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UVU'S MODLER NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's David Modler has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 5 through March 11. Modler, a senior infielder from Las Vegas, Nev. (Rancho HS), had an .818 slugging percentage as the Wolverines were competitive in SEC country, going 1-2 at Mississippi State. In the opening game against the Bulldogs, he was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored and also laid down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the 11th to move the eventual winning run into scoring position. He followed that up with another double in the nightcap and a 2-for-3 performance with a double and two runs scored in Sunday's series finale.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Andrew Penner was 2-for-4 in the ‘Runners win over UNLV and finished the week 6-for-16 from the plate … Grand Canyon's Pikai Winchester had the top batting average in the WAC on the week, going 6-for-11 with four RBIs in a three-game sweep over Penn State … Sacramento State's James Outman had a pair of home runs in a brief road trip to Santa Clara and finished the week 6-for-14 from the plate … UT Rio Grande Valley's Austin Siener was 6-for-15 on the week as the Vaqueros earned a series win over Maine.
UTRGV'S JOHNSON NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley's Carter Johnson has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 5 through March 11. Johnson, a redshirt senior right-hander from Encinitas, Calif. (La Costa Canyon HS), left the game with a 3-0 lead and no hits allowed over seven innings on Friday night against Maine. He struck out 10 and walked just one of the 23 batters he faced before settling for the no-decision in the eventual 4-3 win over the Black Bears. On the season, he holds a 2.16 ERA with 29 strikeouts and just nine walks in 25.0 innings pitched.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Alec Dailey earned the win on Tuesday night with five strikeouts over three innings against UNLV … Chicago State's Zach Thomas struck out six on the road at Windy City rival UIC … Grand Canyon's Jake Wong struck out 10 and allowed just four hits over six scoreless innings to earn the win on Thursday against Penn State … NM State's Justin Dehn allowed four hits over 7.2 innings to earn the win at Alabama … Sacramento State's Parker Brahms had 12 strikeouts and just one walk before leaving the game against Santa Clara … Seattle U's Jake Prizina earned the win against Albany, striking out eight and allowing just one run on three hits over six innings … Utah Valley's Drew Hill earned his third save of the season in an extra-inning win at Mississippi State.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in both batting (.329) and fielding (.981) while Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (3.92). Individually, NMSU's Noah Haupt is the batting leader (.471) while SAC's Parker Brahms is the pitching leader (0.00 ERA). NMSU's Mason Fishback leads the WAC in hits (27), RBIs (26), doubles (10) and total bases (46). Teammate Joey Ortiz is the leader in runs (24) while fellow Aggie Tristen Carranza has a WAC-high four home runs. SAC's James Outman leads the league with nine stolen bases while NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 42 Ks in 23.2 innings pitched.
ON DECK
With conference play starting on March 23, this week provides another opportunity to get ready for teams to chase the WAC title. Northern Colorado takes a 10-5 record on the road, visiting Nebraska for two before heading west for a series at UC Davis. A number of other schools will be at Big West opponents as Sacramento State visits UC Santa Barbara, Utah Valley goes to UC Irvine and Grand Canyon takes on UC Riverside before battling perennial power Cal State Fullerton. UT Rio Grande Valley is home against Eastern Michigan while NM State returns to Las Cruces to take on Maine. Chicago State is the only team scheduled to take on a nationally-ranked opponent as the Cougars travel to 22nd-ranked Central Florida for a weekend series.
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, an experienced stadium manager in Mark Gallo 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.