April 2, 2017
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State will look for its first conference series sweep of the season when it hosts San Jose State in the finale of their three-game set this afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
After capturing Friday's opener by the score of 5-4 and yesterday's contest, 7-3, the Aztecs have improved to 18-9 on the year and 8-3 in the Mountain West. They now sit in second place in the league standings, two games behind New Mexico, which dropped a 2-1 decision in 11 innings to Fresno State in Albuquerque last night.
For San Jose State, Saturday's loss was the seventh in its eight games. The setback dropped SJSU's record to 10-16 overall and 5-6 in conference action.
In an effort to salvage the series finale, the Spartans will send junior right-hander Joseph Balfour (0-0, 5.25) to the mound to start today's contest.
San Diego State, meanwhile, will look to senior right-hander Cody Thompson (1-0, 4.94) to wrap up the series.
In last night's 7-3 win, SDSU lefty Dominic Purpura turned in the first complete game of the year by an Aztec pitcher as he allowed three runs (one earned) over nine innings while scattering nine hits. In the process he improved his record to 5-0.
With a single in the sixth inning last night, second baseman Alan Trejo extended his current hitting streak to 18 games while teammate Danny Sheehan's streak reached 12 games. The senior shortstop accounted for three RBI in the 7-3 victory with a two-run single and a sacrifice fly.
Today's game is the third of five contests in five days for the Aztecs, who will host San Francisco on Monday (April 3) at 2:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. They will then make the short trip north to Lake Elsinore on Tuesday (April 4) to face UCLA at 6:00 p.m. on the home field of the Lake Elsinore Storm, the Class A minor league affiliate of the San Diego State Padres.