WAC preseason surprise player of the year: NM ST. OF Tanner Waite

After transfering from Lamar junior college to play at New Mexico State in 2011, Tanner Waite was joining a talented and crowded Aggie outfield.
Waite's bat has stood out in the crowd, earning him regular playing time and a team high batting average that sits at .491 after Saturday's games.
In 53 at-bats, Waite has notched 26 hits while adding 15 RBIs in his first season at the Division I level.
His .491 average may be tested as NMST plays better opponents, as the Aggies schedule has been favorably soft.
Waite finished last year at Lamar with a .323 clip, playing on a team that fnished 48-12. He did hit .365 his freshman year at Lamar, but time will tell if the new bats have mysteriously turned him into a .400 or better performer.
The 5-foot-10 outfielder was likely overlooked by bigger programs, but is making his prescence known as conference play approaches.
His best performance to date came Saturday as Waite went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI against Binghamton.
He is quickly approaching Ryan Aguayo's team lead in hits (30) despite having around 20 fewer at-bats.

WAC hitters making statements (stats as of 3/26/11)

Fresno State:
Dusty Robinson  (OF) .327 avg./5 homeruns/15 RBIs/.727 SLG %
Garrett Weber (SS)  .333 avg./2 homeruns/13 RBIs/.530 SLG %
New Mexico State:
Ryan Aguayo (SS) .414 avg./3 homeruns/28 RBIs/.686 SLG/.527 OBP
Parker Hipp (2B) .392 avg./4 homeruns/36 RBIs/.676 SLG/.530 OBP
San Jose State:
Danny Stienstra  (1B) .373 avg/0 homeruns/19 RBIs/
Zack Jones (SS) .361 avg/2 homeruns/13 RBIs/
Hawaii:
Kolton Wong (2B) .386 avg/3 homeruns/18 RBIs/.542 SLG/.441 OBP/7-10 SB
Sean Montplaisir (OF) .362 avg/0 homeruns/9 RBIs/.507 SLG/.430 OBP
Louisiana Tech:
Mark Threlkeld (3B) .337 avg/3 homeruns/13 RBIs/.540 SLG/.408 OBP
Joey Ford  (2B/OF)  .317 avg/1 homerun/14 RBIs/.402 SLG/.333 OBP
Nevada:
Nick Melino (OF) .359 avg/1 homerun/4 RBIs/.469 SLG/.446 OBP/
Sacramento State:
Still doesn't have a single player hitting above .300 as March nears an end.

How the WAC is faring in preseason play

Fresno State: 16-2
Key Wins: Oregon State twice (2-1, 5-4), swept Pepperdine (7-3, 7-5, 8-1), Nebraska twice (8-5, 1-0), swept Washington State (7-5, 16-1, 7-2), Ohio State (3-2), San Diego (6-0).
Key Losses: Cal Poly (11-4), Nebraska (5-4)
Remaining preseason schedule: San Diego (3), USF (3), make-ups with Ohio State to be detirmined. Fresno State opens WAC play April 8 at San Jose State.
New Mexico State: 17-5
Key Wins: USF (7-6), New Mexico (13-8, 9-4)
Key Losses: USF (12-1), Lamar (12-6), Oregon State (7-0), VMI twice (7-2, 5-0)
Remaining preseason schedule: Birmingham (2), Northern Colorado (3), one make-up game remaining with Oregon State. NM St. openens WAC play April 8 at Louisiana Tech.
San Jose State: (14-6)
Key Wins: UCLA twice (5-3, 8-3), Seattle twice (6-5, 9-5), Santa Clara (4-2)
Key Losses: UCLA (12-2), Seattle (6-2), USF (10-0), Santa Clara twice (3-2, 6-3)
Remaining preseason schedule: UC Davis (3), Brown (2), UC Santa Barbara (3), Stanford (1), several make-ups remain to be scheduled. SJSU opens WAC play April 8 versus Fresno State.
Hawaii: (11-10)
Key Wins: Oregon twice (4-3, 11-10), Texas 5-4, LMU twice (9-7, 3-2),
Key Losses: Oregon twice (4-3, 4-0), Texas twice (2-0, 4-3), LMU twice (7-5, 4-1) Cal St Full (3-0)
Remaining schedule: Cal State Fullerton (3), Wichita State (4), no known make-up games. Hawaii starts WAC play with their first game against Sacramento State April 8.
Louisiana Tech: (10-11)
Key Wins: McNeese State twice (7-6, 11-10)
Key Losses: McNeese State (7-6) Ark. Little Rock (8-5), swept by Baylor in a four game series (8-4, 7-0, 12-8, 6-2), Rice swept LT in a three game set (5-1, 5-2, 11-3), UT Pan American (10-8).
Remaining preseason schedule: UT Pan American (2), Southern Arkansas (1), LSU-Shrevport (2), Northwestern State (1), no make-up games. Louisiana Tech begins WAC play April 8 against New Mexico State.
Nevada: (5-13)
Key Wins: Swept Pacific (10-6, 6-5, 9-4), Washington (2-1)
Key Losses: Swept by Irvine (17-4, 15-3, 7-1), swept by LMU (8-5, 7-3, 8-3), swept by UNLV (9-0, 10-6, 5-0), Cal (2-0), UC Santa Barbara (5-3, 2-1)
Remaining preseason schedule: Washington (2), Seattle (4), Utah Valley (3), make-up games remain with UC Davis and SF state. Nevada's start to WAC conference play won't begin till April 15 against Fresno State.
Sacramento State: (5-17)
Key Wins: UC Santa Barbara (3-2), Cal State Northridge (3-1)
Key Losses: UC Irvine (9-5, 5-3, 9-7), Cal State Northridge (13-7, 10-5), Utah Valley (6-0), USF (3-2), UC Riverside (2-0, 18-2, 4-3).
Remaining preseason schedule: Utah Valley (2), Pacific (1), Seattle (4). Make-ups may remain. Sacramento State begins WAC play April 8 at Hawaii.

SJSU bounces back after first loss of season to top St. Mary's 5-2

Tuesday's 5-2 win against St. Mary's put SJSU at 7-1 for the year and saw an assortment of arms combine to hold the Gael's to one earned run.
Five Spartan pitchers contributed to the victory, as Estaban Guzman, John Austin, D.J. Slaton and Eric LaBaron each pitched two innings without allowing an earned run.
Zack Jones came on in the ninth for SJSU and allowed a run on an RBI-single to pinch-hitter Riley Heinzer.
Slaton picked up the win in relief and struck out four in just two innings of work for his first collegiate victory.
Leadoff hitter Andrew Rodriguez walked three times and had a hit in his first Spartans start while freshman second baseman Jake Valdez stayed hot with another 1-for-2 performance to go along with an RBI.
SJSU will begin a three game series with Santa Clara on Friday and will likely send WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Blake McFarland to the hill for the first game.
WAC Picher of the Week Roberto Padilla (2-0) will aim for his third win of the year on Saturday.
Santa Clara was swept to open the season by defending national champion South Carolina to open the year but bounced back with a four-game sweep of Albany. They stand at 4-4 for the year after losing 8-4 to Stanford on Tuesday.

San Jose State splits final two games with No. 1 UCLA to win weekend series

Just eight games into the 2011 season, SJSU already has the makings of a formidable front-end of the rotation and enough offense to hang with the big boys of college baseball.
For the second weekend in a row strong starting pitching paced the Spartans, this time on their road trip to UCLA where they won the first two games of a three game set.
Starter Roberto Padilla earned his second victory of they season with a complete game on Saturday, going the distance and allowing just three runs to the Bruins. 
WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Blake McFarland followed up by pitching five innings in the victory on Sunday in SJSU's 8-3 win, marking the Spartans' sixth straight win to open 2011.
Freshman reliever Johnny Melero replaced McFarland in the sixth and worked three scoreless innings for SJSU before giving way to Zack Jones in the ninth.
SJSU scored eight runs on 10 hits, courtesy in part to Danny Stienstra who was 3-for-5 on the day with 2 RBIs. Stienstra leads the team after seven games with five RBI.
Hertler was 2-for-3 with a walk while Jason Martin entered the game as a reserve and finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Senior Kerry Jenkins also added two RBIs on a double for SJSU.
Possibly the most impressive aspect of SJSU's offensive output was the fact that they did it against UCLA pitcher Gerit Cole who was a Preseason All-American. The Spartans tagged Cole for five runs in just 5 1/3 innings of work, a statline Cole hasn't had that often while playing for the Bruins.
The Bruins took out their frustrations in the final game by pounding out 22 hits on the way to a 12-2 route of the Spartans. Dean Espy had 4 RBI for UCLA while Cody Regis and Cody Keefer finished with three hits a piece.
Martin accounted for all of the Spartans' scoring with a two-run single but finished 1-for-4.
Spartans (6-1) host Saint Mary's on Tuesday as part of a make-up game after the rains washed out some of opening weekend.