April 30, 2018
NEWS AND NOTES
VS. THE HIGHLANDERS: A week after SDSU defeated UC Riverside 19-1 on the road, the Highlanders make the return trip to San Diego on Tuesday for a 6:00 p.m. contest. It was SDSU's largest margin of victory since defeating Wagner, 18-0, in 2010 and its largest road margin of victory since defeating Air Force, 36-11, in 2006. It was SDSU's sixth win in its last seven games at UCR.
The Aztecs enter Tuesday with a 17-7 non-conference record and are 25-8 against Big West opponents since the start of the 2017 season.
SDSU is 39-26-2 all-time against UCR and have won 11 of the last 17 games.
ON THE AIR: KCR, SDSU's student-run radio station, will broadcast Tuesday night's contest. Links to listen and live stats are available on GoAztecs.com.
WE HAVE BEEN REALLY GOOD LATELY: SDSU is in the midst of a season-best five-game winning streak and have won eight of its last nine games. SDSU is looking to tie its longest winning streak of last season at six games, and looking to earn its ninth win in a 10-game span for the first time since starting the 2015 season 12-1.Over SDSU's five-game winning streak, the team has posted a .345 batting average, a 1.80 earned run average, and .995 fielding percentage. The Aztecs have outscored its opponents 38-9 over the winning streak.
Chad Bible leads SDSU offensively over that stretch, hitting .588 (10-for-17) with five runs scored, four doubles, a home run, and seven RBIs.
On the mound, SDSU's bullpen has been close to perfect over the winning streak, having allowed just one run to score over its last 20.1 innings pitched, good for a 0.44 ERA.
HE'S BACK: SDSU sophomore right-handed pitcher Logan Boyer will make his first appearance since suffering an injury on Feb. 23 that sidelined SDSU's opening starter for 67 days. Boyer impressed in his first pair of starts in 2018, striking out 13 batters over 6.2 innings against UC Santa Barbara and Arizona.
Boyer was ranked the No. 4 prospect in the Alaska Baseball League by Baseball America last summer after striking out 50 batters in 33.2 innings pitched. Boyer was also named a preseason all-MW selection before the start of the 2018 season.
A RECAP OF UNLV: SDSU recorded its third weekend sweep of the season last weekend, defeating UNLV, 1-0, 7-6, and 4-2. SDSU has now completed six weekend sweeps since the last time the team has been swept.
The Aztecs posted its second shutout in a three-game span in the series opener after Harrison Pyatt (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, career-high 9 K) and Casey Schmitt (2.1 IP, 0 H, 3 K) silenced UNLV's lineup, which entered last weekend with a .318 batting average, the fourth highest in the nation.
Pyatt continued a red-hot stretch, owning a 0.78 ERA in his last four starts with 12 hits allowed and 26 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched.
After Friday night's contest, SDSU had allowed just one run over its previous three games, marking the first time SDSU has accomplished that feat since April 22-23, 2005 vs. Air Force.
In game 2, SDSU erased an early 5-0 UNLV lead with a five-run fifth inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Chad Bible. The win solidified SDSU's fifth consecutive series win over the Rebels.
David Hensley earned his first career save, pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth inning with only one hit allowed.
Jorge Fernandez extended his scoreless inning streak to 15.1 in his third start of the season on Sunday before UNLV broke through with its first run in the sixth. Offensively, SDSU used a three-run fourth with RBI doubles by Chad Bible and Julian Escobedo to solidify the series sweep.
UNSCHMITTABLE: Casey Schmitt logged his sixth and seventh saves of the year last weekend, giving the freshman the team lead in saves while being second in the MW. All seven of Schmitt's saves have come during the month of April.
Schmitt currently owns a 0.39 ERA, the lowest by an Aztec (minimum 10 IP) since joining the Mountain West in 2000. Schmitt hasn't allowed an earned run to score since March 17 vs. Cal Poly, giving the Eastlake HS product a streak of 17 consecutive innings and 11 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. Schmitt has not allowed more than two hits in any appearance this season and has allowed one or zero hits in 12 of his 15 appearances this season.
GOOD PITCHING: SDSU enters Tuesday with a 3.62 earned run average, good for the best single-season ERA since 1996 when the team posted a 3.31 ERA. Including this year, SDSU has owned the Mountain West's best ERA in three of the last four seasons. SDSU's 3.62 ERA is the best in the MW since UNLV posted a 3.19 team ERA in 2014.
FINISHING STRONG: SDSU enters this weekend having won 77 consecutive games when leading after eight innings, good for one of the top five longest active streaks in the country.
HOME COOKING: Chase Calabuig extended his on-base streak in home games to 46 last weekend, extending the longest home on-base streak in Tony Gwynn Stadium history. At home, Calabuig is hitting a team-best .368 with three home runs, 22 RBIs, and 13 doubles over 27 home games.
AMONG THE NATIONAL/CONFERENCE LEADERS: In addition to being the Mountain West leader in earned run average (3.62), WHIP (1.37) and hits allowed per nine innings (8.48), SDSU ranks among the top of the nation in numerous statistical categories.
- SDSU's 43 double plays turned are 11th most in the nation.- SDSU's 462 total hits are 11th most in the nation.- SDSU's .302 team batting average is 15th best in the nation.- Jordan Verdon is sixth in the country with 19 doubles. - Adrian Mardueno is 21st in the country with 24 pitching appearances.- Chase Calabuig leads the Mountain West with three triples. - Garrett Hill and Adrian Mardueno are tied for second in the conference with six wins each.- Jacob Erickson is second in the MW in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.38) and walks allowed per nine innings (1.51).- Matt Rudick's 29 walks are second most in the Mountain West.
GOOD IN ALL ASPECTS: SDSU is one of six teams in the nation to have a batting average above .300 and an ERA below 3.70, joined by only No.4 Ole Miss, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 11 Southern Mississippi, No. 20 Minnesota, and St. John's (all rankings provided by D1Baseball.com).
HOMEGROWN: The San Diego State roster features 10 players from San Diego. Collectively, San Diego natives have posted 66.2 percent of SDSU's 2018 hit total (306 of 462)
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 222 career games played, and Jacob Erickson, who leads all DI pitchers with 113 career pitching appearances. The Aztecs are the only team in the nation to have a player in the top five of both categories. Erickson recently set SDSU's program record in pitching appearances and is the Mountain West all-time leader, while Calabuig is 14 games shy from tying the program's career games played record (currently owned by Tim Zier (2011-14) with 236, SDSU has 11 regular season games remaining).
Games Played1 JJ Schwarz , Florida 2532 Ryan Chandler , Rice 2293 Gage Morey , FGCU 224T4 Chase Calabuig , San Diego St. 222T4 Gabe Snyder , Wright St. 222
Pitching Appearances1 Jacob Erickson , San Diego St. 1132 Cooper Hammond , Miami (FL) 1043 Seth Pinkerton, Hartford 103T4 Charlie Fletcher, William & Mary 100T4 Dylan Moore, Louisiana 99
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.