GRAND CANYON'S ARANDA NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Humberto Aranda has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for Apr. 20 - Apr. 26.
Aranda, a senior catcher from Yarnell, Ariz. (Prescott HS), hit .700 on the week as the Lopes took a WAC series at Utah Valley. He finished the three-game tilt 7-for-10 from the plate, including multiple-hits in all three games and four RBIs. In addition to his offensive prowess, he recorded 20 putouts and an assist behind the dish.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Chicago State's Mattingly Romanin had three home runs in a win over Roosevelt on Tuesday and finished the week 8-for-16 from the plate…Northern Colorado's Dan Reese was 8-for-17 on the week with three runs scored and two RBIs...North Dakota's Brett Marrison caught every inning for UND and played a big part in the series win over Sacramento State…Bakersfield's David Metzger hit .400 on the week as the Roadrunners took two of three from Seattle U…Texas-Pan American's Victor Garcia Jr. had a career-high five RBIs, three runs scored and two doubles at Prairie View A&M…Sacramento State's Scotty Burcham hit .476 and was 8-for-13 in the North Dakota series.
CHICAGO STATE'S ABBOTT NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Chicago State's Tyler Abbott has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for Apr. 20 - Apr. 26.
Abbott, a senior right-hander from Simi Valley, Calif. (Royal HS), captured his first win of the season by throwing a complete-game two-hitter in the WAC series finales against New Mexico State. He struck out 12 Aggie hitters and only allowed one hit after the second inning.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: Northern Colorado's Justin Mulvaney earned a pair of wins in relief as the Bears earned a series win at Texas-Pan American…North Dakota's Zach Muckenhirn earned his first ever complete game win in Saturday's 10-0 win over Sacramento State…Bakersfield's Hayden Carter tossed his third consecutive complete game as Bakersfield defeated Seattle U, 5-0, on Friday…Seattle U's Tarik Skubal earned the win in Sunday's 4-0 win at Bakersfield after tossing an inning against Washington on Tuesday…Sacramento State's Brennan Leitao allowed just one run on two hits in six innings at North Dakota.
BY THE NUMBERS
Grand Canyon continues to lead the WAC at the plate, hitting .311 as a team. Bakersfield is the top pitching team, holding a 3.35 team ERA, and the top defensive team, holding a .978 fielding percentage. Individually, Northern Colorado's Jensen Park leads the WAC with a .415 average. Sacramento State's Ty Nichols holds the low individual ERA at 1.64 in 49.1 innings pitched.
Grand Canyon's Paul Panaccione leads the conference in hits (69) and runs scored (45). Teammate Chad De La Guerra is tops in the WAC in RBIs (39) and home runs (8). Texas-Pan American's Victor Garcia Jr. and Bakersfield's David Metzgar are tied for the doubles lead with 12 while Bakersfield's Chance Gusbeth and Ryan Grotjohn and Sacramento State's Scotty Burcham lead the WAC in triples with five each. Seattle U's Skyler Genger leads the league in strikeouts with 83 in 71.1 innings pitched.
In conference only play, Grand Canyon is hitting a WAC-best .373 as a team. Bakersfield holds a 2.48 ERA and .984 fielding percentage in conference play to lead the league in both of those categories. Individually, Jensen Park is hitting .516 against the other WAC teams while Bakersfield's Hayden Carter has a WAC-low 1.20 ERA in league play.
BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
For the first time since the weekend of May 19-21, 2006, all WAC series for the weekend of April 2-4 ended in sweeps as Seattle U, Utah Valley, Bakersfield, North Dakota and Grand Canyon all added a trio of wins to their season totals. In 2006, it was Fresno State, Hawai'i and Nevada earning sweeps over Sacramento State, San Jose State and New Mexico State respetively.
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 30th career save on March 31 to pass Louisiana Tech's Caleb Dudley for top spot on the WAC career saves list.
WIN, LOSE AND DRAW
For the second time this season, a WAC baseball series resulted in a win, a loss and a tie for both teams involved. Bakersfield and New Mexico State played to a tie on March 15 to split their series while Chicago State and Texas-Pan American also played to a draw on April 19. Both ties were travel related as the visiting team had flights to catch. These are the first ties 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. Not to be outdone, Seattle U turned a triple play of their own in a 5-2 win at home against Portland. 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