United Athletic Conference

Sacramento State's Matt Smith and California Baptist's Chris Burica have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 8 to March 14.

 

Smith, a senior outfielder from Placerville, Calif., recorded hits in all four games at Tarleton as the Hornets opened conference play with a series win over the Texans. After going 4-of-13 in the firs three games, he finished the series with a four-for-four game, driving in four runs and scoring five runs with a pair of home runs as well. On the week, he hit .471 from the dish with a .571 on-base percentage and a 1.059 slugging percentage.

 

Burica, a senior left-hander from Anaheim Hills, Calif., picked up a win on Saturday against Northern Colorado. Over 6.2 scoreless innings, he scattered two hits and recorded six strikeouts. It marked the third-straight start that he has pitched into the seventh inning.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's John Glenn was 6-for-13 from the plate as the Lancers swept Northern Colorado … Dixie State's Jake Engel was 2-for-three with five RBIs and two runs scored in the Trailblazers' first Division I win on Sunday against NM State …. Grand Canyon's Elijah Buries had four RBIs in the Lopes' 8-4 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday … NM State's Brandon Dieter drove in 12 runs last week, including a pair of bombs to lead an Aggie offense that piled up 63 runs in just four games … Northern Colorado's Sam Leach extended his hitting streak to 12 games with hits in all four games at California Baptist … Seattle U's Justin Mazzone drove in three runs in Saturday's 6-4 loss at Washington … Tarleton's London Green was 4-for-4 at the plate in the Texans' mid-week win against future WAC member Lamar … UT Rio Grande Valley's Andy Atwood had multi-hit games in each of the Vaqueros' wins in a split at Grand Canyon … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez went 4-for-5 in the Wolverines' series-opener at Portland.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Grand Canyon's Coen Wynne struck out a pair in 3.2 innings on Sunday against UT Rio Grande Valley … NM State's Josh Laukkanen earned his first win of the year as he struck out five in five innings on the mound against Dixie State … Northern Colorado's Dylan Bowers recorded six strikeouts over 6.1 innings of work on Saturday against California Baptist … Sacramento State's Scott Randall struck out seven Tarleton hitters and allowed just two hits over seven innings to earn the victory in a 6-0 win on Friday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens threw a career-high 6.2 innings, earning the win on Friday night at Grand Canyon … Utah Valley's Mason Gray had a career-high nine strikeouts but took the loss on Sunday at Portland.

 

Before the second week of WAC play begins, Dixie State plays host to Brigham Young on Tuesday and UT Rio Grande Valley heads to 12th-ranked Texas, also on Tuesday. On Wednesday, NM State will host Benedictine-Mesa. The first weekend series will begin on Thursday as Tarleton heads to the Metroplex for a four-game set with perennial-power Dallas Baptist. The other non-conference series will match up California Baptist heading north to take on California. In WAC play, UT Rio Grande Valley visits Dixie State, Sacramento State heads to Utah Valley, Seattle U travels to Grand Canyon and NM State plays host to Northern Colorado.

 

As a team, NM State has the top batting average (.300), California Baptist has the best ERA (3.64) and Sacramento State boasts the top fielding percentage (.978). NM State's Zerek Saenz has the top individual batting average a .424 and SAC's Scott Randal holds the top earned run average (1.50). GCU's Brock Burton is the leader in hits (20), SAC teammates Trever Doyle and Ryan Walstad are tied for the lead in runs scored (15) and NC's Josh Glenn is the leader in RBIs (20). Walstad is also the leader in doubles (7) while Tarleton's Corey Young is the leader in triples with two. TAR's Colby Seltzer and NC's Jake Gitter are tied for the home run lead with five each. On the hill, NC's Dylan Bowers has the strikeout lead with 33 in 23.0 innings pitched.

 

WAC teams have recorded five sweeps this season. Sacramento State was the first to get out the broom, sweeping Texas State. Tarleton swept UAPB in a midweek series, California Baptist earned the WAC's only road sweep at UC Davis and UT Rio Grande Valley swept four at home against Northern Illinois. CBU was also the first to record a WAC sweep, winning four at home against Northern Colorado.

 

Due to a travel-related curfew, the Grand Canyon Lopes ended up in a 4-4 tie with 15th-ranked Oklahoma State on March 7.

 

Perhaps sad about all the baseball they missed in 2020, Northern Colorado played 15 innings in its season-opening loss to Colorado Christian.

 

Grand Canyon, Sacramento State and UT Rio Grande Valley sit in a three-way tie as the preseason favorites to win the 2021 Western Athletic Conference baseball title while GCU's Juan Colato and Sacramento State's Scott Randall 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.

 

UTRGV held the slight edge in the trio at the top, collecting four first-place votes while totaling 73 points. GCU and Sacramento State each received three first-place votes and had 73 points each as well to secure the three-way tie. NM State was selected fourth with 53 points, followed by California Baptist in fifth with 49 points. Seat tle U is predicted to finish sixth with 37 points and Utah Valley is seventh at 32 points. Newcomer Dixie State was selected eighth and Northern Colorado and Tarleton tied for ninth in the preseason prognostication. 

 

Colato and Randall highlight the Preseason All-WAC squad. Colato is joined by teammates Pierson Ohl and Frankie Scalzo. UT Rio Grande Valley had three selected as Conrado Diaz, Joseph Impeduglia and Christian Sepulveda earned honors. Seattle U had two honored as Justin Kodama and Connor O'Brien represented the Redhawks and California Baptist also had a pair earn honors as Ulises Caballero and Chad Castillo were named to the team. NM State was represented by Noah Haupt, Tarleton was represented by Blake Burns and Utah Valley's Jesse Schmit was honored to round out the 14-member team.

 

The WAC will feature a couple new teams as Dixie State and Tarleton joined the conference as full members on July 1, 2020. Chris Pfatenhauer enters his ninth season leading the Dixie State Trailblazers while Aaron Meade will embark on his second season leading the Tarleton Texans. The two teams replace CSU Bakersfield, who departed the league for the Big West, and Chicago State, who discontinued their program.

 

A pair of WAC closers have been named to the NCBWA Preseason Stopper of the Year Watch List. Both Grand Canyon's Frankie Scalzo and Sacramento State's Stone Churby are among 45 players listed.

 

On Jan. 14, the WAC announced the addition of five new schools in the upcoming years. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah were all offered and accepted membership invitations. With the addition, the WAC will have six schools in Texas, more than any other conference in the country, and three schools in Utah, also a national best. The four Texas schools will join the league on July 1, 2021 and Southern Utah, who does not sponsor baseball, will follow 365 days later, officially joining the WAC on July 1, 2022.

 

The 2021 season will mark the final season in the WAC for Northern Colorado. The Bears, who are in their eighth season as an affiliate member, will move to the Summit League for baseball while keeping their other sports in the Big Sky Conference. 

 

After having to cancel the tournament last 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 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.