Complete Release in PDF Format
SU'S WELLS NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Seattle U's Chase Wells has been named WAC Hitter of the Week for March 26 through April 1. Wells, a sophomore outfielder from Naches, Wash. (Naches Valley HS), led Seattle U to a series sweep at Chicago State. He had multiple hits in each of the three games, going 2-for-5 in the opener with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored in a 10-1 win. He followed that up with a 4-for-5 afternoon, adding a home run and two RBIs to his season totals, in the middle game and then finished the weekend with a 2-for-3 game from the plate to help the Redhawks clinch the series sweep.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Pikai Winchester hit his first career home run as the Lopes took 2-of-3 at Northern Colorado … Northern Colorado's Dean Lawson set a school record with four doubles in a 35-11 win over Regis … Sacramento State's Matt Smith went 6-for-13 at the plate as the Hornets took 2-of-3 from NM State … Utah Valley's Trevor Howell was 8-for-17 on the week as the Wolverines earned the series win over UT Rio Grande Valley.
UVU'S SCHMITT NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Kaden Schmitt has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for March 26 through April 1. Schmitt, a senior right-hander from Shelley, Idaho (Shelley HS), tossed his first career complete game in Saturday's 6-1 series-clinching win over UT Rio Grande Valley. On the hill for all nine innings, he allowed just one run on seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He is one of three pitchers who earned a win in each of the first two weeks of conference play and is tied for the lead in strikeouts in WAC-games with 16.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Jake Wong allowed just one hit over six scoreless innings to earn the win on Thursday at Northern Colorado … Northern Colorado's Aaron Hamilton did not allow a run in 7.2 innings of work, including a 6.2 inning win against Grand Canyon on Saturday … Sacramento State's Austin Root allowed just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts over eight innings in a win at NM State … Seattle U's Tarik Skubal strike out 12 batters in just six innings pitched to earn the win at Chicago State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Chase Adams earned the win on Thursday at Utah Valley, allowing just two runs over seven innings pitched.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in both batting (.328) and fielding (.981) while UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in pitching (3.82). Individually, NMSU's Nick Gonzales is the batting leader (.413) and GCU's Jake Wong holds the low ERA (1.82). NC's Jack Pauley leads the WAC in hits (45) and is tied with NMSU's Joey Ortiz for the lead in runs scored (31). NMSU's Mason Fishback is the leader in RBIs (34) and doubles (13). GCU's Zach Malis, UVU's Jackson Overlund and NC's Baxter Halligan are all tied for the lead in triples with three while Halligan is also the leader in total bases with 71. NMSU's Tristen Carranza is the home run leader (8) and SAC's James Outman is the leader in stolen bases (10). NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 65 in 41.2 innings pitched.
In WAC-only play, Utah Valley holds the top batting average (.356), NM State has the low ERA (3.46) and Sacramento State has the top fielding percentage (1.000). Four players are currently hitting .500 to lead the league while SAC's Austin Root has the low ERA at 1.12.
ON DECK
After a somewhat light week to wrap up the month of March, the schedule picks up again this week but a number of non-conference games before another weekend of WAC play. Utah Valley plays host to Air Force for a two-game series beginning on Monday. Sacramento State also has a two game series, going home-and-home with Saint Mary's on Monday and Tuesday, beginning in Sacramento. Chicago State travels to Notre Dame on Tuesday while NM State matches up with Texas Tech in a neutral-site game in Midland, Texas. Grand Canyon plays host to top-25 team UNLV in a two game series, beginning on Tuesday.
In WAC-play, Northern Colorado travels to Seattle U, Chicago State visits Sacramento State, NM State makes the trip to CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley heads to Grand Canyon. UT Rio Grande Valley has the conference bye but the Vaqueros won't be idle, headed to the California coast to take on UC Santa Barbara.
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.