Longhorns rookie Justin Willis has acquitted himself nicely in his first season of FMBA action and is establishing himself as a force in their lineup moving forward. He currently sits in third on the team in RBI for the year despite having a little over half the plate appearances of the two players in front of him, and is carrying an absurd batting average of .619 and an OPS of 1.679 on the year. The Longhorns will surely be trying to figure out how to get him to the field more often, as he’s been a small sample darling in the month of June, but the ratios were just too good to ignore. Willis racked up 9 hits in 12 AB’s for a .750 average this month and got on base in 82% of his trips to the plate, yes, you read that right. The Longhorns currently sit in a tie for 4th place at 8-6 with 8 games left to play, and finding a way for Willis to log a few more games might be crucial in their pursuit of a high playoff seed the rest of the way.

Wolfpack ace Curtis Smith (4-0) is making his second straight appearance on our Pitcher of the Month list as his dominance has continued well into the second half of the season. Smith spun two more complete games in June, this time of the shutout variety, and one of those two starts was his second career no-hitter. Having gone the distance in all four of his starts this year, Smith still hasn’t allowed an earned run and continues to lead the league in strikeouts by a healthy margin, he’s tallied 55 K’s while allowing 7 hits and 5 walks through 26 IP. The Wolfpack are currently in 1st place at 11-3 with 8 games left to play, but with the Diamondbacks hot on their heels with 5 games in-hand they will have to continue their winning ways if they hope to clinch the first seed heading into playoffs next month.