Feb. 8, 2017
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The San Diego State baseball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West this season behind preseason favorite New Mexico in a vote of the seven conference head coaches. In addition, senior left-handed pitcher Dominic Purpura has been named to the pre-season all-conference squad.
The Aztecs received a total of 21 points to finish behind favorite New Mexico (33 points), which received four first-place votes, and Fresno State (33 points) which tallied three first-place nods. SDSU was two points behind number-three pick Nevada (23 points) with Air Force and UNLV tying for fifth (15 points) and San Jose State placing seventh (6 points).
Purpura, who earned second-team all-conference honors in his first season with the Aztecs in 2016, led the SDSU pitching staff in wins with a 4-2 record and a 3.25 earned run average.
San Diego State returns 19 letterwinners including seven position starters and eight pitchers this season. Included among the position starters are infielder Justin Wylie, a second-team all-Mountain West honoree a year ago along with shortstop Danny Sheehan, a first-team all-league pick who redshirted in 2016. Also back is infielder Alan Trejo, who batted .305 last season to tie Wylie for team honors, and outfielder Tyler Adkison, who hit .302 and led the squad in doubles and RBI.
In addition to Purpura, the Aztecs return senior starting lefty Brett Seeburger, who was named a summer collegiate All-American, and Jacob Erickson, who tied for the team lead in wins in 2016 and finished with a 3.21 earned run average. Moving back to the mound is CJ Saylor, who performed as a catcher last season after leading the team in saves with 11 in 2015.
Among the 15 newcomers on the Aztec roster for 2017 are a draft pick of the Houston Astro (Avery Tuck, OF), a JC all-state honoree who led the state junior colleges in home runs (Chad Bible, OF) and a second-team all-state catcher (Ryan Orr). Also included are a JC pitcher who was on the NJCAA National Team at the NBC World Series (Jorge Fernandez, RHP) and an Area Code Games participant (Logan Boyer, RHP).
San Diego State will get its 2017 campaign underway with three games against Pacific next weekend. That series gets underway on Friday, Feb. 17, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
2017 MOUNTAIN WEST PRESEASON POLLRk. Team (1st-place votes) Points 1. New Mexico (4)...........34 2. Fresno State (3).........33 3. Nevada ..................23 4. San Diego State..........21 5. Air Force................15 UNLV …...................15 7. San Jose State............6