April 22, 2004
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AZTECS HOST MWC FOE UTAH THIS WEEKEND
* San Diego continues Mountain West Conference play this weekend when it hosts Utah in a three-game series. The first contest is scheduled for Friday, April 23, at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The series continues with games on Saturday (April 24) and Sunday (April 25) at 1:00 p.m. and noon.
* This is the 66th season of Aztec baseball since the sport was elevated to major status in 1936. The school did not field varsity teams from 1943 to 1945.
SERIES RECORDS
* San Diego State holds a 73-16 advantage in its series with Utah over the years. The teams first met during the 1964 season with the Aztecs winning the first 18 meetings between that season and 1974. The Aztecs and Utes met regularly through the 1980s and 90s when both were members of the Western Athletic Conference.
* SDSU is 52-9 in games played in San Diego and 14-7 in contests held in Salt Lake City. The teams have met at neutral sites on seven occasions with the Aztecs winning all of those games.
* Over the past two seasons, SDSU holds a slim 7-6 advantage, a mark which includes one neutral site win at last year's conference tournament in Albuquerque.
SCOUTING THE UTES
* Utah enters the week with an overall record of 10-22. Their 3-9 mark in conference play puts them in fifth place in the MWC.
* The Ute offense is led by center fielder Matt Ciaramella (.351, 15 2B, 7 HR, 33 RBI) and right fielder Eric Chevalier (.314, 4 HR, 20 RBI). First baseman Jake Waldram (.381) and third baseman Jay Brossman (.359) have each played in about half of the team's contests this season, but have become regulars in recent weeks. Utah's team batting average stands at .287.
* The pitching staff is anchored by starters Ben Buck (1-2, 3.97) and Doug Mackay (2-5, 6.39). Junior right-hander Clay Westmoreland has recorded four saves in relief. The team earned run average is 6.59.
HEAD COACH Tony Gwynn
* Tony Gwynn is in his second season as San Diego State's head coach after being named to the position in Sept. 2001.In 2002, he served as a volunteer coach for the Aztecs under Jim Dietz, who retired at the end of that season.
* A former Aztec who played baseball at San Diego State from 1979 to 1981, Gwynn concluded a 20-year major league career with the San Diego Padres in 2001. With a career batting average of .338, he won eight National League batting titles, five Gold Gloves, and made 15 appearances in the annual All-Star Game.
MOST RECENTLY
* San Diego State dropped two of three games at Brigham Young last weekend to fall into third place in the Mountain West Conference standings.
* On Thursday (April 15), SDSU gave up three unearned runs, the final one coming in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Cougars defeated the Aztecs, 7-6. Jake McLintock led San Diego State with four hits including a pair of doubles while Brock Ungricht contributed three hits and two RBI. Drew Jenson, who went the final 4.1 innings, suffered the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season.
* In the second game of the series, the Aztecs jumped out to a 10-1 lead after five innings and went on to a 10-6 win. First baseman Rielly Embrey had three hits, two RBI and scored three times with McLintock driving in three runs on a pair of singles. Center fielder David Hall chipped in with three hits and two RBI as well. Starter Daryl Harang went 6.2 innings to record his third victory of the season.
* Saturday's contest saw SDSU give up three unearned runs for the second time in three days as BYU went on to a 6-5 win. After being down 3-0 early, the Aztec came back to take a 6-5 lead only to see the Cougars get a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to win it. Garrett Changnon had three hits while Ungricht and Jordan Swaydan had two RBI apiece. Ben Coon took the loss, his first of the year.
PITCHING ROTATION
* San Diego State's pitching rotation for this week is as follows:
Fri. - Scott Shoemaker (RHP, 6-5, 3.56)
Sat. - Daryl Harang (LHP, 3-4, 3.97)
Sun. - Ben Coon (LHP, 4-1, 4.89)
* Brigham Young's tentative rotation for the weekend will be:
Fri. - Jason Price (LHP, 2-5, 6.43)
Sat. - Doug Mackay (RHP, 2-5, 6.39)
Sun. - Ben Buck (RHP, 1-2, 3.97)
SHOEMAKER DEALS
* Senior Scott Shoemaker saw a string of five straight winning starts end with the team's loss at BYU last Thursday. He went six innings in that game, leaving with a 6-4 lead, but was not involved in the final decision.
* In his last six outings, he has allowed just six earned runs over 41 innings for a 1.32 ERA in those games.
* Shoemaker, who set a career high with 14 strikeouts against Houston on March 11, has recorded 44 K's in his last 41 innings while walking only nine.
* He has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4-to-1 with 83 K's and just 19 walks 81 IP).
* He leads the Mountain West Conference in both overall earned run average (3.56) and league-game only ERA at 1.69 among pitchers who have thrown a minimum of one inning per game played by their team.
UNGRICHT KEEPS ON HITTING
* Over his last eight contests, catcher/DH Brock Ungricht has gone 14-for-32 (.438) with eight runs scored, two doubles and six RBI.
* Ungricht leads the team in hitting among the regulars at .356 and is batting .474 in league play as well. His overall average ranks eighth in the conference this week while his average in MWC contests is second.
* He is third in the Mountain West Conference in hits overall with 58. That total is 10 more than any other SDSU player.
MCLINTOCK HEATING UP
* Right fielder Jake McLintock has hit safely in each of SDSU's last four contests, going 10-for-19 (.526) over that span with two doubles, four runs scored and seven RBI.
* His overall batting average has risen to just below the .300 level (.299) and he is second on the squad in doubles (10) and RBI (29).
* He is hitting .357 in conference games.
GUERRERO LIGHTING IT UP
* In his last 14 games, shortstop James Guerrero is hitting .414 (24-for-58) with 13 runs scored and eight RBI. Over that span he has nine multiple-hit games and has also walked 12 times for a .514 on-base percentage.
* After starting the year as a switch hitter, Guerrero began hitting strictly from the right side in the game against North Carolina State on March 5. Since that time (21 games), he has raised his average from .192 to .312.
* After 13 MWC games, he is hitting .412 in league play, a mark that is second on the club and ranks seventh in the conference this week.
BURT MAKES IT HAPPEN
* Center fielder Landon Burt has hit safely in 8 of SDSU's last 10 contests. Over that period, he has batted .342 (13-for-38) with14 runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, nine walks and eight runs batted in. His on-base percentage in those 10 games is .467.
* Burt has been the Aztecs' leadoff hitter in 39 games and has an on-base percentage of .410 in those contests while drawing 30 bases on balls in that span.
* Burt leads the Aztecs in home runs with five. Prior to this year, the senior had hit just one home run in the previous three seasons (at Air Force in 2003). Four of his five homers this year have come at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
CORONA POWERS UP
* Third baseman Chad Corona has gone 6-for-18 (.333) over the Aztecs' last six contests.
* He had a short five-game hitting streak ended last Saturday at Brigham Young.
* In his last six outings, he has recorded a pair of doubles and three home runs.
EMBREY ON NINE-GAME STREAK
* First baseman Rielly Embrey has hit safely in each of San Diego State's last nine contests. That streak is the second longest on the squad in 2004.
* In those games, he has gone 16-for-38 (.421) with four doubles, nine runs scored and nine runs batted in.
* In the process, he has pushed his overall season batting average over the .300 mark (.320).
* Embrey is hitting .407 in conference play, the third-best average on the squad among the regulars.
SWAYDAN CHIPS IN
* Jordan Swaydan had two hits in each of the two game she played in during last weekend's Brigham Young series.
* He has hit safely in six of his last seven contests, going 9-for-22 (.428) in those games.
* Over those seven contests, he has driven in seven runs.
* He has also walked seven times for an on-base percentage of .552 during that span.
COON PROVIDING RELIEF
* Sophomore left-hander Ben Coon got his first start since the end of January in last Saturday's series finale at BYU. He was the victim of three unearned runs as the Aztecs lost that contest 6-5.
* In his last nine relief appearances covering 20.2 innings prior to that start, he had allowed six earned runs while walking three and striking out 14. His ERA over those nine outings was 2.61.
* He has recorded four wins this season against one defeat, with all four victories coming in a relief role.
* His ERA of 4.89 is somewhat misleading as he gave up 10 earned runs over 4.2 innings in his season debut at Hawaii-Hilo.
* In his last 11 appearances (10 relief, one start) covering 27.1 innings, Coon has given up just three walks while striking out 18.
HALL COMES ON
* After not recording a hit over his last 18 games since late February, center fielder David Hall hit safely in all three games at Brigham Young last week.
* The junior from nearby Vista, Calif., went 5-for 12 in those contests with a double, two runs batted in and a pair of runs scored. Included in that total was a season-best three-hit game last Friday.
* Hall raised his average some 45 points with his performance in those three games in Provo.
MWC WEEKLY HONORS
* Four Aztecs have earned Mountain West Conference weekly honors a total of six times this season.
* Catcher Brock Ungricht has been named MWC Player of the Week twice, earning the award in back-to-back weeks for his performances in SDSU's series at New Mexico and vs. UNLV at home.
* Pitcher Scott Shoemaker has won the league's Pitcher of the Week accolade on two occasions in 2004, for his efforts in contests vs. Houston and UNLV.
* First baseman Rielly Embrey was named the Player of the Week after the Aztecs' series vs. Air Force in mid-March while senior hurler Chris Hartshorn won the Pitcher of the Week honor after tossing a shutout at Santa Clara in mid-February.
* In addition to the league award, Embrey was also named the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week after his performance vs. Air Force.
STREAKING
* SDSU is 10-5 over its last 15 games, a run that includes a pair of season-long four-game winning streaks.
* The team's longest losing streak has also been four games.
* Rielly Embrey has the team's current longest hitting streak at nine games. The longest this season was a 13-game streak by Brock Ungricht at the start of the season.
LOST GAMES
* The two games at Air Force that were cancelled during the weekend of April 8-10 due to the weather will not be re-scheduled.
* Conference rules do not allow for these games to be made up since the Falcons have already visited San Diego this season. As a result, the Aztecs will fall two games short of their scheduled 30 MWC contests.* Final regular-season league standings will be determined by winning percentage.
SDSU ADDS A GAME
* The Aztecs have added a game with USC to replace one of the contests that was snowed out at Air Force.
* The Trojans will visit Tony Gwynn Stadium on Monday, May 3, for a contest scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m.
AZTEC NOTES
* Garrett Changnon got a rare start at third base in last Saturday's game at BYU and responded with his second three-hit game of the season, raising his batting average to .259 in the process.
* Freshman catcher Clay Coulter stole his first base last Friday at BYU. SDSU catchers have not been caught stealing this season and are 7-for-7 (Coulter 1-1, Jordan Swaydan 3-3, Brock Ungricht 3-3).
* Coulter has struck out just three times in 40 plate appearances.
* Ryan Schroyer's seven saves ties him for seventh on the SDSU single-season list. Sixth place is held by Ruben Aguilera, who had eight during the 1998 campaign.
* Scott Shoemaker had a string of 13 innings without allowing a walk ended when he issued a base on balls in the second inning of last Thursday's contest at BYU.
* Brock Ungricht leads the team with 16 multiple-hit games followed by James Guerrero with 15. Ungricht also leads the Aztecs with eight multiple-RBI contests, with Rielly Embrey and Jake McLintock having seven apiece.
* Landon Burt stole three bases in a game for the second time this season last Friday at Brigham Young to bring his total for the season to 19. He leads the team, followed by James Guerrero with nine.
* As a team, SDSU is 26-of-28 in stolen bases in Mountain West Conference games.
* Jake McLintock has had three RBI in two of SDSU's last four contests.
* San Diego State leads the MWC in team ERA both overall (4.72) and in league games only (4.57). SDSU has led both categories each season since the MWC was formed in 2000.
ON DECK
* San Diego State takes a short break from league play when it hosts Loyola Marymount for a single game on Tuesday, April 27, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
* The Aztecs then resume MWC action when New Mexico visits San Diego for a three-game series beginning Friday (April 30) at 6:00 p.m. Games against the Lobos are also scheduled for Saturday (May 1) and Sunday (May 2) at 1:00 p.m. and noon respectively.