WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Bakersfield (11-15, 4-5 WAC)
Bakersfield went 1-3 last week ... the ‘Runners dropped a 7-4 decision at home against UC Irvine before traveling to Orem, Utah, where the team went 1-2 ... Taylor Aikenhead and Sergio Luna combined for a school record 14 strikeouts in the 10-4 victory over Utah Valley on March 28 ... Aikenhead struck out 11, a new career high, in 7.2 innings before giving way to Luna, who struck out three of the four batters he faced ... Allen Gwynn posted two hits in four consecutive games from March 23-28 ... he had the streak stopped in game one of the Utah Valley doubleheader…Gwynn hit .500 in four games last week (6-for-12) with two RBI’s ... Gwynn walked six times and had a .667 on-base percentage during the span ... this week, Bakersfield travels to play Cal Poly on Tuesday before traveling to take on Oklahoma in a three-game series that starts on Friday.
Chicago State (9-13, 0-3 WAC)
Chicago State went 0-3 last week in a three-game WAC series at Grand Canyon ... the Cougars dropped the three games by scores of 2-1, 12-6 and 15-5 ... freshman Stefan Panayiotou and junior Robert Swenson each recorded their first home run in a CSU uniform last week in the series ... Eric Hall has allowed just earned runs in 38.1 innings this year for a 1.41 ERA ... junior Dane Mehring hasn’t allowed a run in his last three outings (10.1 innings) ... Sanford Hunt was impressive over the four games last week, hitting .500 with five hits, two runs scored, one double, one RBI, one walk and one hit-by-pitch ... the Cougars host their first WAC games this weekend against Utah Valley ... the last time the Cougars and Wolverines played, Chicago State ended Utah Valley’s 2013 season with a 3-2 decision in the Great West Conference Tournament.
Grand Canyon (15-11, 5-1 WAC)
The Antelopes swept their WAC home-opening series against Chicago State over the weekend to improve to 14-11 overall and 5-1 in conference play ... Grand Canyon came from behind to get the 2-1, 11-inning victory on Friday night after being held scoreless until the bottom of the ninth inning ... over the final two games of the series, the Lopes outscored the Cougars 27-11, including a season-high 15 runs on Sunday ... Humberto Aranda led the squad offensively, going 6-for-10 with 8 RBI…Garrett Jeffries also had a nice series, going 6-for-9 (.667) with five runs scored and four RBI ... Coley Bruns tossed his third straight complete game en route to improving to 5-0 on the season ... this week, Grand Canyon defeated Nevada 4-0 on Monday night before falling 3-2 on Tuesday ... the team travels to play UTPA in a three-game WAC series this weekend.
New Mexico State (10-17, 2-4 WAC)
New Mexico State went 0-4 last week ... the Aggies dropped all four games at home ... the team fell 14-4 to rival New Mexico on Tuesday ... the Aggies then went 0-3 in a three-game series against league-leader Sacramento State, falling by scores of 8-2, 11-0 and 20-6 ... Kyle Young led the Aggies at the plate on the week, hitting .400 with two hits, one double, two RBI and a walk ... Jory Goldstrom hit .333 with two hits, one runs scored, one double and a walk ... Taylor Noyer also hit .333 with one hit ... Derek Umphres hit .308 with four hits, two runs scored, two doubles, one home run, three RBI and one hit-by-pitch ... Riley Barr was impressive on the mound in 4.0 innings of work, allowing only three hits while not giving up a run ... this week, NM State travels to play New Mexico on Wednesday before traveling to play Northern Colorado in a three-game WAC series that starts on Friday.
North Dakota (6-12, 6-3 WAC)
North Dakota swept Northern Colorado for its first-ever conference series sweep since joining Division I (2010) ... UND got clutch hitting from Patrick Riewer, who accounted for five of North Dakota’s seven runs on the weekend (2 runs, 3 RBI) ... Riewer reached base in nine of his 10 plate appearances ... junior Andrew Thome picked up his first win of the season with a complete-game win in the opener ... junior Jeff Campbell won his third straight start, going 8.1 innings with just one run and six strikeouts ... UND’s starters went 23 innings, allowing just two earned runs for the week (0.78 ERA) with 18 strikeouts ... junior Ryan Reese has now reached base in 15 straight ballgames ... this week, UND hosts Minnesota Crookston on Wednesday before the team travels to play Creighton in a four-game series that begins Friday.
Northern Colorado (5-22, 0-6 WAC)
Northern Colorado went 0-3 last week in a three-game conference series at North Dakota ... Northern Colorado dropped the three games by scores of 3-1, 3-2 and 2-1 ... Colby Harrison led the Bears at the plate, hitting .400 with four hits, one double, and a walk ... Andrew Coffman also hit .400 with two hits, one runs scored, one triple and a walk ... Bryan Tibbitts hit .375 with three hits, one runs scored, a home run, an RBI and a walk ... Connor Leedholm had an impressive performance on the mound, working 4.0 innings while allowing no runs and just four hits ... Josh Tinnon and Chris Hammer each worked 7.1 innings on the mound and each gave up only three runs ... Hammer tallied six strikeouts in his performance ... this week, Northern Colorado hosts New Mexico State in a three-game conference series, which begins on Friday.
Sacramento State (16-11, 6-0 WAC)
Sacramento State outscored New Mexico State 39-8 over a three game sweep and is now averaging 11.2 runs per game through six WAC games, three of which have ended via the mercy rule after seven innings ... the eight game winning streak for the Hornets is the longest since the 1992 team won 16 consecutive games ... Sacramento State had hit four home runs through the first 20 games of the season and has hit 12 long balls over seven games since ... the team hit five home runs, including two grand slams, in its 20-6 seven-inning win on Sunday ... Sacramento State hit .400 with seven home runs, eight doubles, and a triple while drawing 16 walks against New Mexico State ... this week, the Hornets hots San Francisco on Wednesday ... the team then hosts Seattle U in a three-game conference series that starts on Friday.
Seattle U (11-11, 3-0 WAC)
Seattle U was perfect during the past week, defeating Portland before sweeping UTPA in a conference series ... after not playing a game in two weeks, the Redhawks started out slowly against the Pilots in Portland, falling behind 3-0 ... however, thanks to a solid pitching performance by Skyler Genger and a 5-for-5 performance by Brian Olson, the Redhawks came back for the 7-3 victory ... SU dealt with multiple time and location changes due to weather in sweeping the Broncs, the first three-game sweep for Seattle U since the program was reestablished in 2010 ... both games Friday were walk-off victories, with Griffin Andreychuk taking one for the team in the first game, being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded ... in game two of Friday’s doubleheader, Landon Cray drove in Ryan Somers with the game-winning run ... this week, SU hosts BC in an exhibition before playing at Sacramento State for three games.
Texas-Pan American (11-19, 1-5 WAC)
Texas-Pan American went 0-4 last week ... the Broncs dropped an 11-0 decision at TCU before falling 6-5, 4-3 and 13-8 at Seattle U ... Omar Avila went a perfect 2-for-2 on the week with one double and a run scored ... Jesus Garcia hit .471 with eight hits, three runs scored, two doubles and one hit-by-pitch ... Alex Howe hit .375 with six hits, two runs scored, three triples, one home run, three RBI and a walk over the four games last week ... Alex Henson was impressive on the mound, going 6.0 innings with a career-high seven strikeouts ... he gave up only three runs ... 77 of his 118 pitches went for strikes (65.3%) ... this week, Texas-Pan American hosts Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Wednesday ... the Broncs open a three-game conference series at home against Grand Canyon on Friday.
Utah Valley (9-18, 3-3 WAC)
Utah Valley went 2-2 last week, falling at UNLV in a Tuesday midweek before winning its second straight weekend series, taking two of three from Bakersfield in WAC play ... in the two wins against the Roadrunners, the Wolverines got strong pitching performances from Ryan Evans and Danny Beddes ... Evans pitched 7.2 shutout innings of two-hit baseball in a 4-1 win ... Evans earned WAC Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance ... Beddes tossed 8.1 innings in earning a win in a 4-2 UVU victory ... Colby Croft hit .625 with five RBI in two starts and a pinch-hit appearance during the weekend ... Utah Valley makes the short trip to BYU on Tuesday before a three-game weekend WAC series at Chicago State.
WAC NOTES
SACRAMENTO STATE’S HOSKINS NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State first baseman Rhys Hoskins has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for March 24-30.
Hoskins, a junior from Sacramento, Calif. (Jesuit HS), hit .563 (9-for-16) on the week with six runs, 12 RBI, three doubles, three home runs and four walks to lead the Hornets to a perfect 4-0 record. Hoskins made only seven outs in 20 trips to the plate for a .650 on-base percentage while recording a 1.313 slugging percentage. Hoskins led the Hornets to a 3-0 series road sweep at New Mexico State as he went 8-for-12 at the plate with 12 RBI. In six WAC games this season, Hoskins is batting .585 with four home runs and 16 RBI.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Chicago State freshman infielder Sanford Hunt … Grand Canyon junior catcher Humberto Aranda … North Dakota senior outfielder Patrick Riewer … Seattle U junior catcher Brian Olson … Texas-Pan American senior right fielder Alex Howe … Utah Valley senior catcher Colby Croft.
UTAH VALLEY’S EVANS NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley right-hander Ryan Evans has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for March 24-30.
Evans, a senior from American Fork, Utah (American Fork HS), allowed just two singles in 7.2 innings of work against Bakersfield. He retired the first 13 hitters of the game before a one-out single in the fifth. Evans retired the side in order six times and faced just three batters over the minimum during his appearance. He struck out three and did not allow a single run in the 4-1 victory.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: Chicago State junior Eric Hall … Grand Canyon junior Coley Bruns … North Dakota junior Andrew Thome … Sacramento State freshman Sam Long … Seattle U senior Mac Acker … Texas-Pan American junior Alex Henson.
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.