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NMSU'S ORTIZ NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Joey Ortiz has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for Feb. 26 through March 4. Ortiz, a sophomore shortstop from Garden Grove, Calif. (Pacific HS), totaled three home runs and 12 RBIs on the week. He started the week against Arizona, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs in a close 5-4 loss. Against Harvard, he was 5-for-14 from the plate, with three home runs, four walks, eight runs scored and 12 RBIs. Five of those RBIs came in the series finale, including a grand slam in the sixth inning. On the season, he leads the WAC with 24 runs scored and 12 walks and is among the leaders in several other categories.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Evan Berkey has led the ‘Runners to a series win at Portland, totaling five RBIs in the four-game series … Grand Canyon's Marc Mumper had multiple hits in three of four games for the Lopes, finishing the week 7-for-14 from the plate … Northern Colorado's Matt Burkart was 7-for-18 from the plate as the Bears went 3-2 on the week … Sacramento State's James Outman totaled five RBIs and three runs scored as the Hornets went 3-1 on the week … UT Rio Grande Valley's Elijah Alexander had a pair of doubles on Friday at Lamar and posted his first three-hit game on Saturday … Utah Valley's Jackson Overlund batted .412 with four doubles in the Wolverines' series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
SAC ST'S BRAHMS NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State's Parker Brahms has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 26 - March 4. Brahms, a sophomore right-hander from Calabasas, Calif. (Calabasas HS), made a pair of starts in a pair of Hornet wins. He was the starter on Tuesday in a 9-2 win over Pacific, striking out one in just one inning of work. On Saturday, he returned to the mound against Milwaukee, striking out seven and walking one over seven scoreless innings to earn his first win of the young season. In 21 innings pitched, he has 26 strikeouts, just 11 hits and has yet to allow a run.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Aaron Charles earned the win on Thursday at Portland, allowing one run over seven innings … Chicago State's Zach Thomas struck out three and allowed just one run over 6.2 innings in a 4-0 loss at Saint Louis … Grand Canyon's Mike Lundin struck out four and allowed just one run over five innings in a loss to CSUN on Saturday … NM State's Kyle Bradish opened up the weekend series against Harvard with 10 strikeouts and just four hits allowed over seven innings pitched … Northern Colorado's Connor Leedholm made three appearances on the week, earning a win and a save over 5.2 combined scoreless innings … UT Rio Grande Valley's Trevelle Hill struck out six in a loss to nationally-ranked Texas Tech and then earned the win in extra-innings at Lamar … Utah Valley's Jake Mayer matched his career-high with eight strikeouts for the second straight start.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State continues to lead the WAC in hitting (.381 batting average) while Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (3.53 ERA) and Grand Canyon is the leader in fielding (.981 fielding percentage). Individually, NMSU's Logan Ehnes holds the top batting average (.519) and SAC's Parker Brahms holds a 0.00 ERA. NMSU's Mason Fishback is the leader in hits (24), RBIs (26), doubles (10) and total basese (43). Teammate Joey Ortiz leads in runs scored (24) while Fishback and Ortiz are tied with fello Aggie Tristen Carranza for the home run lead at three each. Sacramento State duo James Outman and Matt Smith are tied for the lead in stolen bases with seven each while on the hill, NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 33 in 18.1 innings pitched.
ON DECK
The non-conference schedule continues this week with a number of games against big time programs. On Tuesday, Seattle U visits Washington, UT Rio Grande Valley plays at TCU and NM State opens up a two-game series at Mississippi State. The Aggies will continue the SEC roadtrip into the weekend, heading to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama, beginning on Friday. Utah Valley will also be in SEC country, as the Wolverines will also take on Mississippi State, beginning on Friday in Starkville. Grand Canyon plays host to Penn State for three games while Sacramento State will play two at Santa Clara before welcoming the Broncos to the state capitol for two more. Chicago State will make its Windy City debut this week but not at home as the Cougars visit rival UIC for a trio of games.
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.