Projected Starting Pitcher Matchups
Tuesday, April 16 - 6:00 p.m.
SDSU: RHP Harrison Pyatt (0-1, 3.00 ERA)
UCI: LHP John Vergara (0-0, 2.31 ERA)
Aztec Storylines
ORANGE COUNTY: San Diego State concludes a five-game stretch of non-conference games at UC Irvine on Tuesday night. Links to follow along with live stats are available on GoAztecs.com.
NATIONALLY RANKED FOES: Tuesday marks as SDSU's sixth game against a nationally ranked opponent. Over those previous five games, SDSU is 2-3. At the plate, Matt Rudick is 11-for-22 (.500) against nationally ranked opponents this season.
SERIES HISTORY WITH UCI: SDSU is 58-36-1 all-time against UC Irvine and 27-16-1 when playing against the Anteaters on the road.
LAST TIME OUT VS. UC IRVINE: The Aztecs defeated UC Irvine 9-3 in their fourth game of the season on February 19. Brian Leonhardt led the Aztecs with a 3-for-4 performance including four RBIs against the Anteaters, while Casey O'Sullivan earned the win on the mound for SDSU, pitching two innings of one-hit relief with four strikeouts. Justin Goossen-Brown made the start, pitching three hitless innings and faced the minimum over his nine batters faced.
SERIES WIN AT FULLERTON: The Aztecs won their first road series at Cal State Fullerton since 1965 this weekend, winning each of the first two games 6-1 and 13-7 before falling in the finale, 7-2. SDSU has won six of its last eight games against the Titans, marking the best eight-game stretch against CSF in program history.
SDSU's first two wins gave the Aztecs three consecutive wins when playing at Goodwin Field, marking the first time over 35 all-time meetings in Fullerton that the Aztecs had won three in a row.
Chad Bible, Brian Leonhardt, and Julian Escobedo led the Aztecs with five hits each for the series. Leonhardt drove in a team-high five runs over the weekend, while Escobedo hit his third and fourth home runs of the season in Fullerton.
Justin Goossen-Brown recorded his fourth consecutive quality start on Friday night, earning the win after six shutout innings with only three hits allowed. Over Goossen-Brown's last 21 innings pitched the senior has allowed just two earned runs.
SUCCESS AGAINST THE BIG WEST: The Aztecs are 27-9 (.750) against Big West teams since the start of the 2017 season. SDSU's loss on Sunday against Cal State Fullerton snapped a seven-game winning streak against Big West programs.
CALIFORNIA LOVE: Since 2014, the Aztecs lead all Division I California programs in win total. Also, over that span, SDSU is 102-50 (.671) when playing teams based in California.
Team Wins
San Diego State 206
Stanford 203
Cal State Fullerton 199
UC Santa Barbara 195
Sacramento State 193
OVER THE LAST 10: The Aztecs are 7-3 over their last 10 games, marking the second-best 10-game stretch of the 2019 season. Sunday's loss against Cal State Fullerton also snapped a season-best five game winning streak.
Over the last 10, the Aztec bullpen has been one of the biggest bright spots, owning a 2.81 ERA and .223 opponent batting average while striking out 54 batters in 48 innings pitched.
ON THE ROAD THIS SEASON: The Aztecs are 8-6 away from Tony Gwynn Stadium this season. Chad Bible leads the Aztecs with a .368 batting average on the road while owning team-highs with three home runs and 13 RBIs.
STRIKEOUTS GALORE: SDSU has recorded 20 games with 10 or more strikeouts, tied for the most since recording 23 double-digit strikeout games in 2009. In 2009, Stephen Strasburg recorded 10 or more strikeouts in 13 of his 15 starts during his Golden Spikes Award-winning season.
The Aztecs also recorded 20 double-digit strikeout performances during the 2015 season.
SCHEDULE UPDATES: This weekend's series against Air Force has been altered due to postponed games in Colorado Springs in early March.
The Aztecs and Falcons will resume the second game of the early March series in Colorado Springs on Thursday night. The Aztecs lead that game 2-0 in the top of the second and the third game of the series has been canceled.
SDSU and Air Force will play a doubleheader starting at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. The second game of the doubleheader will start at 6:00 p.m. or 30 minutes after first pitch if the first game ends later than 5:30 p.m.
In addition, on May 6, the Aztecs will play Brigham Young at Lake Elsinore Stadium, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm, single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
IMPACT FRESHMAN: Freshman Brian Leonhardt drove in a team-high six runs last week while recording a trio of multi-hit performances. Leonhardt currently rides a seven-game hitting streak, leads the team with 14 multi-hit games this season, and is fourth in the conference with 14 doubles.
With 19 games still remaining on the regular-season schedule, Leonhardt has recorded four games with four or more RBIs, which is tied for the most 4+ RBI performances since Nick Romero had five 4+ RBI showings in 2008. Jordan Verdon (2018), Tyler Adkison (2017), Seby Zavala (2015), and Brandon Meredith (2010) also had four 4+ RBI games.
ADRIAN MARDUENO IS REALLY GOOD: Including Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week, Perfect Game National Pitcher of the Week, and Mountain West Pitcher of the Week awards received on April 8-9, Marudeno has been the Mountain West's most dominant arm during the 2019 season, leading the conference in ERA (1.40) and opponent batting average (.138). Mardueno leads the conference in ERA by half a run (Air Force's Jake Gilbert is second at 1.90) and opposing batting average by .051 percentage points (UNLV's Ryan Hare is second at .189).
Mardueno posted a pair of scoreless performances against Cal State Fullerton, extending is streak of not allowing an earned run to 17 innings. Over that span, Mardueno has allowed just six hits and has struck out 19 batters.
Mardueno, who led the Aztecs in inherited runners stranded percentage as both a freshman and sophomore, leads the Aztecs once again as a junior, having stranded 72 percent of his inherited base runners. Over his streak of 17 innings without allowing an earned run, Mardueno has stranded nine of a possible 10 inherited runners.
Mardueno's ERA also stands as 19th best in the country, while his 3.96 hits allowed per nine innings is second-best in the nation, trailing only Omaha's Spencer Koelewyn (3.76 hits per nine).
ROAD TRIPPING: After playing each of their first eight, 16 of their first 18, and 21 of their first 27 at home, San Diego State is in the middle of a stretch where they will play nine of 10 on the road and only have six home games the entire month of April.
SEEING DOUBLE: SDSU leads the nation with 43 double plays turned this season. Since the start of the 2017 season, SDSU's 169 double plays turned are the most among any team in the nation.
FIVE, IT'S A MAGIC NUMBER: SDSU is 53-9 in their last 62 games when scoring five or more runs.
REBOUNDING QUICKLY: SDSU is 40-12 in their last 52 games following a loss.
UNDER PRESSURE: SDSU is 27-14 in their last 41 one-run games.
A BREAK FROM MW PLAY: The Aztecs end a stretch of five consecutive non-conference games on Tuesday and are 14-9 (.609) in non-conference play. Five of SDSU's non-conference games have been against nationally ranked opponents. Brian Leonhardt leads the team with a .351 average in non-conference play, including team-bests in doubles (10) and RBIs (24).
Baseball Ready For Midweek Contest at No. NR/21 UCI
