Feb. 15, 2017
SAN DIEGO - With rain forecast for the local area this weekend, the San Diego State baseball team has altered the start times of its Friday and Saturday contests against Pacific at Tony Gwynn Stadium in an effort to play those games during breaks in the weather.
Friday's (Feb. 17) season opener, originally scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. start, has been moved up to 2:00 p.m. On Saturday (Feb.18), the game time been pushed back from its original time of 1:00 p.m. and will now get underway at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday's contest currently remains with a 1:00 p.m. start time.
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 preseason all-MW selection Dominic 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).
Following this weekend's series with UOP, the Aztecs will be on the road for games at UC Irvine (Feb. 21) and Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 22) before returning to host the annual Tony Gwynn Classic that begins next Friday, Feb. 24, with a contest vs. Tennessee at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.