United Athletic Conference

Sacramento State's Matt Smith and Grand Canyon's Pierson Ohl have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 3 to May 9.

 

Smith, a senior outfielder from Placerville, Calif., was about as good as it gets on the weekend as the Hornets split a crucial WAC series with league-leading California Baptist. In 14 plate appearances, he was only retired three times, posting a .727 batting average and .786 on-base percentage with eight hits and three walks. Smith had his best game in the series opener on Friday, going 4-for-4 with a grand slam, a double, two runs scored and a walk. He added a two-run pinch hit base hit in game two of Saturday's doubleheader before homering again and driving in another pair in Sunday's series finale 14-1 win. On the week, he was 8-for-11 with 10 RBIs, four runs scored and three extra-base hits. 

 

Ohl, a junior right-hander from Simi Valley, Calif., threw his sixth complete game of the season and picked up his seventh win as well in a 10-0 victory over Dixie State on Friday night. Allowing just two hits on the night, he struck out six and walked none to help GCU get their first win of the weekend en route to a four-game sweep over the Trailblazers. On the season, Ohl boasts a 7-1 record and 2.42 earned-run average with 85 strikeouts and just eight walks in 74.1 innings pitched.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Mitchel Simon led CBU with eight RBIs and six runs scored in a series split with Sacramento State … Dixie State's Jake Engel hit .385 in a four-game series at Grand Canyon … Grand Canyon's Elijah Buries hit safely in all five games the Lopes played this week, including going 6-of-12 in a series sweep of Dixie State … NM State's Tommy Tabak reached base in all four games and hit .500 in the Aggies' series split at Utah Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Coleman Grubbs had a pair of multi-hit games and drove in seven total runs as the Vaqueros earned a series win over visiting Tarleton … Utah Valley's Kade Poulson pushed his hitting streak to 10 games as UVU earned a series split with NM State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's William St. Marseille threw 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three, in Saturday's 7-6 win over Sacramento State … Dixie State's Jack Gonzales tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing two hits and striking out six, in a no-decision at Grand Canyon on Saturday … NM State's Sammy Natera struck out 10 and allowed a single run on two hits over 5.2 innings to earn the win in Saturday's nightcap at Utah Valley … Sacramento State's Travis Adams tossed a complete game on Sunday, striking out five with a single run allowed on six hits in the nine-inning appearance … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens was perfect through 6.1 innings and finished with three hits allowed in a 3-2 complete-game win over Tarleton … Utah Valley's Mason Gray earned the complete-game win on Saturday against NM State, allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over seven innings on the hill.

 

The march towards Mesa heats up this week as just two weeks remain before tournament seeding is determined. Both midweek games on the schedule feature University of Utah as Northern Colorado finishes up a weekend series with the Utes on Monday afternoon before Utah Valley heads to SLC to take on the Pac-12 squad on Wednesday evening. This weekend, it will be a purple battle in Stephenville as Grand Canyon looks to remain atop the standings when they make their first trip to Tarleton. California Baptist, who is the other first place team, also hits the road, traveling to NM State. UT Rio Grande Valley hosts Northern Colorado while Seattle U visits Dixie State. In non-conference play, Sacramento State heads to the city by the bay to take on San Francisco and Utah Valley travels to Albuquerque to take on New Mexico.

 

As a team, California Baptist is the leader in both batting average (.289) and earned run average (3.75). Sacramento State is the leader on defense, boasting a .983 fielding percentage. Individually, the Hornets' Matt Smith took over the lead in batting average at .388. NMSU's Zerek Saenz is the leader in hits (65) and teammate Ethan Mann has the lead in RBIs (46). GCU's Channy Ortiz is the leader in runs scored (49). When it comes to extra-base hits, UVU's Alexander Marco is the leader in doubles (20), NC's Shaydon Kubo has the lead in triples (4) and CBU's Damon Keith is the leader in home runs (10). On the hill, GCU's Carter Young has the low ERA at 1.75 while teammate Pierson Ohl is the leader in strikeouts (85).

 

Utah Valley head coach Eric Madsen announced his resignation on April 27 after amassing over 300 career victories in 13 seasons leading the Wolverines. UVU also announced the David Carter will take over at the team's interim head coach.

 

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.