2014 Mountain West Conference baseball tournament


The 2014 Mountain West Conference baseball tournament took place from May 21 through 25. All seven of the league's teams met in the double-elimination tournament held at University of Nevada, Las Vegas's Earl E. Wilson Stadium. This is San Jose State's first year in the league after joining from the Western Athletic Conference. San Diego State won the tournament, earning the Mountain West's automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.[2]

2014 Mountain West Conference
baseball tournament
Teams7
FormatDouble-elimination
Finals site
ChampionsSan Diego State (3rd title)
Winning coachTony Gwynn (2nd title)
MVPBrad Haynal (San Diego State)
2014 Mountain West Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT
UNLV  ‍‍‍y 20 10 0   .667 36 25 0   .590
New Mexico  ‍‍‍ 20 10 0   .667 37 20 1   .647
San Diego State  ‍‍y 17 13 0   .567 42 21 0   .667
Nevada  ‍‍‍ 15 15 0   .500 31 27 0   .534
Fresno State  ‍‍‍ 13 17 0   .433 28 29 0   .491
Air Force  ‍‍‍ 10 20 0   .333 20 34 0   .370
San Jose State  ‍‍‍ 10 20 0   .333 19 38 0   .333
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship
As of June 1, 2014[1]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

Format and seeding edit

The conference's seven teams were seeded based on winning percentage during the round-robin regular season schedule. The bottom two seeds played a single-elimination game prior to the main six-team double-elimination bracket. The top two seeds received a bye to the second round, with the top seed playing the lowest seeded team that won its first round game, and the second seeded team playing the higher seeded first day winner. The losers of the first day's first-round games played an elimination game in the double-elimination format. The higher seeded loser of the second round games in the winner's bracket played an elimination game in the third round of the loser's bracket. The lower seeded loser of the second round games in the winner's bracket played an elimination game in the second round of the loser's bracket.

Team W L Pct. GB Seed
UNLV 20 10 .667
1
New Mexico 20 10 .667
2
San Diego State 17 13 .567
3
3
Nevada 15 15 .500
4
4
Fresno State 13 17 .433
7
5
Air Force 10 20 .333
10
6
San Jose State 10 20 .333
10
7
  • UNLV and New Mexico finished tied for first place and are Mountain West Conference regular-season co-champions. UNLV won 5 of the 6 games they played against New Mexico to take the #1 seed in the tournament.
  • Air Force and San Jose State finished tied for sixth place. Air Force won 2 of the 3 games they played against San Jose State to take the #6 seed in the tournament.

Bracket edit

Team R
#7 San Jose State 11
#6 Air Force 3
Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper finalFinal
1UNLV5
3San Diego State155Fresno State3
7San Jose State11UNLV5
3San Diego State4
2New Mexico5
4Nevada33San Diego State11
5Fresno State4
1UNLV13
3San Diego State94
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower final
4Nevada2
4Nevada9**3San Diego State3*
4Nevada102New Mexico4
4Nevada45Fresno State2
7San Jose State0
  • * 10 innings
  • **11 innings

All-Tournament Team edit

The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team.[3]

Name School Class
Brad Haynal San Diego State Junior
Trenton Brooks Nevada Freshman
Scott Kaplan Nevada Senior
Greg Allen San Diego State Junior
Evan Potter San Diego State Senior
Brett Seeburger San Diego State Freshman
Kyle Gallegos San Jose State Senior
John Richy UNLV Junior
T.J. White UNLV Junior
Steven Pallares San Diego State Junior
Brayden Torres UNLV Sophomore

Most Valuable Player edit

San Diego State junior catcher Brad Haynal was named Tournament Most Valuable Player. Haynal was the leading hitter in the tournament batting .636 (14 for 22) and was also the leader in runs scored with nine.[3]

Championship Game edit

The tournament came down to a final game between San Diego State and UNLV with each team having already lost once. With the game tied at 3 in the top of the sixth inning, shortstop Evan Potter's sacrifice fly pushed across the go-ahead run giving the Aztecs a 4–3 lead which their bullpen held. T.J. Kendzora pitched 1 2/3 hitless and scoreless innings in relief to record the win. Aztecs' third baseman Ty France had three hits, an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. Michael Cederoth recorded his 20th save of the season which is both a Mountain West and a San Diego State school record.[3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ "2014 Mountain West Baseball Standings & Leaders". Mountain West Conference. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  2. ^ "2014 Mountain West Conference Baseball Conference Championship Central". themwc.com. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Aztecs Win Back-to-Back MW Tournament Championships". Mountain West Conference. May 25, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  4. ^ "Boxscore: San Diego State at UNLV May 25, 2014". Mountain West Conference. May 25, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.[permanent dead link]