United Athletic Conference

Grand Canyon's Brock Burton and California Baptist's Chris Burica have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 26 to May 2.

 

Burton, a senior outfielder from Phoenix, led the Lopes offense in a series-win at Sacramento State, hitting .714 and slugging 1.286 with four multi-hit games and 11 total RBIs. His best game came in the opener, going 3-for-4 with two home runs, six RBIs and three runs scored in a 15-5 win. He followed that up with a 4-for-6 day, adding four RBIs and two runs scored, in a doubleheader sweep on Friday. In the series finale, he was 3-for-4 with a double. On the year, he boasts a .329 batting average with 10 doubles and 26 RBIs.

 

Burica, a senior left-hander from Anaheim Hills, Calif., continued to dominate WAC hitters on Friday at Seattle U. Allowing one run on five hits over nine innings, he earned his fourth complete game of the season in a 9-1 win over the Redhawks. On the year, he boasts a record of 7-3 with a 2.27 earned-run average and 60 strikeouts.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Damon Keith led the Lancer offense to a sweep at Seattle U, hitting .429 with six RBIs and seven runs scored … Dixie State's Lane Pritchard hit .533 with three multi-hit games as the Trailblazers swept past in-state rival Utah Valley … NM State's Cal Villareal drove in nine runs on the weekend as the Aggies picked up the series win at home over UT Rio Grande Valley … Sacramento State's Ryan Walstad drove in all three runs in the Hornets' 3-2 win over Grand Canyon on Sunday … Tarleton's Blake Burns went .583 at the plate with seven RBIs and four-doubles in a series-split at Northern Colorado … UT Rio Grande Valley's Coleman Grubbs posted his second-career four-hit game on Saturday, going 4-of-5 with a pair of doubles and a pair of runs in a 12-8 loss at NM State … Utah Valley's Mick Madsen hit .467 for the Wolverines as they battled in-state rival Dixie State on the road.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Dixie State's Ryan Hardman picked up his first collegiate victory with five strikeouts and six scoreless innings on Sunday against Utah Valley … Grand Canyon's Dawson McCarville earned the win with six scoreless innings to push his scoreless-inning streak to 29 … NM State's Chris Jefferson threw his fourth complete game of the season, striking out five and allowing one run on two hits over seven innings in a 12-1 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday … Sacramento State's Scott Randall slowed down the Grand Canyon offense on Sunday, striking out eight and allowing just one run on five hits over six innings in a 3-2 win … Tarleton's Zach Poe appeared in three games on the weekend and earned the win on Sunday in a 21-5 win at Northern Colorado … UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens struck out seven and scattered seven hits over seven innings to earn the win on Friday at NM State.

 

The calendar has turned to tournament month as the march towards Mesa continues this week. In midweek action, Utah Valley hosts Brigham Young and Grand Canyon travels to 10th-ranked Arizona on Tuesday and Seattle U visits Washington State on Wednesday. The weekend features four WAC series as Tarleton travels to UT Rio Grande Valley, Utah Valley hosts NM State, Dixie State makes the trek to Grand Canyon and Sacramento State travels south to take on California Baptist. In non-conference play, Northern Colorado travels to Utah and Seattle U vists 23rd-ranked Gonzaga.

 

As a team, Sacramento State leads the WAC with a .286 batting average and .982 fielding percentage. On the hill, California Baptist has the low staff ERA at 3.42. Individually, NM State's Zerek Saenz has the top batting average a .285 and also leads the WAC in hits (60). CBU's Damon Keith is the leader in runs scored (45) and home runs (10) while NMSU's Brandon Dieter took over the lead for RBIs (41) . UVU's Alexander Marco and TAR's London Green are tied for the lead in doubles (18) and NC's Shaydon Kubo is the leader in triples (4). On the mound, GCU's Carter Young lowered his ERA to a WAC-best 1.99 and GCU's Pierson Ohl is tied with SAC's Scott Randall for the lead in strikeouts with 79 each.

 

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.