April 19, 2005
Complete Release and Season Statistics in PDF Format
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THIS WEEK
* San Diego State begins the week with a contest against UCLA on Tuesday, March 19, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The game was not on SDSU's original 2005 schedule, but was added when a contest against Santa Clara was rained out in February.
* Following that non-league tilt, the Aztecs will return to Mountain West Conference action with a series against Air Force this weekend. With last month's games at Air Force being postponed due to snow, the Falcons and Aztecs will play a four-game series over three days.
* The opening contest will be the continuation of the game in Colorado Springs that was suspended after an inning-and-a-half with SDSU leading 2-0. That game will be played on Friday, April 22, beginning at 4:00 p.m. A second contest will be played that same evening as part of a doubleheader.
* The series will continue with single games on Saturday (April 23) and Sunday (April 24), both starting at 1:00 p.m.
* This is the 67th 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.
* SDSU's all-time record over that time (including this season) stands at 2041-1258-37 for a won-loss percentage of .617.
PITCHING ROTATIONS
* The probable starting pitchers for each team in this weekend's series are as follows:
San Diego State Air ForceFriday.....Bruce Billings (RHP, 3-3, 4.14)...Mitch Brown (RHP, 0-3, 12.04)Friday.....Alex Hinshaw (LHP, 3-6, 5.60).....Travis Fugler (RHP, 2-4, 10.25)Saturday...Ben Coon (LHP, 1-2, 6.69).........Andrew Goss (RHP, 0-3, 16.38)Sunday.....Will Miller (RHP, 0-2, 10.80).....Paul Pratt (RHP, 2-7, 9.32)
SERIES RECORDS
* The Aztecs' all-time record against UCLA is 24-40-2 in the series that began during the 1948 season. San Diego State has a mark of 13-15-12 against the Bruins in San Diego. SDSU is 10-25 at UCLA's home facility and the Aztecs won the only contest between the teams played at a neutral site.
* The Aztecs' record against Air Force stands at 78-18 in the series that began during the 1961 season. The teams met nine times from that year through 1964 until matching up on a regular basis while both were members of the Western Athletic Conference.
* Since joining the MWC, SDSU's record against the Falcons is 22-8. That ledger includes a 19-8 record in regular-season play and 3-0 in conference tournament action.
* San Diego State's record on the Falcons' home field is 19-8. The Aztecs are 30-7 in contests played in San Diego and 3-0 at neutral site fields.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
* UCLA's record entering the week stands at 8-24 (0-6 Pac-10). The Bruins ended a school-record 19-game losing streak last Saturday with a win at UC Santa Barbara. UCLA has six former San Diego County prep players on its roster including sophomore pitchers Brian Schroeder (Scripps Ranch HS) and Brant Rustich (Grossmont HS).
* The Bruins' top hitters include designated Hector Ambriz (.333, 7 2B, 10 RBI) plus outfielders Anthony Norman (.292. 7 RBI) and Will Penniall (.291, 5 2B, 10 RBI). Ambriz doubles as a starting pitcher and has a record of 2-4 with a 4.14 ERA. SDSU will likely see either Dan Miltenberger (2-1, 6.88) or Adam Simon (1-4, 6.90) in a starting role on Tuesday. UCLA is hitting .252 as a team with a 5.85 earned run average.
* Air Force comes into the week with an overall mark of 5-26 and 0-12 in the Mountain West Conference. The Falcons have lost 10 straight and 17 of their last 18. They will host Northern Colorado in a doubleheader on Tuesday (April 19) before coming to San Diego to face SDSU.
* Air Force is led offensively by first baseman Karl Bolt (.356, 8 HR, 25 RBI), outfielder Reid Lamson (.336, 9 2B, 13 RBI) and outfielder Matt Ghigna (.283, 20 RBI). The team batting average is .269. Top hurlers include Sam Rosener (1-1, 6.20), Paul Pratt (2-7, 9.32) and Travis Fugler (2-4, 10.25). Air Force's overall earned run average is 11.86.
HEAD COACH Tony Gwynn
* Tony Gwynn is in his third season as San Diego State's head coach after being named to the position in Sept. 2001. He spent the 2002 campaign as a volunteer assistant coach at SDSU under Jim Dietz, who retired at the end of that season.
* Last year, Gwynn led his squad to the Mountain West Conference regular-season championship and was named the MWC coach of the year.
* 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.
* He was also an all-conference basketball player for the Aztecs and still holds the SDSU single-game, season and career assist records.
HINSHAW EARNS MWC HONOR
* San Diego State junior left-hander Alex Hinshaw has been named the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week for his performance against Brigham Young last Thursday.br> * Hinshaw, from Claremont, Calif., pitched a complete game, allowing just two earned runs, in San Diego State's 10-4 win over first-place BYU last week in Provo, Utah. He struck out a career-high 12 batters, while scattering six hits and walking three.
* Hinshaw retired 12 batters in a row after giving up a third-inning single, and 20 of the last 21 batters he faced overall in his final 6.2 innings on the mound for his third win of the season.
BERRY STREAKING
* Sophomore center fielder Quentin Berry extended his hitting streak to 22 games after reaching safely in all three contests last weekend. It is the second-longest streak in school history behind the Aztec record 28-game streaks of Derek Vinyard (1991) and Steve Dietz (1992).
* During his streak, Berry is batting .369 (39-for-98) with 24 runs scored, eight doubles and 14 runs batted in. More impressively, he is hitting .452 over SDSU's last 10 contests.
* His streak is the longest for an Aztec this season, surpassing the 12-game streaks of teammates Lance Zawadzki and James Guerrero.
* He has recorded an extra-base hit in six of his last eight contests.
* His season average now stands at .383, best on the squad this week. He is hitting .445 in Mountain West Conference play.
* He recorded a season-high four hits in a game in the series opener vs. New Mexico on April 8, the first four-hit game for an Aztec in 2005.
BILLINGS LEADS MOUND STAFF
* Although sophomore Bruce Billings was not involved in the decision in last Friday's contest at BYU, he was unlucky to be charged with seven earned runs instead of two. BYU's five-run fourth inning was made possible when a routine pop-up lost by the Aztec second baseman was ruled a hit and prolonged the inning when no runs would have scored.
* Over his last seven starts (47.2 innings), he has posted a 3.59 earned run average with 50 strikeouts.
* In his two seasons, Billings has allowed just three home runs in 113 innings pitched.
* Opponents are hitting just .239 against him. He is currently averaging a strikeout per inning (63 K's in 63 IP) and has a strikeout to walk ratio of three-to-one (63 K's-21 BB's).
* Billings continues to lead the conference in strikeouts with 63 and his opponent batting average is also the best in the MWC.
HINSHAW SHARP IN LAST TWO
* Since becoming SDSU's Friday night starter two games ago, pitcher Alex Hinshaw has posted some impressive numbers.
* Prior to his first weekend-opening start vs. New Mexico on April 8, he had posted a record of 1-6 with a 6.75 earned run average.
* In his two outings since, he is 2-0 with a 2.87.
* In his last two starts, he has struck out 22 over 15.2 innings. He set a personal high with 10 K's vs. New Mexico, then bettered that with 12 against Brigham Young last Thursday.
UNGRICHT HEATS UP
* After seeing a short six-game hitting streak halted last week against UC Irvine, Brock Ungricht hit safely in all three games last weekend.
* In those three contests at BYU, he went 5-for-13 (.385) with five runs scored, four RBI, a doubles and three walks. His on-base percentage for the weekend was .500.
* Ungricht has hit safely in nine of the team's last 10 games, going 15-for-40 (.375) with 11 runs scored, 10 RBI, three doubles, two triples and six walks.
* Ungricht is hitting .367 in conference play with a .448 on-base percentage
GUERRERO GETS ON
* Second baseman James Guerrero put up impressive number in the first two games at BYU last weekend.
* In the opener, he went 4-for-5 with four singles and scored four times. The next night he went 3-for-5 with a double, triple, home run and four runs batted in. Although he didn't get a hit in the finale, he did walk twice and scored each time.
* Guerrero has hit safely in eight of SDSU's last 10 games, going 16-for-37 (.432) in those contests with 17 runs scored, nine RBI, two doubles, three triples and a pair of home runs. He has also drawn six walks for a .512 on-base percentage in those games.
* His .431 on-base percentage in all games leads the club. That number increases to .467 in conference play.
TRIPLE YOUR FUN
* After hitting six triples in the first 27 games of the season, the Aztecs have recorded 10 in their last seven outings.
* They recorded four triples in a game vs. New Mexico on April 9 and again at Brigham Young on April 15.
* The four triples hit by SDSU in those games was one shy of the school record of five in a game set vs. Point Loma Nazarene in 1987 and Western New Mexico in 1984.
* James Guerrero has accounted for three of those 10 recent triples and had two in the game vs. New Mexico (Apr. 8), tying the SDSU mark for three-baggers in a game. The last Aztec to accomplish the feat was Anthony Gwynn, who had a pair of triples vs. Brigham Young on May 22, 2003.
* Although national stats are not released until Tuesday each week, SDSU's average of 0.47 triples per game would have tied for 11th-best in the nation last week.
MCLINTOCK ON THE RISE
* Jake McLintock continued to pound the ball, going 7-for-13 in three games at BYU last weekend. He has hit safely is nine of his last 11 outings. (In one of those contests, he only had one at bat, going hitless.)
* In his last 11 games, he is 20-for-40 (.500) with 17 RBI, 10 runs scored, four doubles, two triples and a home run.
* McLintock had his second five-RBI game of the season in the win over UNM on April 8. He is the lone Aztec to drive in five runs in a game this year.
* In his last 11 contests, McLintock has raised his season batting average from .235 to .333, and he is hitting .500 in conference games.
ZAWADZKI GETS OFFENSIVE
* Third baseman Lance Zawadzki had a short five-game hitting streak ended in Friday's game at BYU. In his last seven games, he has gone 12-for-32 (.375) three doubles, a home run, nine runs scored and seven runs batted in.
* He hit his second home run of the season last Friday against Brigham Young.
* He had three of SDSU's five hits in the loss to UC Irvine on Tuesday, including a pair of doubles.
* He ranks second on the squad in runs scored with 26 and is tied for first in doubles with nine.
SCAPEROTTA GOES DEEP
* Freshman outfielder Joseph Scaperotta hit a pair of home runs in the series opener at Brigham Young last Thursday.
* The homers were the first of his young Aztec career and it also marked the first two-home run game by an Aztecs this season. It was only the second time in 2005 that SDSU had hit two home runs in a game.
* Scaperotta's two hits and three RBI in that contest tied his best single-game performance of the year.
SWAYDAN SHOWS CONSISTENCY
* Catcher Jordan Swaydan has hit safely in his last five games and has scored five runs with a double and triple in those contests.
* He has reached base in eight of his last nine games, going 13-for-39 (.333).
* He is fielding .986 behind the dish and has not committed an error over the past 20 games in which he has played (150 chances).
BURKLE RETURNS
* Junior right-hander Shaun Burkle, who was one of the team's most effective relief pitchers early in the season, made his first appearance in seven weeks in the contest against UC Irvine last Tuesday (April 12).
* He had been out since Feb. 25 with a fracture in his right hand.
* His time off showed its effect as he faced only three batters, giving up a hit and a pair of singles.
* Prior to his injury, Burkle had made six appearances this season (eight innings), allowing three runs (none earned) on eight hits and two walks along with three strikeouts. Seven of the eight hits he has given up have been singles.
* In his six prior outings, opponents were hitting .229 against him.
MWC LEADERS
* The Aztecs have a number of players among the MWC statistical leaders in league games at the mid-point of the conference season.
* Senior outfielder Jake McLintock leads the conference in batting average (.500), is second in on-base percentage (.556), and has the fourth-best slugging percentage (.775).
* Quintin Berry is fourth in batting average (.446) while James Guerrero is third in triples with four.
* On the pitching aside, Alex Hinshaw is first in opponent batting average (.242) and third in strikeouts (28). Bruce Billings is third in opponent average (.250) and sixth in strikeouts.
HITTING IN A PINCH
* After 31 games, Aztec pinch hitters have gone 9-for-25 for a .360 average.
* Eight different players have come through at the plate when coming off the bench.
* Freshman Joseph Scaperotta has a single and a double as a pinch hitter in four at bats.
* Last season, the Aztecs totaled six pinch hits all year, finishing with a .231 average (6-for-26) in that category.
PLUNKIN' THE OPPOSITION
* SDSU pitchers are averaging over one hit batter per game.
* With 36 HBP's in 34 games, the Aztec staff is hitting 1.06 batters per contest.
* That average projects to 61.5 hit batters over 58 games.
* The team record is 64 hit batters in season (66 games in 2002).
* Aztec hurlers have hit more than one batter in a game on eight occasions this season with a high of five vs. Cal State Fullerton on Mar. 1.
POWER SHORTAGE
* The Aztecs had hit only 12 home runs through their first 31 contests, but added four to that total last weekend at Brigham Young.
* With 16 HR in 34 games, that figure projects to 27 home runs over 58 games.
* The Aztecs hit two homers in a game for the first time this year when James Guerrero and Curt Mendoza connected in the win over New Mexico on April 8. The team had a second two-homer game when freshman Joseph Scaperotta hit a pair last Thursday at BYU.
AZTEC NOTES
* Tim O'Brien's grand slam last vs. New Mexico on April 9 was SDSU's second in three games after Jake McLintock accomplished the same feat at UNLV the previous Sunday. The team record for grand slams in a season is three, set last season.
* SDSU's team batting average of .297 entering the week is just one point under the highest it has been for the season. The previous high was .298 after last Friday's contest at BYU. Since mid-February, the team average has fluctuated between .271 and .299.
* James Guerrero's three-year total of 97 walks moves him into a tie for the number-eight spot on the SDSU career list with Bobby Meacham (1979-81). Former Aztec Eric Christopherson (1988-90) holds down the seventh spot with 98 bases on balls.
* With his start at second base at UNLV on April 2, freshman Grant Desme has now appeared at all four infield positions this season. He has also started in center field on several occasions.
* Quintin Berry leads the team with 15 multiple-hit games followed by James Guerrero with 14. Tim O'Brien has recorded seven multiple-RBI contests, just ahead of Guerrero and Jake McLintock with six apiece.
SCHEDULE CHANGES
* The Aztecs have re-scheduled the contest at Cal State Northridge that was rained out on Feb. 22.
* They will travel to Northridge to face the Matadors next Tuesday (April 26) at 3:00 p.m.
AZTEC BASEBALL ON TV
* San Diego State will make a pair of national television appearances over a three day period beginning with next Sunday's (May 1) contest.
* The first is a game which will be carried by College Sports Television (CSTV) when the Aztecs meet UNLV on Sunday, May 1, at 1:30 p.m. (PDT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
* The other contest will be the game at Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, May 3, at 5:00 p.m. (PDT). That game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.