United Athletic Conference

Sacramento State's Martin Vincelli-Simard and UT Rio Grande Valley's Kevin Stevens have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 9 – May 15.

 

Vincelli-Simard, a junior infielder from Boisbriand, Quebec, Canada, used his bat to lead the Hornets to a 4-0 week. In the lone non-conference game, he was 3-for-5 at the dish with three RBIs and three runs scored in a 11-9 win at Fresno State. In the three-game WAC series with Utah Valley, the Québécois went 6-for-11 at the plate with a combined four RBIs, four runs scored and five extra-base hits as the Hornets earned the sweep over visiting UVU.

 

Stevens, a senior right-hander from Tucson, Ariz., was dominant in his start Friday against first-place Sam Houston, striking out nine and walking just one to pick up the 4-1 victory. Over 8.0 innings, he scattered three hits, two of which were infield singles. He is now 8-2 on the season with 85 strikeouts and a 2.78 earned run average.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Russell Stevenson hit .500 on the week, including a 4-for-5 performance in Saturday's series finale at Seattle U … Dixie State's Kaden Hollow hit an even .400 on the week as the Trailblazers battled tough with nationally-ranked UC Santa Barbara … Grand Canyon's Josh Buckley helped the Lopes earn the sweep at NM State, going 7-for-15 with five RBIs and four runs scored on the week … Lamar's Josh Blankenship led the team in home runs, doubles, RBIs, total bases and slugging in the Cardinals' win over Southern and three-game sweep at Abilene Christian … NM State's Edwin Martinez-Pagani was 5-for-10 at the dish as the Aggies battled nationally-ranked Grand Canyon … Sam Houston's Easton Lloyd hit .500 for the Bearkats, including a 4-for-5 day on Sunday to help the Bearkats clinch their WAC series at UTRGV … Tarleton's London Green totaled 10 RBIs on the week as the Texans swept past visiting Stephen F. Austin … UT Rio Grande Valley's Brett Cain was 2-for-4 at the dish with a pair of RBIs and a run scored in the Vaqueros' 4-1 win over first-place Sam Houston on Friday night … Utah Valley's Mick Madsen led the Wolverines with a .353 averaged and a pair of home runs in games against Portland and Sacramento State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Drew Necochea made a pair of appearances for the Lancers, throwing 1.2 innings in a loss at San Diego before picking up the seven-inning complete game win over Seattle U on Saturday … Grand Canyon's Daniel Avitia struck out eight in a win at NM State to set a new school record for strikeouts by a freshman … Sacramento State's Colin Hunter, struck out nine and allowed just two runs on six hits over 6.1 innings to earn the win on Saturday against Utah Valley … Tarleton's Riley Boyd threw a career-high five shutout innings with five strikeouts and three hits allowed on Saturday against Stephen F. Austin … Utah Valley's Luke McCollough surrendered just one run on three hits in appearances against Portland and Sacramento State.

 

In midweek action, Stephen F. Austin travels to Baylor, Sam Houston visits No. 20 Texas, NM State heads north to New Mexico, California Baptist takes on Washington and Dixie State visits Loyola Marymount. In the final weekend of WAC play beginning on Thursday, Tarleton heads to Lamar, UT Rio Grande Valley visits Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian travels to Sam Houston, NM State travels to Utah Valley, Dixie State plays at California Baptist, and Grand Canyon hosts Seattle U. Sacramento State wrapped up WAC play last week and will take on San José State in a non-conference series to stay loose for next week's WAC tournament.

 

Seven of the eight spots at the 2022 WAC Baseball Tournament in Mesa, Ariz. have been claimed but there is still a lot to be decided this weekend. Two seeds have been secured as Grand Canyon has clinched the West Division and the subsequent top-seed and Sacramento State has locked up the second seed out of the west. Seattle U has clinched a trip to Mesa but the Redhawks aren't sure if they will be the West's third or fourth seed. The biggest series of the week will be in Orem, Utah as NM State and Utah Valley face off with the series winner earning a trip to the tournament.

 

In the Southwest Division, we have known the four teams for a few weeks but all four seeds are still to-be-determined. Sam Houston currently sits atop the standings and the Bearkats can clinch the top seed with a combination of two SHSU wins and Lamar losses. Lamar currently sits in second but can still earn the top seed if they can finish tied or ahead of Sam Houston. UT Rio Grande Valley has the most options left as the Vaqueros could be the second, third or fourth seed depending on how the weekend shakes out and Abilene Christian is playing for either the third or fourth seed.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .319 on the season. Grand Canyon has the low staff ERA at 4.35 while Abilene Christian is the top defensive team with a .979 fielding percentage. Individually, SHSU's Carlos Contreras has the top batting average at .415 and LU's Adam Wheaton has the low ERA at 2.73. SHSU's Contreras is also the leader in both hits (88) and RBIs (87) while SHSU's Clayton Chadwick has the lead in runs scored (63). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (24), LU's Kevin Bermudez has the lead in triples (7) 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 95 in 76.2 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.