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CSU BAKERSFIELD'S GROTJOHN NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
CSU Bakersfield's Ryan Grotjohn has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for May 9 through May 15. Grotjohn, a junior shortstop from Scottsdale, Ariz. (Brophy College Prep), hit safely in all four games as the Roadrunners went 4-0 on the week. In a win at 18th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, Ryan was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. He followed that up with a 5-for-8 series against Chicago State, finishing with six runs scored and three RBIs, including a double in each game. Hitting .615 on the week, he also posted an .846 slugging percentage and .688 on-base percentage.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon outfielder Garrison Schwartz was 6-for-11 from the plate in a three-game series with Sacramento State … NM State shortstop LJ Hatch hit a pair of home runs in the Aggies' series sweep at North Dakota … Sacramento State outfielder Chris Lewis drove in at least one run in each game of the Grand Canyon series … Seattle U outfielder Dalton Hurd hit a three-run home run to lead the Redhawks to a win over Washington State … UT Rio Grande Valley catcher Jose Garcia was 10-for-17 from the plate as the Vaqueros dropped two of three at Utah Valley … Utah Valley third baseman Jordan Schlehuber hit .500 on the week, going 8-for-16.
NM STATE's RENTERIA NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Marcel Renteria has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for May 9 through May 15. Renteria, a junior righthander from Nogales, Ariz. (Nogales HS/Pima CC), struck out a career-high 12 batters over seven innings of a 6-0 win at North Dakota. Scattering three hits, he walked just two and did not allow a run to give the Aggies the series-opening win against the Fighting Hawks. The win was his fifth of the season as NM State has now won five straight and eight of their last 10 games.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Chance Gusbeth earned the save at No. 18 UC Santa Barbara and then earned the win on Friday night against Chicago State … Grand Canyon's Gabe Benavides stuck out three over three innings in an 8-3 loss to Sacramento State … Sacramento State's Max Karnos threw seven shutout innings in a 4-1 win at Grand Canyon … Seattle U's Janson Junk tied the program record with 13 strikeouts over six innings to earn the win against Northern Colordo … UT Rio Grande Valley's Parker Gallegos struck out a career-high seven in his first start of the season … Utah Valley's Kyle Valgardson threw 4.1 innings of scoreless relief in his final home appearance.
BY THE NUMBERS
Heading into the final week of the season, first-place Seattle U also leads the WAC in hitting (.299 batting average), pitching (3.43 staff ERA) and defense (.972 fielding percentage). CSU Bakersfield's Dustin Frailey leads all hitters with a .384 average while SU's Nick Meservey has the low qualifying ERA at 2.12. NM State's Daniel Johnson leads the WAC in hits (78), runs scored (56), home runs (11), total bases (130) and stolen bases (26). Teammate Dan Hetzel has a league-high 49 RBIs while Utah Valley's Greyson Bogden leads the WAC with 18 doubles. Frailey has the lead in triples at 7 and North Dakota's Zach Muckenhirn has a league-high 90 strikeouts in 85.2 innings pitched.
In WAC play, Seattle U still leads the league with a .324 team batting average. Sacramento State has the low ERA at 3.35 while Utah Valley holds the top fielding percentage at .976. Seattle U's Brock Carpenter is hitting a league-best .410 in conference play while Sacramento State's Max Karnos has a WAC-low 2.20 ERA in 57.1 innings pitched.
COMPLETE THE JOB
Over one-third of the conference games on May 6-8 saw a pitcher go the distance as six different pitchers recorded complete games over the weekend. Chicago State was the lone team with two as Justin Wyant went nine innings to earn the win on Saturday and Dillon Engle threw all seven innings in a 10-run-rule win. Sacramento State's Max Karnos, UT Rio Grande Valley's Ryan Jackson and CSU Bakersfield's AJ Monarrez all earned complete game wins while Grand Canyon's Tyler Wyatt threw all eight innings in a loss at Northern Colorado.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
For the first time in the 63-year-history of John Smith Field, the Sacramento State Hornets will play under the lights on Tuesday when they host Pacific. Seattle U and Sacramento State will also play a pair of night games on Thursday and Friday nights.
BOOK YOUR TICKET
Four of the six spots at the 2016 WAC Baseball Tournament have been determined as Seattle U, NM State, Utah Valley and Sacramento State all know they are headed to Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. Northern Colorado needs just one more win or a CSU Bakersfield loss to earn the Bears' second straight trip to the tournament while UTRGV holds the lead for the last spot with just one week left to play.
JUST KEEP PLAYING
By the time UT Rio Grande Valley and Sacramento State finished up their final game of their three-game WAC series, the game tied for the longest conference-game in WAC history after going 15 innings in a game that started at about 6 p.m., was suspended due to rain around 10 p.m., resumed around 1:30 p.m the next day and finally finished about 2 p.m. local time.
GREEN BEATS RED
Utah Valley completed the season sweep of in-state rival Utah on April 19 for the first time that either team has swept a season series of three game or more against each other since UVU moved to NCAA Division I in 2004.
LONG WAY HOME
After 20 games on the road to open the 2016 season, North Dakota finally played in Grand Forks on April 9 against Seattle U
NINE RUNS? NO PROBLEM
Utah Valley put together one of the most improbable comebacks of the season against North Dakota. Down 9-1 headed into the bottom of the ninth, the Wolverines rallied for nine runs for a 10-9 walk off win.
SNOW MEANS NO GO
After a blizzard shut down Denver International Airport for just the third time ever, the WAC series between UT Rio Grande Valley and Northern Colorado was cancelled after the Vaqueros were unable to secure a flight to Colorado for the tilt in Greeley.
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.
LUCKY 13
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. Not to be outdone, teammate Janson Junk tied his record on May 15 against Northern Colorado.
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.