United Athletic Conference

California Baptist's David Martin and UT Rio Grande Valley's J.C. Ariza have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 28 – April 3.

 

Martin, a sophomore catcher from Chino Hills, Calif., led the Lancers on the week, hitting .429 with a 1.143 slugging percentage, including 5-for-11 at the plate in a sweep over Seattle U. His biggest game came on Saturday was he was 2-for-3 from the plate with two RBIs on two solo home runs and three runs scored in an 11-7 win. 

 

Ariza, a junior right-hander from Belleville, N.J., made two solid appearances for the Vaqueros on the week. In a midweek game against Houston Baptist, he earned the start and struck out eight while allowing two hits over four scoreless innings but took the no-decision in UTRGV's 8-7 win over the Huskies. He moved to the bullpen for the weekend and recorded his first career-save with three innings pitched on Sunday at Sam Houston. Against the Bearkats, he allowed one run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts and no walks in the 13-6 win.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Colton Eager hit a two-run home run in the Wildcats' win over 12th-ranked TCU and then was 6-for-14 with three RBIs and three runs scored in a series win at Lamar … Grand Canyon's Adrian Torres was 4-for-7 in a pair of games against NM State, recording two multi-hit games … Lamar's Ryan Snell hit a home run in three consecutive games and finished with a .438 batting average and 10 RBIs on the week … NM State's Brandon Dieter hit safely in all four games for the Aggies, finishing the week with a .467 average … Stephen F. Austin's Dillon Eatman led the 'Jacks offensively, finishing with two home runs in a series-win over Tarleton … UT Rio Grande Valley's Bryan Sturges drove in three runs in each of the first two games at Sam Houston and added another in the season finale to finish with seven in the series win … Utah Valley's Spencer Olsen hit. 462 on the week, including a 3-for-4 day with three RBIs and two runs scored on Saturday against Sacramento State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Tyler Morgan went a career-high 7.2 innings at Lamar on Friday to earn the win while allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in a 3-2 win … California Baptist's Andrew Necochea turned in another quality start for the Lancers, allowing one run on seven hits over 6.0 innings to earn the win on Sunday against Seattle U … Grand Canyon's Nick Hull struck out seven and scattered four hits over 6.0 innings to earn the win against NM State on Friday night … Lamar's Jack Dallas set the school's all-time save record on Saturday, earning his 18th career save with a scoreless ninth, including two strikeouts, in a 3-2 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday … NM State's Alex Bustamante picked up his third save of the season in the Aggies' 3-1 win over Grand Canyon on Saturday … Utah Valley's Nick Sims tossed 4.2 innings of shutout relief, allowing three hits and striking out two, to earn the win on Saturday against Sacramento State.

 

A busy midweek schedule leads right into a busy weekend schedule across the WAC. In midweek action, Grand Canyon hosts fourth-ranked Texas Tech for a pair in PHX while UT Rio Grande Valley makes the trip to sixth-ranked Texas on Tuesday. Turning to the weekend, Lamar heads to Tarleton, Sam Houston heads to Abilene Christian, Utah Valley visits Seattle U, Stephen F. Austin heads to UT Rio Grande Valley, Grand Canyon visits Dixie State and Sacramento State continues its road trip at NM State. California Baptist has the bye and will be in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to take on Air Force.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .313 on the season. Grand Canyon has the low staff ERA at 3.76 while Abilene Christian is the top defensive team with a .981fielding percentage. Individually, CBU's David Martin has the top batting average at .449 and GCU's Daniel Avitia has the low ERA at 1.64. SHSU's Carlos Contreras is the lead in both hits (49) and RBIs (49) whith teammate Clayton Chadwick holding the lead from runs scored (35). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (15), 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, LU's Braxton Douthit and GCU's Nick Hull are tied for the lead in strikeouts with 47. 

 

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.