UH baseball: Rainbow pitcher Alexander earns top WAC honor | The Honolulu Advertiser

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UH baseball: Rainbow pitcher Alexander earns top WAC honor | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Updated at 8:59 a.m., Tuesday, February 10, 2009

UH baseball: Rainbow pitcher Alexander earns top WAC honor

Advertiser Staff

2009 WAC BASEBALL COACHES' POLL

(Points awarded on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis as coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams)

1. Fresno St. 34

2. San Jose State 29

3. Nevada 26

4. Hawai'i 25

5. New Mexico St. 14

6. Louisiana Tech 13

7. Sacramento St. 6

PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM

OF Gavin Hedstrom, Sr., Fresno State

OF Steve Detwiler, Jr., Fresno State

OF Richard Stout, Sr., New Mexico State

OF Tim Wheeler, Jr., Sacramento State

1B Shaun Kort, Jr., Nevada

2B Matt Bowman, Sr., Nevada

SS Danny Muno, So., Fresno State

3B Tommy Mendonca, Jr., Fresno State

C Landon Hernandez, Sr., Hawai'i

UTI Tyson Jaquez, Sr., Nevada

SP Jared Alexander, Sr., Hawai'i

SP Tyler Sturdevant, Sr., New Mexico State

SP Max Peterson, Jr., San Jose State

RP Josh Slaats, So., Hawai'i

RP Erik Nyquist, Sr., New Mexico State

Player of the Year

Tommy Mendonca, Jr., Fresno State

Pitcher of the Year

Jared Alexander, Sr., Hawai'i

University of Hawaii pitcher Jared Alexander was tapped today as the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Pitcher of the year, the school announced.

The Rainbows were picked to finish fourth in the WAC, according to the coaches' preseason poll.

Defending national champion Fresno State was selected as the favorite to win league.

The Bulldogs have won the conference in each of the past three seasons. Fresno State had 34 votes, including five first-place votes. San Jose State was second in the poll with 29 votes and one first place vote. Nevada followed in third with 26 votes with UH earning 25 votes, including one first-place vote. New Mexico State (14 votes), Louisiana Tech (13) and Sacramento State (six) round out the poll.

Along with Alexander, UH catcher Landon Hernandez and reliever Josh Slaats were named to the preseason all-WAC team. Alexander went 7-3 with a 3.27 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 82.2 innings of work as a junior last year.

Hernandez ended 2008 with a .277 batting average, driving in 30 RBI, five home runs and seven doubles. Slaats made 13 appearances, including eight starts during his freshman year in 2008, but is expected to make the move to a reliever.

Hawai'i opens the 2009 season on Feb. 20, at 6:35 p.m., at the Les Murakami Stadium, hosting No. 9 UC Irvine for a four-game series running until Feb. 22.

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