United Athletic Conference

California Baptist's Jake Skipworth and Grand Canyon's Connor Markl have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 21 – Feb. 27.

 

Skipworth, a sophomore first baseman from Eastvale, Calif., recorded a pair of hits in each of the Lancers' four wins over visiting Purdue Fort Wayne, hitting .615 with a 1.154 slugging percentage on the weekend. On the week, he finished with eight hits, four doubles, a home run, five runs scored and nine RBIs. He has a hit in all seven CBU games this season, including six multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games this season.

 

Markl, a sophomore left-hander from Scottsdale, Ariz., faced off against a pair of NCAA tournament teams and shut them both down, picking up wins over both 11th-ranked Arizona and UC Irvine. Against in-state rival Arizona on Tuesday, Markl earned the start and fanned eight Wildcat hitters while allowing just one run on three hits over five innings to earn the win. He returned to the mound on Sunday, throwing five innings of relief and holding UC Irvine to one run on two hits with three strikeouts and no walks for his second victory of the week.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Colton Eager recorded his first multi-home run game of the season, hitting a pair out of the park in the Wildcats' 10-1 win over Michigan State on Sunday … Dixie State's Shane Taylor batted .467 out of the lead-off spot, finishing with seven hits and five RBIs as the Trailblazers took three-of-four from visiting North Dakota State … Grand Canyon's Elijah Buries had multiple hits in three-of-four Lopes games this week, including a 4-for-6 night in the Lopes' 19-3 drubbing of 11th-ranked Arizona … Lamar's Josh Blakenship led the team in hits, extra base hits and walks as the Cardinals took two-of-three from Rice … NM State's Edwin Martinez-Pagani notched a .625 batting average with five hits, two doubles and an RBI as the Aggies swept a three-game series at home against Oakland … Sacramento State's Cesar Valero had a hit in each of the Hornets' three games as they earned a sweep on the road at nationally-ranked Long Beach State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Freddy Rojas Jr. was 3-for-5 with a three-run home run, a double and a season-high three-RBIs in a 16-10 loss at Houston on Sunday … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez was 7-for-16 with a pair of doubles and a pair of RBIs in UVU's four-game series at San Francisco.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Breck Eichelberge posted the Wildcats' longest outing from a starter this season, striking out eight with just one run allowed over six innings pitched to earn the victory in a 12-4 win over Michigan State … California Baptist's CJ Culpepper improved to 2-0 on the young season with 10 strikeouts and just one hit allowed over six innings pitched to earn the win on Friday night against Purdue Fort Wayne … Dixie State's Dillon Holliday earned the win in his home debut, striking out six and scattering four hits over seven innings in a 4-1 win over North Dakota State … Lamar's Daniel Cole appeared in two games in relief, combining for seven strikeouts and just one hit allowed over three innings pitched against Texas A&M and Rice … NM State's Rorik Maltrud worked 6.0 innings against Oakland on Friday, striking out six and allowing two runs on two hits to earn the victory in a 13-7 Aggie win … Sacramento State's Jazk Zalasky entered in relief twice against Long Beach State and twice earned the win in relief, combining for three strikeouts and just four hits scattered over 4.1 innings … UT Rio Grande Valley's Colten Davis racked up a career-high seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings of two-hit, no-walk ball … Utah Valley's Nick Sims had a strong relief outing for the Wolverines, allowing one hits with four strikeouts over three innings to earn the save on Saturday at San Francisco.

 

The week's schedule already began with both Tarleton and Abilene Christian picking up home wins on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, eight teams will be in action, highlighted by Sam Houston hosting top-ranked Texas and 25th-ranked Sacramento State making their debut as a ranked team when the Hornets travel to Cal. Looking at the weekend, conference play begins for four teams as Utah Valley travels to Dixie State and Grand Canyon visits California Baptist. In non-conference play, NM State hosts Prairie View, Sacramento State hosts Houston Baptist, Tarleton travels to Missouri, Abilene Christian hosts Marist, Lamr hosts Mount St. Mary's, Stephen F. Austin heads to Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Sam Houston hosts Texas Southern, and UT Rio Grande Valley hosts Youngstown State.

 

A little over a week into the season, California Baptist leads all teams at the plate with a .325 batting average. The Lancers also lead the WAC on the mound with a 2.57 ERA while Abilene Christian boasts the top fielding percentage at .984. Individually, NM State's Edwin Martinez-Pagani has the top batting average at .667 and five pitchers are tied for the lead in ERA at 0.00. GCU's Elijah Buries is the hits leader (14) and CBU's Chad Castillo has the lead in runs scored (11). CBU's Jake Skipworth is the leader in RBIs (12) and Lamar's Josh Blakenship is the leader in doubles (6). 17 players are tied for the lead in triples with one each while five players are currently tied for the lead in home runs with three. On the hill, NMSU's Sammy Natera is the strikeout leader with 22 through 11.0 innings pitched.

 

After sweeping Long Beach State to improve to 7-0 on the young season, Sacramento State made its debut in the four major polls. Baseball America had the Hornets ranked highest at 20th while D1baseball.com has Sac State ranked 23rd. They are 24th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll and 25th in the USA Today Coaches' Poll.

 

WAC newcomer Abilene Christian is picked to win the Southwest Division while Grand Canyon has been selected to win the West Division in a vote of the league's 13 head coaches, who could not vote for their own teams. In addition, ACU outfielder Colton Eager was picked as Preseason Player of the Year and UTRGV right-hander Kevin Stevens was named Preseason Pitched of the Year.

 

In the Southwest, Abilene Christian picked up all five possible first-place votes to finish with 25 points. UTRGV earned the other first place vote and 19 points overall to tie with Sam Houston for second place. Lamar was picked fourth with 11 points, followed by Stephen F. Austin and Tarleton.

 

In the West, Grand Canyon picked up five first-place votes and 34 points to hold off Sacramento State, who also picked up a first-place vote and 30 points overall. California Baptist was picked third, garnering the final first-place vote and 27 points. NM State came in third with 20 points, followed by Dixie State with 19 points. Utah Valley was selected sixth and Seattle U rounded out the poll.

 

Eager and Stevens highlight the Preseason All-WAC squad. Eager is joined by teammates Grayson Tatrow and Tommy Cruz. GCU had five recognized as Elijah Buries, Juan Colato, Jacob Wilson, Tayler Aguilar and Carter Young all earned honors. Dixie State was represented by Kaden Hollow, Lamar was represented by Chase Kemp, NM State was represented by Kevin Jimenez, Sam Houston was represented by Coltin Atkinson and California Baptist was represented by CJ Culpepper.

 

Four new teams join the WAC this year with Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin making the move to the league from the Southland Conference. 

 

Sacramento State freshman Colin Hunter had a memorable collegiate debut, tossing a seven-inning no-hitter against visiting Northern Illinois. After facing the minimum through the first four innings before an error let a runner on, the true freshman finished with nine strikeouts and no walks in the 8-0 victory.

 

Lamar made the most of their first game in the WAC, playing 14 innings before defeating Binghamton in the season opener on Feb. 18.

 

The 2023 season will feature two more teams as UIW and UTA will join the WAC as full member institutions, bringing the total of baseball playing institutions to 15 teams.

 

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 19 times and the event hase been held in Mesa 12 times.