COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The second half of Mountain West play begins this weekend with five games on the schedule. Second-place BYU (27-10, 5-3 MWC) at first-place San Diego State (30-14, 6-0 MWC) starts off the league slate with a doubleheader on Thursday at 1 p.m., while Utah travels to Las Vegas to do battle with UNLV on Friday, also at 1 p.m. Saturday's action will see the Cougars at the Rebels, UNM at Colorado State and the Utes at San Diego State. New Mexico, UNLV and Utah have non-conference contests this week.
Around the MWC
BYU (27-10, 5-3 MWC)
BYU is No. 10 in the nation in scoring (210 runs, 5.68 per game) and No. 15 in batting average (.299).
Junior outfielder Oli Keohohou is second in the nation in home runs (17) and 10th in batting average (.454) and RBI (40, 1.08 per game)
COLORADO STATE (25-10, 6-4 MWC)
Junior pitcher Megan Masser has five saves on the year (tied for sixth in the nation), which is a Ram school record for a single season. She also is currently fifth on the single season chart with 104 strikeouts.
The Rams are five wins away from moving into fifth place all-time for most wins in school history.
NEW MEXICO (17-29-1, 2-8 MWC)
Freshman shortstop Ashley VanBoxmeer leads the Lobos with a .370 batting average. She also has nine homers (second in the MWC), 28 RBI (third in the MWC) and a .709 slugging percentage (second in the MWC).
SAN DIEGO STATE (30-14, 6-0 MWC)
San Diego State is a perfect 6-0 in conference play.
SDSU is currently riding a 10-game winning streak, its longest streak since winning 11 in a row in 1991.
The Aztecs are 19-4 at home this season.
UNLV (18-27, 2-6 MWC)
The UNLV pitching staff has a 2.64 ERA overall on the season and a 2.82 ERA in league play.
UTAH (14-19, 3-3 MWC)
After being held scoreless and to just one hit in the first game against Colorado State last weekend, Utah had 31 hits and 24 runs in its next three contests.
Senior infielder Niki Hayhurst leads the Utes with a .347 batting average and 33 hits. She is batting .571 with two doubles and a homer in her last five games.
