2015 WAC Baseball Preview

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The WAC Baseball Conference has put out an extensive preview of the entire conference. We have posted it below.

 

Bakersfield Roadrunners

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Bill Kernen

Notes

• Head Coach Bill Kernen announced his retirement late in the 2014 season, winning his 400th career game as a collegiate coach during the WAC Tournament. Kernen changed his mind five days after the conclusion of the WAC Tournament and is back for his seventh season at the helm.
• Junior infielder Mylz Jones was ranked the sixth best prospect in the Alaska Baseball League by Baseball America. Jones represented the Kenai Peninsula Oilers in the 2014 Alaska Baseball League All-Star game.
• Junior outfielder Chance Gusbeth earned second team All-WAC honors as a sophomore for the Roadrunners. Gusbeth earned 2014 California Collegiate League All-Star honors for the Southern California Catch.
• Senior centerfielder Jordie Hein was named second team All-WAC a year ago. He reset the CSUB school record with 17 stolen bases last season.
• Gusbeth and senior first baseman Soloman Williams tied the school record as the duo both hit two home runs and recorded 11 total bases against Northern Colorado May 3, 2014.

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Chicago State Cougars

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Steve Joslyn

Notes

• The Cougars enter their second year in the WAC after earning an eighth place finish in 2014.
• Chicago State will bring back a wealth of experience in 2014 as eight of nine starters will be back on the diamond this season.
• The Cougars also return three of their four primary starting pitchers in 2015.
• In their transitional year to the WAC, CSU posted series wins over New Mexico State and North Dakota.
• Mattingly Romanin represented Chicago State on the All-WAC teams, securing second team honors after hitting .312 with nine doubles, three triples and 32 RBIs on 63 hits. He also held a .942 fielding percentage in the infield.

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Grand Canyon Antelopes

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz

Notes

• The GCU baseball team finished second in the WAC in 2014 with a 19-8 record, two games behind conference champion Sacramento State.
• Making their return to the Division I ranks, the Antelopes posted a 30-23 overall record last season, with marquee wins over Arizona and Kansas.
• GCU second baseman Chad De La Guerra won the WAC batting title after posting a .373 batting average (78-for-209) in 53 games. He also finished second in hits, RBIs (49) and total bases (116). Teammate David Walker was just behind De La Guerra in batting average, boasting a .360 mark (72-for-200) of his own.
• The Antelopes will take on perennial baseball powers Cal Poly, Tennessee and Oklahoma State during their 2015 campaign. Cal Poly was ranked as high as No. 1 according to Collegiate Baseball during the 2014 season.
• Over the summer, GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz guided the USA Baseball 18U National Team to a gold medal at the COPABE 18U Pan American Games in La Paz, Mexico and was named Rod Dedeaux USA Baseball Coach of the Year.

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New Mexico State Aggies

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Brian Green

Notes

• Junior Derek Umphres led the team with a .328 batting average and a .453 slugging percentage. The Aggies’ power hitter recorded 40 RBIs and team high 66 hits.
• The Aggies 2013-14 team showed impressive poise and power from the plate, with individual players recording a combined 136 multiple hit games and 75 combined individual multiple RBI games.
• NM State’s returning ace, Riley Barr, finished the season with a 5-3 record from the mound, recording a 2.94 ERA and 46 strikeouts.
• Eight players who played a minimum of 75 percent of games in 2014 hit above .250 on the year with three of those players hitting above .300. Two of the three top hitters from the 2014 season are returning to the Aggie lineup in 2015.
• NM State baseball facilities went through a $1.4 million renovation during the offseason. Renovations included additional stands, chair back seating and stadium sun cover.
• In 2014 NM State finished 26th in the country in on base percentage (.381) and 27th in scoring (6.3 runs per game).

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North Dakota

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Jeff Dodson

Notes

• North Dakota returns 18 letterwinners and 12 seniors from last season, including the entire starting rotation.
• Jeff Campbell was one of just a handful of DI players last season to homer and earn a win on the mound in the same game. Campbell is just one homer shy of cracking the school’s top 10 list for career dingers (21).
• UND returns last season’s leader in batting average (Tyler Follis – .331), home runs (Jeff Campbell – 5) and on-base percentage (Ryan Reese – .442).
• North Dakota was 2-5 at Kraft Memorial Field last season, playing its first 25 games away from home.
• Zach Muckenhirn led UND in starter’s ERA (3.44) while Jeff Campbell logged the most innings on the staff (68.2 IP) with a 3-6 record.
• Andrew Thome tossed four complete games of his 10 starts. Thome enters his senior season one win out of the top 10 in career wins (13) at the school and six wins away from the top spot.

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Nothern Colorado Bears

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Carl Iwasaki

Notes

• After going 4-23 in its first year in the WAC, Northern Colorado will have a revamped roster in 2015 with 21 newcomers.
• Northern Colorado finished second overall in the WAC with 20 triples last season. Jensen Park led all players with five, tied for first in the conference and 39th in the nation.
• Northern Colorado has been to 10 College World Series, which still ranks among the top 15 in the history of the CWS.
• Baseball is one of three sports at Northern Colorado (football, women’s golf) with an alumnus as the head coach. Carl Iwasaki played for the Bears from 1981-84.
• The WAC is the fifth conference the Bears have belonged to in the history of the program, joining in 2014 after stints in the Rocky Mountain Athletic conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference, North Central Conference and Great West Conference.

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Sacramento State Hornets

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Reggie Christiansen

Notes

• The Hornets return six starting position players and all five starting pitchers from their 2014 WAC Championship team.
• The team returns five All-WAC selections from a year ago, including WAC Freshman of the Year and Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American LHP Sam Long.
• Senior RHP Brennan Leitao has been named to the 2015 Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Third Team selected by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
• The 2014 team won 40 games for the first time since 1991 and had the fifth most wins in a season in program history. It was the program’s third-straight season with 30 or more wins, the longest such streak since a string of nine straight 30-win seasons from 1985-1993.
• The Hornets advanced to their first Div. I NCAA Regional last season and got their first win, eliminating No. 18 Arizona State with a 5-4 victory.
• In 2014 Sacramento State led the WAC in batting average, slugging percentage, hits, home runs, saves, earned run average, opposing batting average and sacrifice flies.

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Seattle U Redhawks

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Donny Harrel

Notes

• Seattle University returns 18 players from the 2014 season and welcomes 14 newcomers for a 32-man roster in 2015, creating competition for playing time at every position.
• With 26 wins in 2014, the Redhawks collected the most victories in a single season since baseball was reinstated as an NCAA sport at Seattle U in 2010. It was the third-most victories in a season in the history of the baseball program.
• Seattle U advanced to NCAA Division I postseason play for the first time in 60 years by qualifying for the WAC Tournament last year.
• Landon Cray, the team’s top hitter last season at .350, is back for the Redhawks after making history as the first Seattle U player to compete in the Cape Cod League, arguably the top summer collegiate baseball league in the country
• Catcher Brian Olson, a candidate for the Johnny Bench Award last season, returns for his senior year after batting .320 and leading the team with 47 runs batted in during the 2014 campaign.

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Texas-Pan American Broncs

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Manny Mantrana

Notes

• The Broncs earned the second seed in last year’s WAC Tournament after winning their final seven WAC series. It was the second-straight season in which the Broncs earned the No. 2 seed in their conference tournament with a 17-10 record.
• UTPA returns two-thirds of a starting rotation that produced the 10th lowest weekend rotation ERA in the NCAA (2.33) in seniors Blake English (2.61) and Alex Henson (2.88).
• English pitched a WAC-leading three shutouts, making up one-third of all of the shutouts thrown by WAC starting pitchers. He ranked 28th in the NCAA and third in the WAC in complete games (four), as well as 185th in the NCAA and third in the WAC in ERA (2.61).
• Henson ranked 247th in the NCAA and fifth in the WAC in ERA (2.88).
• The Broncs played 18 one-run games last season, tied for the 16th most in the NCAA and the most for the Broncs since 1996. UTPA was 3-0 in 1-0 games last season.

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Utah Valley Wolverines

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Head Coach Eric Madsen

Notes

• Utah Valley won three straight games in the 2014 WAC Tournament en route to the tournament final, where regular season champion Sacramento State recorded consecutive 10-3 victories to win the tournament crown.
• 2014 was Utah Valley’s first as a member of the WAC, with the team going 16-11 in its first season.
• Prior to joining the WAC, UVU was a member of the Great West Conference, where the team won three regular season and three tournament championships in four years. UVU went 91-13 (.875) in Great West games during four seasons in that league.
• Utah Valley owns the third-longest winning streak in NCAA history, winning 32 consecutive games during the 2012 season.
• The Wolverines will play their first 11 games of 2015 on the road before opening at home against Saint Mary’s on March 6. Twenty one of the first 25 games will be on the road.