March 31, 2009
SAN DIEGO - For the fifth time in 2009, San Diego State junior right-hander Stephen Strasburg has been named the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week for his performance in SDSU's contest at TCU last Friday (March 27). The MWC award is the 11th of his career as an Aztec.
Strasburg (San Diego, Calif. / West Hills HS), went eight innings in SDSU's 11-5 win over 16th-ranked TCU. The game was played in conditions that included a temperature in the high 30s with a consistent 20-25 mile wind blowing straight out to left field. The first batter to face Strasburg hit a wind-aided home run to left field. After that he retired the next 14 consecutive hitters until a two-out single in the fifth. Ten of those 14 batters were retired via the strikeout.
On the night he struck out 14 batters while allowing two runs on three hits with one base on balls. TCU came into the contest hitting .323 as a team, but hit just .111 against Strasburg. He struck out the side in just two innings, but recorded two strikeouts in his final inning of work (the eighth). He retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced on the night.
Through his first six starts of the 2009 campaign, Strasburg is 5-0 with a 1.70 earned run average. He has struck out 88 batters over 42.1 innings for an average of 18.71 strikeouts per nine innings. The NCAA record for a season is 16.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
After the first seven weeks of the season, San Diego State pitchers have picked up the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of The Week honor all seven times it has been awarded. In addition to Stephen Strasburg's five awards, junior Tyler Lavigne brought home the honor after the first week of the season and senior Jon Berger took the award two weeks ago.
San Diego State is back in action today (Tuesday, March 31) as it visits UC Santa Barbara for a contest scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. (PT). On Wednesday, April 1, UCSB will be at Tony Gwynn Stadium for a game slated for a 2:00 p.m. start.