Two San Diego State baseball players have received top Mountain West honors, including infielder Finley Bates, who was named Freshman of the Year.
In addition, starting pitcher Omar Serrano made the first-team all-MW team.
The honorees were selected by the league’s seven head coaches, taking only MW games into account.
Bates became the fourth Aztec player to garner conference Freshman of the Year accolades, joining former Washington National Stephen Strasburg (2007), Jaden Fein (2019) and Irvin Weems (2022).
A native of Castle Park, Col., Bates played all 30 games against MW competition, leading the team in batting average (.375), hits (48), total bases (67) and on-base percentage (.438), while ranking second in runs scored (23), slugging percentage (.523) and walks (13).
Bates tied for the conference lead in hits and placed fourth in batting average.
For the season, Bates started 52 of 53 games, with 28 starts at shortstop and 24 at second. He hit .292 with three homers, 11 RBIs and 35 runs scored, and tied for the top spot on the team with 14 doubles..
Serrano, meanwhile, had a 5-5 record against MW opponents, posting a conference-best 3.06 ERA while tying for second in victories. The SDSU junior also ranked third in the league with 60 strikeouts and fourth with a .263 batting average by opponents.
In 10 starts against MW foes, Serrano, a graduate of Downey High School, allowed one earned run or less on six occasions, fanning at least five batters in each of those contests.
For the season, Serrano tied for the conference lead with 14 starts, ranked third in overall ERA (4.02) ad fourth in strikeouts (77) and innings pitched (80.2).
Serrano was part of an Aztec pitching staff that led the MW during the regular season in strikeouts (494), opponent batting average (.267), fewest hits allowed (481) and fewest home runs allowed (35).
The team’s season ended Saturday with a 16-9 loss to Nevada. They finished at 17-37 overall and 10-20 in MW play.