Which MWC freshmen Made AA
I got these names from Collegiate Baseball News. I said in a post just prior to this one that the MWC needs a big influx of new talent if the conference expects to compete with the big boys in the NCAA Tournament. To give you an idea that this may be true is that Nevada has two on this list and they were the regular season league champ.
Jake Jackson, RHP, Nevada
He was 8-4 and 5.42 on the season. He had 16 appearances, 15 of which were starts, and 84 IP. He had 77 Ks in those innings and that’s what caught a lot of people’s eyes early in the season when he was pretty much unbeatable. The second half of the season was not so kind to him and I don’t know why but I suspect he was a bit tired.
Jaime Arias, LHP, Fresno State
5-1 and 3.69 in 23 appearances over 68 IP. Jaime was used mostly in relief but did have 8 starts. He had 62 Ks in those innings. He may be used more as a starter next season.
Connor Mang, INF, New Mexico
Second in the line of Mangs to be a Lobo. His older brother Jared is also on the team and probably told Connor “Come on down” so he did. Hit .326 and 2 and was the second best hitter on the team.
Joshua Zamora, INF, Nevada
He hit a healthy .355 with a team leading 9 home runs. The power will be interesting to watch develop in the future. So, Nevada has a freshman who can hit with power and a freshman pitcher who strikes people out -a lot. A small recipe for continued team success.
Casey Schmitt, UTIL, San Diego State
Named as a multiple position player so I put him as a utility player. It’s always a juggling act if you have a player with varied talents. If you use him as a pitcher and then take him out, then you can’t use him as a pinch hitter and on it goes. He hit only .264 and 1 but he had 182 ABs and started 50 games. He also was 1-1 and 0.28 in 32 IP with 24 Ks in 21 relief appearances. Look again at that ERA; 0.28 in 32 IP. Remarkable. With those ABs and IPs he was in just about in all games. Pretty impressive freshman or otherwise.