Notable freshmen in WAC baseball

Today our commentary on WAC baseball take a look at the freshman who are standing out so far in the early 2009 WAC baseball season. You'll enjoy this fun look at the enter-level stars.

The list below shows the notable freshmen who have contributed to some degree for their respective teams. I have omitted some that have stats that don’t stand out for one reason or another. In fact, I may have overlooked some and I apologize for any oversight. Here’s my All-WAC freshman team at this point and, guess what, I may end up with all outfielders since I’m not picking by position.

Position players: Nick Melino and Michael Turay (Nevada), Kolten Wong (Hawaii), Brennan Gowens and Kenny Wise (Fresno), Anthony Bona and Josh Silver (SJS), and Alex Williams and Mark Threlkeld (LaTech).

Pitchers: Matt Sisto (Hawaii) and Derek Benny and Josh Poytress (Fresno). Notice that it’s a little light on pitching. Also notice that NMSU is not relying upon freshman to fuel their resurgence this year. To me that’s a red flag. They are relying on JC transfers mostly which is ok, I guess, but you’re always in a rebuilding mode. I’m sure Coach Ward is pretty happy about what he’s seeing on the field, though, and it IS hard to argue with such success.

As it stands right now the outstanding position players would have to be Hawaii’s Kolten Wong and LaTech’s Alex Williams with SJS’s Anthony Bona just a bit behind? Why? Homeruns, of course. Wong has five and Williams three and Bona is hitting a ton with no homeruns.

Pitchers? I’ll have to go with Hawaii’s Sisto over Fresno’s Benny as both are starters on good teams. Fresno’s much-heralded Poytress has done very well but needs to work on his control a bit.

Nevada	Batting	Avg	At Bats
	Nick Melino	.346	78 AB
	Michael Turay	.310	58 AB
	Pitching	ERA	Inns Pitched
	Jayson McClaren	4.08	17.2
Sacramento State	Batting	Avg	At Bats
	Justin Lamb	.257	101
	Aaron Crouch	.262	65
	Pitching	ERA	Inns Pitched
	Jesse Darrah	6.00	42
Fresno State	Batting	Avg	At Bats
	Ryan Allgrove	.250	32
	Trent Garrison	.250	32
	Brennan Gowens	.278	97
	Dusty Robinson	.253	83 2 HR
	Kenny Wise	.271	59 2 HR
	Pitching	ERA	Inns Pitched
	Tom Harlan	2.00	9
	Josh Poytress	2.91	21
	Taylor Garrison	3.32	19
	Derek Benny	4.46	34
San Jose State	Batting	Avg	At Bats
	Anthony Bona	.390	41
	Michael Reiling	.273	33
	Josh Silver	429	21
	Pitching	ERA	Inns Pitched
	Esteban Guzman	1.69	5
Louisana Tech	Batting	Avg	At Bats
	Alex Williams	.289	90 - 3 HR
	Mark Threlkeld	.316	38
	Pitching	ERA	Inns Pitched
	Jeb Stefan	6.75	36
	Mike Jefferson	8.42	25
	Graham Meyers	6.35	17
New Mexico State	Batting	Avg	At Bats
	Jonathan Rodriguez	.429	Limited action
	Pitching	ERA	Inns Pitched
	Scott Coffman	2.16	8
	Justin Cooper	5.40	15

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Don Starks is the Baseball Editor for Inside Sparta. You may contact Don with any questions, comments, or tips at