WEEK 6 REVIEW
No. 20 New Mexico (24-4, 5-1 MWC) maintains its first place standing after the third week of conference play. The Lobos won two-of-three games over BYU (15-10, 5-4 MWC) last week in Albuquerque. San Diego State (18-9, 6-3 MWC) took over sole possession of second place in the league standings with its 2-1 series victory at No. 16 TCU (15-9, 3-3 MWC). BYU and TCU are now third and fourth in the conference standings, respectively, followed by UNLV (13-13, 2-4 MWC) and Utah (11-12, 2-4 MWC) tied for fifth and Air Force (8-17, 1-5 MWC) seventh. Utah went 3-1 in games vs. both Gonzaga and Southern Utah, while Air Force went 1-6 vs. non-conference competition last week. UNLV went 0-6 at No. 17 Oklahoma State and Long Beach State.
WEEK 7 PREVIEW
All seven MWC baseball teams will be in action this week. Two conference match-ups are slated for the weekend, highlighted by No. 22 TCU hosting 18th-ranked New Mexico in a three-game series at Lupton Stadium. This series marks the first time in MWC history that two ranked Conference teams will face each other. In other league action, UNLV will host Utah in a weekend series. The remaining three institutions will be in non-conference series play this week. BYU will travel to Cullowhee, N.C., to take on Western Carolina in a three-game series starting Thursday, while No. 21 San Diego State hosts UC Davis and Air Force takes on Utah Vallley University in four-game tilts starting Friday.
JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE AND VANCE LAW REACH 300-WIN PLATEAU
TCU Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle and BYU Head Coach Vance Law became the third and fourth MWC baseball baseball coaches to reach 300 career wins. Both skippers tallied their 300th win on March 20 in TCU's 8-7 win over Utah and BYU's 4-2 victory at San Diego State. Schlossnagle, who currently has 303 victories over seven years as a head coach, has won 223 games as a coach in the Mountain West. He won 77 games as the leader of the UNLV baseball team (2002-03) before taking over the reins at TCU, then a member of Conference USA, in 2004. Since returning to the MWC in 2006, Schlossnagle has a record of 146-65. Law currently has 302 wins, all of which have come in his nine seasons at the BYU helm. New Mexico's Ray Birmingham leads all current league head coaches with 876 career wins, followed by Utah's Bill Kinneberg with 383 victories in his career.
MWC TEAMS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
San Diego State is back in the national rankings after winning two-of-three games over then-No. 16 TCU last week. The Aztecs are now ranked 21st in the Baseball America poll, 25th in the Collegiate Baseball poll, 29th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll and are receiving votes in the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll. With SDSU back in the national rankings, the MWC has three teams in the national polls for the first time ever, led by New Mexico's No. 18 standing in the Baseball America poll. The Lobos are also ranked 20th by Collegiate Baseball and 24th in the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll, while receivng votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll. TCU is now ranked 22nd by Baseball America, 27th by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA, and are receiving votes in the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll. BYU is still receiving votes in the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll.
STEPHEN STRASBURG NEARING MWC STRIKEOUT RECORD
San Diego State junior righthander Stephen Strasburg currently sits in second place on the Mountain West Conference's career strikeout charts with 268. Strasburg surpassed New Mexico's James Vermilyea (2001-2003) for second place and is just 36 strikeouts behind current record holder Bruce Billings (San Diego State, 2004-2007). On the season, Strasburg has 88 strikeouts in six appearances (14.7 per game). For his career, the San Diego, Calif., native, averages 13.65 strikeouts per nine innings, which currently ranks first all-time in Conference history.
BOYDSWORLD.COM RANKS FOUR MWC TEAMS IN TOP-50 OF RPI
Four MWC baseball teams are ranked in the top-50 of Boydsworld.com's Pseudo-RPI as of March 31. TCU is the highest ranked Conference team at No. 7, followed by San Diego State (12), BYU (31) and New Mexico (39).
