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SU'S HURD NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Dalton Hurd has been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week for April 9 through April 15. Hurd, a senior outfielder from Bend, Ore. (Bend HS), led the Redhawks to a 5-0 week as he became SU's all-time hits and runs scored leader. Going 11-for-19 on the week, he led the WAC with a .579 batting average, collecting multiple hits in three of five games. After setting the school record for hits with his 215th in the nightcap of a doubleheader with Air Force, his biggest game came in the middle game of the weekend series with Alcorn State, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a grand slam, leading to three runs and five RBIs. On the week, he totaled four doubles, six RBIs and eight runs scored.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jassen Oliver had a career-high three hits in the ‘Runners season-opening win over Utah Valley … Grand Canyon's Tyler Wyatt extended his hitting streak to eight games in a series win at UTRGV … NM State's Tristen Carranza led the Aggies at the plate with a 10-for-18 week at the plate … Sacramento State's Matt Smith had a career-best four hits in a loss to Pacific on Tuesday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Anthony Gomez had three hits each in wins over Texas State and Grand Canyon.
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 April 9 through April 15. Brahms, a sophomore right-hander from Topanga, Calif. (Calabasas HS), struck out a career-high and school record 14 batters in a 5-0 win over Northern Colorado on Friday night. He scattered a pair of hits over seven scoreless innings to earn the win. The defending WAC Freshman of the Year leads the WAC with a 1.61 ERA on the year with 68 strikeouts and 13 walks in 56.0 innings pitched.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Elijah Parks earned the win in his first conference start, allowing two runs over six innings at Utah Valley … Grand Canyon's Ethan Evanko had 10 strikeouts in six no-hit innings in a series-clinching win at UTRGV … NM State's Justin Dehn earned the win with five scoreless innings at New Mexico on Tuesday night … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jorge Flores had a career-high 10 strikeouts in a 9-1 win over Grand Canyon on Saturday.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in both batting (.325) and fielding (.977) while Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (4.00). Individually, SU's Austin Lively is the batting leader (.390) and SAC's Parker Brahms holds the low ERA (1.61). GCU's Quin Cotton leads the WAC in hits (52) while SU's Lively is the leader in runs scored (40). NMSU's Caleb Henderson is the RBI leader (41). NMSU's Mason Fishback and SU's Dalton Hurd are tied for the lead in doubles (13) while CSUB's Ryan Koch and UVU's Paul Estrada are co-leaders in triples (4). NMSU's Tristen Carranza is the home run leader (8) and SAC's James Outman is the stolen base leader (12). Aggie Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 76 in 53.2 innings pitched.
In WAC-only play, NM State has the top batting average (.327) and Sacramento State has the low ERA (2.07) and top fielding percentage (.982). NMSU's Logan Bottrell is the batting leader (.462) and SAC's Brahms has the low ERA (0.45).
ON DECK
After a non-conference schedule that features Sacramento State at UC Davis, Air Force at Northern Colorado, Sul Ross State at NM State, Chicago State at Missouri and UT Rio Grande Valley at Texas, it will be an important weekend around the WAC. NM State travels to Northern Colorado, UTRGV visits Seattle U, Utah Valley heads to Chicago State and Sacramento State visits CSU Bakersfield. Grand Canyon has the weekend bye and will head to the Land of Lincoln to take on Illinois in non-conference play.
SERIES STREAK
Grand Canyon's series win at UT Rio Grande Valley was the 13th-consecutive WAC series win for the Lopes, the longest active streak in the nation. Grand Canyon's last series loss was May 12-15, 2016 at Sacramento State.
MILESTONE WINS
Seattle U skipper Donny Harrel earned his 200th career win on March 13 with the Redhawks 9-6 win at Portland. GCU head coach Andy Stakieeicz also hit the 200-win mark on April 8 against Utah Valley. Sacramento State leader Reggie Christansen recently won in 100th WAC game on April 7 against Chicago State. NM State skipper Brian Green is the latest to meet a milestone, beating rival New Mexico for win 100.
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.