United Athletic Conference

Tarleton's Bryan Aguilar and Grand Canyon's Pierson Ohl have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 5 to April 11.

 

Aguilar, a junior infielder from San Antonio, started in all five games for the Texans on the week, hitting .350 with a .550 slugging percentage. In Tarleton's lone mid-week game, he was 3-of-5 with a grand slam in a 13-9 loss to 10th-ranked TCU. In the Texans' WAC series at Seattle, he was 4-of-15 from the plate, driving in four runs as Tarleton earned three road wins in the four-game series.

 

Ohl, a junior right-hander from Simi Valley, Calif., threw his third-straight seven-inning complete game in a 4-0 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday. Scattering two hits on the afternoon, he struck out a career-high 11 hitters and didn't issue any walks in the victory. On the season, Ohl is now 4-1 with a 2.98 earned-run average.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Connor Clift was 2-for- 6 with four RBIs in the Lancers' 9-7 win over Cal State Fullerton on Sunday … Grand Canyon's Jacob Wilson had a trio of multi-hit games as the Lopes took 3-of-4 from Northern Colorado … NM State's Ethan Mann hit. .467 with seven hits and seven RBIs in the Aggies' four-game series at Sacramento State … Sacramento State's Ryan Walstad led the Hornets offensively, going 5-for-11 at the plate as they won 3-of-4 against NM State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Elijah Alexander had his first career multi-home run game on Friday and finished the weekend series hitting .364 as the Vaqueros took 3-of-4 from Utah Valley … Utah Valley's Andrew Hacker hit .364 with a home run and a pair of RBIs in the Wolverines' 6-5 win at UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Drew Nechochea earned the win on Sunday against Cal State Fullerton, allowing just one run on three hits over five innings in a 9-7 victory … NM State's Sammy Natera struck out seven while allowing just one run on two hits over 4.1 innings in the Aggies' 10-2 win over Sacramento State … … Northern Colorado's Cooper Rust earned the win on Friday at Grand Canyon, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings … Sacramento State's Brady Rodriguez struck out five and scattered three hits over five scoreless innings to earn the win on Sunday against NM State … Seattle U's Riley Sinclair threw a strong seven innings against Tarleton, allowing just one run on three hits in a 3-0 loss on Sunday … Tarleton's Justin Waltmon came out of the pen three times on the week and earned the win in his final appearance of the week, throwing 3.2 innings of no-hit baseball in a 3-0 win at Seattle U on Sunday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts while allowing just one run on two hits over 8.0 innings in a 6-1 win over Utah Valley on Friday … Utah Valley's Devin Smith made a pair of scoreless relief appearances, earning the save in Saturday's win at UT Rio Grande Valley.

 

This week's schedule begins on Tuesday with a pair of games against nationally-ranked opponents as Tarleton travels to 10th-ranked TCU and Grand Canyon hosts 17th-ranked Arizona. Northern Colorado will also be in action as the Bears head to Kansas State for a two-game series. When WAC play resumes on Friday, it will feature Grand Canyon traveling to NM State, Tarleton visiting Utah Valley, Dixie State hosting California Baptist and Seattle U heading to Sacramento State.

 

As a team, Sacramento State leads the WAC with a .287 batting average and .981 fielding percentage. On the hill, California Baptist has the low staff ERA at 3.80. Individually, NM State's Zerek Saenz has the top batting average a .415 and also leads the WAC in hits (44) and triples (3). GCU's Channy Ortiz is the leader in runs scored (31) and Northern Colorado's Josh Glenn is the leader in RBIs (30). UVU's Marco Alexander holds the top spot in doubles (13) while NC's Jake Gitter is the home run leader (8). On the hill, GCU's Carter Young leads the league with a 1.62 ERA and teammate Pierson Ohl has the lead in strikeouts with 59.

 

Dixie State's Jimmy Borzone fired the WAC's first no-hitter in over four years in a 5-1 win at Tarleton on April 2. In addition to being the first in the league since Sacramento State's Justin Dillon no-hit Northern Kentucky on Feb. 23, 2017, it was the first no-hitter in a league game since Fresno State's Greg Gonzalez no-hit Hawai'i on April 10, 2010.

 

UT Rio Grande Valley junior Freddy Rojas Jr. went yard in six straight games, two shy of the NCAA record.

 

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.