NORTHERN COLORADO'S PARK NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Northern Colorado's Jensen Park has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for Mar. 30 - Apr. 5.
Park, a senior outfielder from Kaneohe, Hawai'I (Iolani School), posted three straight multi-hit games as Northern Colorado earned a three-game sweep on the road at New Mexico State. Posting no less than three hits in any game on the weekend, he totaled three doubles, six RBIs and eight runs scored, including a home run in Friday's 10-1 win. Park also stole a pair of bases in Saturday's 13-5 win.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Grand Canyon's Greg Saenz was 8-for-11 on the week with four doubles as the Lopes swept past Texas-Pan American…Seattle U's Dalton Hurd hit .385 on the week as the Redhawks went 3-1, including three wins over Sacramento State…Utah Valley's Mark Krueger was 5-for-8 as the Wolverines swept past Chicago State in Orem…Bakersfield's Max Carter hit .545 on the week, including a perfect 3-for-3 in Friday's win at North Dakota...Texas-Pan American's Victor Garcia Jr. recorded his 10th and 11th multi-hit games of the season in losses at Grand Canyon…Sacramento State's Vinny Esposito hit .417, including 3-for-5 in the Hornets' extra-inning loss at Seattle U on Thursday.
BAKERSFIELD'S BARRAGAN NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Bakersfield's James Barragan has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for Mar. 30 - Apr. 5.
Barragan, a senior right-hander from Bakersfield, Calif. (Stockdale HS), tied the Roadrunners' school record for most strikeouts in a game with 13 as Bakersfield defeated North Dakota, 12-1, on Friday. He scattered five hits over nine innings to earn the complete game win, allowing just one run with three walks against 35 batters faced. It was Barragan's second consecutive complete game victory within the week.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: Northern Colorado's Chase Cleary went 1-1 on the week, taking the loss at Air Force before bouncing back for the win at New Mexico State…Seattle U's Ted Hammond earned the win in Thursday's extra innings win against Sacramento State and then came in on Saturday to earn the save against the Hornets…Utah Valley's Kyle Valgardon pitched five innings of shutout relief in Friday's 7-6 win…Sacramento State's Ty Nichols allowed just two hits over six innings in Thursday's 3-2 extra inning loss at Seattle U.
BY THE NUMBERS
Grand Canyon leads the WAC at the plate, hitting .286 as a team. On the mound, it is Sacramento State leading the way with a team ERA of 2.74. On defense, Bakersfield holds the top fielding percentage at .978.
Individually, Texas-Pan American's Logan Landon continues to lead the WAC in hitting with a .415 average in overall play. Sacramento State's Sam Long holds a WAC-best 1.85 ERA this season. Bakersfield's David Metzgar has a league-best 47 hits this season and Grand Canyon's Paul Panaccione has scored a WAC-high 31 times. Landon is tied with Northern Colorado's Brandon Vaughn for the lead in RBIs at 28 while Metzgar leads the conference in doubles with nine. His teammate Ryan Grotjohn has a WAC-high five triples this season while Grand Canyon's Chad De La Guerra has a league-high six home runs. On the mound, Seattle U's Skyler Genger continues to lead the WAC in strikeouts with 60.
In WAC-only play, GCU's Panaccione leads at the plate with a .517 average while Seattle U's Tarik Skubal leads the league on the mound with a 0.46 ERA. Northern Colorado's Reyn Sugai leads with 19 hitsand 13 runs in conference play while teammate Vaughn has a conference-high 17 RBIs. North Dakota's Jeff Campbell has four WAC home runs this season while Grand Canyon's Coley Bruns has a league-best 30 strikeouts in conference play.
BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
For the first time since the weekend of May 19-21, 2006, all WAC series 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
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