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GRAND CANYON'S PAVLICA NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Preston Pavlica has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 1 through March 6. Pavlica, a freshman outfielder from Las Vegas (Liberty HS), made the most of his first two career starts, recording seven RBIs on 5-of-8 hitting in a pair of wins over Omaha. His best game came in the series finale, going 3-for-4 with a double, four RBIs, a run scored and a stolen base as the Lopes won two in a row for just the second time this season.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield outfielder Dustin Frailey hit .579 with hits in all five games … NM State's Dan Hetzel posted three multi-hit games for the Aggies … Northern Colorado's Cole Maltese was 6-for-14 in a rainy three game series at Pacific … Sacramento State outfielder Chris Lewis hit three extra base hits in a pair of games against South Dakota State … Seattle U first baseman Michael McCann set the table for the Redhawk offense, going 6-for-11 with four walks against Oakland … UT Rio Grande Valley infielder/outfielder Joseph Collazo scored a career-high four runs in Saturday's 7-3 win at Lamar … Utah Valley catcher Zac Willis hit .500 with three doubles as the Wolverines won 3 of 4 at Washington State.
UTAH VALLEY'S WOLFE NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Patrick Wolfe has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 1 through March 7. Wolfe, a junior from Reno, Nev. (Damonte Ranch HS), threw five innings of no-hit relief in a pair of wins at Washington State. On Thursday, he tossed two innings with a pair of strikeouts in an 8-0 series-opening win. He returned to the bump on Saturday, throwing three innings of no-hit ball with three strikeouts and one walk as the Wolverines outlasted the Cougars, 10-9, in 11 innings. He has already set a new career high for strikeouts with 19 this season.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Ethan Evanko picked up his first win of the season in Saturday's 9-4 win over Omaha … NM State's Andy Frakes made four appearances, posting a 1.80 ERA in games against Texas Tech and Stephen F. Austin … Northern Colorado's Nick Tanner allowed just one run on five hits with a pair of strikeouts in Sunday's 8-1 win at Pacific … Sacramento State's Sam Long tied his career high with seven strikeouts and did not issue a walk to get the win against South Dakota State … Seattle U's Ted Hammons struck out five and allowed just one unearned run on three hits over six innings in a 10-1 win over Oakland … UT Rio Grande Valley's Andrew Garcia tossed a complete game for the win on Saturday at Lamar.
BY THE NUMBERS
Entering the second week of March, Seattle U leads the WAC in hitting (.306) and pitching (1.60). Utah Valley is the top fielding team (.973). Individually, CSU Bakersfield's Dustin Frailey leads the league with a .465 batting average. Seattle U's Tarik Skubal and North Dakota's Zach Muckenhirn both hold 0.00 ERAs with Skubal also holding a WAC-high 27 strikeouts.
Utah Valley's Greyson Bogden leads the WAC in hits (22) while Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz has touched home a league-leading 14 times. CSUB's David Metzgar is tops in RBIs (13) while Utah Valley's Greyson Bogden holds the early home run lead with three.
RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY
While California needs the rain, last week's wet weather made for some schedule changes around the WAC. Northern Colorado was only able to play three of four scheduled games against Pacific in Stockton. Sacramento State and South Dakota State played two games over the weekend, with another scheduled on Monday evening in Sacramento and a neutral-site game on Tuesday before SDSU's already scheduled game at Pacific in Stockton. The rain has also washed away two games for Seattle U at Portland and snow cancelled Chicago State's home opener against Roosevelt.
WAC>PAC
There is still a lot of baseball left to play but after three weekends of action, the WAC currently holds a 7-3 record against the Pac-12. The conference also has a winning record against the Big East (3-1), Colorial (3-0), Horizon (3-1), Mid-American (7-1), Southwestern (2-0) and Summit (4-1).
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 shutotus 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.