May 18, 2009
Complete Release and Season Statistics in PDF Format
AZTECS COMPLETE REGULAR SEASON FOURTH IN THE MWC
San Diego State ended its regular in fourth place in the Mountain West Conference standings with a record of 15-9 in league play. It marks the first time in the 10 seasons of the league's existence that SDSU has not finished third or higher in the final conference standings. The Aztecs 37-19 overall record at the conclusion of the regular season marks the most wins by an SDSU team during Tony Gwynn's seven-year tenure as the team's head coach. It represents the second-best record over the past 12 seasons, bettered only by the 43-20 mark of the 2002 squad.
2009 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
For the third straight 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 2009 tourney. By virtue of its league finish, San Diego State will be the number-four seed at this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament. That championship event gets underway on Tuesday, May 19, at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU is the number-one seed as it won the regular-season league title for the fourth consecutive year. New Mexico finished second, and as a result both the Horned Frogs and Lobos will receive a first-round bye in this year's tournament. SDSU's fourth-place seeding means it will face UNLV (the number-five seed) in the second game on opening day of the tourney. That contest is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at 7:00 p.m. (CDT). If the Aztecs win, they will likely play on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) against TCU. Should they lose, they play the loser of Utah-Brigham Young contest Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m.
RECORD VS. MWC OPPONENTS
San Diego State won three series, lost two and tied one this season in league play. The Aztecs won their series vs. Air Force (3-0), UNLV (5-1) and Utah (2-1), tied TCU (3-3), and lost to BYU (1-2) and New Mexico (1-2).
HEAD COACH Tony Gwynn
Tony Gwynn is in his seventh 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. 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. His overall coaching record entering the weekend stands at 210-209 (.501). His mark in Mountain West Conference contests is 111-71 (.610). The win over Brigham Young on March 21 was Gwynn's 100th Mountain West Conference victory league as the Aztecs' head coach. His overall 200 career win came on April 21 in the 6-3 win over Long Beach State at home.
TOURNAMENT TV
Every game of the 2009 Mountain West Conference Tournament will be televised live on The Mtn network. San Diego State had two of its games televised during the 2009 season. The first was its contest against Long Beach State at home on April 21 that was shown on CBS College Sports TV. Three days later (April 24), SDSU had its contest against TCU at Tony Gwynn Stadium broadcast on The Mtn network. SDSU went 2-0 in those games, defeating Long Beach State, 6-3, and TCU, 4-3.
SDSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
After defeating San Francisco at home last Monday and winning two of three contests against Utah in Ogden this past weekend, San Diego State remains ranked among the top 25 in only one of the five national polls. Here's where the Aztecs appear in the five major national polls this week:
Baseball America - Not ranked
Rivals.com - 21st
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn. (NCBWA) - Receiving votes
Collegiate Baseball - Not ranked
USA Today/ESPN - Receiving votes
ATTENDANCE RECORD
The Aztecs set an all-time attendance record at the game vs. Air Force on May 8 when 3,337 fans showed up to see Stephen Strasburg in his final regular-season start. Four of the all-time top 10 crowds to have witnessed games at Tony Gwynn Stadium have come during the 2009 season. The 3,072 fans at the game vs. TCU on April 24 was the largest crowd ever to see a college game at the Aztecs' home facility prior to the contests against Air Force. The previous all-time record of 3,158 came when the Aztecs played an exhibition vs. the New York Yankees on March 30, 1998.
STRASBURG NAMED USA BASEBALL'SATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Stephen Strasburg has been named the winner of the 2008 Richard W. "Dick" Case Award for his performance on the USA Baseball National Team (Collegiate) and the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team last summer. The award recognizes USA Baseball's Athlete of the Year and honors the organization's founding Executive Director/CEO. Strasburg was a key part of the National Team's undefeated season in 2008 (24-0). As it won the Haarlem Baseball Week and FISU World University Championship titles, Strasburg went 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. He was then named to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Baseball Team, making the then sophomore the only collegiate player on a team comprised on non-25-man-roster Major League Baseball professionals. He finished the Olympic Games at 1-1 with a 2.45 earned run average and 16 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched over two games.
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS
Four Aztecs ranked among the national leaders last week in the NCAA Division I statistics that were released on Tuesday, May 12:
Sophomore pitcher Addison Reed was first in the nation in saves with 17.
Erik Castro was 46th with 37 walks. His .496 on-base percentage ranks 60th.
Pitcher Jon Berger was 10th in the country in walks allowed per nine innings at 1.08 (nine walks in 75 innings).
Stephen Strasburg ranked first nationally in strikeouts (164) and strikeouts per nine innings (16.9).
Strasburg was also first in earned run average (1.24), first in hits allowed per nine innings (4.95) and second in wins (11).
New national statistics are released every Tuesday afternoon with new ones available on March 19.
REED RECEIVES INVITE
Sophomore pitcher Addison Reed has received an invitation to the 2009 USA Baseball National Team Trials to be held at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., June 15-24. The National Team Trials will be comprised of 36 collegiate players vying for a spot on the final 22-man roster to be announced on June 24. In addition, Reed was one of forty-five collegiate relief pitchers from across the nation to be placed on the mid-season watch list for the fifth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. The award is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I college baseball. Reed leads the nation in saves with 17 and has compiled a .037 earned run average with six walks and 34 strikeouts over 24.1 innings. He has been successful in all 17 of his save opportunities in 2009. He has allowed only one earned run and one extra-base hit (a double) this year. His save total ties San Diego State record of 17 set by Royce Ring during the 2002 season. He needs two to tie the Aztec career mark of 23 held by Ring as well.
HITTING IN A PINCH
San Diego State pinch hitters have compiled an average of .414 (12-for-29). Josh Chasse is 3-for-3 in that role while Guy Willeford has three hits in four ABs. A total of 12 players have served in a pinch hitting role with eight of them recoding at least one hit. By comparison, opponent pinch hitters are batting just .184 (7-for-38).
SERIES AND STREAKS
SDSU has won nine series of two games or more this season and lost only three. The team's longest winning streak in 2009 is six on two occasions (March 11-18 and May 3-14). SDSU has not lost more than two consecutive games this season. The Aztecs enter the MWC Tournament having won nine of their last 11 contests.
POWER SURGE
After hitting eight home runs in the first 24 games of the season, the Aztecs have recorded 37 in their last 32 contests. SDSU had its fourth three-homer contest of 2009 on Monday (May 11) vs. the University of San Francisco. Cory Vaughn and Erik Castro have accounted almost half of the team total (45) with 11 and 10 home runs respectively.
MULTIPLE EFFORTS
The longest current hitting streak is eight games by Brandon Meredith. The longest streaks by an Aztec this season are 13 by Brandon Decker and 1 by Pat Colwell. Meredith, Colwell and Erik Castro are tied for the team lead with 22 multiple-hit. Meredith and Castro both have team-high 11 multiple-RBI contests. Erik Castro has had four four-hit games in 2009 while Vaughn has recorded three. Castro has also had three contests with five or more runs batted in.
AZTECS DOMINATE PITCHING AWARD
With Stephen Strasburg earning the MWC Pitcher of the Week Award last week (May 11), SDSU hurlers won the honor nine of the 13 time it was awarded this season. After the first six weeks of the season, SDSU pitchers had picked up the league award all six times it had been awarded. In addition to Stephen Strasburg's seven awards, junior Tyler Lavigne brought home the honor after the first week of the season and senior Jon Berger captured the award on March 16.
STRASBURG AND REED NAMED TO PITCHER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Pitchers Addison Reed and Stephen Strasburg have been listed as semifinalists for a pair of national baseball awards. The Aztec hurlers are both listed among the final 15 under consideration for the Pitcher of the Year Award presented by the College Baseball Foundation. In addition, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has named Strasburg as one of 16 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Award, given to the top player in collegiate baseball. The Pitcher of the Year will be honored during the College Baseball Awards Show on July 2 in Lubbock, Texas. Strasburg, a San Diego, Calif., native, is currently 12-0 on the season with a 1.34 earned run average in 13 appearances and 94.1 innings pitched. He also leads the nation with 174 strikeouts for an NCAA-leading average of 16.6 per game. Reed currently leads the nation in saves and has been successful in all of his 17 save opportunities this season.
MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Several Aztecs are moving up in the Aztec baseball record book. Stephen Strasburg is now the record holder in career strikeouts with 354 and also has the single-season strikeout mark of 174. Addison Reed's 17 saves ties the Aztec season record set by Royce Ring in 2002. Reed's 21 career saves is also second on the SDSU all-time list (Royce Ring-23). Pat Colwell has been 11 times in 2009, tying him for the sixth spot on the SDSU single-season list. Colwell's 29 career HBPs also ties him for the all-time record with Jake McLintock's Brandon Decker's 16 sacrifice bunts as an Aztec ties for 11th on the SDSU career list.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
SDSU committed only 17 errors in its 24 Mountain West Conference contests for a fielding percentage of .981. That mark led the league as does the team's overall .973 fielding percentage. The Aztecs' .974 overall fielding percentage as of May 10 ranked 19th in the nation last week. San Diego State has been error-free in 23 games and committed one error or less in 42 contests this season. The Aztec team record for fielding percentage is .970, a mark that was set during the 2002 season.
AZTEC NOTES
Over the last 10 games, the SDSU pitching staff is 8-2 with a 3.46 ERA along with 89 K's and 27 BB's in 91 innings ... In those same 10 contests, the Aztecs are hitting .312 with 19 doubles, two triples and 13 home runs ... As a team, SDSU has reached double figures in hits in its last six outings and in 11 of its last 13 contests ... The four double plays turned in during the first game of the twin bill at Santa Clara on May 2 was a season high for the SDSU ... Through 56 games, Aztec pitchers have struck out 504 over 502.2 innings and walked 147 for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than three-to-one ... The Aztec pitcher's strikeout total of 504 is the most since the 2001 campaign when the staff finished with 520 in 60 games ... The catching trio of Erik Castro, Matt Parker and Chris Wilson have committed only one error in 549 chances. The threesome was error-free through the first 54 games of the season before Wilson's throwing error on an attempted stolen base in the game vs. Utah on May 15.