April 4, 2017
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State will wrap up a stretch of five games in five days when it faces UCLA this evening at 6:00 p.m. in Lake Elsinore, Calif. The contest will be played at The Diamond, the home facility of the Lake Elsinore Strom, the Class-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
UCLA enters tonight's contest with a record of 13-12 and has won seven of its last eight outings including a sweep of California, a victory over No. 10 Cal State Fullerton and winning two of three at Arizona State.
The Bruins are expected to send left-hander Justin Hooper (0-0, 4.79) to the mound to start this evening's game.
SDSU will counter with junior right-hander Ray Lambert (0-1, 5.40), who will be making his third start of the year.
The Aztecs come into the day with a record of 20-9 having reached the 20-win plateau one game into the second half of the regular season. They are 9-2 in their last 11 games.
Pitching has played a big part in SDSU's recent success on the field. Over the past 10 games, the SDSU pitching staff has posted an 8-2 record with a 2.65 earned run average. Opponents have hit .258 over those 10 contests.
Offensively, third baseman Andrew Brown continues to be one of the Aztecs' most consistent hitters. Over the last 15 games he is hitting .382 (26-for-68) with three doubles, 12 RBI and 13 runs scored. He is on a seven-game hitting streak, matching one he had earlier in the season. During this streak he is 11-for-30 (.369) with six RBI and four runs scored.
Second baseman Alan Trejo had his 18-game hitting streak end in Sunday's (April 2) game vs. San Jose State. During that streak he hit .311 (28-for-90) with six doubles, three home runs, 11 RBI and 19 runs scored. Trejo leads the team in runs scored, doubles and stolen bases. Trejo has also made seven appearances on the mound this season and is 0-1 with one save and a 2.00 ERA. He recorded his first career save on Sunday when the tossed the final two innings in the win over San Jose State.
Junior left-hander Jacob Erickson has been impressive out of the bullpen this season. In his last 15 appearances covering 22 innings, he has allowed one run on 17 hits with eight strikeouts. In the process, he has lowered his earned run average to 1.35.
Senior right-hander CJ Saylor has recorded seven saves along with a win this season as the Aztecs' closer. His latest save came on Monday (April 3) when he tossed a perfect ninth inning in SDSU's 4-2 win vs. San Francisco.
Following tonight's contest, the Aztecs will return home to resume Mountain West play this weekend when they host Nevada for a three-game league series. That set gets underway on Friday, April 7, with a game scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.