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CSU BAKERSFIELD'S GUSBETH NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
CSU Bakersfield's Chance Gusbeth has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for May 16 through May 22. Gusbeth, a senior outfielder from Lancaster, Calif. (Desert Christian HS), hit .667 in three games. In the final non-conference game of the year, he went 2-for-4 against Cal Poly. Against North Dakota, he finished a double shy of the cycle on Friday, going 3-for-4 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored. He followed that up with another 3-for-4 afternoon, this time driving home two runs and scoring twice to help the Roadrunners clinch a fourth-straight trip to the WAC tournament.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz recorded a hit in every game this week, going 8-for-15 with seven RBIs … NM State's Trey Stine was 6-for-13 as the Aggies took two of three at Northern Colorado to clinch the second seed in the upcoming WAC tournament … Sacramento State infielder Kody Reynolds hit .357 with a home run and two doubles over four games … Seattle U catcher Jack Reisinger led the Redhawks at the plate as they won their first ever regular season title … Utah Valley's Craig Brinkerhoff led the Wolverines to a sweep in Chicago, hitting 5-for-11 on the series.
SEATTLE U'S MESERVEY NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Nick Meservey has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for May 16 through May 22. Meservey, a sophomore left-hander from Scottsdale, Ariz. (Saguaro HS), tied his career high with nine strikeouts over eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and walking one, in the Redhawks' 3-0 win on Friday night. He finished the regular season with a 7-2 record and will help lead Seattle U into Mesa, Ariz. as the top seed in this week's WAC tournament.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Isaiah Moten allowed just four hits over seven innings in the ‘Runners series-opening win over North Dakota on Thursday … Grand Canyon's Cameron Brendel threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just five hits over seven innings in a 10-0 win at UTRGV … NM State's Kyle Bradish struck out nine batters over just five innings in a wild 18-16 win at Northern Colorado … Sacramento State's Sam Long struck out a career-high nine batters and allowed just one earned run over six innings against Seattle U … Utah Valley's Danny Beddes tied a season-high with nine strikeouts and became UVU's career wins leader in an 8-3 win at Chicago State.
BY THE NUMBERS
Seattle U finished the regular season not only atop the league standings but also leading the WAC in batting (.295), pitching (3.41 ERA) and fielding (.973). CSU Bakersfield's Dustin Frailey hit a league-best .376 while Seattle U's Nick Meservey finished with the low ERA at 1.89. NM State's Daniel Johnson led the WAC in hits (85), runs scored (62), home runs (12), total bases (145) and stolen bases (27). Teammate Dan Hetzel lead the league in RBIs with 51 while Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz had a WAC-high 19 doubles. Frailey led the league in triples with eight while North Dakota's Zach Muckenhirn struck out a league-high 99 hitters in 92.2 innings pitched.
In WAC-only play, NM State led all teams with a .316 batting average. Sacramento State had the low ERA at 3.27 and Utah Valley had a WAC-best .977 fielding percentage. NM State's Johnson hit .416 in conference play while Sacramento State's Max Karnos held a WAC-low 2.27 ERA.
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 played under the lights on May 17 when they hosted Pacific. Seattle U and Sacramento State also played a pair of games under the lights, including Friday night's Seattle U win that didn't begin until nearly 9:30 p.m. due to rain in the area.
THE BRACKET IS SET
Four of the six spots at the 2016 WAC Baseball Tournament were determined well before the final weekend of WAC play but that doesn't mean the last weekend wasn't without excitement. Seattle U earned the regular season title and top seed after beating Sacramento State on Saturday and watching Northern Colorado knock off NM State. Northern Colorado did just enough to earn a second-straight trip to Mesa while CSU Bakersfield swept North Dakota to punch their ticket for a fourth-straight season.
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.