Jan. 5, 2007
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State Aztec baseball team began preparations for its 2007 campaign as it opened preseason drills Thursday morning (Jan. 4) at Tony Gwynn Stadium. A total of 38 players, including 28 newcomers, reported for practice as the SDSU coaching staff put the team through conditioning, fielding drills and batting practice.
Leading the Aztec returnees this season are pitcher Bruce Billings and infielder Nick Romero, both of whom were all-Mountain West Conference selections last season. Billings led the SDSU staff with six victories while Romero established a team freshman record with nine home runs in 2006.
"Basically, we lost eight position starters and a couple of starting pitchers plus several other players either to graduation or the pro draft," said Gwynn. "A lot of those guys were here for three or four years, so we'll really have a new look this coming season."
The good news is that Gwynn and his staff have been able to fill the roster with a group of players that could be as good as any to join the program in recent years. A total of 10 members of the incoming class have been drafted at least once by big league clubs during their playing careers while several others come in as highly-honored prep and junior college athletes.
"We're excited about this group of players, both the returnees and the incoming players," commented Gwynn. "It's a talented group and we're looking forward to seeing what they can do at this level. After a couple seasons of losing recruits to the pro draft, it's nice to be able to field a team of this caliber."
SDSU will host its annual Alumni Weekend on Jan 26-27 beginning with a golf tournament on Friday (Jan. 26) and the Alumni baseball game on Saturday (Jan. 27) at noon. More information on those events may be obtained by calling the Aztec baseball Office at (619) 594-6889.
San Diego State opens its 2007 season with a three-game series at Cal Poly beginning Feb. 2. The home opener comes the following weekend when the Aztecs host Santa Clara for three games at Tony Gwynn Stadium starting Friday, Feb. 9 at 6:00 p.m.