May 5, 2009

MWC Weekly Baseball Release No. 11

WEEK 11 REVIEW
No. 15 TCU (29-13, 10-4 MWC) remains first in the MWC standings after winning two games over BYU (24-20, 11-8 MWC) in a weather-shortened series last week in Fort Worth. The Cougars dropped to third in the league standings, while New Mexico (32-16, 12-8 MWC) took sole possession of second-place thanks to the Lobos' 1-2 record in its three-game series with UNLV (25-23, 9-9 MWC). In other conference play, Utah (19-24, 6-12 MWC) swept its three-game series with Air Force (14-31, 3-12 MWC) to jump into sixth in the standings. In non-conference action, San Diego State (31-18, 10-8 MWC) won three-of-four games over Santa Clara.

WEEK 12 PREVIEW
This week's conference play kicks off on Thursday, May 7, with BYU hosting UNLV in a three-games series. Other league matchups for this week will see league-leader and 15th-ranked TCU hosting Utah, and San Diego State hosting Air Force, both starting on Friday, May 8. New Mexico is idle from conference play this week and will travel to Stanford for a three-game non-conference tilt, starting Friday. In other non-conference action, UNLV will host UC Riverside and BYU will take on 10th-ranked Kansas State on Tuesday, May 5. New Mexico, San Diego State and No. 15 TCU will also face St. Mary's (CA), San Francisco and Dallas Baptist, respectively, on Monday, May 11.

UTAH'S AUSTIN JONES EARNS NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Utah senior Austin Jones was named one of five Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper for the week of May 4. This is the first career national player of the week honor for Jones. With four home runs against Air Force on Friday, May 1, Jones broke the Utah school record and tied the Mountain West Conference record for homers in a single game. His grand slam in the seventh inning gave Utah the lead for good, 9-8. He also put Utah on the board in the first inning with a solo shot and added two-run homers in both the eighth and ninth innings. For the week, Jones hit .381 with eight hits and seven runs scored.

Jones is the third MWC student-athlete to earn national player of the week honors this year as San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg has been recognized five times and Air Force's Matt Alexander garnered national accolades once.

UTAH'S AUSTIN JONES TIES MWC SINGLE-GAME HOME RUN RECORD
Utah senior Austin Jones tied the MWC all-time record for home runs in a single game with four against Air Force on May 1. Jones became the second player in MWC history to hit four home runs in a single contest, tying New Mexico's Brian Cavazos-Galvez who hit four vs. Air Force on April 12, 2008.

NCAA RANKS THREE MWC TEAMS IN TOP-55 OF LATEST RPI
Three MWC baseball teams are ranked in the top-60 of NCAA RPI as of April 26. TCU is the highest-ranked Conference team at No. 9, followed by San Diego State (27), BYU (41) and New Mexico (52). Utah is ranked 131st in the latest RPI, with UNLV and Air Force ranking 214th and 268th, respectively. The NCAA RPI is released each Wednesday through the month of May.

MWC TEAMS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
TCU remains ranked as high as 15th in the national rankings this week. The Horned Frogs are ranked 15th by Baseball America, 18th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), 21st by USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN and 22nd Collegiate Baseball. San Diego State and New Mexico are both receiving votes in the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN and NCBWA polls.