WAC Alters Tournament, Bowl Tie-Breaker Formats

After missing the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament because of a last-place finish last winter, San Diego State will qualify next March--the conference has agreed to expand to a 10-team, four-day format.

Also, the WAC has agreed to have its basketball tournament in Salt Lake City’s new Delta Center permanently, pending approval of conference presidents June 7. The conference also adjusted its football tie-breaking procedures for circumstances in which the co-champions do not play each other.

Conference athletic directors approved the 10-team format at the WAC’s spring meetings, which concluded Monday. The move was necessitated with the addition of Fresno State.

The winner of the game pitting the seventh- and 10th-place finishers will advance to the quarterfinals against the league’s No. 2 seed. The eighth- and ninth-place teams will send the winner against the top seed in the quarterfinals.

The conference women’s tournament will also be played in Salt Lake City.

In football, the tie-breaking procedure for co-champions that do not meet during the regular season was reversed. Instead of comparing won-loss records with the standings in descending order, records against lowest place teams in ascending order will determine the Holiday Bowl representative. If two teams tie with 7-1 league records, with one co-champ losing to the third-place team and the other co-champ losing to the last-place team, the Holiday Bowl berth goes to the school that lost to the third-place team.

BASEBALL

San Diego State beat the University of San Diego, 6-3, thanks to some contributions by the Toreros in a nonconference game. With the scored tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the sixth, the Aztecs (37-14) got an RBI single by Greg Quam and scored twice more on bases-loaded walks by USD’s Kevin Herde. The runs were charged to Jeff Crane (8-5). Rob Calloway (2-4) got the win for the Aztecs. The Toreros (26-23) also made three errors. Herde gave USD a 2-0 lead with a first-inning home run, but the Aztecs countered with three in the third.

Point Loma Nazarene played long ball and USD bunched 14 hits together to beat the Crusaders, 12-3, earlier in the day. All of PLNC’s runs came on home runs by Brock Marsh and Rodney Williams, while USD got three hits each from Josh Stepner and Chad Boyd. PLNC is 21-26-1.

UC San Diego finished its regular season with a 5-1 victory over visiting Cal State San Bernardino in a nonconference game. Senior Brett Hansen improved his record to 10-0 by tossing a three-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks. Senior Ernie Isola improved his average to .427 as he went three for four with two doubles and a homer. The Tritons (27-6) set school records for winning percentage and fewest losses. UCSD, ranked ninth, will now await a probable bid to the NCAA Division III West Regionals. UCSD will likely meet top-ranked Cal Lutheran in a best-of-five series May 14-17.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The San Diego State men’s volleyball team has signed Leonardo Vargas, from Sweetwater High, to a national letter of intent.

Vargas, a 6-foot-5 middle blocker, has 166 kills, 16 service aces and 105 solo blocks for No. 1-ranked Sweetwater this spring.

SOFTBALL

SDSU’s Julie Clancy and Christie Westerlund-Dunckel were named first team All-WAC. Clancy, a senior center fielder, batted .236 with 24 RBIs. Dunckel, senior shortstop from Escondido, hit .273 with nine stolen bases.