May 31, 2013
Complete Release, Player Notes and Statistics
AZTECS WIN CONFERENCE TOUNEY, ADVANCE TO NCAA REGIONALS
San Diego State came back through the losers' bracket to win four straight games and claim the title at the 2013 Mountain West Tournament held in Fresno, Calif., May 22-26. With that championship came the league's automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Regionals. The Aztecs were slotted into the Los Angeles Regional hosed by UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium. It marks San Diego State's first Regional appearance since 2009 and the 10th in the history of the baseball program.
2013 NCAA REGIONAL
San Diego State will open its Regional schedule with a contest against the host school, 10th-ranked UCLA, on Friday, May 31 at 6:00 .p.m. (PT) The Bruins are the top seed at the Regional while the Aztecs are seeded fourth. The other two teams in the double elimination tourney are No. 2 seed Cal Poly and third-seeded University of San Diego. Those two schools will square off at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. The Aztecs' second game in the tourney is dependent upon its result and the results of Friday's opening contest between Cal Poly and USD.
RECORD VS. REGIONAL OPPONENTS
San Diego State's all-time record against UCLA stands at 30-47-2. The teams last met during the 2011 campaign when UCLA won both games in the home-and-home series. SDSU's last win at Jackie Robinson Stadium came in 2009 when it defeated the Bruins 10-6.
The Aztecs have a record of 61-32 over the years against Cal Poly. The teams last squared off in a four-game series in 2012 in San Luis Obispo with the Mustangs winning three of those contests. The Aztecs had defeated Cal Poly in San Diego in a game earlier that season.
SDSU is 68-52-3 against the University of San Diego. USD had won five of the seven meetings going back to 2010 before the Aztecs swept the Toreros in a three-game series at USD's new Fowler Ballpark to open the 2013 campaign.
NCAA REGIONAL ON TV
All games during the 2013 NCAA Regionals will be televised on ESPN3. A link for live stats (GameTracker) will also be available at www.GoAztecs.com.
PITCHING ROTATION
San Diego State will change up its pitching rotation for the Regional tournament. The Aztecs will start senior Ryan Doran in their tourney opener against UCLA. His last start came vs. the Fresno State on May 24 at the Mountain West Tournament where he tossed a complete-game shutout. He also threw three innings of relief against new Mexico two days later (May 26) in the tourney title game. SDSU is expected to start sophomore Michael Cederoth in its second game of the tourney although that will depend on the opponent.
DEFENSE AND PITCHING
The Aztecs are on course to record their best season fielding percentage in the history of the program dating back to 1936. The team's current fielding mark of .978 surpasses the school record of .974 turned in by the 2009 squad. In addition, SDSU will also likely set a team mark for errors in a season since the Aztecs began playing a minimum of 40 games in a season (1965). They have 50 miscues with the next lowest season total being 65 in 2009. San Diego State leads the Mountain West (both overall and in conference play) in both pitching and defense.
JOHNNY BENCH AWARD
Senior catcher Jake Romanski has been named one of 16 semifinalists for the 2013 Johnny Bench Award. The award is presented to the top collegiate catcher in the nation. Romanski is hitting .299 with 31 RBI and has thrown out just under half of the runners attempting to steal against him. Finalists for the award will be named early next week.
AZTEC WIN CONFERENCE TOURNEY
SDSU came back through the losers' bracket to capture the 2013 Mountain West Tournament last week in Fresno. The Aztecs defeated Air Force, 16-5, in their opening round contest before a 6-3 loss to UNLV dropped them into the losers' bracket after day two of the tourney. On day three SDSU got a complete-game pitching performance from Ryan Doran to defat tourney host Fresno State, 4-0. The next day saw SDSU need to win back-to-back game, which they did with a 6-2 triumph in a rematch with UNLV followed by an 8-7 win over No. 13 New Mexico. Sunday's championship contest saw UNM take the early lead before the Aztec offense broke out to eventually claim a 9-4 win and the tourney title.
MW TOURNEY TIDBITS
Over its six games at the conference tournament, San Diego State hit .364 as a team after coming into the event with a .264 team batting average. The four-game win streak to close out the tournament matches SDSU's longest of the season which it has accomplished on two previous occasions. The Aztec pitching staff turned in a 4.08 earned run average during the tourney. SDSU committed only four errors during the six contests in Fresno for a .982 fielding percentage for the week.
FRANCE NAMED TOURNEY MVP
Freshman third baseman Ty France punctuated the final part of his first season as an Aztec by being named the MVP of the Mountain West Tournament. His performance also earned him recognition as a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Over the six games he hit .726 (16-for-21) with four doubles, two home runs, nine runs scored and eight RBI. His 16 hits broke the previous tournament record of 13. For the week he had a 1.238 slugging percentage and a .778 on-base percentage.
ALL-MW TOURNAMENT AZTECS
Six Aztecs were named to the 11-man all-tournament team at the conclusion of last week's Mountain West Tournament in Fresno, Calif. That group included third baseman Ty France (tourney MVP), center fielder Greg Allen and second baseman Tim Zier. Also selected were a trio of pitchers including senior Ryan Doran, junior Philip Walby and sophomore Mike Robards.