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SUTTON NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Sean Sutton has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for Feb. 22 through Feb. 28. Sutton, a sophomore infielder from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (Coeur d'Alene HS), was a big part of the Redhawks' four-game sweep of Bowling Green. He went 8-for-12 with two doubles, two runs scored, three RBIs and four walks. In the series opener, he was a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate and followed that up by going 4-for-6 in Saturday's doubleheader. For the season, he is currently second in the WAC in batting average (.478), third in total bases (17) and fourth in hits (11).
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Max Carter was 4-for-10 with a pair of doubles as the Runners took two of three from St. John's … NM State outfielder Austin Botello went 8-for-15 from the plate as the Aggies split a four-game series with Maine … Northern Colorado infielder Brett Minnick hit a pair of home runs at CSUN … Sacramento State infielder Vinny Esposito hit a solo home run and drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the Hornet's 5-4 win over fifth-ranked LSU … UT Rio Grande Valley outfielder Joseph Collazo was 6-for-14 on the week, hitting his first career home run on Sunday against Prairie View A&M … Utah Valley infielder Greyson Bogden led the Wolverines on a five-game California road trip, hitting 11-for-24 with three home runs on the week.
SKUBAL NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Tarik Skubal has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 22 - Feb. 28. Skubal, a sophomore lefthander from Kingman, Ariz. (Kingman Academy), enjoyed another stellar performance Saturday against Bowling Green, pitching six of the scheduled seven innings and allowing just two hits while striking out 10 batters without a walk. He faced the minimum 18 batters because both Falcon runners were caught stealing. He leads the WAC with 23 strikeouts and is one of six qualifying pitchers within the league with a 0.00 ERA.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Andrew Hansen allowed just one run on three hits with five strikeouts in Saturday's 10-4 win over St. John's … North Dakota's Zach Muckenhirn struck out 12 and walked just one over eight innings but took the loss on Friday at Alabama … Northern Colorado's Nick Tanner threw four no-hit innings against CSUN … Sacramento State's Tyler Beardsley threw the last two innings and earned the win in the Hornet's win on Saturday against LSU … UT Rio Grande Valley's Johnny Gonzalez threw 8.1 innings with eight strikeouts to earn the win over Washington State in just his second career start … Utah Valley's Patrick Wolfe made two relief appearances, recording a career-high eight strikeouts against Saint Joseph's.
BY THE NUMBERS
Following the first full week of the 2016 season, NM State leads the WAC in hitting with a .332 team average. Seattle U is the top team on the mound with a staff ERA of 1.61 while Utah Valley has the top fielding percentage at .976.
Individually, NM State's Austin Botello leads the WAC with a .481 batting average in 27 at-bats. Six pitchers have a 0.00 ERA with Seattle U's Tarik Skubal leading the WAC with 23 strikeouts in two appearances. Utah Valley's Greyson Bogden is tops in hits (15) and home runs (3) while Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz has a WAC-high 11 runs scored this season. Sacramento State's Matt Smith leads the conference in RBIs (9).
BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
Seattle U swept Bowling Green for the Redhawks' first four-game sweep over an opponent since returning to intercollegiate action in 2010. SU outscored the Falcons, 26-3, and picked up three shutotus over the weekend.
GEAUX HORNETS
When Sacramento State defeated fifth-ranked LSU, 5-4, on Saturday, it was the Hornets' second win over a top-five opponent in the last three years. They earned a 7-6 win over fourth-ranked Oregon in 2014.
BUSY BEARS
Northern Colorado had a busy week, playing six games in seven days. The Bears opened the week with a pair of games at Kansas before traveling 1,602 miles for a four-game series at CSUN.
TROJAN HORSE
North Dakota's Zach Muckenhirn seemed to play the role of Odysseus on opening night, shutting down the Southern California Trojans from 60 feet, 6 inches away. The junior from Delano, Minn. struck out nine and walked just one as USC, ranked as high as 12th in the national polls, was held scoreless for Muckenhirn's second career shutout. He was named NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week, as well as a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball News.
SKKKKKKKKKKKKKUBAL
Seattle U sophomore Tarik Skubal opened up 2016 in spectacular fashion, setting a new school record for strikeouts in a game with 13 in just seven innings of work. He was named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball News
DAM GOOD WIN
Utah Valley picked up a signature win on opening weekend, upsetting eigth-ranked Oregon State, 12-9, on the second day of the season. The Wolverines picked up 13 hits against the Beavers, including two from left fielder Ryne Edmondson, who led UVU with four RBIs on the game.
WAC COACHES SELECT GCU, PANACCIONE, LONG AS PRESEASON FAVORITES
Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2016 Western Athletic Conference baseball title and Lopes' shortstop Paul Panaccione and Sacramento State pitcher Sam Long were selected WAC Preseason Player and Pitcher of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.
The Lopes received five of 10 first place votes to edge out Sacramento State, who received four first place votes. Seattle U grabbed the remaining first place vote to take third in the preseason poll, followed closely by 2015 WAC Tournament champion CSU Bakersfield in fourth. NM State was selected fifth and Utah Valley earned the sixth position. UT Rio Grande Valley was selected seventh, followed by Northern Colorado, North Dakota and Chicago State.
Panaccione and Long highlighted the Preseason All-WAC squad. Grand Canyon led the way with five honorees as Garrison Schwartz, Brandon Smith, Jake Repavich and Mick Vorhof joined Panaccione. Sacramento State had two Hornets selected as Vinny Esposito joined Long. Seattle U and CSU Bakersfield each had two honorees as well with Tarik Skubal and Dalton Hurd representing the Redhawks and David Metzgar and Joey Sanchez representing the Roadrunners. Chicago State catcher Cody Freund earned selection, as did Utah Valley outfielder Mark Krueger and UT Rio Grande Valley outfielder Cole Loncar.
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.