May 21, 2007
Complete Release, Season Stats and Player Notes in PDF Format
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AZTECS COMPLETE REGULAR SEASON TIED FOR THIRD IN THE MWC
*** San Diego State ended its regular tied for third place (with both Utah and New Mexico) in the Mountain West Conference with a record of 12-12.
*** It marks the eighth time in the eight seasons of the league's existence that SDSU has not finished lower than third in the final conference standings.
*** In the tiebreaker used to determine seedings for the MWC Tournament, the Aztecs finished behind Utah and ahead of New Mexico, thus giving SDSU the number-four seed.
*** That was the result when comparing the head-to-head results of all games between the three teams. Utah finished 6-3, SDSU was 5-4 and New Mexico went 4-8 in contests vs. each other two.
2007 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
*** This year, only the top six league finishers will compete in the double-elimination championship event. Air Force finished in seventh place and will not participate in the 2007 tourney.
*** By virtue of its league finish and the tiebreaker, San Diego State will be the number-four seed at this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament. That championship event gets underway on Wednesday, May 23, at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas.
*** TCU is the number-one seed as it won the regular-season league title in its for the second consecutive year. Brigham Young finished second, and as a result both the Horned Frogs and Cougars will receive a first-round bye in this year's tournament.
*** SDSU's fourth-place seeding means it will face New Mexico (the number-five seed) in the second game of the tourney. That contest is scheduled for Wednesday, May 23, at 3:00 p.m. (PDT).
*** If the Aztecs win, they will play on Thursday against either TCU or BYU, depending on who wins the UNLV-Utah game Wednesday afternoon. Should they lose, they would play the loser of Utah-UNLV contest Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.
RECORD VS. MWC OPPONENTS
*** San Diego State won two series and lost four this season in league play. The Aztecs won their series vs. Air Force (6-0) and New Mexico (4-2), but lost to TCU (0-3), BYU (1-2), Utah (1-2), and UNLV (0-3).
*** Below are SDSU's all-time records against each league opponent, record vs. each in league play over the years, record this season, and record in previous MWC Tournaments.
All-Time MWC Play 2007 MWC MWC Tourn.Air Force........69-15......34-8......6-0........5-0Brigham Young....64-48-1....21-21.....1-2........5-4New Mexico.......91-43......29-17.....4-2........4-0TCU...............5-9........3-4......0-3........0-0UNLV.............48-40......21-22.....0-3........1-7Utah.............88-23......28-15.....1-2........4-1PAST TOURNAMENT FINISHES
*** San Diego State won its only conference tourney championship in 2000, the first year of the league's existence, as it defeated Air Force in the title game that season.
*** Because the MWC was a first-year conference in 2000, there was no automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals for the tournament champion.
*** The Aztecs have advanced to the championship game in five of the previous seven league championship events (2000 through 2004). They lost title games to Brigham Young in 2001 and 2002, and to UNLV in both 2003 and 2004.
*** Last year SDSU went 1-2 in the tourney in which all seven league teams participated.
AZTEC PITCHING ROTATION
*** San Diego State's pitching rotation has only been determined for three games, should SDSU advance that far at the conference tourney this week.
*** Here are the Aztecs' projected starters (in order) for the team's first three contests of this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament at UNLV:
Game 1...Bruce Billings, RHP (4-3, 4.90)
Game 2...Steven Hirschfeld. RHP (4-4, 4.84)
Game 3...Lance Sewell, LHP (5-5, 3.28)
TOURNAMENT TV
*** Every game of the 2007 Mountain West Conference Tournament will be televised live on The Mtn network.
*** San Diego State had three of its games televised during the 2007 season. Those included contests at TCU (Apr. 28) and vs. Brigham Young (May 12) on The Mtn and vs. Long Beach State (May 8) on CSTV.
*** The Aztecs lost all three of those contests.
TIME OFF AGAIN
*** For the second year in a row, San Diego State ended its regular season a week before the other six Mountain West conference teams.
*** SDSU will have had 10 days off since playing Brigham Young on May 12.
*** Last year the Aztecs had six days off between the end of its regular season and the beginning of the MWC tournament as it played a make-up game against Cal State Fullerton on the Tuesday before the tourney got underway.
*** The team's elimination after three games at the tournament in 2006 was its earliest exit in the seven years of the conference championship event.
WORKING OVERTIME
*** San Diego State played five extra-inning contests in 2007, going 1-4 in those games.
*** The Aztecs ended the season with back-to-back 13-inning losses to Brigham Young, marking the longest consecutive extra-inning games ever for SDSU.
*** Four of the five extra-inning contests came in conference play. In addition to the two games vs. BYU, there was a win on Apr. 6 vs. New Mexico (10 inn.) and a loss at TCU on Apr. 27 (10 inn.)
UNHAPPY ENDING
*** The Aztecs finished their 2007 with 11 losses in their last 12 games.
*** Included in those contests was a season-long nine-game losing streak that began on Apr. 24 when SDSU had an overall record of 27-17.
*** During the losing streak, SDSU scored only 25 runs over the nine games.
*** It ended when the Aztecs scored nine runs in a 9-1 win over Brigham Young in the first contest of their season-ending series on May 10.
SPECIAL K
*** The pitching staff's 10 strikeouts vs. Brigham Young in the season finale on May 12 marked the 16th time this season.
that it has reached double digits in K's in a game.
*** The mound corps reached that mark in five of SDSU's final eight contests.
*** The team's season high was a 15-strikeout effort at UC Riverside on March 13 in a game that went 9.2 innings. The most strikeouts over nine innings this season was 14 vs. UCLA on March 16.
SENIOR DAY
*** The season finale on May 12 was designated Senior Day as the Aztecs honored members of the senior class making their final appearance for the Red and Black at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
*** The 2007 senior class consists of pitcher Bruce Billings and catcher-outfielder Frank LoNigro.
*** Billings is a four-year letterman who recently set the SDSU career strikeout record. He was drafted at the end of his junior year, but returned for his senior season with the Aztecs.
*** LoNigro is completing his first season at San Diego State after transferring from Fresno State. He leads the Aztecs with eight home runs and a .544 slugging percentage.
STREAKS AND SUCH
*** Garett Green has the team's current longest hitting streak in progress at eight games. The longest for an Aztec this season was 14 games by Brandon Glover.
*** Green also has 14 multiple-RBI games this season to lead the squad. Chris Anderson and Frank LoNigro have each had six RBI in a game while Brandon Glover and Joe Spiers have had five-RBI efforts.
*** Troy Hanzawa has the team lead with 23 multiple-hit contests followed by Nick Romero with 21 and Glover with 20. LoNigro and Glover are the lone Aztecs to have five-hit games this season.
TEAM IMPROVEMENT
*** SDSU's overall record entering the week stands at 28-28, an improvement of five victories over last year's win total. Last season the Aztecs had a mark of 22-34 after its first 56 contests.
*** San Diego State's team earned run average at this point last season was 6.89 compared to the team's current ERA of 4.14. The team's batting average was .290 compared to its current mark of .292.
THE RECORD BOOK
*** Junior pitcher Bruce Billings has 302 strikeouts over his four collegiate seasons, setting a new SDSU.
*** He has broken the former Aztec record of 299 held by Mike Erb (1985-87).
*** Billings currently is second in career starts with 52 (school record is 57), third in innings pitched at 324.0 (school record is 342.2) and tied for seventh in wins with 22 (school record is 32 victories).
WALLACE WATCH LIST
*** Third baseman Nick Romero has been included in the field of candidates for the 2007 Brooks Wallace College Player of the Year Award. The revised list includes the top 112 players in the nation.
*** Romero has started every game this season is batting .337 overall with 12 doubles, five triples and six home runs. He has a slugging percentage of .541 and a .417 on-base percentage.
*** In conference play, he is hitting .402 with 19 runs scored and 25 RBI in 21 MWC contests.
*** The current list of candidates will be narrowed to 30 semifinalists toward the end of May.
STARS OF THE MONTH
*** Freshman closer Stephen Strasburg has been named a Star of the Month for April by the San Diego Hall of Champions. He is the second SDSU pitcher to receive the honor in 2007.
*** Strasburg was given the award for his performance during the month of April when he recorded a win and three saves with a 2.38 earned run average. He was the MWC pitcher of the week after picking up a win and a save in the home series vs. New Mexico.
*** Previously, senior right-hander Bruce Billings was selected a Star of the Month for March, when he was selected the league pitcher of the week for his performance in SDSU's win over Michigan at PETCO Park.
*** Billings was also named to a pair of all-tournament teams during the month at the Tony Gwynn Classic and the Pacific State Bank Tiger Classic at the University of the Pacific.
AZTEC NOTES
*** Pitcher Steven Hirschfeld has gone five or more innings in 11 of his 14 starts. He has gone four or more innings in two of the other three.
*** Aztec pinch hitters are 7-for-30 (.233) led by Brandon Decker who has gone 3-for-6 with three RBI in that role. Brian Lucas is 2-for-2 while Garett Green in 1-for-1 as pinch hitters.
*** Lance Sewell has recorded 24 strikeouts over 22 innings in his last four starts.
*** With eight and six home runs respectively, Frank LoNigro and Nick Romero have accounted for 70 percent of the team's home run total of 20. Six others (Brian Lucas, Joe Spiers, Chris Anderson, Garett Green, Brandon Decker, Troy Hanzawa) have one apiece.
*** San Diego State led the Mountain West Conference in team batting average in league play in 2007 with a .340 mark. SDSU's 4.59 ERA in league games was third behind TCU and BYU.
*** In the overall MWC statistics, the team's 4.14 earned run average ranks third while its .292 batting average is fifth.