WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Bakersfield (3-0, 0-0 WAC)
For the first time since 2010, Bakersfield swept a season opening series from an opponent ... the Roadrunners outscored Milwaukee 25-10 during the three-game series and opened the season with a 3-0 record ... Chance Gusbeth led the Roadrunners to a season opening sweep of Milwaukee on the opening weekend of the 2014 season ... Gusbeth hit .583 with one home runs and six RBI’s over the three-games ... Gusbeth posted a .917 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage ... Gusbeth did not commit an error in eight fielding chances ... Gusbeth received WAC Hitter of the Week honors for his efforts ... Max Carter earned the save against Milwaukee on Feb. 16 after making his season debut Feb. 15 against the Panthers and did not give a hit or a run in 1.2 innings ... CSUB travels to play UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine before hosting Towson in a three-game series this week.
Chicago State (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
Chicago State went 0-3 at the Lake Area classic in Lake Charles, La. last week to open the season ... the Cougars dropped an 8-3 decision to McNeese State to open the season ... the team then dropped an 11-8 decision to Southern Miss before falling 6-3 to Missouri ... CSU did take an 8-5 lead on Southern Miss into the top of the ninth inning but gave up six runs in the stanza to take the loss ... Jared Patterson hit .385 over the three games, tallying five hits, three doubles, three RBI and a run ... Robert Swenson hit .308 with four hits and two runs scored ... Eric Hall was impressive on the mound, going 4.0 innings without giving up an earned run ... Chicago State continues play this week with a three-game series at Savannah State.
Grand Canyon (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Grand Canyon went 1-2 in its opening series at ULM, marking their return to the Division I ranks after also spending time in the Western Athletic Conference from 1995-98 ... David Walker led GCU with five hits through the three games, while Michael Pomeroy and Matt Haggerty both connected for their first homers of the 2014 season ... Chad De La Guerra had a team-best three RBI in three games ... Jorge Perez struck out a career-high 10 batters in the season opener on Feb. 14, a number that teammate Coley Bruns also matched in GCU’s 7-1 win on Feb. 16 ... those 10 strikeouts were also a career-best for Bruns ... GCU will now travel to Fresno State for a single game on Feb. 18 before returning home to host Hofstra for a four-game series beginning on Feb. 21.
New Mexico State (3-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies started the 2014 season with a 3-1 record, marking the fifth time since 2003 that NM State has started with a 3-1 record or better ... sophomore Ryan Wagner led the Aggies with two home runs on the weekend, including seven RBI and 11 total bases ... Kristoffer Koerper led the Aggies with eight RBI, six hits and three doubles in the four-game series against Saint Mary’s this past weekend ... in game two of the series, Koerper went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI ... in three of the four games, Koerper recorded two RBI ... Kyle Kilgore pitched five innings for the Aggies in the second game of the four game series versus Saint Mary’s ... it was the most innings pitched by an Aggie on the weekend ... he allowed just two hits, while walking three batters and striking out three batters. Kilgore also allowed no runs ... NM State continues play this week at home against SIU-Edwardsville.
North Dakota (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
North Dakota opens its season on Feb. 28 against Houston Baptist ... North Dakota enters its first season in the WAC after four seasons in the Great West Conference ... Andrew Thome threw the sixth no-hitter in UND history last season in the season opener (vs. Mount Marty College) ... returning starting catcher Taylor Petersen was a first team All-Great West Conference selection ... returning pitchers Alex Twenge and Andrew Thome along with returning infielder Ryan Reese were all named to the All-Great West second team ... North Dakota was the first team ever to defeat Utah Valley in the Great West Conference’s tournament’s history with an 8-7 win on May 21 last season ... North Dakota returns every starting pitcher and all positional starters except departing senior shortstop Kris Kwak.
Northern Colorado (0-4, 0-0 WAC)
Northern Colorado opened the season with four losses at Sam Houston State ... Sam Houston State was picked as the favorite to win the Southland Conference this season ... the Bears dropped game one 5-3, game two 8-1, game three 5-0 and game four 7-1 on Monday ... Jake Ekman led the Bears at the plate, hitting .429 over the four game series .. Ekman tallied six hits, one RBI and was hit by a pitch ... Nick Tanner hit .385 with five hits and a run scored ... Chris Hammer had the longest outing on the mound, working 7.0 innings with four strikeouts ... Northern Colorado opens its home schedule on Friday against Colorado Mesa.
Sacramento State (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
Sacramento State split a four-game series against Utah at home this past week ... each game of the four-game series ended by a winning margin of just one run ... Sacramento State won game one of the series 3-2 before falling 2-1 in the second contest ... the Hornets then won game three in the bottom of the ninth inning, 5-4, and then fell in the finale 5-4 ... Brandon Hunley hit .625 over the four games, collecting five hits, one run and one RBI ... Nathan Lukes hit .467 with seven hits, three runs and two RBI ... Scott Burchan had a pair of doubles as he hit .286 with four hits ... Sutter McLoughlin was impressive on the mound, pitching 2.0 innings with five strikeouts, one save and a win ... Alex Palsha worked 4.0 innings on the mound without giving up a run while striking out four ... Sacramento State returns to action on Wednesday at Fresno State ... the team then takes on Texas A&M in a three-game series in College Station.
Seattle U (3-1, 0-0 WAC)
For the first time in 10 opportunities since the baseball program returned in 2010, Seattle U won a four-game series outright, taking three of four from the UC Davis Aggies ... thanks to a strong pitching performance by Connor Moore and timely hitting, Seattle U won the opener 2-1 ... after giving up an early lead in a 4-3 loss Saturday, the Redhawks fell behind 3-0 in the second game of a doubleheader ... Seattle U would score three runs in the final scheduled inning to force extra frames, and then Chase Fields executed a perfect suicide squeeze play, scoring Landon Cray with the eventual game-winning run in a 4-3 victory to split the doubleheader ... Sunday, SU took a 4-0 lead, fell behind 5-4, and then scored 11 runs in the seventh inning on its way to a 17-5 victory ... the 11 runs were the most in a single inning by SU since the program returned, as were the 17 runs ... Seattle U returns to California next weekend for a four-game series at Cal State Northridge.
Texas-Pan American (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
Texas-Pan American went 2-2 in its four-game season-opening series against Texas A&M Corpus Christi ... the Broncs won game one 3-2 ... UTPA then split a Saturday double-header, dropping a 6-4 decision game one before winning game two, 11-1 in seven innings ... the Broncs dropped the series finale 10-0 in seven innings ... Victor Garcia Jr. led the Broncs at the plate during the four-game series, batting .545 with six hits, three runs scored, one double, two RBI and a walk ... Matt Harrell was impressive on the mount, going a complete-game 7.0 innings while giving up only one run in an 11-1 victory ... Harrell struck out three and only walked two as he faced 28 batters ... Texas-Pan American continues play at home against Northwestern State this week.
Utah Valley (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Utah Valley lost two of three in the opening series at Loyola Marymount ... the series started a season-opening eight game trip for the team ... Utah Valley will play its first 16 games on the road ... the Wolverines homered three times on the weekend (Beau Kallas, Kade Andrus, Sean Moysh) with Kallas’ home run the first opening-day round-tripper since the 2006 season ... the Wolverines play at Arizona (Tues-Wed) before a weekend series at Pepperdine starting Friday.
WAC NOTES
BAKERSFIELD’S GUSBETH NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Bakersfield right fielder Chance Gusbeth has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for February 10-16.
Gusbeth, a sophomore from Lancaster, Calif. (Desert Christian HS), led the Roadrunners to a 3-0 series sweep over Milwaukee. Gusbeth hit .583 (7-for-12) on the week with three runs, six RBI, two walks, one double and a home run. Gusbeth posted a .917 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage. He did not commit an error in eight fielding chances on the week.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Grand Canyon junior outfielder David Walker … New Mexico State senior first baseman Kristoffer Koerper … Northern Colorado freshman center fielder Jake Ekman ... Sacramento State sophomore right fielder Nathan Lukes … Seattle U senior infielder Cullen Hendrickson … Texas-Pan American freshman first baseman Victor Garcia Jr. … Utah Valley sophomore first baseman Mark Krueger.
SEATTLE U’S MOORE NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U left-hander Connor Moore has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for February 10-16.
Moore, a sophomore from West Richland, Wash. (Richland HS), pitched seven scoreless innings as Seattle U defeated UC Davis 2-1 in the Redhawks’ season opener on Friday. In the longest outing of his collegiate career, Moore allowed just three hits and one walk while throwing 79 pitches, collecting a career-high six strikeouts along the way. He allowed only one UC Davis player to advance as far as third base as he found himself in a pitcher’s duel on the first day of the season.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: Bakersfield freshman Max Carter … Grand Canyon junior Coley Bruns … New Mexico State senior Kyle Kilgore … Sacramento State sophomore Sutter McLoughlin … Texas-Pan American senior Matt Harrell … Utah Valley freshman Nate Sylvester.
BAKERSFIELD SELECTED BY COACHES AS FAVORITE TO WIN WAC TITLE IN 2013
Bakersfield has been selected as the favorite to win the 2014 Western Athletic Conference regular season baseball crown in a vote by the league’s 10 head coaches. The Roadrunners received 80 points and eight first place votes after winning a share of last season’s WAC regular season title. The ‘Runners went 37-22 overall last season with an 18-9 mark in the WAC. CSUB went 2-1 at last year’s WAC Tournament.New Mexico State ranked second with 70 points and one first place vote. NM State was followed by Sacramento State with 68 points and a first place vote. WAC newcomer Utah Valley was selected fourth with 50 points. The Wolverines went 24-30 last season and finished fourth in Great West Conference play with a 15-9 record. Grand Canyon, who will play its first year as a Division I member, was picked fifth with 45 points. Texas-Pan American received 37 points to earn the No. 6 spot, followed by Seattle U in seventh with 35 points. Northern Colorado was eighth with 34 points. North Dakota received 22 points to place ninth, while Chicago State was 10th with nine points.
BAKERSFIELD’S SANAY, SACRAMENTO STATE’S MCLOUGHLIN EARN PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA STATUS
Bakersfield second baseman Oscar Sanay and Sacramento State pitcher Sutter McLoughlin were named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) preseason All-America team. Sanay earned second team honors while McLoughlin was named to the third team.Sanay is coming off a junior season in which he was named first team All-Conference and was the only Bakersfield player named to the All-WAC Tournament Team. An Academic All-Conference selection, Sanay was 1-of-5 players to reset the school record for most appearances in a season with 59. McLoughlin heads into his sophomore season after a stellar freshman campaign in which he earned Louisville Slugger and NCBWA Freshman All-American honors. He joined teammate Chris Lewis as the first freshmen in Sacramento State history to be named to the All-WAC first team in 2013.
WAC TOURNAMENT HEADS TO MESA, ARIZONA’S CUBS PARK
The WAC has awarded Mesa, Ariz. the WAC Baseball Tournament for the 2014 season. The event will be played at the Chicago Cubs new Spring Training complex in Mesa. Visit Mesa, the destination marketing organization for the city, worked to secure the event which will feature the WAC’s top six baseball teams in May. In May of 2014, the City of Mesa will host the double-elimination tournament with the winner earning the WAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The top six teams from the WAC’s regular season standings will advance to the tournament.The WAC Baseball Tournament is no stranger to the state of Arizona and the City of Mesa. The league’s championship has been played in Arizona 12 times (1963, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 2010, 11, 12) and the event was held in Mesa in 1971, 1973, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The $99 million new winter home of the Chicago Cubs is major league baseball’s newest stat-of-the-art spring training venue. The stadium will feature a 15,000 seat ballpark reminiscent of historic Wrigley Field; a state-of-the-art team clubhouse facility; a cluster of top-notch baseball practice fields; pristine youth soccer fields and a sparkling public lake that will boast an exciting new design.