Complete Release in PDF Format
NMSU'S STILL NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Marcus Still has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for Feb. 12 through Feb. 18. Still, a senior outfielder from New Orleans (Queen Creek HS), was nearly perfect from the play, going 8-for-9 with four walks as the Aggies took two of three from Towson. In the season opener, Still was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and a pair of RBIs in a 24-2 win. His only falter came in game two, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored in an 11-6 loss. The Aggies and Still bounced back on Sunday as the outfielder was 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored in a 13-3 win. His .889 average leads the WAC after the opening weekend of play.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jassen Oliver hit .300 on the weekend and have five RBIs in Sunday's 14-7 win over UC Davis … Chicago State's Matt Paciello helped the Cougars open the season 2-1, hitting .417 in a neutral-site series against LIU Brooklyn … Grand Canyon's Quin Cotton hit his first career home run on Saturday and then drove in the game-tying RBI on Sunday against fourth-ranked TCU … Northern Colorado's Tyler Yamaguchi was 7-for-16 in a series split with San José State … Sacramento State's Matt Smith hit a home run on Saturday and was 4-for-11 from the plate as the Hornets opened the series with Washington by taking two-of-three … Seattle U's Curtis Perrin collected four extra-base hits as the Redhawks took three-of-four from Pacific to open the year … UT Rio Grande Valley's Elijah Alexander was 7-for-13 from the plate with five RBIs and four runs scored as the Vaqueros opened the year with four straight wins … Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund had a triple and a home run as the Wolverines battled with USC to open the season.
GCU'S WONG NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Jake Wong has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 12 - Feb. 18. Wong, a junior from Chandler, Ariz. (Hamilton HS), was in line for the win against fourth-ranked TCU on opening night before settling for a no-decision after a late Horned Frogs rally. In six scoreless innings pitched, he struck out a career-high nine and walked just two of the 22 TCU hitters he faced.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Chicago State's Joe Fitka struck out six and allowed just one unearned run on one hit in four innings of relief to earn the save on Sunday against LIU Brooklyn … Northern Colorado's Keenan Lum allowed just one run and struck out seven over six innings to earn the win at San José State … NM State's Kyle Bradish picked up his first win of the year with 11 strikeouts over 5.1 innings in a 24-4 win over Towson … Sacramento State's Parker Brahms struck out nine with just two hits and no walks allowed against Washington … Seattle U's Zach Wolf earned the win in the nightcap on Friday and picked up the save in Saturday's opener to help lead the Redhawks to a series win over Pacific … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ryan Jackson picked up the win in the season opener against Central Michigan and returned to the mound Saturday to earn the save as the Vaqueros opened the season 4-0 … Utah Valley's Jake Mayer notched a win on Friday night, striking out six and allowing just one run over six innings in a 5-1 win at USC.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Just one weekend in, NM State leads the WAC in hitting (.360), Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (1.86) and Grand Canyon is the leader in fielding (.982). NM State's Marcus Still is the early batting leader (.889) while a number of players got through the first weekend without giving up an earned run. SU's Sean Sutton holds the lead in hits (9) while teammate Curtis Perrin is the early leader in RBIs (9). UTRGV's Ivan Estrella is tops in runs scored with six. NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the leader in strikeouts with 11 in the season opener.
ON DECK
It's a busy week around the WAC with a number of midweek games and a full slate of weekend games. On Monday, Sacramento State hosts Washington in the fourth and final game of their season-opening series while CSU Bakersfield takes on Saint Mary's. Tuesday also has some good games as NM State visits fifth-ranked Texas Tech, UT Rio Grande Valley hosts rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Grand Canyon takes on Washington State. Chicago State kicks off the weekend action on Friday with a neutral site game agaisnt St. Bonaventure in Florida. The Cougars will also take on Mount St. Mary's, Minnesota and Indiana at the Snowbird Classic. CSU Bakersfield heads to Berkeley for a series with California and Sacramento State also takes on some Bay Area opponents with a home game against San Francisco and then road games with San Francisco and San José State. Utah Valley visits Pacific, UT Rio Grande Valley hosts UIC, Seattle U welcomes Rhode Island and NM State plays host to Mississippi Valley State. Northern Colorado will also be home, taking on MSU Billings for four games. Finally, Grand Canyon heads to San Diego for the Tony Gwynn Classic. In addition to take on hosts University of San Diego and San Diego State, the Lopes will face off with Cal Poly on Saturday.
WAC COACHES SELECT GCU, BRADISH, FISHBACK AS PRESEASON FAVORITES
Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2018 Western Athletic Conference baseball title while NM State's Kyle Bradish and Mason Fishback 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 Lopes received five first place votes to finish atop the preseason poll with 61 points. NM State was second, earning two first place votes and 54 points overall. Sacramento State earned one of the remaining first place votes to finish third with 51 points. Seattle U was selected fourth with 46 points and the last first place vote, followed by CSU Bakersfield, Utah Valley, UT Rio Grande Valley, Northern Colorado and Chicago State.
Bradish and Fishback highlighted the Preseason All-WAC squad as NM State led the way with four players. The Aggies' Joey Ortiz and Tristen Carranza joined Bradish and Fishback on the list. Sacramento State had three earn honors as the Hornets were represented by Vinny Esposito, Ian Dawkins and James Outman. Grand Canyon was represented by three as well with Ian Evans, Austin Bull and Jake Wong selected to the team. CSU Bakersfield had two selections with Andrew Penner and Naithen Dewsnap earning honors. Northern Colorado outfielder Jack Pauley and Seattle U pitcher Tarik Skubal rounded out the 14-member squad.
CSUB'S DEWSNAP EARNS NCBWA PRESEASON HONORS
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its 18th annual Preseason All-America Teams and CSU Bakersfield's Naithen Dewsnap became the first Roadrunner in program history to earn a spot on the squad. He was also among 52 players named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watchlist. Dewsnap, a native of Norco, Calif., was selected Preseason All-America Third Team as a relief pitcher after a stellar first year with the Roadrunners in 2017. A transfer from Chaffey College, the then junior reset the school record for most saves in a season as well as the CSUB career record with 14. Two of those saves came in the WAC Tournament, where Dewsnap was named to the All-Tournament Team after throwing six scoreless innings for Bakersfield.
NEW SKIPPER IN EDINBURG
UT Rio Grande Valley announced in June that Derek Matlock, who spent the last five years as the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at West Virginia and the 19 years prior coaching in Texas, is the new head coach of the UTRGV baseball team. West Virginia is coming off its first NCAA Regional berth in 21 years after earning the first at-large bid in program history by going 36-26. In Matlock's five seasons, West Virginia went 160-127 (.557) and made the Big 12 Tournament every year. Matlock recruited and coached five All-Americans and had six pitchers drafted, including three in the top 15 rounds of the MLB Draft.
KEEPING THE BEARD
CSU Bakersfield announced in July that it was removing the interim title from Jeremy Beard as he was hired as head coach after serving in the temporary position for the entire 2017 season. Under Beard's first season at the helm, the Roadrunners rebounded from a 19-37 season in 2016 to post a 32-24 mark in 2017. The Roadrunners also improved their WAC record to 14-10 this season, earning a third-place finish in the regular season, a second-seed in the WAC Tournament where they advanced to the championship against Sacramento State.
READY TO GO
After playing through a four-year transition period to NCAA Division I, Grand Canyon is eligible for the postseason this year. The Lopes are predicted to win the WAC after winning the regular season title last season.
COMING SOON
California Baptist is scheduled to join the WAC for 2018-2019 competition. They will begin their four year transition process to Division 1. This will make them ineligible to compete in post season tournaments (WAC and NCAA) until 2022-2023 season. They will be coming from the Pacific West Conference where they won five championships (M&W Cross Country, W. Basketball, W. Golf, and Softball) during 2016-2017 season.
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO HOHOKAM STADIUM
For the fourth 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 16 times (1963, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 2010, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17) and the event was held in Mesa in 1971, 1973, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Sacramento State won the 2017 tournament, earning the WAC's automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.