WAC NOTES
FRESNO STATE CLAIMS 2012 WAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT TITLE
Fresno State defeated Sacramento State 4-3 in 13 innings to claim the 2012 WAC Baseball Tournament championship on Sunday at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. Jordan Luplow hit a ball to right field, scoring Daniel Moultrie from second base in the bottom of the 13th inning to win the game. The game marked the longest WAC Tournament game in league history.
All-Tournament Team
Brent Hottman, Sacramento State
Austin Wynns, Fresno State
Alex Williams, Louisiana Tech
Derrick Chung, Sacramento State
Tanner Rust, New Mexico State
Trent Garrison, Fresno State
David Del Grande, Sacramento State
Aaron Judge, Fresno State
Jordan Luplow, Fresno State
Dallas Chadwick, Sacramento State
Thomas Harlan, Fresno State
MVP: Jordan Luplow, Fresno State
2012 WAC ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS ANNOUNCED
The Western Athletic Conference released its 2012 all-WAC baseball teams and postseason awards as selected by the league’s head coaches. Sacramento State junior second baseman Andrew Ayers was named the Player of the Year and Nevada sophomore Bradey Shipley earned Pitcher of the Year honors. The Freshman of the Year award went to Sacramento State outfielder Rhys Hoskins. Sacramento State’s Reggie Christiansen was named WAC Coach of the Year.
FIRST TEAM All-WAC
OF-Aaron Judge, So., Fresno State
OF-Brooks Klein, Jr., Nevada
OF-Tanner Waite, Sr., New Mexico State
OF-Justin Higley, So., Sacramento State
2B-Andrew Ayers, Jr., Sacramento State
SS-Pi’ikea Kitamura, Jr., Hawai‘i
SS-Ryan Gebhardt, So., Louisiana Tech
SS-Zack Voight, Sr., New Mexico State
C-Carlos Escobar Jr., Jr., Nevada
C-Zac Fisher, Jr., New Mexico State
C-Derrick Chung, Sr., Sacramento State
DH-Kenny Wise, Sr., Fresno State
SP-Bradey Shipley, So., Nevada
SP-Tom Jameson, Jr., Nevada
SP-Adam Mott, Jr., New Mexico State
RP-Scott Coffman, Sr., New Mexico State
SECOND TEAM All-WAC
OF-Zack Swasey, Sr., Hawai‘i
OF-Rhys Hoskins, Fr., Sacramento State
1B-Trent Garrison, Jr., Fresno State
1B-Alex Williams, Sr., Louisiana Tech
1B-Kewby Meyer, Fr., Nevada
1B-Tanner Rust, So., New Mexico State
2B-Pat Hutcheson, Sr., Fresno State
2B-Parker Hipp, Jr., New Mexico State
3B-Jake Alvarez, So., Fresno State
3B-Collin Bennett, Sr., Hawai‘i
DH-Trevor Paine, Sr., Sacramento State
SP-Justin Haley, Jr., Fresno State
SP-Tom Harlan, Sr., Fresno State
SP-Matt Sisto, Sr., Hawai‘i
SP-Dallas Chadwick, So., Sacramento State
RP-Jamie Gilley, Jr., Louisiana Tech
Player of the Year: Andrew Ayers, Jr., 2B, Sacramento State
Pitcher of the Year: Bradey Shipley, So., Nevada
Freshman of the Year: Rhys Hoskins, Fr., OF, Sacramento State
Coach of the Year: Reggie Christiansen, Sacramento State
NEW MEXICO STATE AND FRESNO STATE HEADED TO NCAA TOURNAMENT
The NCAA announced the field for the 2012 NCAA Regional Tournaments on Monday and both New Mexico State and Fresno State will represent the WAC at this year’s tournament. NM State received an at-large bid to the tournament while Fresno State received the WAC’s automatic bid after winning the WAC Tournament.
The WAC receives mulitiple bids into the tournament for the 19th time in league history. It does mark the first time since 2006 that the league has had multiple teams in the tournament.
The Aggies finished the year with a 35-22 record but dropped two-straight games in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament this past weekend. However, NM State’s strength of schedule was great as the faced teams such as Baylor (No. 4 national seed), Arizona (Regional host), Rice (Regional host), Sacred Heart (2012 NCAA Tournament participant), Kent State (2012 NCAA Tournament participant) and New Mexico (2012 NCAA Tournament participant). NM State’s RPI of 25 helped the Aggies tremendously as ESPN quoted the Aggies as a “bubble-team” to get into the tournament.
NM State has made two appearances in an NCAA Regional and heads into the tournament 1-4 overall in NCAA Tournament play. The Aggies last reached the tournament in 2003.
Fresno State (30-26) is making its 34th NCAA Tournament appearance with four trips to the College World Series and won the 2008 national championship. The Bulldogs enter regional play as the No. 4 seed after winning its seventh straight Western Athletic Conference championship in thrilling style.
NEW MEXICO STATE, SACRAMENTO STATE AND NEVADA SHARE REGULAR SEASON WAC TITLE
After finishing the WAC regular season with identical 11-7 records, New Mexico State, Sacramento State and Nevada each claim a share of the 2012 WAC regular season title. The title marks the first-ever regular season baseball championship for each team.
WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STAT LEADERS
Teams from the WAC rank in the top-10 nationally in 14 different statistical team categories. Individually, WAC players rank in the top-10 in four categories. As a team, New Mexico State leads the nation in walks with 342. Individually, New Mexico State’s Tanner Waite leads the nation with 69 walks this season. He also rank first nationally in walks per game at 1.21.
WAC RPI REMAINS AT NO. 9 THIS WEEK
According to WarrenNolan.com, the WAC’s league RPI comes in a No. 9 this week, the same as last week. The WAC is sandwiched between the West Coast Conference at No. 8 and the Big Ten Conference at No. 10. New Mexico State holds the WAC’s highest team RPI at No. 39. The WAC currently has four teams with 83 or better RPI ratings.
WAC COACHES SETTING MILESTONE VICTORY MARKS
The WAC hosts some of the most successful coaches in NCAA history. San Jose State head coach Sam Piraro won his 800th game this past weekend. He becomes one of only 28 active head baseball coaches with 800 or more wins. Piraro is in his 25th season with San Jose State. Nevada head coach Gary Powers becomes one of only 21 acrive head baseball coaches with 900 or more victories as he picked up win No. 900 on April 17. Powers is in his 30th season with Nevada. Fresno State head coach Mike Batesole picked up his 600th career victory on April 17. Batesole is in his 17th season as a head coach.
SJSU’S PIRARO PICKS UP 800TH CAREER VICTORY
The April 14th doubleheader sweep of Fresno State brought numerous milestones to the San Jose State baseball team, though none bigger than Head Coach Sam Piraro’s 800th career victory. San Jose State defeated Fresno State 4-0 in the first game of the doubleheader, then beat them 4-3 in the nightcap. Piraro becomes the 28th active head coach in NCAA Division I baseball to earn his 800th career win, and the third this season, following Southern University (La.)’s Roger Cador and North Carolina State University’s Elliot Avent.
NEVADA’S POWERS WINS 900TH CAREER GAME
Nevada’s 10-5 victory over San Francisco on April 17 was the 900th for Wolf Pack head coach Gary Powers. All of Powers 900 wins have come in his 30 seasons directing the Nevada baseball program. His 900 victories ranks 21st among active NCAA I coaches.
FRESNO STATE’S BATESOLE TALLIES 600TH CAREER WIN
Down to its final three outs and trailing by two, the resilience of the Fresno State baseball team powered the Bulldogs to a thrilling 5-3 comeback road victory over the Cal Poly Mustangs on April 17 for head coach Mike Batesole’s 600th career win.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (30-26, 8-10 WAC)
Fresno State won its eighth WAC Tournament title in Mesa, Ariz last week ... the team played a WAC-record six games in the tournament to capture the title ... the Bulldogs opened the tournament with a pair of wins over Hawai‘i (8-2) and New Mexico State (15-8) ... the team then dropped an 8-3 decision to Sacramento State in game three ... Fresno State then won three straight two win the title, including wins over Louisiana Tech 6-4 and two wins over Sacramento State by scores of 9-6 and 4-3 ... the 4-3 win over Sacramento State in the championship game went 13 innings, the longest WAC tournament game in league history ... Fresno State takes the WAC’s automatic bid into this week’s NCAA Regional in Palo Alto, Calif.
Hawai‘i Rainbows (30-25, 10-8 WAC)
Hawai‘i wrapped up its season with a pair of losses at the WAC Tournament ... the Rainbows dropped an 8-2 decision to Fresno State before being eliminated from tournament play with a 9-6 loss to Louisiana Tech ... Collin Bennett, Pi’ikea Kitamura and Zack Swasey each hit .375 at the tournament ... Bennett had three hits with a triple, one walk and an RBI ... Kitamura scored two runs, tallied three hits, hit a double and had an RBI ... Swasey tallied three hits and two RBI over the two games ... Lawrence Chew had the best outing on the mound for the Rainbows, pitching 2.0 innings with one strikout while allowing no runs and only one hit ... UH wraps up its season with a 30-25 record and a 10-8 mark in WAC play, good for fourth place in the league.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (27-28, 7-11 WAC)
Louisiana Tech had an impressive run at the WAC Tournament to wrap up its season ... the team went 3-2 at the tournament ... the Bulldogs opened tournament play with a 4-3 loss to Nevada ... the team then rallied two win three straight games, including wins over Hawai‘i (9-6), New Mexico State (15-12) and Nevada (18-5) ... LA Tech wrapped up tournament play with a 6-4 loss to Fresno State ... Alex Williams was named to the all-tournament team after batting .455 with 10 hits, five runs scored, one double, one home run, four RBI and a pair of walks ... Kyle Arnsberg hit .500 with eight hits, nine runs, two doubles and an RBI ... Jamie Gilley was impressive on the mound, pitching 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts while allowing only one run.
Nevada Wolf Pack (32-25, 11-7 WAC)
Nevada went 1-2 at the WAC Tournament to wrap up its 2012 season ... the Wolf Pack did win a share of the WAC’s regular season title with an 11-7 mark ... Nevada won its conference tournament opening game 4-3 over Louisiana Tech ... the Pack then dropped its next two games to Sacramento State (15-5) and Louisiana Tech (18-5) to be eliminated from the tournament ... Joe Kohan led the Wolf Pack at the plate during the tournament, hitting .500 with four hits, two runs, one double, five RBI and three walks ... Carlos Escobar Jr. hit a walk-off home run to hand the Pack the 4-3 win over LA Tech in the botttom of the ninth inning ... Bradey Shipley pitched 9.0 innings in a win with nine strikeouts.
New Mexico State Aggies (35-22, 11-7 WAC)
New Mexico State went 0-2 at the WAC Tournament in Mesa, Ariz. last week ... the team dropped its tournament opner 15-8 before falling in its second game 15-12 to Louisiana Tech ... despite going 0-2 at the league tournament, NM State positioned itself well enough in the regular season to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament ... the Aggies will face Louisville in its opening game at the Tucson Regional on Friday on ESPNU ... NM State is a perfect 2-0 in Tucson this season as the Aggies took a pair of road games over Arizona in Tucson in March ... Zac Fisher leads the Aggies at the plate this season, batting .363 with 81 hits, 39 runs, 18 doubles, six home runs, 33 walks and 58 RBI.
Sacramento State Hornets (31-28, 11-7 WAC)
Sacramento State went 2-2 at the WAC Tournament to wrap up the Hornet’s season ... the Hornets won their first-ever regular season championship in 2012 and were just a run away from claiming the WAC Tournament title, but lost in the tournament championship game 4-3 in 13 innings to Fresno State ... at the WAC Tournament, Sacramento State won its first two games, defeating Nevada 15-5 and Fresno State 8-3 ... the Hornets then dropped their final two games to Fresno State by scores of 9-6 and 4-3 ... Brent Hottman, Derrick Chung, David Del Grande and Dallas Chadwick were named to the all-tournament team.
San Jose State Spartans (22-29, 5-13 WAC)
The Spartans wrapped up their season with an 0-3 mark at home against New Mexico State ... San Jose State finishes the 2012 season with a 22-29 overall record and a 5-13 WAC record, good for seventh place in the WAC standings ... a pair of wins over top-10 nationally-ranked Stanford highlighted the season for the Spartans ... SJSU also pulled off its first sweep over Fresno State in Fresno this past season ... Matt Lopez led the Spartans at the plate on the season, batting .322 with 19 runs, nine doubles, 18 RBI and 23 walks ... SJSU head coach Sam Piraro picked up his 800th career victory during the 2012 season.
