United Athletic Conference

Sam Houston's Carlos Contreras and California Baptist's Brandon Downer have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 21 – March 27.

 

Contreras, a junior outfielder from El Paso, Texas, set a new school record for RBIs in a game with nine in the WAC series finale against Stephen F. Austin. Going 5-for-5 from the plate during that game, he had a pair of home runs and a double in the Bearkats' 10-4 win. On the week, he had multiple hits in all four games SHSU played and finished the week 11-for-17 from the plate for a .647 average and 1.588 slugging percentage.

 

Downer, a freshman right-hander from Corona, Calif., turned in a great start in the Lancers' 9-4 win at NM State on Saturday. Taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning, he finished the game with nine strikeouts over 7.1 innings while allowing three runs, two of them earned, on four hits with a pair of walks given up.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Tommy Cruz recorded his first career triple on Saturday against Tarleton as one of two extra-base hits on the week … California Baptist's David Martin hit .462 on the week to help the Lancers earn a three-game sweep at NM State … Dixie State's Zach Thomas hit 4-for-5 with four RBIs in the Trailblazers' 11-9 series-clinching win at Seattle U on Sunday … Grand Canyon's Juan Colato had three hits in Tuesday's win over Arizona State and then hit a pair of home runs in a win at Sacramento State on Saturday … Lamar's Chase Kemp hit .600 on the week and also drew four walks as the Cardinals went 2-2 on the week … NM State's Logan Gallina hit safely in all three games on the week, finishing the series against California Baptist with three extra-base hits and three RBIs … UT Rio Grande Valley's Brett Cain recorded his fifth and sixth multi-hit games of the season as the Vaqueros earned a WAC series win over Lamar … Utah Valley's Mick Madsen was 7-for-17 on the week with his best game coming on Saturday at CSU Bakersfield, going 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Genner Cervantes struck out a career-high eight in just four innings to earn the win on Sunday against Tarleton … Dixie State's Brett Porthan struck out three and allowed just one run on five hits over five innings to earn his fifth win of the season in a 9-1 decision at Seattle U … Grand Canyon's Nick Hull struck out seven and allowed five hits over six scoreless innings but took the no-decision on Friday at Sacramento State … NM State's Hayden Johns appeared twice on the week, combining for two strikeouts and just one hit allowed in 1.2 innings of work against California Baptist … Sam Houston's Matt Dillard recorded a career-high nine strikeouts over 7.0 innings to earn the win on Sunday at Stephen F. Austin … UT Rio Grande Valley's Colten Davis allowed one run on seven hits with six strikeouts over seven innings to improve to 4-0 on the season with the victory in a 5-2 win over Lamar … Utah Valley's Carson Brown made a pair of appearances for the Wolverines, combining for nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings with just two runs on five hits and two walks issued.

 

The WAC will take on a number of nationally-ranked teams on Tuesday before focussing on WAC play this weekend. On Tuesday, Abilene Christian visits 11th-ranked Abilene Christian, Grand Canyon hosts 15th-ranked Arizona, Sam Houston hosts 20th-ranked Texas State and Stephen F. Austin opens up a two-game set at sixth-ranked Texas Tech. Looking at the weekend, Abilene Christian heads to Lamar, Sacramento State visits Utah Valley, Seattle U travels to California Baptist, NM State makes the trip to Grand Canyon, UT Rio Grande Valley visits Sam Houston and Tarleton plays at Stephen F. Austin. Dixie State has the bye and the Trailblazers will head to the Pacific coast to take on Cal Poly.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .316 on the season. TGrand Canyon has the low staff ERA at 3.96 while Abilene Christian is the top defensive team with a .980 fielding percentage. Individually, CBU's David Martin has the top batting average at .455 and GCU's Daniel Avitia has the low ERA at 1.71. SHSU's Carlos Contreras is the lead in both hits (44) and RBIs (47) whith teammate Clayton Chadwick holding the lead from runs scored (32). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (11), SHSU's Contreras is the leader in triples (4) and UTRGV's Brandon Pimentel is the current home run king with nine. On the hill, UTRGV's Kevin Stevens is the leader in strikeouts with 42 in 28.1 innings pitched.

 

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.

 

When it comes time for the 2022 WAC Baseball Tournament, the top four eligible teams from each division will head to Mesa, Ariz. The first and third place teams from each division will be placed in a four-team bracket with the second and fourth place teams from the other divisions with the winner of each double-elimintation bracket playing in a winner-takes-all championship game on Saturday night.

 

The WAC Baseball Tournament will return 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.