Complete Release in PDF Format
CSU BAKERSFIELD'S GROTJOHN NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
CSU Bakersfield's Ryan Grotjohn has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 13 through March 19. Grotjohn, a senior infielder from Scottsdale, Ariz. (Brophy College Prep) had an outstanding weekend at the plate, tying or resetting two school records on Sunday afternoon. In the series finale at UC Riverside, he was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with three doubles and three RBIs, tying the CSUB record for most hits in a game and setting a new record for most doubles in a game. On the week, he was 10-for-15 for a .667 average, also posting a 1.000 slugging percentage with five doubles. He was 1-for-2 on stolen base attempts, scored four times and drove in five RBIs.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Chicago State's Matt Paciello had three multi-hit games for the Cougars last week … Grand Canyon's Austin Bull had hits in four of five games for the Lopes, scoring four times … Northern Colorado's Evan Johnson was 4-for-9 in a midweek series at Wichita State and is currently riding an 11-game hitting streak … Sacramento State's Ian Dawkins hit .353 on the week with three runs scored … UT Rio Grande Valley's Joseph Collazo was 11-for-28 on the week with four extra base hits and eight runs scored.
UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S MARTINEZ NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley's Zach Martinez has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 13 - March 19. Martinez, a sophomore right-hander from Harlingen, Texas (Harlingen HS South), made three appearances in relief and earned two wins for the Vaqueros. Taking the mound for a total of 3.0 innings, he did not allow a hit, striking out three batters and walking just one. Both of his wins came against Buffalo, facing two batters on Saturday and striking out the only batter he faced on Sunday.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Jake Wong allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings but did not get the decision in an extra-inning loss at Pepperdine … Sacramento State's Ty Fox did not allow a hit over four innings in three appearances … Utah Valley's Jackson Cofer allowed just one run on four hits in 7.1 innings in a win at Creighton.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
As a team, NM State leads the WAC in batting with a .339 average. UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader on the mound with a 3.31 staff ERA while Sacramento State is the top defensive team with a .982 fielding percentage. Individually, CSU Bakersfield's Ryan Grotjohn leads the WAC with a .466 batting average while Grand Canyon's Jake Wong holds a 1.41 ERA. NM State's Joey Ortiz leads the league with 31 hits and teammate Tristen Carranza is the leader with 24 RBIs and is tied for the lead in home runs with Northern Colorado's Cole Maltese with five each. UTRGV's Jose Garcia has a league-high 26 runs scored. Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund has a WAC-best 11 doubles while NM State's Brent Sakurai and CSUB's Mark Pena are tied for the lead in triples with three each. UTRGV's Carter Johnson is the strikeout king with 43 Ks in 34.2 innings pitched.
WAC PLAY BEGINS
Conference play begins this week with Sacramento State visiting Northern Colorado, Chicago State heading to Seattle U, CSU Bakersfield traveling to Grand Canyon and Utah Valley making the trip to UT Rio Grande Valley. With an odd number of teams competing in the WAC this season, NM State is the lone team not opening league play but the Aggies will be tested as they travel to perennial-power UC Santa Barbara for three.
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.
SIT DOWN
The CSU Bakersfield pitching staff had a week for the ages on Feb. 20-26, 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.