United Athletic Conference

NM State's Nick Gonzales and Sacramento State's Parker Brahms have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 17 – Feb. 23.

 

Gonzales, a junior infielder from Vail, Ariz., wins the honor for the second time in as many weeks after hitting .563 with a 1.313 slugging percentage in a four-game sweep of Iona. With pitchers around the country aware of his dangerous bat, the Gaels' pitchers didn't give him a lot to hit over the first three games, walking him four times but still allowing him to score four runs and drive in a pair. The first-round prospect was given plenty in Sunday's finale and he took advantage, hitting for the cycle with an additional home run, five runs scored and seven RBIs in an 18-4 win. Holding a 74-game on-base streak dating back to the 2018 season, he is hitting .567 on the season with seven home runs, 26 RBIs and a 1.433 slugging percentage.

 

Brahms, a senior right-hander from Calabasas, Calif., became the Hornets' all-time strikeout king on Friday night, striking out 10 with no walks and allowing just five hits over six scoreless innings in a 4-0 shutout win. A 27th-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers last June, he now has 280 career strikeouts at Sacramento State. On the season, he is 2-0 with a 0.77 earned-run average, having posted 17 strikeouts with no walks over 11.2 innings pitched.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's John Glenn led CBU's offense by hitting .400 with six RBIs in a close loss at Pacific and a weekend split against UC Riverside … CSU Bakersfield's Damian Henderson hit .438 for the 'Runners to help CSUB earn the series win over San Francisco … Grand Canyon's Dominic Grissom had a pair of home runs and six RBIs as the Lopes earned wins over Oregon and Fordham to go 3-2 on the week … Northern Colorado's Sam Leach had four RBIs in a three-game series at New Mexico ... Sacramento State's Matt Smith had a pair of home runs and five RBIs as the Hornets picked up a four-game sweep over visiting Milwaukee … Seattle U's Justin Mazzone hit a team-best .533 as the Redhawks with 2-2 in California with wins over UC Riverside and Southern Illinois … UT Rio Grande Valley's Andy Atwood went 4-for-5 with a double and a home run in a high-scoring 11-7 loss at 17th-ranked Oklahoma State on Saturday … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez was 9-for-17 from the plate with three doubles as the Wolverines took the series opener before dropping the series at Portland.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Chris Burica led CBU to its first home win of the season, allowing one run on five hits with four strikeouts in a 3-1 win over UC Riverside … CSU Bakersfield's Davonte Butler had a career-high eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings to earn the 2-0 win over San Francisco on Sunday … Chicago State's Vinnie Venturi pitched 7.1 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed and six strikeouts to lead the Cougars to a 3-0 win over Indiana State … Grand Canyon's Kade Mechals struck out six and allowed just one earned run over six innings but took the loss on Friday against CSUN … NM State's Chris Jefferson sealed the series sweep for the Aggies, allowing four hits with six strikeouts and a walk over six scoreless innings in an 18-4 win over Iona … Seattle U's Josh Thompson didn't allow a hit over four innings of work to earn the win in a 7-1 victory at UC Riverside … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ricky Gerik Jr. made three appearances on the week, allowing just one hit over three scoreless innings with five strikeouts and just one walk … Utah Valley's Jesse Schmit struck out four and scattered three hits over six scoreless innings to earn the win at Portland on Thursday.

 

Entering the second full week of play, NM State hits the road for the first time, traveling to Arizona State on Tuesday before returning to Las Cruces for a weekend series with Purdue Fort Wayne. UT Rio Grande Valley also has a couple big road games, playing at Houston on Tuesday and at Baylor on Wednesday before hosting South Dakota State in Edinburg over the weekend. Grand Canyon has the biggest weekend series on the schedule, heading to The Farm to take on Stanford in a three-game set. Northern Colorado heads to Idaho to play first-year program Boise State while Utah Valley continues its season opening roadtrip at San José State. Chicago State takes on midwest foes Omaha and Northern Illinois in the Midwest Classic in Marion, Ill. In other games, Seattle U hosts Pacific, CSU Bakersifeld hosts Holy Cross, Sacramento State welcomes Santa Clara and California Baptist hosts Houston Baptist. 

 

Undefeated on the season, NM State leads the league in team batting with a .362 average. Sacramento State has a 1.52 ERA while NM State also leads the league on defense with a .990 fielding percentage. Individually, NMSU's Nick Gonzales has the top batting average at .567 and CSUB's Davonte Butler and NMSU's Chris Jefferson have yet to surrender an earned run in a pair of starts each. NMSU's Gonzales also leads the league in hits (17), runs (17), RBIs (26), home runs (7) and total bases (43). NC's Matt 

Burkart and NMSU's Jason Bush are tied for the lead in doubles with four each. On the hill, SAC's Parker Brahms has the strikeout lead at 17 through 11.2 innings pitched.

 

NM State's Nick Gonzales was the first WAC player to hit for the cycle this season, achieving the feat on Feb. 23 against Iona. After hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, he doubled in the third to get him halfway there. His triple came in the sixth inning and after his second home run of the day in the seventh inning, he singled in the eighth to complete the task.

 

Sacramento State senior right-hander Parker Brahms became the Hornets all-time strikeout king with his 278th career strikeout on Feb. 21 against Milwaukee.

 

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.