Complete Release in PDF Format
UTAH VALLEY'S BOGDEN NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Greyson Bogden has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 14 through March 20. Bogden, a senior shortstop from Bluffdale, Utah (Riverton HS), led UVU to a big series win over Minnesota, hitting .615 with a .642 on-base percentage and a .923 slugging percentage. He went 8-for-13 over the three-game set, recording multi-hit games in all three contests. His best game came on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with a school-record tying three doubles in a 3-2 win.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield shortstop Mahlik Jones hit .438 in a four-game series against Oklahoma, also making an appearance on the mound on Saturday … Northern Colorado infielder Jake Ek hit .500 in a pair of games at Colorado Mesa … Sacramento State outfielder Andrew McWilliam drove in two of three runs in Sunday's win over Cal Poly … Seattle U infielder Sheldon Stober led the Redhawks offensively, hitting .350 with two doubles and a home run … UT Rio Grande Valley catcher Jose Garcia hit .438 as the Vaqueros went 2-2 on the week.
UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S GONZALEZ NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley's Johnny Gonzalez has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 14 through March 20. Gonzalez, a sophomore right-hander from Corpus Christi, Texas (Moody HS), tie his career high with eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings to earn the win against Jackson State on Saturday. Throwing 52 of 78 pitches for strikes, it was his second-straight outing of six shutout innings without a walk. He is also riding a 14.2 inning scoreless streak and a 12.1 inning walkless streak.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: NM State's Kyle Bradish struck out eight over seven innings to earn the win at UC Riverside … Sacramento State's Max Karnos allowed one run on just three hits to earn the win on Sunday against Cal Poly … Seattle U's Nick Meservey pitched 7.1 scoreless innings on Monday against Minnesota and returned on Sunday to throw 4.2 two-run innings at UC Irvine … Utah Valley's Danny Beddes nearly earned the complete-game win, going 8.2 innings in Saturday's win over Minnesota.
BY THE NUMBERS
Heading into conference play, Seattle U leads the WAC in hitting (.280 batting average) and pitching (2.68 ERA). Grand Canyon is the top defensive team with a .974 fielding percentage. Individually, CSU Bakersfield's Dustin Frailey holds a league-best .444 batting average and Seattle U's Tarik Skubal leads the WAC with a 0.87 ERA and 39 strikeouts. Utah Valley's Greyson Bogden leads the league in hits (34) and doubles (9). UTRGV's Joseph Collazo is tied with NM State's Daniel Johnson in runs scored (22) with Johnson also leading the WAC in triples (3) and is tied with Bogden and Northern Colorado's Brett Minnick for the home run lead (3). NM State's Austin Botello has the early lead in RBIs at 18.
TIME TO GET WAC-KY
The conference schedule begins this week across the Western US. The biggest matchup looks to be CSU Bakersfield visiting Seattle U in a rematch of the 2015 WAC Tournament championship games. Utah Valley heads to Grand Canyon the heels of a series win over Big Ten Minnesota. UT Rio Grande Valley comes to Northern Colorado while North Dakota heads to California to take on Sacramento State. Chicago State also hits the road, heading to Las Cruces to take on NM State.
HOME SWEET HOME
Sacramento State is in the midst of a school-record 13 game homestand. It is also the longest in the WAC this season.
ON THE ROAD (AGAIN)
North Dakota is still over two weeks away from its home opener, which is scheduled to take place on April 8 when the Fighting Hawks host Seattle U.
GEAUX HORNETS
When Sacramento State defeated fifth-ranked LSU, 5-4, on Feb. 27, 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.
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 shutouts over the weekend.
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 third straight season, the WAC Baseball Tournament will take place in Mesa, Ariz. as the 2016 championship returns to renovated 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 14 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, 2014 and 2015. CSU Bakersfield won the 2015 tournament, earning the WAC's automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.