March 22, 2018
NEWS AND NOTES
VS. THE REBELS: The Aztecs, ranked No. 25 in the nation by Baseball America, make the trip to Las Vegas to take on UNLV, which currently stands at No. 24 in D1 Baseball's national top 25.
The Aztecs own a 7-1 record in its last eight games at UNLV and won both series in 2017, winning four of six. The Aztecs scored 68 runs against the Rebels last season, giving the Aztecs an average of 10.8 runs per game.
UNLV (5-1 MW) currently sits a half game ahead of third-place SDSU (4-1 MW) in the Mountain West standings. Nevada, which has a 5-1 record in conference play to own a share of the first-place spot in the MW, is at Fresno State for a three-game series this weekend.
ON THE AIR: UNLV will produce a video stream and live stats links will be available at GoAztecs.com.
VERDON NAMED COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK/MOUNTAIN WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After going 7-for-18 with six doubles and nine RBI in SDSU's 3-1 week last week, junior first baseman Jordan Verdon was named Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on Monday morning and Mountain West Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Verdon, one of nine honorees recognized by Collegiate Baseball, went 5-for-10 with runners on base last week and 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position. His 11 doubles on the year are the most in the MW and the fifth most in the country, while his 20 RBI this year are the sixth most in the MW.
COMEBACK WINNERS: Thanks to a Dean Nevarez walk-off single on Tuesday night, the Aztecs defeated CSU Bakersfield in the first-ever meeting between the two teams, 5-4, at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Julian Escobedo hit his first career home run in the eighth inning to cut CSUB's lead to 4-3 and Adrian Mardueno earned the win, retiring CSUB's hitters in the top of the ninth in order with a trio of strikeouts.
A RECAP OF CAL POLY: SDSU won its fourth consecutive weekend series to start the 2018 season in San Luis Obispo, Calif. this weekend, taking the series opener and series finale against Cal Poly.
In the opener, the Aztecs used a strong start from Jacob Erickson (5 IP, 1 ER) and a career-high four RBIs from Jordan Verdon to take a 9-7 series-opening win over Cal Poly. Verdon recorded a 2-RBI double in the seventh inning to secure SDSU's win and Jorge Fernandez logged 2.1 innings with only one unearned run and one hit allowed.
The Aztecs fell victim to a walk-off wild pitch in the middle game as Cal Poly scored three runs in the eighth and the game-winning run in the ninth to steal a 5-4 victory.
The Aztecs secured a series win behind Garrett Hill, who posted 6.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts and five hits allowed. Jordan Verdon recorded a 2-RBI single in the third as SDSU scored all three of its runs in the 3-2 win in the third inning.
WEEKEND SERIES SUCCESS: Following a weekend series win at Cal Poly, the Aztecs have won four consecutive weekend series and have won 17 of its last 19 weekend series dating back to the last weeks of the 2016 season.
THROUGH 20 GAMES: The Aztecs are 14-6 through its first 20 games of the 2018 season, good for the team's best start since going 15-5 in 2015.
- The Aztecs 188 strikeouts are the most through the team's first 20 games since joining the Mountain West in 2000.
- The Aztecs 3.06 team ERA is tied for the team's best through 19 games since 2002.
- Jordan Verdon's 11 doubles are tied for the most among an Aztec in the MW era, joined by only Ty France who also had 11 doubles through the first 20 games of the 2014 season.
- Garrett Hill's 0.95 ERA is the best among pitchers with at least 20 IP through SDSU's first 20 games of a season since joining the Mountain West in 2000.
25 IN THE NATION: The Aztecs came in at No. 25 in Baseball America's national top 25 rankings on Monday for the third consecutive week. Two weeks ago marked the first time since April 23, 2009, that SDSU has been featured in Baseball America's top 25. The Aztecs are the third-highest California team in the rankings, only trailing No. 3 Stanford and No. 16 UCLA and are the fifth highest program in a non-power 5 conference.
STRASBURG-ESQUE?: Garrett Hill earned his fourth win and lowered his season ERA to 0.95 after pitching 6.2 shutout innings at Cal Poly on Sunday. The Santa Rosa JC product currently rides a 19.2 scoreless innings streak and owns the Mountain West's best ERA (also 21st best in the nation) at 0.95, and is third in the Mountain West with 35 strikeouts.
Hill's start to the 2018 season can draw a comparison to Stephen Strasburg's first five starts of his Golden Spikes Award-winning season in 2009, the same year he was taken No. 1 overall in the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Washington Nationals.
HILL STAT STRASBURG
4-0 RECORD 4-0
0.95 ERA 1.57
28.1 INNINGS PITCHED 34.1
.196 OPP. AVG. .172
3 XBH ALLOWED 5
20 HITS ALLOWED 21
HILL WINS MW PITCHER OF THE WEEK (MARCH 13): Junior right-hander Garrett Hill earned Mountain West Pitcher of the Week honors on March 13 after shutting down Air Force last weekend in 6.2 innings, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing his first and only hit of the game. Hill finished his outing against the Falcons with eight strikeouts and no runs allowed.
HOMEGROWN: The San Diego State roster features 10 players from San Diego. Collectively, San Diego natives have posted 65.4 percent of SDSU's 2018 hit total (125 of 191).
UNDER PRESSURE: The Aztecs are 7-2 this season in one-run games. In the team's last 14 one-run games, the Aztecs own a 12-2 record.
THROUGH THE START OF MW ACTION: The Aztecs are 4-1 in the Mountain West after earning a series win over Air Force. The series win gave the Aztecs its 12th weekend series win over a Mountain West opponent in its last 14 tries.
Through the first five games of conference play, the Aztecs are outhitting their opponents .288 to .200 while owning a 2.20 ERA and tagging opponents for a 4.19 ERA.
Chad Bible leads the team offensively in MW play, owning a .400 batting average, eight total hits, two home runs, and a .800 slugging percentage. Garrett Hill has yet to allow a run over 12.2 innings pitched in conference play, paving the way for Hill's 2-0 record and 15 strikeouts against only three walks and six hits.
IMPACT FRESHMAN: Freshman outfielder Matt Rudick has been one of the focal points for the SDSU lineup in the early goings of the 2018 season, hitting a team-best .415 (third best in the Mountain West) while also leading the Mountain West (also 34th best in the nation) with a .519 on base percentage (also 22nd best in the nation). Rudick took over the leadoff spot on Feb. 25 against Grand Canyon, and since that point, the Scripps Ranch HS product has gone 22-for-48 (.458) with five RBIs. The freshman had reached base in each of his 14-game on-base streak to start his collegiate career and has reached base in 17 of his 18 starts this season. He also leads the Mountain West with 15 walks this season.
EXPERIENCE ON THE DIAMOND: Despite having a team of 15 freshmen -- the program's largest freshman class since 2011 -- the Aztecs have two of the most experienced players in the nation this year in Chase Calabuig, who is fourth among all DI players with 199 career games played, and Jacob Erickson, who leads all DI pitchers with 102 career pitching appearances. The Aztecs are the only team in the nation to have a player in the top five of both categories. Erickson is four appearances shy of setting the school's all-time pitching appearance record, while Calabuig is 37 games shy of setting the program's career games played record.
Games Played
1 JJ Schwarz , Florida 230
2 Ryan Chandler , Rice 208
3 Gage Morey , FGCU 205
T4 Chase Calabuig , San Diego St. 199
T4 Gabe Snyder , Wright St. 199
Pitching Appearances
1 Jacob Erickson , San Diego St. 102
2 Cooper Hammond , Miami (FL) 98
3 Dylan Moore , Louisiana 92
4 Seth Pinkerton , Hartford 90
5 Jared Morton, UC Riverside 88
PLAYING CLOSE: San Diego State has either led or was tied after eight innings in each of its first eight games (16-of-20 total) to start the season. The Aztecs are particularly strong in the later stages of the game, owning one of the longest active winning streaks in the country when leading after eight innings at 61 games.
FOUR OF FIVE: SDSU enters 2018 as the only team in DI baseball to have won four conference tournament championships in the last five years. The Aztecs look to make it five of six in 2018, and as an added bonus, SDSU will host the 2018 Mountain West Tournament from May 24 - 27.