April 23, 2001
San Diego - San Diego State pitcher Marcos Mendoza has been named Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Mendoza is a junior from Santee, Calif, who attended Grossmont High School in La Mesa, Calif.
In his lone pitching appearance last week, Mendoza tossed a complete game vs. New Mexico on Friday (April 20th) in SDSU's 3-1 win over the Lobos. In that contest, he allowed only two hits, struck out 17 and walked none. The run he allowed was unearned, coming in the seventh inning. He did not allow a hit until that inning, and both hits he gave up came in the seventh. He faced a total of 29 batters, two over the minimum. His 17 strikeouts were the second-most ever by a San Diego State pitcher, one shy of the school record of 18 set by John Hemmerly vs. Colorado State in 1988. In addition to his pitching, Mendoza also pinch ran in Sunday's 8-7 win over New Mexico, scoring a run.
Mendoza's last three appearances have all been complete-game victories. He has given up just one earned run in those 27 innings for a 0.33 earned run average. In those three games, he has struck out 38 batters and walked only three.
The Aztecs are currently 26-17 on the year and lead the Mountain West Conference with a 15-6 record, one game ahead of Brigham Young. SDSU faces University of San Diego on Tuesday (Apr. 24) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium, then travels to Provo to begin a three-game series with BYU on Thursday (Apr. 26).