United Athletic Conference

Sam Houston's Clayton Chadwick and California Baptist's CJ Culpepper have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 2 – May 8.

 

Chadwick, a sophomore outfielder from La Vernia, Texas, played a big part in the Bearkats' three-game sweep of Stephen F. Austin, hitting .667 with a .714 on-base percentage and a 1.444 slugging percentage. In nine at-bats, he totaled nine RBIs, seven runs scored and three of his six hits were for extra bases.

 

Culpepper, a sophomore right-hander from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., threw a gem against NM State on Saturday, striking out 12 and allowing just three hits over seven innings to earn the complete game shutout. Without allowing a walk, he had a strikeout in each inning pitched, including striking out the side in the third inning.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Grayson Tatrow hit his 14th and 15th home runs of the season in the Wildcats' series win at Tarleton … California Baptist's Chad Castillo recorded a hit in each game and finished the week hitting .444 for the Lancers … Dixie State's Tyson Fisher hit .438 on the week, driving in four runs and scoring four times of his own … Grand Canyon's Tayler Aguilar homered twice in a win at Arizona and then drove in the game-winning run in Sunday's WAC series finale against Sacramento State … Lamar's Matthew McDonald hit .533 with eight total hits for the Cardinals … Tarleton's Kemuel Thomas-Rivera had seven RBIs and hit .583 in the Texans' three-game series against Abilene Christian … UT Rio Grande Valley's Bryan Sturges had a career-high five RBIs in a series-clinching win at Lamar … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez hit .462 in the Wolverines' three-game series at Washington State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Genner Cervantes struck out a career-high 11 batters and allowed two runs on six hits over 5.0 innings to earn the win over Tarleton … Grand Canyon's Daniel Avitia struck out 14 on Saturday night to earn the win over Sacramento State … Lamar's Adam Wheaton picked up the win on Saturday against UTRGV, allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts over 7.1 innings … NM State's Ian Mejia totaled 11 strikeouts in a losing effort at California Baptist on Friday night … Sam Houston's Lance Lusk earned a pair of saves, posting four strikeouts and one hit allowed over three combined innings … UT Rio Grande Valley's JC Ariza threw a season-high 6.0 innings, striking out five and earned the win over UTSA … Utah Valley's Coop Rust threw five innings but didn't earn the decision in the Wolverines' 9-7 loss to Washington State on Saturday.

 

In midweek action, Houston and Sam Houston will meet up in Sugar Land, Texas for a neutral site game on Tuesday afternoon. Also on Tuesday, Lamar hosts Southern, Dixie State travels to Brigham Young, Stephen F. Austin travels to Grambling, NM State visits New Mexico, Sacramento State plays at Fresno State, California Baptist travels to San Diego, Grand Canyon hosts Arizona State and Seattle U makes the short trip to Washington. Wednesday also features a pair of games with Utah Valley playing at Portland and Dixie State hosting Utah. On the weekend slate, Tarleton hosts Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian hosts Lamar, Seattle U hosts California Baptist, UT Rio Grande Valley hosts Sam Houston, NM State hosts Grand Canyon and Sacramento State hosts Utah Valley. In non-conference action, Dixie State plays at 23rd-ranked UC Santa Barbara.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .319 on the season. CBU also has the low staff ERA at 4.30 while Sacramento State is the top defensive team with a .978 fielding percentage. Individually, SHSU's Carlos Contreras has the top batting average at .418 and LU's Adam Wheaton has the low ERA at 2.68. SHSU's Contreras is also the leader in both hits (81) and RBIs (81) while SHSU's Clayton Chadwick has the lead in runs scored (60). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (23), SHSU's Contreras has the lead in triples (6) and NMSU's Logan Gallina is the current home run king with 18. On the hill, GCU's Daniel Avitia has the lead in strikeouts with 87 in 69.2 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.

 

Boasting six wins over Top 25 teams and several more against Power 5 opponents, Grand Canyon is getting some much deserved attention, finding themselves ranked in four polls and receiving votes in another. GCU's highest ranking is in the Perfect Game Top 25 where the Lopes are ranked 20th. They are also ranked 25th in the D1Baseball.com poll, 26th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and 29th by College Baseball Magazine. GCU is among those receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches' Top 25.

 

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.