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SAC ST'S FLOYD NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Sacramento State's PJ Floyd has been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week for April 2 through April 8. Floyd, a senior second baseman from Rocklin, Calif. (Whitney HS), was instrumental in the Hornets going 5-0 on the week. In a two-game non-conference series with Saint Mary's, he was 2-for-6 with a home run, two runs scored and five RBIs. The senior followed that up with a 4-for-12 performance in a three-game sweep of Chicago State, hitting two more home runs and adding five more runs and four more RBIs to his weekly totals. His .818 slugging percentage in WAC play leads the league and his three home runs in six WAC contests is tied for the top spot.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Ian Evans hit .500 on the week as the Lopes went 5-0 with a non-conference sweep of UNLV and WAC sweep of Utah Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Coleman Grubbs hit .353 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
GCU'S VORHOF NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Mick Vorhof has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for April 2 through April 8. Vorhof, a senior right-hander from Sammamish, Wash. (Eastlake HS), earned three saves in three opportunities as the Lopes sent 5-0 on the week. His first opportunity came on Tuesday against UNLV and he allowed his only hit of the week but struck out two in one scoreless inning to earn his second save of the season. He earned his third save of the year, and second of the week, on Friday against Utah Valley, getting all three hitters out in a scoreless inning. He completed the week with another save on Sunday, striking out one over 1.1 hitless innings to help GCU complete the series sweep.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Elijah Parks threw 5.1 scoreless innings of relief against NM State … Northern Colorado's Connor Leedholm earned a save against Regis and then picked up the win on Sunday at Seattle U … Sacramento State's Austin Root allowed one run on four hits with six strikeouts over seven innings to earn the complete game win against Chicago State … Seattle U's Tarik Skubal tossed six shutout innings, allowing five hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in an 8-1 win over Northern Colorado.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in both batting (.321) and fielding (.982) while Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (3.97). Individually, NMSU's Nick Gonzales is the batting leader (.393) and SAC's Parker Brahms holds the low ERA (1.84). GCU's Quin Cotton leads the WAC in hits (48) while SU's Austin Lively and NMSU's Joey Ortiz are tied for the lead in runs scored (34). NMSU teammates Mason Fishback and Caleb Henderson share the lead for RBIs (34) while Fishback also holds the lead for doubles (13). NC's Matt Burkart, GCU's Zach Malis and UVU's Jackson Overlund each have three triples to lead the league while NMSU's Tristen Carranza is the home run king with eight. SAC's James Outman has a WAC-high 12 stolen bases while NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeout leader with 71 in 47.2 innings pitched.
In WAC-only play, Grand Canyon has the top batting average (.347) and Sacramento State has the low ERA (2.68) and top fielding percentage (1.000). SAC's Matt Smith is the batting leader with a .522 average while teammate Parker Brahms has the low ERA at 0.69.
ON DECK
The non-conference slate is stacked with regional rivalries with Tuesday the busiest day. Among the highlights is Utah Valley traveling to Utah, Pacific visiting Sacramento State, NM State playing at New Mexico and Grand Canyon hosting Arizona. In WAC-play, CSU Bakersfield visits Utah Valley, Chicago State heads to NM State, Grand Canyon treks to UT Rio Grande Valley and Sacramento State hosts Northern Colorado.
SERIES STREAK
Grand Canyon's sweep over Utah Valley was the 12th-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 next up to hit a milestone as the Aggies' leader sits at 99 career wins.
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.