NEW MEXICO STATE'S GRAF NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State's Kyle Graf has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Hitter of the Week for May 4 - May 10.
Graf, a senior from Pomerene, Ariz. (Benson HS), went 12-for-19 on the week with 11 RBIs, posting consistent numbers to help the Aggies beat rival New Mexico and take two-of-three from Texas-Pan American. Against UNM, he went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the 22-8 victory. He followed that up with three hits in each of NM State's wins over UTPA and a 2-for-5 day with three RBIs in the lone loss on the weekend.
The other hitter of the week nominations: Seattle U's Brock Carpenter hit .462 on the week, including a 3-for-4 afternoon in Sunday's win over Chicago State…North Dakota's Jeff Campbell set a new career-high with seven RBIs in Friday's 7-2 win over Utah Valley…Bakersfield's Kris Cayton hit .500 on the week, including a 3-for-4 day on Sunday at Grand Canyon…Sacramento State's Scotty Burcham went .438 on the week, going 7-for-16 with seven RBIs as the Hornets went 4-0…Utah Valley's Mark Krueger was 9-for-18 from the plate, putting together multiple hits in all four UVU games this week…Grand Canyon's Brian Kraft was 6-for-8 on the week, including a perfect 3-for-3 in Sunday's 6-4 win over Bakersfield…Texas-Pan American's Cole Loncar was 10-for-14 on the week for a .714 average, including 5-for-6 in Sunday's win at New Mexico State…Northern Colorado's Jensen Park pushed his hit streak to 12 games, going 5-for-10 on the week.
SEATTLE U'S SKUBAL NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Tarik Skubal has been named the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week for May 4 - May 10.
Skubal, a freshman from Kingman, Ariz. (Kingman Academy), overcame a leadoff home run by Chicago state to help the Redhawks to an 11-1 victory, striking out 11 and walking just two over seven innings pitched to earn the complete game win in the run-rule-shortened game. The 11 strikeouts tied the Seattle U modern single-game record and he is now tied for second on the team with five victories in his first collegiate season.
The other pitcher of the week nominations: North Dakota's Andrew Thome struck out a career-best 13 hitters to earn the win in Friday's 7-2 win against Utah Valley…Bakersfield's Hayden Carter earned the complete game win in Friday's 4-2 win over Grand Canyon, striking out three and walking none…Sacramento State's Ty Nichols earned the win on Saturday against Northern Colorado, striking out five and allowing just three hits over six innings pitched…Utah Valley's Jackson Cofer recorded his first career win, going six innings in a 7-5 win on Saturday against North Dakota to help the Wolverines clinch a spot in the WAC tournament…Grand Canyon's Andrew Naderer snapped a six-decision losing streak with a complete game win over Bakersfield, striking out five and allowing just five hits.
BY THE NUMBERS
Grand Canyon continues to lead the WAC at the plate, hitting .311 as a team. Sacramento State holds the top spot in team pitching with a 3.10 ERA while the Hornets are also tops in fielding percentage at .976. Individually, Northern Colorado's Jensen Park is the only player in the WAC hitting over .400, leading the conference with a .429 average. Sacramento State's Ty Nichols holds the low ERA at 1.45 in 68.1 innings pitched.
Individually, Grand Canyon's Paul Panaccione leads the WAC with 81 hits and 55 runs scored. Teammate Chad De La Guerra is the league-leader in RBIs (49) and home runs (11). Bakersfield's Chance Gusbeth and Sacramento State's Scotty Burcham each has six triples to lead the WAC while Texas-Pan American's Logan Landon has 113 total bases this season. Seattle U's Skyler Genger moved past the century mark in strikeouts last week, leading the conference with 102 strikeouts in 85.2 innings pitched.
In WAC only games, Grand Canyon is hitting .361 as a team to lead the conference. Bakersfield holds the low ERA at 2.89 and the top fielding percentage at .979. Park is hitting an incredible .511 in conference play to lead all individual players while Nichols holds a 1.41 ERA against conference opponents.
PACK YOUR BAGS FOR MESA
The last weekend of WAC regular season play will determine seeding but the six teams headed to Hohokam Stadium in Mesa have been determined as Seattle U, Bakersfield, Sacramento State, North Dakota, Utah Valley and Northern Colorado will all head to the spring training complex of the Oakland A's to play for the WAC Tournament title.
RETIRING NUMBER 17
With Bakersfield head coach Bill Kernen expected to retire upon the conclusion of the 2015 season, the Roadrunner will retire his No. 17 prior to the start of Tuesday's game against No. 12 UC Santa Barbara. This is the first number in any sport at the school to be retired.
The only head coach the Roadrunners have ever know, Kernen has compiled a 190-193-1 record at CSU Bakersfield, winning the program's 150th game Apr. 21, 2014 (5-2) at Kansas State. He won his 400th game as a collegiate head coach against Sacramento State May 22, 2014 during the WAC Tournament. He is 430-347-4 on the collegiate sidelines.
TWO FOR ONE
Originally scheduled to play a doubleheader, the Sacramento State Hornets and Iowa Hawkeyes played the equivalent of two games in on on Apr. 28 as Iowa outlasted the visitors, 4-3, in 18 innings. The longest game in Sacramento State history, it is the third longest game in WAC history and the longest since Fresno State and San Diego played 22 innings in 2011.
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.