April 30, 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - New Mexico catcher Mitchell Garver and San Diego State's Justin Hepner have earned Mountain West Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week honors for games played from April 23-29, 2012. It is the third honor of the season for Garver and first of the season for Hepner.

Garver, a junior from Albuquerque, N.M., hit .591 (13-of-22) for the week as the Lobos went 4-1, including a mid-week split with Texas Tech and a weekend series sweep of UNLV. On Tuesday in a 9-5 loss to Texas Tech, Garver was 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. The Lobos bounced back on Wednesday with a come-from-behind 14-13 victory against the Red Raiders. Garver was 2-for-5 with two RBI, two runs scored and a double, while throwing out three consecutive base stealers in the game. Against UNLV in Friday's 11-4 win, Garver was 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. In Saturday's 16-5 triumph versus the Rebels, he was 3-for-5 with three runs scored, an RBI, two doubles and a stolen base. He also threw out his fourth base stealer of the week. Sunday's 9-1 series finale win over UNLV saw Garver go 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, two RBI and a home run. For the week, Garver had a 1.000 slugging percentage and no strikeouts, all from the lead-off spot in the lineup.

Hepner, a sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., tossed the final five and one-third innings of the Aztecs' 12-2 win over Air Force on Saturday. He entered the contest with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth and SDSU up, 2-1. Hepner got the Falcon clean-up hitter to pop up to the shortstop to end the inning. He went on to retire the side in the next two innings before giving up a run on three hits in the seventh, the only hits against him in the game. Over the last two innings, Hepner only gave up a two-out walk in the ninth before closing out the contest for his third win of the season. His six strikeouts in the game tied his career-best.

2012 Mountain West Baseball Players of the Week
Feb. 20 - Garrett Custons, Jr., C/OF, Air Force
Feb. 28 - Josh Melendez, So., OF, New Mexico
March 5 - Matt Muñoz, Fr., 2B, San Diego State
March 12 - D.J. Peterson, So., 3B/1B, New Mexico
March 19 - D.J. Peterson, So., 3B/1B, New Mexico
March 26 - Mitchell Garver, Jr., C/OF, New Mexico
April 3 - Trevor Kirk, Sr., OF, UNLV
April 9 - D.J. Peterson, So., 3B/1B, New Mexico; Chris Wilson, Sr., OF/C, San Diego State
April 16 - Mitchell Garver, Jr., C/OF, New Mexico
April 23 - Ben Woodchick, Sr., OF, New Mexico
April 30 - Mitchell Garver, Jr., C/OF, New Mexico

2012 Mountain West Baseball Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 20 - Preston Morrison, Fr., RHP, TCU
Feb. 28 - Andrew Mitchell, So., RHP, TCU
March 5 - Stefan Crichton, So., RHP, TCU
March 12 - Gera Sanchez, Sr., RHP, New Mexico
March 19 - Austin House, Jr., RHP, New Mexico
March 26 - No nominations
April 3 - Erick Fedde, Fr., RHP, UNLV
April 9 - Evan Abrecht, Sr., RHP, Air Force; Austin House, Jr., RHP, New Mexico
April 16 - Andrew Mitchell, So., RHP, TCU
April 23 - Zack Hartman, So., RHP, UNLV
April 30 - Justin Hepner, So., RHP, San Diego State

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