Complete WAC Release
DENVER - After completing a sweep of WAC foe Northern Colorado Sunday afternoon, the NM State baseball team decided to sweep the WAC Player of the Week awards, too.
In a release issued by the league office Monday morning, sophomore outfielder Zerek Saenz earned the title of WAC Hitter of the Week while sophomore right-hander Rorik Maltrud was named the WAC Pitcher of the Week.
Saenz smoked opposing pitching during the Aggies' 5-0 run over the last week, slashing .739/.739/1.043 during that same stretch. The outfielder out of Las Cruces, N.M., generated 17 hits in his 23 at-bats and five of those (three doubles, two triples) were of the extra-base variety.
Saenz drove in 10 of the Aggies' 48 runs last week, scored another 10 and registered at least two hits in each of the team's five games. His best day at the dish last week came during game two of the Aggies' Saturday doubleheader with Northern Colorado where he went 5-for-6 with an RBI and four runs scored. In NM State's series-opening win over the Bears Friday night, Saenz went 4-for-5, drove in four runs and scored three on his own.
As of this writing, Saenz leads the WAC and ranks third nationally in batting average (.554) while also sitting ninth in the land in total hits (31) and 11th in the nation in terms of on-base percentage (.600).
Selected to start the Aggies' four-game week on the hill, Maltrud was the pitcher of record in his team's 7-3 Wednesday evening win over NAIA foe Benedictine Mesa. In a predetermined set of circumstances, Maltrud fired his scheduled two innings of work almost flawlessly by striking out a pair and giving up just one hit to get his first win in an Aggie uniform.
After tossing just 28 pitches Wednesday evening, Maltrud returned to the mound Sunday afternoon for his team's series finale against Northern Colorado and proceeded to dice up the Bears. Maltrud mystified the Bears' lineup, racking up nine strikeouts in six innings of shutout baseball. Maltrud gave up just a pair of hits and issued only one walk against Northern Colorado, too.
In his eight innings of work last week, Maltrud manufactured a 2-0 record while amassing 11 strikeouts. He didn't give up a run and still owns a season ERA of 0.00 as a result.
Maltrud, Saenz and the rest of the Aggies have won their last five games and eight of their last nine to sit a half-game back of the top spot in the WAC standings. NM State sets out on a 12-game road trip this week when it heads to Bellevue, Wash., for a four-game WAC series with Seattle U. Game one is set to begin at 5:00 p.m. Friday evening from Bannerwood Park.
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