United Athletic Conference

California Baptist's John Glenn and Sacramento State's Travis Adams have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 19 to April 25.

 

Glenn, a senior infielder from Thousand Oaks, Calif., put together a monster week in the Lancers' sweep of Utah Valley. The senior batted .786, going 11-of-14 at the dish, slugged 1.071 and maintained a .824 on-base percentage with three walks. Three of his four games featured at least three hits, going a perfect 4-for-4 in the series opener on Friday and a perfect 3-for-3 in the series finale on Sunday. He added seven runs to his season totals and drove in four runs on the weekend.

 

Adams, a sophomore right-hander from Desert Hot Springs, Calif., posted a career-high 13 strikeouts over 7.2 shutout innings to earn a road win at Northern Colorado on Saturday. He limited the Bears to just two hits over seven innings and walked just two while shattering his previous career high for strikeouts of eight. With the win, he improved to 5-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.77 for the season.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Dixie State's Jake Engel was 3-for-3 with three solo home runs on Saturday against San Diego State, adding another long ball in the nightcap against the Aztecs … Grand Canyon's Juan Colato was 4-for-5 at the plate in the Lopes' 4-1 win over Arizona State on Wednesday … NM State's Kevin Jimenez showed extreme plate discipline, drawing 10 walks on the week while going 7-for-14 in official at-bats for a .708 on-base percentage … Northern Colorado's Shaydon Kubo drove in nine runs on the weekend as the Bears earned a home series split with Sacramento State … Sacramento State's Matt Smith became the Hornets' all-time leader in both hits and RBIs over the weekend, recording six hits and five RBIs in a series split at Northern Colorado … Tarleton's London Green hit .538 on the week, going 7-for-13 with four RBIs and five runs scored in a series split with NM State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Andy Atwood posted a career-high three runs scored on Tuesday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christy and then went 10-for-18 at the plate in a series-sweep of Seattle U.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Chris Burica threw his third complete-game shutout of the season in a 10-0 win over Utah Valley, striking out four and scattering five hits over seven innings on the mound … Dixie State's Jimmy Borzone allowed just two hits and struck out four over six innings pitched in a no decision at San Diego State on Saturday … Grand Canyon's Connor Markl made the most of his first collegiate start, limiting Arizona State to just one run over four innings to earn the win on Wednesday … NM State's Cam Blazek picked up his second win as an Aggie, allowing three runs on six hits over five innings in a 17-6 win at Tarleton on Sunday … Tarleton's Luke Baley earned the win with five strikeouts and just two hits allowed over five innings in a 4-1 victory over NM State on Saturday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Pam threw a season-high five innings and didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning to earn the win in a 13-0 win over Seattle U.

 

This week marks the only weekend of the regular season with all 10 WAC squads in action in conference play although before league play resumes on Friday, Sacramento State will visit Kansas on Tuesday and Wednesday for a two-game series with the Jayhawks and NM State will host Benedictine-Mesa in a single game on Tuesday. In weekend play, I-15 bragging rights will be in play as Dixie State hosts Utah Valley. Tarleton makes the trip to Northern Colorado, Grand Canyon travels to Sacramento State, NM State hosts UT Rio Grande Valley and California Baptist heads north to take on Seattle U.

 

As a team, Sacramento State leads the WAC with a .285 batting average and .980 fielding percentage. On the hill, California Baptist has the low staff ERA at 3.65. Individually, NM State's Zerek Saenz has the top batting average a .401 and also leads the WAC in hits (55) and is tied with Northern Colorado's Shaydon Kubo for the lead in triples (3). CBU's Damon Keith is the leader in runs scored (38) and NMSU's Ethan Mann has the lead in RBIs (35). Both Tarleton's London Green and UVU's Alexander Marco have 17 doubles on the year to lead the league while CBU's Keith and NC's Jake Gitter are tied for the lead in home runs (8). On the mound, GCU's Carter Young leads the league with a 2.00 ERA and teammate Pierson Ohl has the lead in strikeouts with 73.

 

Sacramento State's Scott Randall recorded his second 14 strikeout game of the season at Northern Colorado on April 23 while teammate Travis Adams recorded 13 Ks against those same Bears on April 24.

 

Dixie State's Jake Engel went 3-for-3 on Saturday against San Diego State, with all three hits leaving the year for home runs. He added another home run in the nightcap for good measure.

 

Sacramento State's Matt Smith etched his name in the record books over the weekend, becoming the Hornets' all-time leader in both hits and RBIs. In the hits column, he passed current Tampa Bay Rays farmhand Nathan Lukes (144) and in the RBIs, he passed former MLB first round pick Tim Wheeler (142).

 

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.