NORTH DAKOTA’S CAMPBELL NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
North Dakota’s Jeff Campbell has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for Mar. 23 - Mar. 29.
Campbell, a senior first baseman from Clearwater, Fla. (Central Catholic), went deep in all three wins at Northern Colorado to give him 25 home runs for his career. He hit .417 on the week, slugging at a 1.167 clip, with six RBIs and four runs scored. He also took the mound for the final 3.1 innings on Friday, earning his fourth save of the year.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Sacramento State’s Nathan Lukes hit .429 on the week as the Hornets swept New Mexico State after falling earlier in the week at Nevada…Seattle U’s Landon Cray led Seattle U to a sweep at Texas-Pan American, hitting .455 with five RBIs and six runs scored…Utah Valley’s Greyson Bogden hit .556 as the Wolverines took two out of three at Bakersfield…Texas-Pan American’s Logan Landon drove in a career-high four RBIs in a win on Monday at Pacific…Bakersfield’s Ryan Grotjohn hit .500 in four games last week, including his first career home run at CSUN on Tuesday...Northern Colorado’s Reyn Sugai went 9-for-17 on the week as the Bears went 0-4 at home..
SACRAMENTO STATE’S LONG NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State’s Sam Long has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for Mar. 23 - Mar. 29.
Long, a sophomore left-handed pitcher from Rancho Cordova, Calif. (Del Campo HS), took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and pitched around three Hornet errors to not allow a run in Saturday’s 1-0 win over New Mexico State. Long tied his career-high in strikeouts with seven as he earned his fifth win of the season. Sacramento State is 6-0 in games started by Long this season.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: North Dakota’s Andrew Thome picked up his first win of the season, going the distance and striking out 11 in Friday’s 6-3 win at Northern Colorado...Texas-Pan American’s Andrew Padron earned his seventh save of the season on Monday at Pacific before also throwing 1.1 no-hit innings against Seattle U on Sunday...Utah Valley’s Danny Beddes struck out six and nearly earned the complete game, going 8.2 innings in Friday’s 3-2 win at Bakersfield…Seattle U’s Tarik Skubal pitched 7.1 innings of shutout baseball to help Seattle U secure the sweep on Sunday...Bakersfield’s James Barragan struck out seven Utah Valley hitters as he tossed a complete game in the Roadrunners’ 5-2 win on Saturday…Grand Canyon’s Coley Bruns struck out 10 Chicago State batters, earning the complete game in Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Cougars.
BY THE NUMBERS
With all teams over the 20-games played mark, Grand Canyon holds a four-point lead over North Dakota when it comes to the top hitting team in the conference. The Lopes are hitting .279 compared with .276 for UND. On the mount, Sacramento State holds the top ERA at 2.81 while down south, Bakersfield is the top defensive team with a .976 fielding percentage.
Individually, Texas-Pan American’s Logan Landon leads the WAC with a .440 batting average. Sacramento State’s Brennan Leitao holds the top ERA at 1.64 in 44.0 innings pitched. Landon also leads the conference in hits with 40 while Grand Canyon’s Paul Panaccione has touched home plate more than anyone else in the WAC with 27 runs scored. Teammate Brandon Smith leads the conference in RBIs with 24 while a number of players are tied for the lead in doubles (8), triples (4) and home runs (4). New Mexico State’s Quinnton Mack has stolen a league-best nine bases this season while Seattle U’s Skyler Genger leads all pitches with 53 strikeouts in 45.1 innings pitched.
THE OLD HIDDEN BALL TRICK
Bakersfield pulled off the hidden ball trick for an out for the third time in the past five season on Sunday against Utah Valley. The Roadrunners’ third baseman Joey Sanchez tagged out Seth Rhineer off third with one out in the top of the eighth.
SAVE KING
Sacramento State closer Sutter McLoughlin earned his 29th career save on Saturday to tie Louisiana Tech’s Caleb Dudley for top spot on the WAC career saves list.
WIN, LOSE AND DRAW
The first WAC baseball series of the season resulted in a win, a loss and a tie for both Bakersfield and New Mexico State as the Roadrunners and Aggies earned the rare three-game series split with a 6-6 tie on March 15 due to Bakersfield travel plans. It was the first tie in WAC conference play since April 11, 2010 when Nevada and New Mexico State played to a 10-10 tie, also in Las Cruces. BYU and Hawai’i played to ties in WAC games in 1988 and 1990 for the only other ties in WAC play.
TRIPLE THE FUN
Texas-Pan American turned the first triple play of the season in the top of the third of the series finale with Arlington Baptist. New Mexico State turned a triple play in 2014 in a 2-0 loss at Arizona State for the last WAC defensive trifecta.
SACRAMENTO STATE FAVORITE TO WIN WAC TITLE IN 2015
After winning its first ever WAC regular season and tournament title in 2014, Sacramento State is the favorite to win the conference crown again, earning eight first place votes in a survey of the league’s 10 head coaches. Grand Canyon earned the two remaining first place votes and will enter 2015 as the favorite to take second in the league table.
Bakersfield, the 2014 preseason favorite, was selected third with 60 points. Seattle U earned the fourth place nod by a single point over Utah Valley while New Mexico State and Texas-Pan American tied for sixth in the preseason poll. Chicago State is predicted eighth, followed by North Dakota and Northern Colorado.
DE LA GUERRA, LEITAO HIGHLIGHT PRESEASON ALL-WAC HONORS
Grand Canyon second baseman Chad De La Guerra and Sacramento State pitcher Brennan Leitao were selected as 2015 Preseason All-WAC Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year respectively. In addition to the individual honor, both players were named to the 2015 Preseason All-WAC Team, as voted upon by the 10 WAC coaches.
Sacramento State led the way with five honorees as Nathan Lukes, Sam Long, Sutter McLoughlin and Scott Burcham joined Leitao. Grand Canyon had three Lopes selected with David Walker and Andrew Naderer joining De La Guerra. Bakersfield was represented by Soloman Williams and Mylz Jones and Seattle U earned recognition from Brian Olson and Landon Cray. New Mexico State’s Derek Umphres and Utah Valley’s Mark Krueger rounded out the 14-player team.
SACRAMENTO STATE’S LEITAO NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Sacramento State pitcher Brennan Leitao has been named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American Third Team, as selected by Collegiate Baseball. Leitao, the all-time leader in wins at Sacramento State with 24, is a two-time First Team All-WAC performer. Last season, he helped lead the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament, starting and clinching the WAC Tournament championship game against Utah Valley. In NCAA Regional play, he started against Arizona State and allowed just one run over seven innings in a 5-4 win over the Sun Devils. He ranked second in the WAC in ERA, innings pitched, strikeouts and wins as a junior. In addition to his outstanding performance on the diamond, Leaitao is also a three-time Academic All-WAC honoree.
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO HOHOKAM STADIUM
For the second straight season, the WAC Baseball Tournament will take place in a new Spring Training Complex in Mesa, Ariz. as the 2015 championship heads to the new Hohokam Stadium, preseason home of the Oakland Athletics. Improvements to Hohokam Stadium are immediately noticeable as the exterior and entrance gates has been painted and re-branded with the familiar Oakland Athletics green and gold color scheme. The stadium also features refurbished seating, a state-of-the art scoreboard and a new and expanded clubhouse. The bleachers along the left field and right field foul lines have been replaced with party decks. 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 13 times (1963, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 2010, 11, 12, 14) and the event was held in Mesa in 1971, 1973, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014. Sacramento State won the 2014 tournament, earning the WAC’s automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
It seems fitting at that WAC schools will face off against 2014 NCAA Baseball Tournament participants, not including WAC-participant Sacramento State, 64 times this season, including 14 games against College World Series teams.
WAC vs. College World Series Teams
Feb. 24 - Texas-Pan American at Texas
Feb. 26 - Sacramento State at Texas Tech
Feb. 27 - Sacramento State at Texas Tech
Feb. 28 - Sacramento State at Texas Tech
Mar. 1 - Sacramento State at Texas Tech
Mar. 10 - New Mexico State at Texas Tech
Mar. 11 - New Mexico State at Texas Tech
Mar. 17 - Texas-Pan American at TCU
Mar. 18 - Texas-Pan American at TCU
Mar. 20 - Bakersfield at UC Irvine
Mar. 21 - Bakersfield at UC Irvine
Mar. 22 - Bakersfield at UC Irvine
Apr. 28 - Grand Canyon at Texas Tech
Apr. 29 - Grand Canyon at Texas Tech
WAC vs. Super Regional Teams
Mar. 13 - Grand Canyon at Oklahoma State
Mar. 14 - Grand Canyon at Oklahoma State
Mar. 15 - Grand Canyon at Oklahoma State