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NMSU'S HAUPT NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Noah Haupt has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for Feb. 19 through Feb. 25. Haupt, a freshman designated hitter from Clovis, Calif. (Clovis North HS), was instrumental in the Aggies' record-setting weekend, totaling 11 runs and 15 RBIs on the week. Haupt was 11-for-15 from the plate with six extra-base hits, posting a .611 batting average to go along with a 1.222 slugging percentage and .625 on-base percentage. His biggest game came in NM State's 39-0 win over Mississippi Valley State on Friday night, going 6-for-7 with a double, two home runs, six runs scored and 10 RBIs. He finished the week with three doubles, a triple and two home runs.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Evan Berkey has reached base safely in all eight games this year to start his career … Chicago State's Tyler Lowe led the Cougars to a 2-2 record in Florida, hitting .529 with two doubles and a home run … Grand Canyon's Quin Cotton hit .615 on the week and had multiple hits in three of four games … Sacramento State's Steven Moretto had a hit in every game and leads the team with a .304 batting average … UT Rio Grande Valley's Austin Siener had a pair of multi-hit games in the series with UIC … Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund hit for UVU's first cycle in nine years on Saturday against Pacific.
NMSU'S BRADISH NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Kyle Bradish has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 19 - Feb. 25. Bradish, a junior from Goodyear, Ariz. (Millennium HS), put together his second straight gem in as many starts on Friday night against Mississippi Valley State. He struck out 12 batters and walked just two while allowing two hits over 6.0 shutout innings. Earning the win to improve to 2-0 on the season, he has struck out 23 batters in 11.1 innings pitched and has allowed just one run on four hits for a 0.79 ERA.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Chicago State's Joe Fitka earned a pair of saves, allowing a combined three hits over 4.2 innings with four strikeouts … Grand Canyon's Mike Lundin allowed one run on two hits over six innings to earn the neutral-site win against Cal Poly on Saturday … Sacramento State's Parker Brahms had nine strikeouts and allowed just three hits over seven innings against San Francisco … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ryan Jackson struck out five over three innings to earn the save on Sunday afternoon … Utah Valley's Jake Mayer tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in a complete game at Pacific.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Two weeks into the season, NM State leads the WAC in hitting (.399), Utah Valley is tops in pitching (3.16) and Grand Canyon is the leader in fielding (.982). Individually, NMSU's Noah Haupt is the batting leader (.591) while SAC's Parker Brahms, NMSU's Jonathan Groff and CSU's Joe Fitka all have a 0.00 ERA with a minimum of 1.0 IP/team game. CSU's Tyler Lowe is the hits leader (15) while NMSU's Joey Ortiz is tops in runs scored (16). Haupt is tied with teammate Mason Fishback for the lead in RBIs (17) while Fishback also has the lead in doubles (7). NMSU's Logan Ehnes, UVU's Jackson Overlund and UVU's Paul Estrada each have two triples to lead the league. NMSU's Tristen Carranza is the early home run leader with three. On the mound, NMSU's Kyle Bradish leads the league with 23 strikeouts in 11.1 innings pitched.
ON DECK
Another busy week on tap around the WAC as teams continue their non-conference schedules. Among the highlights in UT Rio Grande Valley hosting Mississippi State and fourth-ranked Texas Tech on Monday and Tuesday respectively. NM State heads to Arizona on Tuesday and Seattle U travels to Oregon on Tuesday as well before heading to Florida for the Irish Classic, hosted by Notre Dame. Sacramento State heads to the Palouse for a series at Washington State, NM State will look to keep their explosive offense going at home against Harvard and Chicago State heads down the river to Saint Louis to take on the Billikens.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
NM State's 39-0 win on Feb. 23 against Mississippi Valley reset a couple WAC records. The 39 runs scored set a new top mark that was previously held by Rice in 1997 against Cincinnati and NM State in 2006 against Northern Iowa with 37 each. The 35 RBIs also set a new mark, besting the previous record of 33 by Arizona State in 1974 against UTEP and NM State in 2006 against Northern Iowa.
ONE OF EACH PLEASE
Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund became the first WAC player of the season to hit for the cycle, doing it on Feb. 24 in the nightcap at Pacific. He hit a home run in the second, single in the fifth, triple in the seventh and double in the ninth to complete the feat.
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.