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GCU'S MALIS NAMED WAC HITTER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Zach Malis has been named Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week for April 30 through May 6. Malis, a junior infielder from Tucson, Ariz. (Desert Christian HS), had the WAC's first three home run game since 2015 to help the Lopes clinch their 15th-straight conference series in the finale at CSU Bakersfield. With the series tied at one game each, Malis rose up for GCU on Sunday afternoon, going 3-for-4, all home runs, in an 8-5 extra-inning win. He hit his first home run in the top of the first to give GCU the early 2-0 lead. He hit a solo home run in the third that again gave the Lopes the lead, 3-2, and then after a walk and a groundout in his next two plate appearances, Malis hit his third home run of the game in the top of the 10th to put the Lopes back on top as they would earn the 8-5 win.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Andrew Penner had multi-hit games in all four contests, finishing the week 9-of-17 from the plate … Chicago State's Tyler Lowe hit .500 for the Cougars, going 8-for-16 on the week … NM State's Nick Gonzales has three home runs in a three-game sweep over Utah Valley to help pull the Aggies within a half-game of the conference lead … Northern Colorado's Matt Burkart was 7-for-13 and had the game-winning single on Friday in a three-game sweep over UT Rio Grande Valley … Sacramento State's James Outman had a team-high .769 slugging percentage as the Hornets earned a series win at home against Seattle U … UT Rio Grande Valley's Coleman Grubbs led the Vaqueros with a .467 average on the week.
NC'S LEEDHOLM NAMED WAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Northern Colorado's Connor Leedolm has been named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for April 30 through May 6. Leedholm, a senior right-hander from Lakewood, Colo. (Lakewood HS), was involved in each of the Bears' wins in a three-game sweep of UT Rio Grande Valley. On Friday, he entered the game in the top of the ninth and stuck out two of the three hitters he faced before UNC won on a walk-off single in the bottom of the frame as he earned the win. He again entered on Saturday in the top of the ninth and again struck out two of the three batters he faced to earn the save. His longest outing came on Sunday, going the final two innings and striking out two to earn his 10th save of the season and tie the UNC program record for saves in a single season.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Jake Repavich struck out five over six innings and left the game with a lead before settling for a no-decision against CSU Bakersfield on Saturday … Sacramento State's Parker Brahms tied his own school record for strikeouts with 14 over six innings in a no-decision on Sunday against Seattle U.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in batting (.328), Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (3.72 ERA) and Grand Canyon holds the lead in fielding (.978). NMSU's Nick Gonzales is the individual batting leader at .390 while SAC's Parker Brahms holds the low ERA at 2.12 through 72.1 innings pitched. Indvidually, GCU's Quin Cotton is the hits leader (77) and NMSU's Joey Ortiz is the runs scored leader (52). Fellow Aggie Caleb Henderson is the RBI leader (57) and is tied with teammate Trey Stine for the WAC lead in doubles (17). NMSU's Logan Ehnes is the triples leader (5) while SAC's James Outman is the current home run king (10). Fellow Hornet Brahms in the leader in strikeouts with 95.
In WAC-only play, Grand Canyon holds a league-best .323 batting average. Sacramento State is tops in both pitching (2.47 ERA) and fielding (.982). GCU's Cotton has the best individual batting average (.420) while UTRGV's Ryan Jackson has the low ERA (1.80) against conference opponents. GCU's Cotton also leads the WAC in hits (34) while NMSU's Ehnes is the leader in runs (24) and teammate Henderson is the leader in RBIs (34). NC's Matt Burkart, SAC's Ian Dawkins and Henderson are all tied for the lead in doubles (9) while Ehnes holds the lead in triples (3). SAC's PJ Floyd and Henderson are the leaders in home runs in WAC lay (6) while Brahms is tops in strikeouts against league foes with 54 in 36.1 innings pitched.
ON DECK
The race towards Mesa heats up this weekend but not until after some non-conference rivalry games. Seattle U welcomes Rose City rival Portland for a two-game non-league set beginning on Tuesday. Sacramento State welcomes UC Davis while NM State heads to New Mexico and Grand Canyon visits Arizona. Once WAC play begins this weekend, every series matters on the road to Mesa. Sacramento State visits Grand Canyon as the Hornets sit just a single game back of the Lopes for first place. CSU Bakersfield visits Northern Colorado with both teams currently sitting in the tournament field but the winning team will have a lot better chance of earning the trip to Hohokam. UT Rio Grande Valley and Chicago State meet up in the Windy City as both the Vaqueros and Cougars need wins to keep tournament hopes alive. Seattle U makes the trip to Orem to take on Utah Valley and while the Redhawks' tournament hopes look strong, they will have to get past a Wolverine team that is playing for their season. NM State has the bye and will travel to Gonzaga for three but they will be paying attention to the action in Phoenix as the Aggies sit just a half-game back of Grand Canyon and a half-game up on Sacramento State.
TICKET PUNCHED
Grand Canyon will be making the trip across the valley on May 23 as the Lopes are one of three teams who have officially clinched a trip to Hohokam Stadium and the 2018 WAC Tournament. Joining GCU in Mesa will be NM State and Sacramento State. All three teams are still in the hunt for the top spot with GCU and Sacramento State facing off this weekend in Phoenix.
SERIES STREAK
Grand Canyon's series win against CSU Bakersfield was the 15th-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.