SAN DIEGO – San Diego State baseball head coach Mark Martinez has signed a three-year contract extension through the 2026 season, as announced by Aztec director of athletics John David Wicker.
"Mark has been a tremendous asset to our baseball program, and I look forward to him continuing the success our teams have found on the field and in the classroom," Wicker said. "Mark does a great job developing the overall student-athlete, and the young men in our program have certainly benefited, as has our entire Aztec community."
Entering his eighth season as head coach at SDSU, Martinez has compiled a 215-150 record (.589), highlighted by three Mountain West tournament championships and a trio of NCAA regional appearances in 2015, 2017, 2018.
"I am very excited for the opportunity to maintain the tradition of excellence that has been established here at San Diego State," Martinez said. "I am extremely grateful for the support of our administration, alumni and Aztec community. Our program takes tremendous pride in competing for championships and developing young men into outstanding students, athletes and leaders."
Prior to his elevation to head coach, Martinez spent nine years (2006-14) as an assistant under the late Tony Gwynn, building and transforming the program into what it is today. Combining with Gwynn, Martinez helped SDSU end an 18-year drought from the NCAA postseason play with a regional appearance in 2009.
Since Martinez's arrival on The Mesa, the Aztecs have had 49 student-athletes chosen in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, with 10 of those selections making the big leagues (Stephen Strasburg, Addison Reed, Justin Masterson, Bruce Billings, Quintin Berry, Lance Zawadzki, Greg Allen, Ty France, Seby Zavala and Alan Trejo).
Under Martinez's guidance over the past seven seasons, the Aztecs have garnered 36 all-Mountain West accolades, including consecutive MW Pitchers of the Year in Brett Seeburger (2017) and Garrett Hill (2018), as well as 2017 MW Player of the Year Danny Sheehan.
In addition, Martinez has mentored three freshman All-Americans in Chase Calabuig (2015), Casey Schmitt (2018) and Jaden Fein (2019), with the latter also collecting Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year honors that season.
Along with on-field success, the SDSU has excelled in the classroom during Martinez's tenure, with the program boasting 63 Mountain West all-academic honorees since 2015.
With Martinez at the controls, SDSU posted the highest victory total in the Mountain West for all games in 2021, finishing with a 30-16 record. The Aztecs claimed series victories in 12 of 15 weeks and were the only MW team to play all 36 games on their original league schedule, successfully navigating rigid COVID-19 protocols.
Last spring, SDSU ranked second in the nation during the regular season with a .335 team batting average and occupied the third slot with an average of 9.1 runs scored per game. In addition, the Aztecs ranked seventh with a collective .413 on-base percentage and 13th with 420 runs scored overall.
Individually, SDSU had five players selected in the 2021 MLB First-Year Draft, including Mike Jarvis, Wyatt Hendrie, Jaden Fein, Matt Rudick and Michael Paredes.
San Diego State opens its 2022 campaign when it battles TCU in the MLB4 Tournament on Friday, Feb. 18 in Scottsdale, Arizona.