United Athletic Conference

Grand Canyon's Tayler Aguilar and Dixie State's Jimmy Borzone have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for May 16 – May 22.

 

Aguilar, a junior outfielder from Evans, Colo., hit three home runs to set GCU's Division I record for home runs in a season with 20. He also ran his RBI count to 65, which is most by a Lope since 1994. On the week, he hit .429 with six RBIs and five runs scored as GCU swept past Seattle U.

 

Borzone, a senior right-hander from Vancouver, Wash., struck out 15 over two appearances out of the bullpen. In his first game of the week, he recorded seven strikeouts with just one hit over three scoreless innings in a win at Loyola Marymount. He returned to action on Saturday against California Baptist, striking out eight and allowing three runs on three hits over 3.1 innings to pick up the win. 

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Ulises Caballero hit .500 on the week, including a pair of home runs and six runs scored in games against Washington and Dixie State … Dixie State's Tyson Fisher hit .357 with four home runs, seven RBIs and six runs scored as the Trailblazers posted wins at Loyola Marymount and a series win at California Baptist … NM State's Cal Villareal had multi-hit games in all three contests against Utah Valley, finishing the week 7-for-15 with a .467 average and six RBIs … UT Rio Grande Valley's Chris Mondesi scored twice on Thursday and drove in the first two runs on Saturday to help the Vaqueros earn the series win at Stephen F. Austin … Utah Valley's Mitch Moralez hit .471 on the week, going 8-for-17 with five RBIs as the Wolverines ended their season with a win over Pacific and a win against NM State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: California Baptist's Spencer Bengard earned the win on Friday night against Dixie State, allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts in 7.0 innings on the hill … Grand Canyon's Connor Markl allowed just one run on four hits with four strikeouts over 5.2 innings to earn the win on Saturday against Seattle U … NM State's Alex Bustamante faced just six hitters over two appearances and struck out three of them in wins over Utah Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Zach Tjelmeland made a pair of relief appearances, striking out six and allowing just one hit against Stephen F. Austin … Utah Valley's Mason Gray picked up the win on Saturday against NM State, striking out five in 6.0 innings pitched.

 

It's time to play for the trophy at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. as the top four eligible teams from each division will meet up under the Arizona sun. Grand Canyon and Sam Houston earned the top seeds out of the West and Southwest respectively. Lamar earned the second seed out of the Southwest while Sacramento State is the second seed out of the West. The third seeds went to Seattle U (West) and UT Rio Grande Valley (Southwest) and the fourth seeds will be Abilene Christian (Southwest) and NM State (West). The tournament will feature two four-team brackets with the winners of those advancing to the winner-takes-all championship game on Saturday night. All games will be broadcast on ESPN+ within the United States and at wacsports.com/watch for international viewers.

 

While most of the attention will be focussed on Mesa, California Baptist has four more games left before they call it a season. The Lancers play host to Hawai'i on Monday and then take on rival UC Riverside in a three-game series beginning on Thursday, with CBU hosting on Thursday and Saturday and UCR hosting on Friday.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .316 on the season. Grand Canyon has the low staff ERA at 4.37 while Abilene Christian is the top defensive team with a .979 fielding percentage. Individually, SHSU's Carlos Contreras has the top batting average at .404 and LU's Adam Wheaton has the low ERA at 2.79. SHSU's Contreras is also the leader in both hits (90) and RBIs (89) while SHSU's Clayton Chadwick has the lead in runs scored (65). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (25), LU's Kevin Bermudez has the lead in triples (7) and NMSU's Logan Gallina is tied with GCU's Tayler Aguilar for the current home run lead with 20 each. On the hill, GCU's Daniel Avitia has the lead in strikeouts with 95 in 76.2 innings pitched.

 

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 22nd. They are also ranked 25th in the D1Baseball.com poll, 24th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and 28th by College Baseball Magazine. GCU is among those receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches' Top 25.

 

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.