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NM STATE'S CARRANZA NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Tristen Carranza has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 27 through April 2. Carranza, a sophomore first-baseman from El Centro, Calif. (Brawley HS), led the Aggies to a WAC sweep at Seattle U, going 6-for-11 from the plate in the three-game series. On the week, he was 7-for-15 with three home runs, four RBIs and four runs scored, posting a .467 batting average and a 1.133 slugging percentage. He was also solid in the field, recording 34 putouts and one assist with no errors.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Andrew Penner was 9-for-19 on the week as the ‘Runners went 1-3 … Grand Canyon's Tyler Wyatt was 7-for-13 on the week as the Lopes remained undefeated in WAC play … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ivan Estrella hit .412 on the week as the Vaqueros earned the series win at CSU Bakersfield.
GRAND CANYON'S WONG NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Jake Wong has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 27 through April 2. Wong, a sophomore right-hander from Chandler, Ariz. (Hamilton HS), allowed just two hits and struck out five over 7.1 innings to earn the win in Friday's WAC series opener against Northern Colorado. He retired 12 consecutive batters from the fourth to eighth innings as he earned his third scoreless outing of at least six innings this season. He currently leads the WAC with a 1.36 earned run average in seven appearances, holding a 3-1 record on the year.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: NM State's Kyle Bradish allowed just one run on one hit over seven innings to earn the win on Friday at Seattle U … Sacramento State's Justin Dillon scattered nine hits over seven innings and allowed just one run to earn a win at Utah Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Josh Witherspoon earned his first career save on Sunday at CSU Bakersfield … Utah Valley's Paxton Schultz struck out seven in five innings of relief to get the win on Saturday against Sacramento State.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
As a team, NM State leads the WAC in batting with a .316 average. Sacramento State leads the way both on the mound, with a 3.75 staff ERA, and in the field, with a .982 fielding percentage. Individually, CSU Bakersfield's Andrew Penner leads the league with a .447 batting average. Grand Canyon's Jake Wong holds the low ERA at 1.36 in 46.1 innings pitched. NM State's Joey Ortiz has a league-high 42 hits while teammate Austin Botello is the leader in RBIs with 31. UTRGV's Jose Garcia has a league-best 28 runs scored. NM State's Tristen Carranza is the home run leader with nine dingers, including three last week. On the mound, UTRGV's Cartern Johnson is the leader with 55 strikeouts in 47.1 innings pitched.
ON DECK
After a busy non-conference schedled on Tuesday and Wednesday, WAC play resumes on Friday afternoon. Grand Canyon will look to stay undefeated when the Lopes travel to Sacramento State in a battle of state capitals. NM State will also look to stay undefeated in conference play this weekend, hosting UT Rio Grande Valley for three games. CSU Bakersfield travels to Chicago State and Seattle U heads to Northern Colorado as all four teams will look for crucial WAC wins early in the season. Utah Valley holds the bye this week as the Wolverines will play host to UIW this weekend.
GRAND START
Grand Canyon is off to its best start in conference play since the Lopes went 7-0 in 1999.
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.