SAN DIEGO – With postseason fortunes hanging in the balance, San Diego State concludes its regular-season schedule this week when it plays host to New Mexico in a crucial three-game series, May 18-20, at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The first two games of the Aztecs-Lobos showdown will start at 6 p.m. PT on Thursday and Friday, while the series finale is slated to get underway on Saturday at 11 a.m.
In addition to live stats, all three contests will air live on the Mountain West Network, with links to both platforms available on GoAztecs.com.
Prior to Saturday's clash, SDSU will celebrate the accomplishments of Robert Brodell, Brian Leonhardt, Caden Miller, Julian Jackson, Ricky Tibbett and student manager Max Foxcroft in a special ceremony highlighting Senior Day festivities.
The Aztecs need just one win over UNM to clinch a berth in the Mountain West Championships, set for May 25-28 in Fresno, California. With the results of last weekend's games, Air Force, San José State and Fresno State have already secured their spots in the conference tournament.
SDSU is still in contention for the outright MW regular-season title. Any combination that nets the Aztecs two games over both the Falcons and Spartans will give the Scarlet and Black its first regular-season conference championship since 2004. Air Force visits UNLV this weekend, while SJSU plays host to Nevada.
The Aztecs (21-27, 15-11 MW) are coming off a 5-3 home loss to UC San Diego in 10 innings on Tuesday in their final non-conference game of the regular season.
Entering the weekend, San Diego State pitchers lead the Mountain West in ERA (4.78), opposing batting average (.251), strikeouts (440), fewest hits allowed (394) and fewest earned runs allowed (220).
On the national level, the Aztecs' conference-leading per-nine-inning averages of 8.56 hits allowed and 9.6 strikeouts rank 44th and 45th, respectively. In addition, SDSU's 4.78 team ERA is good for 55th in the country.
The Scarlet and Black has posted 10 or more strikeouts on 22 occasions this season and has compiled a 55-37 record over its last 92 games when fanning 10 or more batters dating back to 2019.
Entering the weekend, TJ Fondtain (6-3) leads the league in ERA (2.68), opponent batting average (.188) and innings pitched (80.2) while sharing the second spot in victories (6) and ranking second in strikeouts (84). Among national leaders, the Aztec junior is slotted 26th in ERA and tied for 57th in strikeouts.
Over his last eight starts on the hill, Fondtain has compiled a 5-2 record with a 1.33 ERA, yielding nine earned runs in 61 innings while posting a combined 64 strikeouts against only 12 walks. In that span, SDSU is 7-2 as a team, outscoring the opposition 41-21.
Last month, Fondtain garnered National Pitcher of the Week accolades from the NCBWA and D1Baseball.com after tossing the eighth no-hitter in program history in SDSU's 4-0 triumph over Nevada on April 21.
Meanwhile, fellow left-hander Chris Canada is slotted second in the MW with 10.50 strikeouts per nine innings while ranking fourth with 70 strikeouts overall and eighth with a .270 opposing batting average.
Elsewhere, reliever Kelena Sauer is perched atop the conference with a career-high 11 saves, which is tied for sixth in the country, while his 23 games finished also leads the league. Additionally, the SDSU junior is tied for second with Ricky Tibbett in appearances (25), two behind another teammate Eldridge Armstrong III (27), who owns the top spot.
As of May 17, SDSU leads the Mountain West with 1.38 stolen bases per game and 66 overall. Likewise, the Aztecs top the conference with fewest stolen bases against (25) and runners picked off (8).
Offensively, Cole Carrigg ranks 15th in the conference with a team-best .314 batting average. The SDSU junior also shares the top spot with five triples, which is tied for 22nd nationally, and ranks second in the league with 14 stolen bases.
In addition, Shaun Montoya tops the MW with 16 stolen bases, while Weems is slotted fourth in that statistic with 10 to his credit. Cade Martinez also ranks third in the league with eight sacrifice hits, which is tied for 34th in the country.
Poncho Ruiz, who has notched a team-high 36 RBIs, also leads the Aztecs with multiple hits in 16 games and has driven in two or more runs in 10 outings. Not to be outdone, Weems has reached base safely in 12 straight games.
Meanwhile, New Mexico (26-22, 13-14 MW) is currently slotted fifth in the Mountain West standings, needing a sweep of the Aztecs to secure a spot in the conference tournament.
The Lobos split four home games vs. Nevada last weekend before suffering a weather-shortened 8-0 defeat in seven innings at New Mexico State in a non-conference game on Tuesday.
UNM has posted a 17-10 record at home this season, a 6-11 mark on the road and a 3-1 ledger at a neutral site.
The Lobos' pitching staff features the right-handed trio of Riley Egloff (7-3, 6.46 ERA, 61 SO), Tristin Lively (6-3, 4.41 ERA, 58 SO) and Isaac Gallegos (4-2, 3.98 ERA, 57 SO), all of whom rank among the league's top 10 in victories.
Gallegos ranks third in the MW with a .241 opponent batting average while occupying the fourth position in ERA, just ahead of Lively, who is slotted fifth, while Egloff is tied for seventh in strikeouts.
Out of the bullpen, Brian McBroom is tied for fifth in the league in appearances (24) while sharing the sixth spot in saves (3).
Despite allowing the fewest walks (145) in the Mountain West as a staff and an average of 3.17 walks per nine innings, which good for sixth in the country, UNM is slotted third in the Mountain West in team ERA (5.94) while ranking fifth in opposing batting average (.303) and seventh in strikeouts (321).
Offensively, the Lobos lead the nation with a .337 batting average and rank third with 601 hits as of May 17. In addition, UNM finds itself atop the league in several categories, including slugging percentage (.573), on-base percentage (.413), runs scored (429), home runs (85) and RBIs (213).
Individually, Kansas transfer Dylan Ditzenberger leads the Mountain West with a .437 batting average, which is good for sixth nationally. The Lobo infielder is also slotted second in the conference in on-base percentage (.490) and ninth in slugging percentage (.563).
The Lobos have three additional players listed among the conference top 10 in batting average, including outfielder Lenny Junior Ashby (3rd, .382), outfielder Braydon Runion (4th, .369) and catcher Jake Holland (5th, .350).
Ashby is tied for second in the league with 76 hits, just ahead of Runion (75), who is slotted fourth. Runion also occupies the third position with 54 RBIs, while Ashby ranks fifth with 49 runs driven in.
Not to be outdone, first baseman Reed Spenrath leads the MW in slugging percentage (.732) and shares the top spot in home runs (18) and RBIs (62) while ranking second in runs scored (52), fifth in on-base percentage (.433) and 10th in batting average (.330).
After posting a three-game sweep in Albuquerque, March 31-April 2, San Diego State raised its record to 129-84 vs. New Mexico in the all-time series. The Lobos are one of five programs the Aztecs have recorded over 100 victories against. The other four are Air Force (121), Fresno State (109), Utah (104) and UNLV (101).
SDSU boasts a 73-38 record against the Lobos in San Diego, a 46-42 mark on the road and a 10-4 ledger on a neutral field.
During Mark Martinez's nine-year tenure as head coach on The Mesa, the Aztecs own a 26-16 record vs. New Mexico, including a 9-9 mark at home, a 14-7 ledger on the road and a 3-0 record at a neutral park.
Last month, SDSU completed its second consecutive series sweep of the Lobos in Albuquerque since 1990. After winning the opener by a 5-3 score, the Aztecs plated two runs in the top of the ninth of game two to edge UNM by a 3-1 count. In the finale, the Scarlet and Black overcame a 7-5 deficit with 10 runs in the seventh inning and added four more markers in the eighth for a convincing 19-7.
Over the final two games of that series, Fondtain hit .556 (5-9) with a homer, five RBIs and three runs scored after pitching the opener, during which he allowed just one run on four hits without a walk while posting seven strikeouts en route to his third victory of the season.
In addition, Ruiz started all three games against the Lobos and batted .538 (7-13) with a double, three RBIs, four runs scored and one stolen base over the weekend. The SDSU catcher finished with multiple hits in all three contests, compiling a .571 on-base percentage, which topped the squad for all players with three starts.
Aztecs Set for Key MW Series vs. New Mexico
