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NM STATE'S FISHBACK NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Mason Fishback has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for May 1 through May 7. Fishback, a redshirt junior catcher from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (Rancho Cucamonga HS), led the Aggies to a 4-0 week, going 11-for-19 from the plate for a .579 batting average. He opened the week with a 2-for-4 performance at in-state rival New Mexico, scoring three runs in the Aggies' 12-5 win. Against Utah Valley, he was 9-for-15 with a pair of doubles, a pair of home runs, four runs scored and nine RBIs as NMSU earned the sweep to become the first team to clinch a spot in the upcoming WAC baseball tournament later this month in Mesa, Ariz.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Mahlik Jones was 7-for-13 as the ‘Runners went 4-0 on the week, including a series sweep over Northern Colorado … Grand Canyon's Garrison Schwartz had a pair of home runs in a series win over Seattle U, finishing the weekend 5-for-9 from the plate … Sacramento State's Ian Dawkins extended his current hit streak to 11 games with hits in all four of the Hornets' games.
CSU BAKERSFIELD'S CARTER NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
CSU Bakersfield's Max Carter has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for May 1 through May 7. Carter, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif. (Stockdale HS), carried a perfect game late into CSUB's win over Northern Colorado on Friday. He retired the first 20 batters he faced before giving up a two-out single in the top of the seventh. On the day, he earned his third complete game win of the season, allowing three hits with nine strikeouts and just one walk in the 6-0 victory.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Chicago State's Joe Baier earned the save in Friday's 6-2 win over Grand Canyon, striking out four and allowing one hit over 2.1 innings … Grand Canyon's Jake Repavich earned the complete game win with seven strikeouts over seven innings in a run-rule shortened win over Seattle U on Saturday … NM State's Johnathan Groff threw a complete game shutout in the Aggies' 6-0 win at Utah Valley on Sunday … Sacramento State's Parker Brahms took a no-hitter into the sixth and earned the complete game shutout at Chicago State on Saturday.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
As a team, CSU Bakersfield leads the WAC with a .320 batting average. Sacramento State is both the top pitching team and defensive team with a 3.71 staff ERA and .982 fielding percentage. Individually, CSUB's Ryan Grotjohn is the top hitter with a .402 batting average. Sacramento State's Parker Brahms holds the low ERA at 2.20. Sacramento State's Ian Dawkins is the hits leard with 69 while NM State's Dan Hetzel leads the WAC in both runs scored (48) and RBIs (57). Northern Colorado's Brett Minnick leads the league with 20 doubles while NM State's Brent Sakurai is the leader in triples with six. NMSU's Tristen Carranza holds the lead in home runs with 16. On the hill, Sacramento State's Justin Dillon has 81 strikeouts in 83.2 innings pitched to lead the WAC.
In WAC-only play, Grand CAnyon is hitting .331 to lead the league. The Lopes also have the low staff ERA at 3.18 while Sacramento State has the best fielding percentage at .984. NM State's Mason Fishback and CSUB's David Metzgar are both hitting .451 in conference play while AJ Franks hasn't allowed a run in 26.2 innings pitched to lead the league with a 0.00 ERA.
ON DECK
With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the push for Mesa ramps up as eight teams still remain in contention for six spots. Grand Canyon will wrap up the WAC portion of their schedule this week when they head up to Utah Valley for three games. Seattle U travels to Bakersfield to take on the ‘Runners while NM State heads to Chicago State for three. Northern Colorado will make the trip to UT Rio Grande Valley as both the Bears and Vaqueros need wins to keep playoff hopes alive. Sacramento State has the bye this week and will head south to take on San Diego in a non-conference series.
HEADED TO MESA
NM State became the first team to punch its ticket to the 2017 WAC Baseball Tournament, using a series sweep at Utah Valley to clinch a second-straight trip to the conference tournament.
A PAIR OF JACKS
NM State's Tristen Carranza did his part to help the Aggies earn the win at rival New Mexicon on May 2, hitting two home runs in the top of the fourth as part of a nine-run innings. A two-run home run tied the game and after the Aggies batted around, Carranza belted a grand slame to cap off the big offensive inning as NMSU earned the 12-5 win in Albuquerque.
COMPLETE GAME CARTER
CSU Bakersfield's Max Carter has made things easy on the Roadrunner bullpen this year, pitching three complete games, including a three-hit complete game shutout on May 5 againt Northern Colorado.
BRIGHT BIRD
Seattle U's Jack Reisinger was one of 11 players named to the 2017 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Eight Team. Student-athletes must carry a minimum 3.3 culumative GPA, be in their second year of comeptition at their institution and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games at the position listed on the nomination form.
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.