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NMSU'S HENDERSON NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Caleb Henderson has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 19 through March 25. Henderson, a junior first-baseman from Conifer, Colo. (Conifer HS/Central Arizona CC), had the big bat for the Aggies in a WAC-opening series win over Seattle U. On Friday night, he hit the go-ahead three-run home run to left field to lead the Aggies to the 12-6 win over SU. He again helped lead the Aggies to victory on Sunday, hitting a two-run home run in the third inning and a three-run home run in the fourth inning as NM State earned the 12-2 win in seven innings. On the week, Henderson was 6-for-12 from the plate with 11 RBIs and a 1.250 slugging percentage.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jared Toothman went 4-for-4 on Friday night in the ‘Runners win over UTRGV … Grand Canyon's Zach Malis had four RBIs on Saturday in a 13-5 win over visiting Chicago State … Sacramento State's Steven Moretto hit his fourth home run of the season in a 7-6 loss to Utah on Saturday evening … Seattle U's Dalton Hurd was 6-for-11 with a triple and a home run in three games at NM State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Coleman Grubbs hit his first career home run in the eighth inning on Sunday to lead the Vaqueros to the 6-5 win over CSU Bakersfield … Utah Valley's Trevor Peterson hit a grand slam in the series-clinching win against Northern Colorado on Saturday night.
UTRGV'S FLORES NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley's Jorge Flores has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 19 through March 25. Flores, a redshirt senior right-hander from Hidalgo, Texas (PSJA HS/Louisiana Tech), put together a strong outing on Saturday to give the Vaqueros the series-tying win over CSU Bakersfield. In eight scoreless innings, he allowed six hits with six strikeouts and two walks to earn the win. He faced the minimum three batters in five of eight innings, including three perfect innings, and he managed 66 of his 103 pitches for strikes. His 2.78 ERA this season ranks him third in the WAC this season.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Alec Dailey pitched seven no-hit innings to earn the 8-5 win over UTRGV on Friday night … Grand Canyon's Coen Wynne retired 15 of the 17 batters he faced in relief, striking out four and walking one with just one hit allowed over five innings of work against Kansas and Chicago State … NM State's Jonathan Groff earned the win on Sunday against Seattle U, striking out three and walking just one over seven innings pitched … Sacramento State's Alex Dentoni earned the win with three innings of relief at Utah on Friday night.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in both batting (.335) and fielding (.982) while UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in pitching (3.68). Individually, NMSU's Nick Gonzales is the batting leader (.422) and GCU's Jake Wong holds the low ERA (2.14). NC's Jack Pauley leads the WAC in hits (40). NMSU's Mason Fishback is the leader in RBIs (32), doubles (12) and total bases while temmate Joey Ortiz is the leader in runs scored (30) and fellow Aggie Tristen Carranza is the home runs leader (8). GCU's Zach Malis has a league-high three triples and SAC's James Outman is the leader in stolen bases (10). NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 58 in 35.2 innings pitched.
In WAC-only play, Utah Valley holds the top batting average (.387), Grand Canyon has the low ERA (3.00) and NM State has the top fielding percentage (.982). NC's Austin Miller hit .714 to open WAC play while a number of pitchers did not allow an earned run on the opening weekend of league play.
ON DECK
With the second week of WAC play scheduled to begin on Thursday, there will be just one day of non-conference play with five teams in action on Tuesday. Northern Colorado hosts Regis, CSU Bakersfield travels to CSUN, Chicago State makes its home debut against Northwestern, Utah Valley plays host to rival Brigham Young and Seattle U stops by Abilene Christian. In league play, Grand Canyon heads to Northern Colorado, Seattle U travels to Chicago State, Sacramento State visits NM State and UT Rio Grande Valley makes the trip to Utah Valley.
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.