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GRAND CANYON'S SCHWARTZ NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for April 17 through April 23. Schwartz, a junior outfielder from Chandler, Ariz. (Desert Vista HS), had multiple hits in all three games and hit .615 as the Lopes swept UT Rio Grande Valley to remain atop the WAC standings. The WAC Preseason Player of the Year saved his best at-bats for the finale, hitting a pair of doubles and then finishing with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give GCU a 9-8 win.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Mahlik Jones was 7-for-14 with five RBIs at Arizona State and also earned the win on the hill on Sunday … Chicago State's Matt Sullivan hit .467 over four games for the Cougars … NM State's Mason Fishback was 8-for-15 from the plate as the Aggies dropped a close game to nationally-ranked Texas Tech before sweeping Northern Colorado at home … Northern Colorado's Tyler Yamaguchi was 5-for-13 on the week … Sacramento State's Vinny Esposito had multiple hits in four of five games for the Hornets on the week … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ivan Estrella hit his first career grand slam and finished with a career-high five RBIs on Sunday at Grand Canyon … Utah Valley's Jake Berry batted .545 in three games against Chicago State.
SACRAMENTO STATE'S BRAHMS NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State's Parker Brahms has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for April 17 through April 23. Brahms, a freshman right-hander from Calabasas, Calif. (Calabasas HS), allowed just three hits, all of them singles, as he earned the win at Seattle U. He finished with six strikeouts and two walks over six scoreless innings to earn his third win in WAC play. Over his last four starts, he holds a 1.01 ERA and a .168 opponent's batting average with 20 strikeouts over 26.2 innings.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Chicago State's Joe Baier earned the win in Saturday's victory at Utah Valley, allowing three hits over 2.1 scoreless innings … Grand Canyon's AJ Franks earned the win in relief on Sunday and still hasn't allowed a run in conference play … NM State's Marcel Renteria struck out nine and allowed just one run on four hits over seven innings to earn the win against Northern Colorado … Northern Colorado's Connor Leedholm struck out four over five innings in a no-decision at NM State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Austin Kufrovich didn't allow a run in 4.2 innings pitched … Utah Valley's Patrick Wolfe earned a pair of saves against Chicago State to bring his season total to nine.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
As a team, CSU Bakersfield leads the WAC with a .318 batting average. Sacramento is both the top pitching team and defensive team with a 3.79 staff ERA and .979 fielding percentage. Individually, CSUB's Ryan Grotjohn is the top hitter with a .431 batting average. NM State's Kyle Bradish holds the low ERA at 2.18. Grotjohn leads the WAC with 59 hits while UTRGV's Jose Garcia holds the lead in runs scored with 38. NM State's Dan Hetzel has a WAC-high 45 RBIs. Northern Colorado's Brett Minnick leads the league with 18 doubles while NM State's Brent Sakurai holds the lead in triples with six. Fellow Aggie Tristen Carranza has a league-best 12 home runs this season. On the hill, Sacramento State's Justin Dillon has 70 striketouts in 70.1 innings pitched to lead the league.
In conference-only play, CSUB is hitting .319 to lead the league. NM State holds a league-low 2.66 staff ERA against fellow WAC opponents while Grand Canyon has a .986 fielding percentage in league play. CSUB's David Metzgar holds a .458 batting average in WAC play while GCU's AJ Franks hasn't allowed a run in 19.0 innings pitched to hold a 0.00 ERA in league action.
ON DECK
Following a stacked schedule of non-conference play on Tuesday and Wednesday, the top two teams in the WAC standings will meet up this week in Las Cruces as Grand Canyon visits NM State for three games that could go a long way in determining the league title. Utah Valley visits Northern Colorado as the Wolverines try to solidify their tournament chances. CSU Bakersfield makes the trip up I-5 to Sacramento to take on the Hornets while Chicago State heads to the southern tip of Texas for three games with UT Rio Grande Valley. Seattle U holds the bye this week and the Redhawks welcome UNLV to the Pacifc Northwest for three non-conference games.
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.
TIE DOWN
Due to another game scheduled at the part, Seattle U and Portland were forced to settle for a 10-10 tie after eight innings on April 5. It was the first tie in the WAC this season and the fourth in the WAC over the last five season.
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, MESSERVEY, 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.