This Week in WAC Baseball - May 29
AGGIES HEADED TO LUBBOCK FOR NCAA REGIONAL
After winning their first ever WAC Baseball Tournament, the NM State Aggies found out on Monday morning where they will start their road to Omaha. The Aggies are headed to Lubbock, Texas and will take on host Texas Tech on Friday.
On the year, the Aggies are hitting .313 as a team, the fifth-best average in the nation, and are averaging 8.2 runs per game, fourth-best in the country. 2018 WAC Freshman of the Year Nick Gonzales leads the Aggies with a .349 average, adding 17 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 36 RBIs. On the hill, WAC Pitcher of the Year Jonathan Groff holds an 11-2 overall record with a 2.49 ERA. Teammate Kyle Bradish has a school-record 131 strikeouts in 93.2 innings pitched.
Texas Tech is 39-17 this season, including 23-5 at home, and finished third in the Big 12 during the regular season. The Red Reaiders are led offenseively by Josh Jung, who is hitting .381 with 16 doubles, six triples, 11 home runs and 73 RBIs. On the hill, Caleb Kilian is TTU's ace, posting an 8-1 record with a 2.30 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 58.2 innings pitched. Ryan Shetter is 4-0 for the Red Raiders with a 3.07 ERA.
NM State and Texas Tech have already faced off twice this year. After the Red Raiders earned a 12-0 win in Lubbock on Feb. 20, the Aggies nearly knocked off the then fifth-ranked Red Raiders on April 3 before Texas Tech earned a 2-1 walkoff win in Midland, Texas. NMSU and TTU were also scheduled to meet March 27 in Las Cruces but the teams mutually agreed to cancel the game to focus on conference play.
On the other side of the bracket, Louisville is the number two seed and Kent State is the number three seed. Louisville heads to the Lone Star State with 43-17 record after taking third in the ACC Atlantic division. The Cardinals fell to Florida State in the ACC Championship game on Sunday in Durham, N.C. Kent State begins the road to Omaha with a 39-16 record and defeated Miami (Ohio), 14-0, to win the MAC Tournament title on Saturday.
The winner of the Texas Tech regional will match up with the winner of the Georgia regional in the Super Regional round.
NM STATE WINS 2018 WAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
Using record-setting pitching and timely hitting, the NM State Aggies took home the 2018 WAC Baseball Tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. The Aggies used a pair of shutouts against CSU Bakersfield, 4-0, and Sacramento State, 2-0, to move into Friday's semifinal and the NM State bats came alive against Seattle U, earning an 11-1 win in seven innings. The Aggies then faced off against Sacramento State again on Saturday night but it would be the Hornets who proved victorious early Sunday morning with a 4-3 win in a tournament-record 15 innings to force a winner-take-all game on Sunday afternoon. In the tournament finale, NMSU ace Kyle Bradish struck out five over six innings and closer Brock Whittelsey earned his 12th save of the year as the Aggies won their first WAC tournament title, 4-3.
NM State's Tristen Carranza was named tournament MVP after going 10-for-21 from the plate with three doubles, three runs scored and seven RBIs. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Bradish, Jonathan Groff, Marcus Still and Whittlesey. Representing Sacramento State on the all-tournament team was Ian Dawkins, Andrew McWilliam, James Outman and Austin Root. Grand Canyon's Zach Malis and Seattle U's Cameron Sterne also earned honors.
BREAK OUT THE ERASER
The 2018 WAC Baseball Tournament had a number of records broken over the course of the week. NM State set new marks for at-bats in a game (55) and batters struck out in a game (21) while Sacramento State was on the other end of the record for strikeouts in a game (21). The Aggies also set tournament records for lowest ERA (0.93) and batters struck out (54). Sacramento State set new tournament records for at-bats (235) and strikeouts (49). The Aggies and Hornets' 15-inning contest on Saturday set a new mark for longest game in tournament history and also set two-team records for at-bats (106) and strikeouts (33).
Individually, Sacramento State's Ian Dawkins set a new mark for at-bats in a tournament (31) while NM State's Kyle Bradish set a new record for batters struck out in a tournament (15).
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
NM State leads the WAC in batting (.313), Sacramento State is the leader in pitching (3.66 ERA) and fielding (.976). Grand Canyon's Quin Cotton in the individual batting leader at .390 while Sacramento State's Parker Brahms holds the low ERA at 2.41 through 93.1 innings pitched. Cotton is also the leader in hits (94), runs (62), and is tied for the lead in doubles (19) with NMSU's Caleb Henderson and in triples (5) with NMSU's Logan Ehnes. NMSU's Henderson also leads the WAC with 63 RBIs while SAC's James Outman is the home run leader at 11. NMSU's Kyle Bradish is the strikeouts leader with 131 through 93.2 innings pitched.
In WAC-only play, Grand Canyon hit a league-best .328. Sacramento State was tops in both pitching (2.99 ERA) and fielding (.980). NMSU's Henderson held the top batting average (.419) while SAC's Austin Roberts had the low ERA (0.70) in 25.2 innings of relief. Cotton led the WAC in hits (45), runs (32) and was tied for the lead in triples (3) with Ehnes, UTRGV's Elijah Alexander and NC's Jack Pauley. SAC's Ian Dawkins led the league in doubles in WAC play with 12 while Henderson was the WAC's home run king in league play with 8. SAC's Brahms and SU's Tarik Skubal tied for the strikeout lead with 64 in 46.1 innings pitched.
SERIES STREAK
Grand Canyon's series win against Seattle U was the 17th-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.
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.
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.