United Athletic Conference

Two days after winning the 2021 WAC Baseball Tournament, the Grand Canyon Lopes found out they will be heading down I-10 to Tucson to open the NCAA Baseball Tournament against in-state rival Arizona on Friday at 7 p.m. PT.

 

The Lopes (39-19-1) earned their first trip to the postseason after picking up wins over NM State, Sacramento State and UT Rio Grande Valley at the WAC Tournament. Junior right-hander Pierson Ohl was named both WAC Pitcher of the Year and WAC Tournament MVP and the Lopes bullpen didn't allow an earned run in tournament play.

 

GCU's opening round opponent won't be an easy one as the Lopes will take on fifth-seeded Arizona. The Wildcats, champions of the Pac-12, hold a 40-15 record, with two of those losses coming at the hands of WAC opponents in GCU and Dixie State.

 

The other first round game in the Tucson regional will feature UC Santa Barbara (39-18) and Oklahoma State (35-17-1). The Gauchos earned an at-large berth after finishing second in the Big West this season. The regional will mark just the second trip outside the state of California for UCSB this season.

 

The Cowboys fell in the Big 12 tournament title game, earning an at-large berth to this year's tournament. OSU and GCU faced off earlier this season with Oklahoma State picking up wins in the first two games before playing to a travel-curfew-caused draw in the series finale.

 

The winner of the Tucson regional will match up with the winner of the Oxford regional, hosted by Ole Miss and featuring the host Rebels, Southeast Missouri State, Florida State and Southern Miss.

 

After picking up a share of the WAC regular season title, the Grand Canyon Lopes added a little more hardware to their trophy case, winning the 2021 WAC Baseball Tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. Earning a first-round bye, the Lopes picked up a hard-fought 5-4 win against NM State on Thursday before crusing past Sacramento State, 11-0, on Friday. In the title game, the Lopes had to come from behind but ended up in a dogpile on the mound following a 5-4 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday night. Right-hander Pierson Ohl was named Tournament MVP after throwing a complete game shutout on Friday night. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Brock Burton, Nick Hull and Jonny Weaver. UT Rio Grande Valley was represtend by Andy Atwood, Coleman Grubbs and Christian Sepulveda. The remainder of the team was Sacramento State's Jack Bollengier, Seattle U's Nestor German and Connor O'Brien and NM State's Chris Jefferson.

 

While the majority of the WAC was battling it out in Mesa, both California Baptist and Dixie State were in action in non-conference games and the Lancers and Trailblazers ended their seasons on a high note as well. CBU picked up three wins over rival UC Riverside to reach the 40-win plateau while Dixie State earned a win over seventh-ranked Arizona on Friday and gave the Wildcats all they could handle in two other close losses.

 

As a team, California Baptist is the leader in both batting average (.295) and earned run average (3.73). Sacramento State is the leader on defense, boasting a .982 fielding percentage. Individually, the Hornets' Matt Smith has the lead in batting average at .393. NMSU's Zerek Saenz is the leader in hits (74) and teammate Ethan Mann has the lead in RBIs (50). GCU's Channy Ortiz is the leader in runs scored (57). When it comes to extra-base hits, UVU's Alexander Marco and SAC's Steven Moretto share the lead in doubles (22), NC's Shaydon Kubo and UTRGV's Coleman Grubbs share the lead in triples (4) and CBU's Damon Keith has the lead in home runs (13). On the hill, GCU's Pierson Ohl has the low ERA at 2.36 and SAC's Scott Randall holds the lead in strikeouts (103).

 

In addition to crowing a champion at the WAC Tournament, Saturday was a big day for a pair of coaches as UTRGV skipper Derek Matlock earned his 100th career win in the first game against Sacramento State and then GCU leader Andy Stankiewicz picked up his 300th career win in the title contest.

 

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.

 

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.