Complete Release and Season Statistics in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
April 19, 2006
AZTECS TRAVEL TO LAS VEGAS THIS WEEKEND FOR FIRST MWC ROAD SERIES
***San Diego State makes it first Mountain West Conference road trip of the season when it visits Las Vegas for a three-game series against UNLV beginning Friday (April 21) at 6:30 p.m. at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
***The series continues on Saturday (April 22) with a contest at 2:00 p.m. and concludes with a game on Sunday (April 23) at 1:00 p.m.
***This is the 69th 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 RECORD
***The Aztecs record against UNLV stands at 46-35 in the series that began during the 1978 season. The teams met on a regular basis during the 1990's while both were members of the Western Athletic Conference.
***Since joining the MWC, SDSU's record against the Rebels is 20-24. That ledger includes a 19-18 record in regular-season play and 1-6 in conference tournament action.
***San Diego State's record on the Rebels' home field is 23-17. The Aztecs are 22-11 in contests played in San Diego and 1-7 at neutral site fields. UNLV won five of the six regular-season contests between the teams last year and defeated the Aztecs when they met at the 2005 MWC Tournament.
***The Aztecs and Rebels played in San Diego earlier this season during the MWC Preseason Tournament with SDSU claiming an 11-10 win.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
***UNLV comes into the week with an overall mark of 16-22 and 3-7 in league play. The Rebels have lost five of six after being swept at TCU in a three-game series last weekend. They are 1-14 on the road, but have a mark of 13-7 at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in 2006.
***UNLV is led offensively by outfielder Keith Smith (.339, 10 2B, 7 HR, 6 RBI), second baseman CJ Lang (.328, 4 2B, 19 RBI) and first baseman Chris Bonnell (.313, 13 2B, 38 RBI). Chris Saddoris (5-5, 5.07) is the team's number-one starter while the bullpen is anchored by closer Jabe Beard (1-0, 4 saves, 5.34).
***As a team, the Rebels are batting .290 with a 6.09 earned run average.
HEAD COACH Tony Gwynn
***Tony Gwynn is in his fourth season as San Diego State's head coach after being named to the position in Sept. 2001. He became just the fourth head coach in SDSU history since baseball was elevated to major sport status in 1936.
***In 2002, he served as a volunteer coach for the Aztecs under Jim Dietz, who retired at the end of that season.
***In 2004, 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.
MOST RECENTLY
***San Diego State took two of three games from Utah in last weekend's league series at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
***In the opener, Tim O'Brien's solo homer in the eighth proved to be the difference as the Aztecs claimed a 7-6 victory. Justin Masterson recorded his fourth win of the year and Adam Simon recorded his fourth save. O'Brien, who given the Aztecs an early lead with a two-run single in the first, finished with a pair of hits and three runs batted in.
***In the second game of the series, SDSU fell behind 5-1 before rain caused a one-hour, 25-minute delay. When play resumed, the Utes scored 15 runs over the middle three innings in a 20-7 victory. Quintin Berry and Brock Ungricht had three hits and a pair of RBI each in the losing cause.
***In the series finale, the Aztecs built a 5-1 lead after five and rode the pitching of Bruce Billings to a 9-3 victory. Paul Smyth had three hits including a solo home run with three RBI while O'Brien had another three-hit contest and scored twice. Berry contributed a pair of hits and three RBI.
GWYNN RECORDS 100TH WIN
***San Diego State head coach Tony Gwynn recorded his 100th win with the Aztecs' 10-4 victory over New Mexico on April 7.
***Currently in his fourth season at SDSU, his record entering the weekend stands at 103-123 overall and 60-38 in Mountain West Conference play.
ONE MAKE-UP GAME SCHEDULED/ONE CANCELLED
***SDSU has re-scheduled a game that was rained out while a second re-scheduled contest has been cancelled.
***SDSU will play Cal State Fullerton (a makeup date for the contest that was rained out on April 4) on Tuesday, May 16, at 6:00 p.m.
***The Aztecs had also scheduled a game with the University of San Diego for Wednesday, May 17, but that game has been cancelled due to final exams at USD that week.
ANDERSON HITS AWAY
***In three games last week, catcher Chris Anderson equaled his hit total for the season.
***Going into the contest vs. Long beach State, he was 5-for-29 on the year. He doubled and scored a run in the win over the 49ers.
***In the opener against Utah on Friday, he started behind the plate and collected four hits with an RBI and run scored.
***Conference play seems to agree with the sophomore, as Anderson is 5-for-11 (.455) in league games.
BERRY COMING ON
***Center fielder Quintin Berry has hit safely in nine of San Diego State's last 10 games.
***In those 10 contests, Berry is hitting .410 with 11 runs, nine RBI, three doubles and a home run.
***He has scored at least one run in five straight contests (a total of nine runs).
***He leads SDSU in stolen bases with 22 and is first in the Mountain West Conference in that category.
***Berry went nine games without stealing a base, his longest stretch in two seasons as an Aztec, before swiping three against Long Beach State on Tuesday, April 11.
***He has stolen seven bases in his last four games. His three against Long Beach State matched his season best that came vs. Cal Poly on Feb. 19.
MASTERSON ON THE MOUND
***Justin Masterson recorded his fourth win of the season last Friday vs. Utah, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out 10.
***It was his third double-digit strikeout performance of the season.
***He made his first (and only) relief appearance as an Aztec in the 11-10 win over UNLV on April 2, tossing a perfect ninth inning to preserve the win and pick up his first save.
***In his last five outings, Masterson has a 3.38 earned run average over 32 innings. Over that span he has walked five and struck out 32, and the opponents hit just .195 against him.
***On the season, he has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than four-to one with 75 K's and 17 BB's in 80.2 innings.
***In his 12 appearances, he has allowed more than five earned runs only once, when UCLA tallied nine against him. Discounting that game, his season ERA would be 3.21.
BILLINGS COMES BACK
***Since coming back after missing a pair of starts in mid-March, Bruce Billings has shown signs of the form that earned him MWC Pitcher of the Year honors in 2005.
***In his four starts since his return, he has thrown 25 innings and struck out 27. His ERA over four contests was 2.16.
***In his last four starts, opponents are hitting .172 against him. He has lowered his season ERA over that period from 6.17 to its current 4.10.
SEWELL IMPRESSIVE IN HOME DEBUT
***Freshman Lance Sewell made his SDSU home debut with a start vs. Long Beach State on Tuesday.
***He went six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out six and walking two, but was not involved in the decision.
***It was Sewell's second start and fourth appearance of the year. His other start came at Oklahoma State.
***He is expected to start the Saturday game vs. UNLV this weekend.
COON HAS SEASON-BEST OUTING
***Senior lefty Ben Coon had his longest outing of the season vs. Utah last Friday, throwing the final four innings of the game in that contest.
***In that stint, he gave up just two hits and no walks while striking out two.
***Coon has not walked a batter in his last six relief appearances covering eight innings.
SWAYDAN STANDS TALL
***Senior catcher Jordan Swaydan has been a defensive stalwart behind the plate in 2006.
***He has thrown out 20 of 54 runners attempting to steal on him for a 37 percent rate.
***His 20 runners caught stealing leads the conference by a wide margin. The second-best number in the MWC is seven caught stealing by a catcher. .
MENDOZA CONTINUES HITTING
***Curt Mendoza had a six-game hitting streak stopped in last Saturday's game vs. New Mexico. The next day he had a pair of hits and scored two runs.
***He is hitting .364 (12-for-33) over SDSU's last 10 contests with two doubles, a triple, two homers, nine runs and 10 RBI.
***Mendoza has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games, going 21-for-57 (.368).
***He is hitting .400 in conference play with nine runs batted in over eight contests.
***His five RBI against New Mexico on April 7 was the most in a game by an Aztec this season.
UNGRICHT SOLID AT THE PLATE
***In his first season as SDSU's regular first baseman, junior Brock Ungricht has committed three errors in 320 chances for a .991 fielding percentage.
***Ungricht had a 10-game hitting streak, the longest by an Aztec in 2005, stopped at USD on March 10.
***He is third on the squad with 14 multiple-hit games .
***Ungricht, who was among the team leaders in walks his first two seasons, has only eight bases on balls in 2006 and has not drawn a walk over SDSU's last 12 contests.
***He had driven in a least one run in six straight games until the streak was halted in last Sunday's game vs. Utah.
SMYTH ON THE OFFENSIVE
***Senior Paul Smyth continues to lead the Aztecs in overall hitting with a .373 batting average.
***He had a nine-game hitting streak stopped in last Friday's opener vs. Utah, then hit safely in the second and third games of the series.
***Over the team's last 12 games, he is batting .413 (19-for-46) with 13 runs scored, 11 RBI, five doubles, two triples and two home runs.
***Heading into the weekend, Smyth also leads the SDSU offense in hits (56), doubles (13), triples (4) and RBI (32).
***Smyth's 18 multiple-hit games leads the team and he is tied for first in multiple-RBI contests with seven.
KER-PLUNK
***Aztec pitchers have hits 57 batters thus far during the 2006 season, an average of 1.43 per game.
***They are on their way to setting a team record for hit batters in a season, needing only seven more to tie the 64 batters hit during both the 2002 and 2005 seasons.
LONG BALL
***SDSU has hit 30 home runs through 40 games this season after totaling 18 at the same point of the 2005 campaign.
***The Aztecs have hit 13 home runs over their last 13 contests.
***Tim O'Brien's homer in the opener of the Utah series last Friday was his team-leading eighth of the season. Curt Mendoza and Paul Smyth are tied for second with five while Nick Romero is fourth with four.
***At this point, Aztec pitchers have allowed 34 home runs.
***The last time SDSU finished a season with more home runs than its opponents was in 2000 when it hit 45 and gave up a total of 43.
THE RECORD BOOK
***Three Aztecs have entered an all-time SDSU top 20 list this season while one other should do so in the near future.
***With a 52 strikeouts this season, junior Bruce Billings has 212 career strikeouts to move the ninth spot on the career list. He needs seven more to climb to No. 8, where Bill Blount (1982-85) sits with 209 career strikeouts.
***With 80 career walks, Brock Ungricht has moved to the No. 19 on the Aztec career chart, tied with Rielly Embrey (2001-04). Two more bases on balls will move him up one spot to 18th and into a tie with Nikco Riesgo (1986-88) at 82).
***Shortstop Lance Zawadzki (15 career HR) is one home run shy of the number-20 spot on the career list, one behind former Aztecs Brad Gennaro (1990-92) and Flavio Alfaro (1983-84), who hit 16 apiece during their SDSU careers.
***With five homers in 2006, senior outfielder Curt Mendoza now has 23 for his career, moving him into a tie for fourth on the Aztec career chart with former Aztec Chris Gwynn (1983-85). He needs two more to move into a tie for the number-three spot with Tommy Rinks (1956-58) with 25. The SDSU career mark is 28 homers by Paul Lockhart (1997-2000).
AZTEC NOTES
***San Diego State is 7-3 over its last 10 outings.
***Last Friday's 7-6 win over Utah was the first time this season that SDSU won a game when out-hit by it opponent. The Aztecs are now 1-21 in that category.
***San Diego State has a record of 4-4 against teams ranked in the top 25 this season.
***Freshman Nick Romero's had a four-game hitting streak snapped vs. Long Beach State. He has had a personal-best four-game streak five times this season.
***Brian's Kinsman's RBI double in the game against Utah last Friday marked his first hit and first RBI of the season.
***SDSU has played a pair of extra-inning affairs this season and lost both. That includes an 8-6 loss to UC Irvine and a 3-2 loss to New Mexico, both in 10 innings at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
***The Aztecs' 14-game losing streak, which ended with the 5-0 win over Utah on March 30, was the longest ever for an SDSU baseball team.
ON DECK
***San Diego State will begin next week with a trip to Long Beach State to face the 49ers on Tuesday, April 25, at 6:00 p.m. at Blair Field.
***The Aztecs will then return home to host league-leading TCU in a three-game series beginning Friday, April 28, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
***That series will continue with single games on Saturday (April 29) and Sunday (April 30), both starting at 1:00 p.m.