The Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament will start the same way it ended the past two years.
Hawaii will play defending champion Fresno State in the first game on Wednesday at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., after earning the No. 4 seed following New Mexico State’s 15-2 win over San Jose State on Sunday.
The Aggies finished in a three-way tie for first with Sacramento State and Nevada and are the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament by virtue of their 4-2 record in conference play against the Hornets and Wolf Pack.
Nevada had a chance to finish in sole possession of first, but lost to Hawaii 8-3 on Saturday and now has to play an opening-round game against No. 6 seed Louisiana Tech on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Hawaii time.
WAC TOURNAMENT
Hohokam Stadium, Mesa, Ariz.
(All times Hawaii time)
Seeds
1. New Mexico State (35-20)
2. Sacramento State (29-26)
3. Nevada (31-23)
4. Hawaii (30-23)
5. Fresno State (25-25)
6. Louisiana Tech (24-26)
Wednesday
G1–Hawaii vs. Fresno State, noon
G2–Nevada vs. Louisiana Tech, 4 p.m.
Thursday
G3–Loser G1 vs. Loser G2, 8 a.m.
G4–Sacramento State vs. Higher Seed of G1/G2 winners, noon
G5–New Mexico State vs. Lower Seed of G1/G2 winners, 4 p.m.
Complete WAC tournament schedule and final WAC standings |
The Rainbows (30-23) will play the Bulldogs (25-25) in postseason play for the sixth time since 2010 at noon Hawaii time.
UH went 2-1 against Fresno two years ago, winning 9-6 in the final to claim its first WAC tournament title in 18 years.
The Bulldogs won all three games in the tournament last year, beating UH twice, including 15-4 in the title game to win their fifth tourney title in six years.
Hawaii took two of three against Fresno State at Les Murakami Stadium last month, winning the final game of the series on a walk-off double by Pi‘ikea Kitamura in the bottom of the 10th inning.
UH and Fresno finished 1-2 in the league in pitching and combined for six of the top 10 pitchers in the league in ERA.
UH sophomore Jarrett Arakawa led the WAC with 92 innings pitched and was fourth with a 2.64 ERA.
Senior Matt Sisto, who will start Wednesday after sitting out the last series with a groin injury, finished eighth with a 3.03 ERA and led the conference in innings per start (6.85) and walks allowed per game (1.11).
Third baseman Collin Bennett finished in the top 10 with a .326 batting average, leading the Rainbows with 32 RBIs and a .439 on-base percentage.
UH left for Arizona on Sunday and was expected to land around midnight local time.
Reliever Brent Harrison, who finished tied for fourth in the WAC with eight saves, is awaiting MRI results on his right elbow, but said after Saturday’s game that he expects to pitch in the tournament.
He was held out of the Nevada series after experiencing pain in his elbow while warming up on Thursday.
