San Diego State Hosts MW Baseball Championship with Teams Vying for NCAA Berth

Tony Gwynn Stadium. Photo credit: Derrick Tuskan, via goaztecs.com

San Diego State is hosting the 2022 Mountain West Baseball Championship, beginning Thursday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

After 30 games of conference play, UNLV, Nevada, San José State and Air Force clinched spots in the four-team, double-elimination tournament, being held on at SDSU for the fifth time in the league’s 23-year history – the last time in 2018.

On Thursday, No. 2 seed Nevada (28-24, 18-12 MW) battles No. 3 seed San José State (28-27, 16-14 MW) in the tournament opener at 1:30 p.m.

Regular-season conference champion and No. 1 seed UNLV (36-20, 21-9 MW) squares off against fourth-seeded Air Force (27-27, 15-15) at 6 p.m. Air Force’s lineup features the MW’s Player of the Year – an award named after Tony Gwynn – infielder Sam Kulasingam, and Pitcher of the Year, Paul Skenes.

General admission and single-game tickets are available, starting at $12, while all-session passes cost $40. Games continue through Saturday, with a possible Sunday game if necessary.

The #MWBSB bracket is set

Join us in San Diego and cheer on your team! Tickets are on sale at https://t.co/peA4Ega8QW pic.twitter.com/2PVS50T3rK

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) May 22, 2022

The winner of the MW championship wins the league’s automatic berth for NCAA regional competition, set to begin June 3.

San Diego State’s baseball team, which finished at 18-38 with 10 wins in MW play, is not a part of the tournament.

Nevertheless, Aztecs did garner some of the conference’s top awards, announced Friday. The honors include Pitcher of the Year, which Troy Melton shared with Skenes, and Freshman of the Year, outfielder Irvin Weems, an award shared with Santino Panaro of UNLV.

In addition, Melton and infielder Cole Carrigg made the all-MW first team.

#𝙼𝚆𝙱𝚂𝙱 𝙰𝚕𝚕-𝙼𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚆𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚃𝚎𝚊𝚖

Full release: https://t.co/Hfa3BvGCCJ#AtThePeak pic.twitter.com/gtx16QnZ0i

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) May 26, 2022