2014 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament

The 2014 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament took place from May 21–25. 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
TeamW L T PCT  W L T PCT
UNLV  y 20100 .667  36250 .590
New Mexico   20100 .667  37201 .647
San Diego State  y 17130 .567  42210 .667
Nevada   15150 .500  31270 .534
Fresno State   13170 .433  28290 .491
Air Force   10200 .333  20340 .370
San Jose State   10200 .333  19380 .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

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.

TeamWLPct.GBSeed
UNLV2010.667
1
New Mexico2010.667
2
San Diego State1713.567
3
3
Nevada1515.500
4
4
Fresno State1317.433
7
5
Air Force1020.333
10
6
San Jose State1020.333
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

TeamR
#7 San Jose State11
#6 Air Force3
  First round Second round Third Round Semi-Finals Finals
                                                 
Winner's Bracket
  3 San Diego State 15     1 UNLV 5  
  7 San Jose State 1     5 Fresno State 3    
      1 UNLV 5              
      3 San Diego State 4              
  4 Nevada 3     2 New Mexico 5          
  5 Fresno State 4     3 San Diego State 11        
        1 UNLV 1 3
Loser's Bracket       3 San Diego State 9 4
  4 Nevada 4        
  7 San Jose State 0          
      4 Nevada 10        
      5 Fresno State 2          
            4 Nevada 9**              
          2 New Mexico 4              
      4 Nevada 2    
    3 San Diego State 3*  
  • * 10 innings
  • **11 innings

All-Tournament Team

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

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

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

  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. "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.
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