United Athletic Conference

Sam Houston's Carlos Contreras and Stephen F. Austin's Benny Emmons III have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 18 – April 24.

 

Contreras, a junior outfielder from El Paso, Texas, jumpstarted the Bearkat offense en route to a three-game sweep over Tarleton. In the three games against the Texans, he was 12-for-15 from the plate with 11 RBIs and four runs scored. In the middle game, he finished a double shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a triple, seven RBIs and three runs scored. 

 

Emmons, a sophomore right-hander from Grand Prairie, Texas, posted a complete-game shutout win on Saturday at Lamar. After making an appearance in a midweek contest with Grambling, he returned to the hill on Saturday and was dealing from the very beginning. Scattering five hits, he finished with three strikeouts and one walk in the 6-0 victory.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Chad Castillo hit .667 on the week as the Lancers took two of three from Utah Valley to win the WAC series … Dixie State's Shane Taylor batted .417 with a double and a home run as the Trailblazers took the series finale against Sacramento State … Grand Canyon's Cade Verdusco was 6-for-14 on the week as the Lopes split a quartet of games in San Diego … NM State's Logan Gallina had multiple hits in all four games this week, going 9-for-16 with 13 RBIs and eight runs scored … Sacramento State's Steven Moretto led the Hornets with seven hits and eight RBIs in a midweek win over Pacific and a series victory at Dixie State … UT Rio Grande Valley's Diego Ramirez hit his first two home runs of his career and is riding a nine-game hitting streak … Utah Valley's Cole Jordan hit .385 for the Wolverines, including a 2-for-3 game with four RBIs in a 10-2 win over California Baptist on Friday.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's CJ Cullpepper threw 4.1 scoreless innings, striking out five, in a no-decision against Utah Valley on Saturday … Dixie State's Ryan Hardman earned a complete game victory on Sunday against Sacramento State, striking out four and walking just one, over seven innings in a 12-2 victory … Grand Canyon's Connor Markl stuck out 10 and allowed just one run over six innings in a no-decision against seventh-ranked Stanford … Lamar's Braxton Douthit struck out seven and allowed just one run on four hits over 6.1 innings to earn the win on Friday against Stephen F. Austin … Sacramento State's Noah Takacs struck out seven and allowed just one run on two hits over five innings to earn the win on Saturday at Dixie State … Sam Houston's Steven Beard went the distance on Friday at Tarleton, striking out nine and walking three to earn the nine-inning complete game win in a 15-5 victory … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ricky Gerik Jr. made three appearances on the week, picking up a save on Friday and a win on Saturday in victories at Abilene Christian … Utah Valley's Devin Smith tossed six shutout innings, striking out six and scattering a pair of hits, to earn the victory in a 10-2 win over California Baptist on Friday.

 

Highlighting midweek action this week is UT Rio Grande Valley playing host to sixth-ranked Texas on Tuesday in front of a sold out UTRGV Baseball Stadium. In other midweek play, Dixie State heads to Utah, Sacramento State visits Saint May's, Lamar hosts Houston, Seattle U hosts Washington, Abilene Christian travels to 13th-ranked Texas Tech, Tarleton visits future WAC member UTA, NM State hosts Arizona, Grand Canyon plays at New Mexico and Utah Valley makes the short trip to Brigham Young.  On Wednesday, UTRGV travels to rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Sam Houston hosts Houston Baptist. Turning to the weekend, Stephen F. Austin hosts Abilene Christian, Sam Houston hosts Lamar, UT Rio Grande Valley hosts Tarleton, NM State hosts Dixie State, Utah Valley hosts Grand Canyon and Sacramento State hosts California Baptist.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .324 on the season. Grand Canyon has the low staff ERA at 3.95 while Abilene Christian is the top defensive team with a .978 fielding percentage. Individually, SHSU's Carlos Contreras has the top batting average at .443 and LU's Braxton Douthit has the low ERA at 2.75. SHSU's Contreras is also the leader in both hits (74) and RBIs (71) while ACU's Tatrow Grayson and SHSU's Clayton Chadwick are tied for the lead in runs scored (48). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (20), SHSU's Contreras has the lead in triples (6) and NMSU's Logan Gallina is the current home run king with 14. On the hill, GCU's Daniel Avitia has the lead in strikeouts with 67 in 55.2 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. 

 

California Baptist's Chad Castillo became the first Lancer since 2006, and the first WAC player this season, to hit for the cycle as he went 4-for-7 with six RBIs and three runs scored in a 21-4 win at Air Force on April 9. He opened the game with a three-run home run in the first before adding a two-RBI triple in the second. His double came in the third and then he singled to left field in the top of the fifth to complete the cycle with plenty of baseball left to play.

 

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.