Projected Starting Pitcher Matchups
Thursday, May 23 - 2:00 p.m. - Mountain West Network - XTRA 1360
SDSU: RHP Justin Goossen-Brown (6-4, 3.45 ERA)
UNLV: RHP Ryan Hare (7-4, 3.79 ERA)
Goossen-Brown Notes: In his final career appearance at Tony Gwynn Stadium against New Mexico last Thursday, threw SDSU's first nine-inning complete game shutout since Dominic Purpura did so vs. San Jose State on May 19, 2016... Also marked as the first shutout with four or fewer hits allowed by a single pitcher since current SDSU graduate assistant Cody Thompson threw a four-hit shutout against San Diego on May 5, 2015... Has thrown each of SDSU's last two complete games... One of two pitchers in the conference to have six wins, 70+ strikeouts, and a sub 3.50 ERA (Fresno State's Ryan Jensen)... Leads the conference with 88.2 innings pitched... Holding opponents to a .186 average (18-for-97) with two outs... Aztecs are 9-4 in his starts this season.
Aztec Storylines
CHAMPIONSHIP TIME: No. 2 seed San Diego State begins its quest for its seventh Mountain West Championship and 29th conference championship overall on Thursday, facing No. 3-seeded UNLV at 2:00 p.m. at Peccole Park in Reno, Nevada.
All Mountain West Championship games will air on the Mountain West Network. In addition, XTRA 1360 will broadcast all Aztec games in Reno, and links to watch, listen, and follow along with live stats are available on GoAztecs.com.
NO. 2 SEED? NO PROBLEM: For the sixth time since joining the Mountain West, the Aztecs finished the regular season second in the conference. As the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, the Aztecs are 18-4 overall and 11-2 in their last 13.
The No. 2 seed has won each of the last four Mountain West Championships, including the Aztecs in 2015, 2017, and 2018, and New Mexico in 2016.
BACK WHERE WE ARE COMFORTABLE: The Aztecs have won five of the last six Mountain West Championships and are the only program in the country to have won five conference tournament titles in the last six years.
San Diego State's six postseason Mountain West Championships are the most in league history, while the Aztecs are the only team in the Mountain West to have appeared in all 20 MW Championships.
Team MW Postseason Titles
San Diego State - 6 (2000-13-14-15-17-18)
TCU - 4 (2006-07-08-10)
New Mexico - 3 (2011-12-16)
UNLV - 3 (2003-04-05)
Brigham Young - 2 (2001-02)
Utah - 1 (2009)
NO ONE BETTER: The Aztecs are 23-6 in the Mountain West Championships since 2013. In addition, SDSU's 50 wins in the Mountain West Championships are the most in league history.
As head coach, Mark Martinez is 18-5 in the Mountain West Championships and last season, Martinez became the fastest coach in MW baseball history to win three postseason championships.
SERIES HISTORY WITH THE REBELS: The Aztecs had an eight-game winning streak against the Rebels snapped on April 27 in a 5-4 loss. Over the last two seasons, SDSU has won eight of its 11 games against UNLV.
The Aztecs are 10-10 all-time against UNLV in the Mountain West Championships, including last year's 4-3 extra-inning semifinal win and a 14-5 win in the title game at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
In SDSU's series-opening 11-4 win over the Rebels on April 26, the Aztecs hit five home runs -- their most since hitting five at Nevada on May 22, 2015. SDSU's five-homer performance is one of just three games in the Mountain West this season with five or more home runs.
Casey Schmitt recorded a career-high 11 total bases in that win, the most in a single game by a Mountain West player this season and tied for the most by an Aztec in a single game since Chris Wilson posted a Mountain West-era SDSU record of 13 on April 21, 2011.
30-WIN MARK: SDSU secured its sixth 30+ win season in the last seven years in a 10-5 win over Brigham Young on May 6. The Aztecs are the only team in the Mountain West to have won 30 or more games six times in the last seven years.
SDSU's run of six 30+ wins over the last seven years marks the first time since 1992-98 that the Aztecs have recorded six 30+ win seasons over a seven-year span.
MIKE JARVIS HEATING UP: Mike Jarvis has recorded four multi-hit games over his last five and currently rides a six-game hitting streak where the junior transfer is 11-for-22 (.500).
With a .226 batting average after April 12, Jarvis has raised his batting average by .063 (currently .289) over the last five weeks, hitting a team-best .389 over the team's last 20 games. Jarvis is also third on the team over the team's last 20 games with 14 RBIs, trailing only Casey Schmitt and Angelo Armenta who are tied for the team-lead at 17.
TALE OF TWO SEASONS: Over the last 30 games, San Diego State relievers have combined for a 2.58 ERA, .240 opponent batting average, and have struck out 147 batters in 139.1 innings.
Over the first 25 games of the season, the SDSU bullpen owned a 5.17 ERA and .265 opponent batting average.
SCHMITT CLIMBING SDSU'S ALL-TIME SAVES LEADER CHART: With eight saves this season, Casey Schmitt is in a tie for fifth in program history with Mark Williamson with 17 career saves. In his second season as the Aztecs' closer, Schmitt owns a career 2.40 ERA over 40 career appearances.
Royce Ring (2000-02) 26
Addison Reed (2008-10) 24
CJ Saylor (2014-17) 24
Michael Cederoth (2011-14) 20
Casey Schmitt (2018-present) 17
Mark Williamson (1981-82) 17
THE INJURY BUG: Arguably no other weekend starting rotation in the nation has suffered more tough luck than the Aztecs, as the team started the season with Logan Boyer, Harrison Pyatt, and Brad Wegman as their three weekend starters have needed to use 12 different starters in the 2019 season due to injuries suffered by all three. SDSU's 12 different starting pitchers used are tied for their most used since using 13 in 2010. The team also used 12 starting pitchers in 2011 and 2012.
Boyer, Pyatt, and Wegman have combined to miss 29 weekend starts due to their respective injuries this season. The 29 missed starts mark as the most missed starts by an opening weekend rotation across the country.
CALIFORNIA LOVE: Since 2014, the Aztecs lead all Division I California programs in win total. Also, over that span, SDSU is 107-53 (.669) when playing teams based in California.
Team Wins
San Diego State 217
Stanford 216
UC Santa Barbara 212
Cal State Fullerton 209
Sacramento State 203
SEEING DOUBLE: SDSU leads the nation with 67 double plays turned this season. Since the start of the 2017 season, SDSU's 193 double plays turned are the most among any team in the nation.
FROM THE TOP: Sophomore outfielder Matt Rudick has been SDSU's leadoff hitter for all 55 games this season and leads the team with a .322 batting average.
On Saturday, Rudick had a 12-game hitting streak and a 16-game on-base streak snapped. Rudick also had a 24-game on-base streak in home games snapped and a 39-game on-base streak in Mountain West games snapped.
Rudick's 24-game on-base streak in home games is SDSU's longest since Chase Calabuig finished his college career in 2018 with a Tony Gwynn Stadium record 54-game on-base streak in home games. The Scripps Ranch HS product's 39-game Mountain West on-base streak is the second longest by an Aztec in league history, trailing only Quintin Berry's 48-game streak (2005-06).
Rudick recorded a 21-game hitting streak from March 1 - April 3, hitting .376 over that span with a team-high seven extra-base hits and 17 RBIs. The streak stands as the 10th longest hitting streak in the country this season and the third-longest by an Aztec in the Mountain West era and tied for the longest by an Aztec since 2010.
Longest Aztec hitting streaks since 2000
Quintin Berry (2005) - 27
Mitch Blackburn (2010) - 23
Matt Rudick (2019) - 21
Cory Vaughn (2010) - 21
Tim Zier (2012) - 21
Steven Pallares (2015) - 21
Rudick has recorded a hit in 48 of 55 games this season and has reached base in 51 of 55 games in 2019. Interestingly enough, the Aztecs are just 1-6 in games where Rudick does not record a hit.
Finally, Rudick is the only hitter with more walks than strikeouts (28 BB, 20 K) and has struck out just once per 11.7 at-bats -- good for the lowest rate in the Mountain West and 33rd lowest in the country. Rudick's one strikeout per 11.7 plate appearances is the lowest since Mitch Blackburn struck out once per 12.3 at-bats in 2010.
STRANGE BUT TRUE: The Aztecs are going through an uncharacteristic season in terms of fielding, owning a .964 fielding percentage in 2019 -- the program's lowest since a .959 mark in 2012. However, the Aztecs have found ways to win games despite defensive miscues, as the Aztecs are 8-1 this season when recording three or more errors.
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 (1.46) and opponent batting average (.176).
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 78.2 percent (25 of 32) of his inherited base runners this season. Since April 2, Mardueno has stranded 16 of his last 17 inherited runners and each of his last 11.
Mardueno's ERA also stands as seventh best in the country, while his 5.46 hits allowed per nine innings is 16th best in the country. Mardueno is one of just five pitchers in the country to be in the top 12 of both ERA and hits allowed per nine innings, joined by Georgia's Emerson Hancock, UCLA's Ryan Garcia, Navy's Noah Song, and Missouri's TJ Sikkema. Of those five, Mardueno is the only one who has not allowed a home run this season.
Mardueno, who logged a 4-0 record and 0.82 ERA over 22 innings pitched in the month of April, was named a San Diego Sports Assocation Star of the Month for his efforts.
STRIKEOUTS GALORE: SDSU has recorded 26 games with 10 or more strikeouts this season, marking the most double-digit strikeout performances for the Aztecs in the Mountain West era (since 2000). SDSU passed the previous MW-era record of 23 set in 2009 in a 10-6 win on May 11 at Fresno State.
The Aztecs are 16-10 in their 26 games when striking out 10 or more batters.
SDSU has recorded 484 strikeouts, averaging 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings this season. With 484 strikeouts this season, the Aztecs are within striking distance of their first 500+ strikeout season since 2015 (510 strikeouts in 64 games). The Aztecs have had five previous seasons with 500 or more strikeouts in its 83-year history, including a program record of 581 in 1997.
SOME KEYS TO SUCCESS: The Aztecs are 17-4 this season and have won 10 in a row when hitting a home run. In addition, the scoring the game's first run has proven to be important for the Aztecs in 2019, as the team is 19-6 when scoring first in comparison to a 13-17 mark when their opponent scores first.
FIVE, IT'S A MAGIC NUMBER: SDSU is 62-10 in their last 72 games when scoring five or more runs.
REBOUNDING QUICKLY: SDSU is 45-14 in their last 59 games following a loss.
UNDER PRESSURE: SDSU is 29-15 in their last 44 one-run games.
EYEING 2,500: With a 35-win season in 2019, the Aztecs would become the 27th team in Division I baseball to reach the 2,500-win threshold and become just the fourth California program to do so, joining USC, Fresno State, and Stanford.
IN THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION: The Aztecs are one of 18 teams in the country to have reached a regional five times in the last six seasons, one of 13 teams in the country to have won 39 or more games five times in the last six years, and one of nine teams to have hit .300 or better in each of the last two seasons. SDSU is one of just three west coast programs to have played in five regionals since 2013, joined by only Oregon State and Cal State Fullerton.
Teams that have reached five regionals in the last six years: Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, Dallas Baptist, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Louisville, LSU, Mississippi State, NC State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Rice, San Diego State, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Baseball Begins MW Championships vs. UNLV Thursday
