March 28, 2018
SDSU EXPECTED STARTING PITCHERS UNMLHP Jacob Erickson (1-1, 1.91 ERA) Tuesday, March 29, 6pm RHP Justin Slaten (1-5, 5.74 ERA)RHP Harrison Pyatt (1-1, 4.45 ERA) Friday, March 30, 6pm LHP Robert Gasser (1-1, 4.68 ERA)RHP Garrett Hill (5-0, 1.32 ERA) Saturday, March 31, 1pm RHP Cody Dye (2-3, 6.09 ERA)
NEWS AND NOTES
VS. THE LOBOS: San Diego State welcomes Mountain West foe New Mexico to Tony Gwynn Stadium this weekend. The Aztecs are 111-77 all-time against the Lobos. The 111 wins are good for the most wins by the Aztecs against any other program.
The two teams split four meetings in 2017, including SDSU's 9-8 win the 2017 Mountain West Tournament last season. SDSU and New Mexico have combined to win each of the last seven MW Tournament championships, with SDSU having won four of the last five.
ON THE AIR: KCR, SDSU's student-run radio station will produce Thursday evening's broadcast. The Mountain West Network will provide live coverage for Friday and Saturday's contests.
MARCH MADNESS: Despite only having four home games so far in the month of March, the Aztecs have enjoyed quite a bit of success over its March schedule, owning an 11-4 record heading into this weekend's series.
Over the month, SDSU has recorded a .315 batting average while owning a 3.60 ERA on the mound. Garrett Hill will go for his fifth win of the month on Saturday and has allowed just two earned runs over 25 innings pitched in March for a 0.72 ERA.
Offensively, the Aztecs have been led by Jordan Verdon, who is hitting .417 in March with three home runs and 23 RBIs.
Chad Bible NAMED MW PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the second consecutive week, SDSU brought home Mountain West Player of the Week honors with Chad Bible using a three-home run performance at UNLV to collect the honor. For the week, Bible went 9-for-19 (.474) with three home runs, a double, and seven RBIs.
Bible homered in three consecutive games at UNLV, becoming the first Aztec since May 2015 to do so. Bible posted new career-highs in hits (4) and RBIs (4) in SDSU's 17-8 win over UNLV on Saturday.
Bible leads all players in the conference with five home runs in MW play. He's also fifth in the league with a .457 conference batting average, second in the league with 12 conference RBIs, and second in the league with a .971 conference slugging percentage.
WIN AT LONG BEACH: The Aztecs recorded its third consecutive midweek victory on Tuesday, defeating Long Beach State, 5-2. Julian Escobedo led the offense with a 2-for-4 day with a double and 3 RBIs, while Justin Goossen-Brown posted 3.1 innings of one-hit, shutout baseball on the mound. Adrian Mardueno earned his third win of the season posting 1.1 innings of hitless relief, while Jorge Fernandez closed the door for his fifth save of the year after allowing just one base-runner to reach in the ninth.
The Aztecs are now 20-6 against Big West teams since the start of the 2017 season. After starting the season having lost three midweek games in a row, SDSU has even its midweek record to 3-3 over the last three weeks.
Jordan Verdon IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD: After earning Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week honors last week, SDSU junior infielder Jordan Verdon continued his red-hot stretch at the plate this past week. Over his last 11 games played, Verdon is hitting .435 with two home runs, 10 doubles, and 19 RBI. Verdon currently leads the nation with 15 doubles on the season and hit a home run in each of SDSU's wins over UNLV last weekend. Verdon is also 33rd in the nation (3rd in the MW) with 29 RBI, fourth in the MW with a .645 slugging percentage, and fifth in the conference with 34 total hits. To close a fine weekend at UNLV, Verdon posted a career-high 6 RBIs on a career-high five hits, making him the first Aztec since Steven Pallares (March 21, 2015) to record six or more RBIs in a game. Verdon has reached base in each of the last 21 games, good for the longest streak of the 2018 season for SDSU and six games shy of his career-best 26 game on-base streak last season.
Garrett Hill IS ALSO REALLY, REALLY GOOD: SDSU junior right-hander Garrett Hill has been one of the most consistent pitchers in the nation so far in 2018, taking a 5-0 record and 1.32 ERA into this week after logging his fifth win of the season on Saturday against UNLV. Hill had a scoreless inning streak of 21.1 innings snapped in the second inning of his start against the Rebels. Hill's five wins on the 2018 season are tied for the most in the nation and his 1.32 ERA is the best in the Mountain West and 23rd best in the country. Hill also stands fourth in the MW with 38 strikeouts on the year.
Julian Escobedo HEATING UP: Currently riding an eight-game hitting streak, Julian Escobedo has led the team in hitting over that span with a .531 (17-for-32) batting average including a home run, nine RBIs, and three doubles.
NATIONAL RANKINGS UPDATE: San Diego State saw itself in four of the major national ranking polls Monday morning, including being slotted at No. 23 in the nation by both D1 Baseball and Baseball America. After being at No. 25 for three consecutive weeks by Baseball America, SDSU's series win over UNLV pushed the Aztecs up two spots to No. 23. The Aztecs are also No. 24 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's national top 30 and No. 26 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
A LOT OF RUNS WERE SCORED LAST WEEKEND: After suffering a series-opening 4-3 defeat at UNLV, the Aztecs presented one of its best two-game stretches of offense in program history on Saturday and Sunday, scoring a combined 39 runs on 41 hits to defeat the Rebels, 17-8 and 22-7, respectively. It is the fourth consecutive series win against the Rebels, which entered the weekend at No. 24 in D1 Baseball's national top 25. In all four of SDSU's last series wins against UNLV, the Aztecs dropped the opener but won each of the last two games to claim the series.
On Sunday, the Aztecs set new season-highs in at-bats (51), runs scored (22), hits (23), RBIs (21), home runs (4) and total bases (39).
For the series, the Aztecs hit nine home runs, the most in a single series for SDSU since hitting 11 at UNLV from April 18-20, 2008.
The Aztecs have scored 111 runs in its last nine meetings with UNLV, good for a 12.3 runs per game average.
The 22 runs scored in Sunday's series finale is tied for the most runs the Aztecs have ever scored against the Rebels over 149 all-time meetings. The Aztecs also scored 22 in a 22-1 win over UNLV on March 29, 1997. The Aztecs now own a 88-61 all-time series lead over UNLV.
The 39 combined runs during the last two games of the series are the most over a two-game span since scoring 43 against Air Force from May 5-6, 2006. It is the first time since 2003, when SDSU defeated Air Force 19-2 and 18-4 on March 23, 2003 and March 22, 2003, respectively, that the Aztecs have scored 17 or more runs in back-to-back games.
With the series win, the Aztecs improve to 9-2 in its last 11 games in Las Vegas and 5-4 in its last nine games against nationally ranked opponents.
SDSU's season statistics greatly benefitted from the outburst in the final two games, as SDSU's season batting average increased from .282 to .300, season slugging percentage increased from .403 to .447, and season on-base percentage increased from .355 to .373 from the 39-run performance over its previous two games.
ONE OF VERY FEW: San Diego State is one of just seven teams in the nation to have a team batting average above .295 and a team ERA below 3.40, joined by only NC State, Oregon State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and College of Charleston.
SERIES SUCCESS: The Aztecs have had a winning record during each of its weekends so far this season. Not including a 2-1 showing at the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament in February, the Aztecs have won all five of its weekend series so far in 2018. SDSU has also won 11 of its last 13 Mountain West series and 16 of its last 18 weekend series overall.
HOMEGROWN: The San Diego State roster features 10 players from San Diego. Collectively, San Diego natives have posted 66 percent of SDSU's 2018 hit total (165 of 250)
UNDER PRESSURE: The Aztecs are 7-3 this season in one-run games. In the team's last 15 one-run games, the Aztecs own a 12-3 record.