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UTAH VALLEY HEADED TO BATON ROUGE FROM NCAA REGIONAL
Two days after winning their first WAC baseball tournament title, the Utah Valley Wolverines are headed to Baton Rouge, La. for the NCAA regional, hosted by LSU. The Wolverines, who are seeded fourth, will take on host LSU on Friday at 2 p.m. CT.
Utah Valley went 4-0 in tournament play, defeating top-seed Seattle U in Saturday's title game, to advance to its first NCAA regional. WAC Tournament MVP Craig Brinkerhoff looks to lead the Wolverines offense into Alex Box Stadium, hitting .328 in 204 at-bats with nine doubles, three triples, 11 home runs and 36 RBIs. First Team All-WAC honoree Danny Beddes is the favorite to start the opener, bringing a 9-3 record with 96 strikeouts into the NCAA Regional.
LSU heads into the NCAA tournament holding a 42-18 record, with one of those losses coming at home against Sacramento State. The Tigers are led offensively by Antoine Duplantis, who is hitting .340 on the year with seven doubles, five triples, two home runs and 36 RBIs. On the mound, Alex Lange went 7-3 with a 3.56 ERA in 15 appearances, striking out 107 and walking 45 in 98.2 innings pitched.
Joining UVU and LSU in Baton Rouge will be Southeastern Lousiana and former WAC member Rice.
UTAH VALLEY WINS 2016 WAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
Third-seeded Utah Valley posted the 4-0 shutout over top-seeded Seattle U to advance to the first NCAA regional in school history as the 2016 WAC Baseball Tournament Champions on Saturday night at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
The Wolverines opened the scoring in the top of the first as Mark Krueger singled to left field to scored Zac Willis for the 1-0 lead. UVU's Kaden Schmitt took over on the mound and held the Redhawks scoreless over seven innings, striking out four and walking two on 94 pitches. Utah Valley added three more runs in the top of the fifth and Seattle U never found a way to get on the board as Utah Valley merged onto the road to Omaha.
Schmitt picked up his first win of the season. Zach Wolf took the loss. Greyson Bogden was 4-for-4 on the game and Craig Brinkerhoff was named Tournament MVP. Brinkerhoff was joined by Krueger, Jordan Schlehuber, Jackson Cofer and Schmitt.
Seattle U was represented on the all-tournament team by Sean Sutton and Lucas Denney. NM State put three players on the team with Austin Botello, Daniel Johnson and Greg Popylisen earning honors. David Metzgar represented CSU Bakersfield.
AGAINST THE FIELD
The WAC went 17-36 against 2016 NCAA tournament non-conference participants. The conference posted winning records against Minnesota (5-3) and Utah (3-0). Utah Valley is 5-3 this season against fellow NCAA tournament participants, going 3-0 against Utah, 2-2 against Minnesota and 0-1 against Arizona.
LOOKING BACK
The last time the WAC had a team face off against LSU in the postseason was when Rice took two from the Tigers in 2005. Coincidently, the Owls will be in Baton Rouge this season, taking on Southeastern Louisiana in the opening round. Rice also swept LSU in the 2002 Super Regional. LSU defeated Fresno State, 6-2, in a 1994 Regional.
REWRITE THE RECORD BOOK
The 2016 WAC Baseball Tournament saw two new records set. CSU Bakersfield's Dustin Frailey set a new tournament record for walks with seven in just three games. CSU Bakersfield and Northern Colorado combined for eight stolen bases on Thursday to set a new record as well.
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 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.