scoring twice while hitting one double and homering once. In the 12-10 loss in Saturday's series finale, Wolfe went 1-for-3 with a home run, one walk, two runs scored and three RBI. For the week, Wolfe posted a .538 on-base percentage and 1.556 slugging percentage. Defensively, he tallied 12 putouts and four assists without any errors while splitting time between first and third base.

MATT PURKE, FR., LHP, SPRING, TEXAS (TCU)
TCU's Matt Purke registered his first career complete game in TCU's 9-1 win over Texas Tech last Sunday. The Spring, Texas, native scattered four hits and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts while allowing one earned run and no walks over his nine-inning stint. He never faced more than four batters in one inning, including six in which he faced only the minimum. Purke threw 100 pitches, 67 of which were strikes, while limiting the Red Raiders to a .138 batting average in the contest. Aside from a fifth-inning home run, no other Red Raider got past second base.

MOUNTAIN WEST PLAY GETS UNDERWAY
TCU begins defense of its 2009 Mountain West regular-season title when Conference play gets underway this week. The Horned Frogs play host to BYU in a three-game series, set to begin on Thursday, March 18. Utah and New Mexico also kick off the MWC portion of their schedule, with the Utes visiting the Lobos for a three-game series, starting on Friday, March 19.

TCU, NEW MEXICO RANKED IN NATIONAL POLLS
TCU's five-game win streak has propelled the 13-2 Horned Frogs into the No. 4 spot on this week's Baseball America Top 25 poll. The Frogs are also ranked in the Top 10 of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' and NCBWA polls, coming in at No. 8 and No. 7, respectively. The Collegiate Baseball poll has TCU ranked No. 12, followed by New Mexico at No. 24. The Lobos are also receiving votes in the Coaches' and NCBWA polls.

AROUND THE BASES

• Air Force senior RHP Michael Ruvolo has made 91 career appearances on the mound. He sits one shy of tying the Mountain West all-time record of 92, currently shared by by UNLV's Koji Pupo (2004-07) and San Diego State's Royce Ring (2000-02).

• BYU's Sean McNaughton leads the team with a seven-game hitting streak, followed by Brandon Reif and Chase Frampton each at six.

• After going 0-for-6 in a pair of midweek outings against in-state rival New Mexico State, New Mexico SS Daniel Gonzalez responded with a 9-for-18 effort at the plate in the Lobos' fourgame sweep of Louisiana Tech over the weekend. The senior SS hit walk-off singles in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, driving in the winning runs in both 10-inning contests. Gonzales finished the series with 11 RBI.

• San Diego State is off until March 20, when the Aztecs kick off a four-game home series with Santa Clara.

• TCU set a new series attendance record as 10,312 fans were on hand to witness the Horned Frogs' three-game sweep of Texas Tech last weekend. At 13-2, the Frogs are off to their best start since opening the 1985 campaign with a 19-1 record.

• UNLV freshman Brandon Bayardi tops the Rebels in batting average (.400), runs scored (23), hits (34), runs batted in (24 RBI) and doubles (9). Fellow rookie R.J. Arnold is also contributing at the plate, hitting .394 with a team-high five home runs to go with 22 RBI and 20 runs scored.

• Utah's Rick Anton pitched a perfect game through six innings of Sunday's 6-1 win over Portland before surrendering a seventh-inning double. The junior lefthander finished with seven strikeouts, one earned run and no walks in 8.0 innings of work.