United Athletic Conference

NM State's Nick Gonzales and UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 10 – Feb. 16.

 

Gonzales, a junior infielder from Vail, Ariz., picked up right where he left off last season, hitting .571 in a four-game series sweep over Texas Southern and stretching his on-base streak to 70 games dating back to the 2018 season. On opening night, he was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored in an 11-2 win over the Tigers. He combined to go 3-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored, also drawing five walks, in a doubleheader sweep on Saturday. He saved the best for last, going 3-for-5, all home runs, with nine RBIs on Sunday to give his 17 RBIs on the weekend. 

 

Stevens, a junior right-hander from Tucson, Ariz., allowed just one baserunner over five no-hit innings to earn the opening night win over Kansas State. In his first appearance following Tommy John surgery, the walk-on made his first career start for the Vaqueros. He showed his worth, striking out nine batters and combining for UTRGV's first one-hitter since 2017.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Russell Stevenson went 3-for-4 on Saturday to help the Lancers earn a 5-1 win at Pacific … CSU Bakersfield's Jacen Roberson hit .636 in his first collegiate series as the 'Runners earned the series win over Washington State ... Grand Canyon's Drew Smith had a strong first weekend for the Lopes, putting up 11 RBIs and hitting .500 in a series win against 22nd-ranked Oklahoma State … Northern Colorado's Josh Glenn was 4-for-11 with two home runs and six RBIs as the Bears opened the season 2-2 in Lubbock ... Sacramento State's Matt Smith hit .364 on the week as the Hornets went 1-2 against a tough UC Santa Barbara squad … UT Rio Grande Valley's Andy Atwood was 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the Vaqueros' 5-0 win over Kansas State on opening night.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Bryan Pope allowed four hits with five strikeouts to earn a 5-1 win over Pacific … CSU Bakersfield's Davonte Butler earned the win on Sunday against Washington State, tossing five scoreless innings for the victory ... Grand Canyon's Kade Mechals was outstanding in his first start of the season, striking out eight and allowing one run on three hits over five innings to earn the win over 22nd-ranked Oklahoma State … NM State's Chance Hroch earned the win on Friday night against Texas Southern, allowing two runs on three hits over seven innings in an 11-2 victory … Northern Colorado's Isaac Bracken threw six shutout innings iwth nine strikeouts in a season-opening win over Houston Baptist ... Sacramento State's Scott Randall struck out five and allowed just four hits over six scoreless innings but took the no-decision in a 1-0 loss to UC Santa Barbara.

 

After a solid week to open the 2020 season, the WAC will take on some tough competition again this week. The spotlight series looks to be UT Rio Grande Valley going to 17th-ranked Oklahoma State. Seattle U heads to San Diego for the Tony Gwynn Legacy and Grand Canyon hosts Fordham and CSUN in the GCU Classic. Northern Colorado heads to New Mexico, California Baptist faces off against crosstown rival UC Riverside, Chicago State heads to Florida for the Snowbird Classic, CSU Bakersfield hosts San Francisco, Sacramento State welcomes Milwaukee and NM State has four at home with Iona.

 

Through the first weekend of the 2020 season, NM State leads the league in team batting with a .370 average. Sacramento State has a 1.86 ERA while CSU Bakersfield leads on defense with a .992 fielding percentage. Individually, CSUB's Jacen Roberson has the top batting average at .636 and a number of pitchers got through the weekend without allowing an earned run. NMSU's Zerek Saenz is the hits leader with nine and teammate Nick Gonzales is the league leader in runs (8), RBIs (17), home runs (4) and total bases (22). Fellow Aggie Jason Bush has the lead in doubles (4). On the mound, both NC's Isaac Bracken and UTRGV's Kevin Stevens have nine strikeouts this season.

 

Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2020 Western Athletic Conference baseball title while NM State's Nick Gonzales and GCU's Kade Mechals were selected WAC Preseason Player and Pitcher of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

 

The Lopes received just two first-place votes but picked up six second-place votes to top the preseason poll with 73 points. Sacramento State was a close second, using four first-place votes to total 71 points. NM State was third with two first-place votes and 66 points overall, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley, with two first-place votes, and California Baptist tying for fourth at 55 points. CSU Bakersfield was selected sixth with 39 points, followed by Seattle U (35), Utah Valley (29), Northern Colorado (18) and Chicago State (9).

 

Gonzales and Mechals highlight the Preseason All-WAC squad. Gonzales is joined by teammates Kevin Jimenez and Tristan Peterson while Mechals is joined by fellow Lopes Pierson Ohl and Frankie Scalzo. UT Rio Grande Valley also had three selected as Conrado Diaz, Coleman Grubbs and Christian Sepulveda represented the Valley. Sacramento State had a pair honored as Matt Smith and Scott Randall each made the list. California Baptist's Chad Castillo earned a nod, CSU Bakersfield was represented by Tyler Jorgensen and Utah Valley's Mick Madsen was honored to round out the 14-member team.

 

Coming off a sophomore campaign where he led the nation in batting average with a .432 clip and ranked third in slugging percentage and fifth in on-base percentage, NM State junior infielder Nick Gonzales has been named First Team Preseason All-American by D1Baseball.com, Baseball America, and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. He was also named a Second Team Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

 

The 2018 WAC Freshman of the Year heads into 2020 with a 66-game reached base streak after ending his freshman year with an 11-game streak and successfully reaching base all 55 games as a sophomore. Playing for the Cotuit Kettleers, Gonzales was named the Player of the Year in the Cape Cod League.

 

Grand Canyon right-hander Kade Mechals earned First Team Preseason All-American honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association after going 11-1 with a 2.16 ERA as a junior. Mechals was also named Third Team Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. He was joined on the CBN Third Team by teammate Cuba Bess.

 

NM State first baseman Tristan Peterson was named a First Team Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and picked up Second Team Preseason All-American honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.  Teammate Chance Hroch was also honored by the NCBWA, earning third team honors.

 

Two WAC schools will take on their local Major League Baseball clubs this spring as Grand Canyon will face off against the Arizona Diamonbacks on March 17 at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz. and Chicago State will take on south-side neighbor Chicago White Sox on March 18 at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz.

 

Following the departure of Brian Green to take over the baseball program at Washington State, NM State hired Mike Kirby to lead the Aggies into 2020. Kirby comes to the City of Crosses with a championship pedigree, having one won seven conference titles – including the 1995 College World Series Championship at his alma mater Cal State Fullerton. He's also seen 104 players selected in the MLB Draft during his coaching career – including 27 that have played in the Major Leagues. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native spent the last five seasons at Nebraska (2014-19) where he served as an assistant head coach. While in Lincoln, Kirby worked with the infielders and served as the team's third-base case. In those five seasons, he helped see 13 players selected in the MLB Draft.

 

The WAC has 53 non-conference games scheduled this season against 2019 NCAA tournament qualifiers. Of those games, 15 are against Super Regional participants and nine come against College World Series participants. Grand Canyon plays the most with 16 non-conference games against 2019 NCAA tournament participants with Chicago State also reaching double-digits as the Cougars take on 10 postseason schools from last season.

 

Dixie State and Tarleton State will join the Western Athletic Conference as full-time members in 2020-21 in conjunction with CSU Bakersfield leaving the conference. The Blazers and Texans will begin their four-year transition process to Division I in July 2020, making them ineligible to compete in post season tournaments (WAC and NCAA) until the 2024-25 season.

 

For the sixth 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.  Managed for one more season by hall of famer Mark Gallo, the stadium also features refurbished seating, a state-of-the art scoreboard 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 18 times and the event hase been held in Mesa 11 times.  Sacramento State became the first ever team to win six-straight games to win the 2019 tournament, earning the WAC's automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.