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NM STATE'S BOTELLO NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Austin Botello has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for Feb. 20 through Feb. 26. Botello, a senior outfielder from Galveston, Texas (Clear Springs HS), was the catalyst of a potent NM State offense that combined for 73 runs in a four-game sweep of Mount St. Mary's. He was 15-of-23 at the plate on the week, hitting for a WAC-best .652 average with a 1.043 slugging percentage and .678 on-base percentage. His best game came in the series finale with Mount St. Mary's on Sunday as he was 6-for-7 from the plate with five RBIs and two runs scores. He finished the week with three doubles, two home runs, nine runs scored and 12 RBIs.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jake Ortega had a .545 average as the ‘Runners went undefeated on the week with a win over nationally-ranked UC Santa Barbara and a four-game sweep of Portland … Grand Canyon's Griffin Barnes recorded his first career home run in the series finale at Wichita State … Northern Colorado's Cole Maltese had a pair of home runs and hit for a .389 average in five games … Sacramento State outfielder Ian Dawkins had a hit and scored in each of the Hornets' four games on the week … UT Rio Grande Valley shortstop Ivan Estrella had five RBIs in Sunday's series finale with Prairie View A&M as the Vaqueros improved to 8-0 on the season … Utah Valley first baseman Trevor Peterson was 7-for-13 with four runs scored in three games at UC Davis.
SACRAMENTO STATE'S DILLON NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State's Justin Dillon has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 20 - Feb. 26. Dillon, a senior from Placerville, Calif. (El Dorado HS), threw the first no-hitter in Sacramento State's Division I history and the first in the WAC since 2010. The right-hander struck out 13 and walked just one, also allowing a base-runner on an error, to complete the third no-hitter in NCAA Division I this season. The 13 strikeouts was also a career-best for the Hornet.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Naithen Dewsnap did not allow a run in three appearances to earn a win and two saves for the ‘Runners … Grand Canyon's Jake Wong struck out four and held Wichita State to just one run in the series opener … NM State's Johnathan Groff earned the win with eight strikeouts and just two runs allowed in Friday's 13-2 win over Mount St. Mary's … Northern Colorado's Aaron Hamilton earned the win with a school-record 14 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over San José State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Carter Johnson retried the first 12 and last 11 batters he faced, striking out 13 and allowing just one run on two hits in a complete-game win over Prairie View A&M … Utah Valley's Jackson Cofer earned the Wolverines first win of the season, allowing two runs over 6.2 innings for the decision.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State's huge offensive weekend propelled the Aggies to the top of the team batting leaders as they are hitting .379 as a team with 25 doubles, four triples and 10 home runs this season. Undefeated UT Rio Grande Valley is the top pitching team with a 1.43 staff ERA and 80 strikeouts to just 17 walks. Seattle U holds the top fielding percentage at .980, having committed just five errors this season. Individually, NM State's Austin Botello leads the WAC in batting average (.556), hits (20), runs scored (13), RBIs (15) and total bases (30). His teammate LJ Hatch has a WAC-leading six doubles this season while four players are tied for the lead with two triples. Northern Colorado teammates Evan Johnson and Cole Maltese hold the early home run lead with three apiece. UTRGV's Carter Johnson is the early strikeout leader with 22 in 15.0 innings pitched.
NO, YOU MAY NOT HAVE A HIT
Sacramento State right-hander Justin Dillon threw the WAC's first no-hitter in nearly seven years on Feb. 23 against Northern Kentucky. Dillon faced just two batters over the minimum for the first no-no in Sacramento State's Division I history.
AGGIE OFFENSE
After scoring just 17 runs in their first three games, the NM State Aggies have been nearly unstoppable on offense, having scored 94 runs in their last six games, including 73 runs in a four-game sweep of Mount St. Mary's.
SIT DOWN
The CSU Bakersfield pitching staff had a week for the ages, striking out 51 batters in five wins. Three of the five starting pitchers set new career highs in the category.
BEAR DOWN
Northern Colorado junior Aaron Hamilton had a career game on Feb. 24 against San José State, striking out a WAC season-high and personal best 14 bitters and walking none in a 1-0 complete game win.
EL CICLO
UTRGV outfielder Jose Garcia got the 2017 season off to a good start, hitting for the cycle in his first four at-bats of the Vaqueros' second game of the season. He hit a triple in the bottom of the first, double in the third, single in the fourth and a home run in the fifth to complete the trick.
CURRENT MEET FUTURE LED BY PAST
On Feb. 22, Grand Canyon traveled to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in an exhibition game, falling 9-1 in seven innings. The Lopes skipper Andy Stankiewicz was on the D-backs roster for their inaugural season in 1998.
WAC COACHES SELECT SU, MESSERVERY, SCHWARTZ AS PRESEASON FAVORITES
Seattle U is the preseason favorite to win the 2017 Western Athletic Conference baseball title and Redhawks' pitcher Nick Meservey and Grand Canyon outfielder Garrison Schwartz were selected WAC Preseason Pitcher and Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's nine head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.
The Redhawks received four first place votes to finish atop the preseason poll with 60 points. NM State was selected second, earning one first place vote and 52 points overall. Sacramento State picked up two first place votes for 47 points, edging out Grand Canyon by one point for third as the Lopes earned 46 points. Utah Valley was selected fifth as the 2016 tournament champions finished with 43 points. CSU Bakersfield was sixth, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley, Northern Colorado and Chicago State.
Meservey and Schwartz highlighted the Preseason All-WAC squad. Seattle U led the way with five honorees as Sean Sutton, Griffin Andreychuk, Tarik Skubal and Connor Moore joined Meservey. NM State had four honored as Mason Fishback, Trey Stine, Austin Botello and Kyle Bradish represented the Aggies. Schwartz was joined by GCU teammate Zach Malis while the CSU Bakersfield duo of David Metzgar and Max Carter represented the Roadrunners. UT Rio Grande Valley's Jose Garcia rounded out the 14-member squad.
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO HOHOKAM STADIUM
For the third straight season, the WAC Baseball Tournament will head to Hohokam Stadium, preseason home of the Oakland Athletics. Renovated prior to spring training in 2015, 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 15 times (1963, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 2010, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16) and the event was held in Mesa in 1971, 1973, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Utah Valley won the 2016 tournament, earning the WAC's automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.