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NC'S PAULEY NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Northern Colorado's Jack Pauley has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 12 through March 18. Pauley, a redshirt junior outfielder from Overland Park, Kan. (Saint Thomas Aquinas HS/Western Nebraska CC), played a big part in the Bears' 4-2 week. On Tuesday, he was 3-for-5 with a run scored in a 6-3 win at Nebraska. In a four-game series at UC Davis, he was 8-for-12 with four walks and six runs scored as Northern Colorado took three out of four from the Aggies. His .410 season batting average is a WAC-best and his 34 hits tie him for the top spot in the conference statistics.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Ryan Koch led the team with a .923 slugging percentage as the ‘Runners took three-of-four from Dartmouth … Grand Canyon's Quin Cotton set career-highs with four hits and four RBIs in a 9-8 extra-inning loss at UC Riverside … NM State's Tristen Carranza hit .500 on the week in a four-game sweep over Maine … Seattle U's Austin Lively extended his reached base streak to 16 games as he helped the Redhawks go 3-0 on the week … UT Rio Grande Valley's Tyler Torres scored the game-winning run in the 13th inning on Saturday against Eastern Michigan … Utah Valley's Pacen Hayes had two home runs as the Wolverines won the series at UC Irvine.
SU'S WOLF NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Zach Wolf has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 12 through March 18. Wolf, a junior right-hander from Dana Hills, Calif. (Dana Hills HS), picked up a trio of saves as the Redhawks went 3-0 against Pacific Northwest opponents. At Portland, he struck out two over 1.1 no-hit innings to earn his first save of the week. He followed that up at home against Gonzaga with just one hit over one inning with a strikeout to earn his second save in as many days. He wrapped up the week win an inning of work against British Columbia, striking out three for his third save of the week. He now has six saves on the season, good enough for second in the WAC statistical standings.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Elijah Parks earned the win with 5.2 innings of relief in a 9-4 win over Dartmouth … Grand Canyon's Ethan Evanko gave the Lopes quality innings from the bullpen, allowing just three hits over 4.2 innings against UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton … NM State's Chance Hroch earned the win out of the bullpen on Saturday against Maine, allowing one hit over 2.2 innings in a 10-6 win … Northern Colorado's Connor Leedholm earned three saves, including at Nebraska … UT Rio Grande Valley's Max Balderrama Jr. allowed just four hits with nine strikeouts over 4.1 innings of relief … Utah Valley's Jake Mayer struck out 10 but ended up with a no decision on Friday at UC Irvine.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in both batting (.336) and fielding (.981) while UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in pitching (3.66). Individually, NC's Jack Pauley is the batting leader (.410) and SAC's Parker Brahms is the pitching leader (1.41 ERA). NMSU's Mason Fishback leads the WAC in hits (34), RBIs (30), doubles (12) and total bases (58). Teammate Joey Ortiz is the leader in runs (28) while fellow Aggie Tristen Carranza has a WAC-high six home runs. SAC's James Outman leads the league with nine stolen bases while NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 51 Ks in 29.2 innings pitched.
ON DECK
WAC play starts this week but not without a full slate of non-conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Among the highlights is Kansas visiting Grand Canyon for a pair, CSU Bakersfiled travels to San Diego State and NM State heading to Arizona. On the WAC docket, Northern Colorado heads one state over to take on Utah Valley in the Wolverines' home openers, Seattle U visits NM State, CSU Bakersfield makes the trek to UT Rio Grande Valley and Chicago State travels to Grand Canyon. Sacramento State has the first bye of the season and the Hornets will head to Salt Lake City to take on Utah.
FREE BASEBALL
There have been a total of 17 extra-inning games in the WAC this season, including a pair of long games last week. Grand Canyon went 14 innings in a loss to UC Riverside on Wednesday night while UT Rio Grande Valley was victorious in a 13-inning affair on Saturday against Eastern Michigan.
MILESTONE WIN
Seattle U skipper Donny Harrel earned his 200th career win on March 13 with the Redhawks 9-6 win at Portland.
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.