United Athletic Conference

NM State's Zerek Saenz and Rorik Maltrud have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 8 to March 14.

 

Saenz, a sophomore outfielder from Las Cruces, N.M., led the WAC in several offensive categories, going 17-of-23 from the plate for a .739 batting average in a quintet of wins. In addition to his 17 hits, he drove in 10 RBIs and scored 10 runs himself. Five of those hits were extra-baggers with three doubles and a pair of triples and he had multiple hits in each of the Aggies' five games.

 

Maltrud, a sophomore right-hander from Austin, Texas, earned a pair of wins in a pair of appearances as the Aggies went 5-0 on the week. On Wednesday, he picked up the win in limited action against Benedictine-Mesa, allowing just one hit and striking out two in two innings of work. He earned the start against on Sunday, going six innings with nine strikeouts and one walk, scattering a pair of hits to earn the victory.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Damon Keith was 3-for-3 with a home run and three runs scored in the Lancers' series finale at California … Dixie State's Tyler Hollow was 2-for-4 in the Trailblazers' 5-4 walkoff win over Brigham Young on Tuesday … Grand Canyon's Tayler Aguilar started the week going 5-for-6 from the plate as the Lopes swept past Seattle U in a WAC series … Northern Colorado's Matt Burkart had four home runs on the week in a four-game WAC series at NM State … Sacramento State's Steven Moretto had a pair of hits in each of the Hornets' four wins at Utah Valley, finishing the weekend with a .500 batting average, six RBIs and five runs scored … Seattle U's Matt Boissoneault hits .438 for the Redhawks as SU opened WAC play with four games at Grand Canyon … UT Rio Grande Valley's Freddy Rojas Jr. homered in each of the Vaqueros' four games at Dixie State, recording 11 RBIs to go with five runs scored … Utah Valley's Alexander Marco hit .400 for the Wolverines as couldn't keep pace with Sacramento State in UVU's WAC openers.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Chris Burica picked up the win at California, striking out eight without allowing a walk in a complete-game shutout victory on Friday night … Dixie State's Tevita Gerber pitched seven solid innings, allowing two runs, only one earned, to pick up the win against UT Rio Grande Valley on Sunday … Grand Canyon's Carter Young doubled his previous career-high with 10 strikeouts to pick up the win on Sunday against Seattle U … Northern Colorado's Cooper Rust struck out three without allowing a hit in 1.2 innings of relief on Sunday against NM State … Sacramento State's Brady Rodriguez came out of the bullpen to earne a pair of wins for the Hornets at Utah Valley, combining for a pair of strikeouts with just three hits allowed in 3.2 scoreless innings … UT Rio Grande Valley's Colten Davis earned the win on Saturday against Dixie State, striking out five in a career-high six innings as part of an 18-1 win … Utah Valley's Mason Gray struck out seven and walked just one in a no-decision on Sunday against Sacramento State.

 

The weekly schedule begins on Tuesday with Utah Valley heading down University Avenue to take on Brigham Young and Grand Canyon hosting Pepperdine for the first of a two-game midweek series. Dixie State heads north on Wednesday, taking on Utah while UT Rio Grande Valley opens a four-game series at Dallas Baptist on Thursday. WAC play begins on Friday with Utah Valley playing at Northern Colorado, Dixie State playing at Sacramento State, NM State traveling to Seattle U and Tarleton heading to California Baptist. The final matchup takes place in the Big Easy with Grand Canyon visiting Tulane in non-conference play.

 

As a team, NM State has the top batting average (.322), Sacramento State has the best ERA (3.99) and the Hornets also boast the top fielding percentage (.980). NM State's Zerek Saenz has the top individual batting average a .554 and SAC's Scott Randall holds the top earned run average (2.03). Saenz is also the WAC leader in hits (31) and triples (3) and is tied with SAC's Trevor Doyle for the lead in runs scored (21). NM State's Brandon Dieter and NC's Josh Glenn share the lead in RBIs (22) while SAC's Ryan Walstad and UVU's Alexander Marco are tied for the lead in doubles (8). The home run kings are NC's Jake Gitter and Matt Burkart with six each. On the mound, NC's Dylan Bowers has the lead in strikeouts with 38 in 27.0 innings pitched.

 

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.