Aztecs Prepare for Key MW Home Series vs Nevada This Weekend

SAN DIEGO -- Winners of eight in a row, San Diego State returns to Mountain West action this weekend when it battles conference co-leader Nevada in a pivotal three-game series, May 1-3, at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

Friday’s opener is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. PT, while Saturday’s clash is slated for a 5 p.m. start, followed by Sunday’s finale at 1 p.m.

Along with live stats, which will be available for the entire weekend, Friday's and Sunday's games will air live on the Mountain West Network, with links to both platforms available on GoAztecs.com. Fans can also catch the action on their TVs or smartphones by downloading the MW app.

The first 200 fans in attendance for Saturday's contest will receive a free SDSU camouflage drawstring bag, while the 2026 Aztec Baseball trading card set will be distributed to the first 100 patrons on Sunday.

SETTING THE SCENE
> Entering the final month of the regular-season, San Diego State (27-18, 10-5 MW) is slotted third in the MW standings, just a half-game behind front-runners Nevada (23-18, 12-6 MW) and Air Force (21-21, 12-6 MW). The Aztecs have nine conference games remaining, while the Wolf Pack and Falcons have six apiece. SDSU swept Air Force in three games, April 2-4, at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
> SDSU is coming off a 5-3 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, extending its winning streak to eight games, while Nevada dropped a 13-7 decision at home to Sacramento State.
> The Aztecs' victory streak is their longest since reeling off 12 consecutive wins from Feb. 5-March 4, 1997.
> Junior Bryce McKnight was named MW Pitcher of the Week on Monday after posting a 2-0 record with a 1.13 ERA and 10 strikeouts in SDSU's victories at CSUN (April 21) and Fresno State (April 25).
> As of April 30, the Aztec pitching staff leads the MW in ERA (5.06) and opposing batting average (.257) while ranking second in strikeouts (411) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.20).

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday, May 1, SDSU: Rohan Lettow, RHP (4-1) vs. NEV: Aidan Brainard, RHP (5-2)

Saturday, May 2, SDSU: Drew Talavs, RHP (3-3) vs. NEV: Ryan Oakes, RHP (2-0)

Sunday, May 3, SDSU: Alec Belardes, RHP (3-3) vs. NEV: Alessandro Castro, LHP (3-2)

SERIES RECORD VS. NEVADA
> San Diego State trails the Wolf Pack 30-47in the all-time series dating back to 1986.
> The Aztecs are 15-19 vs. Nevada in San Diego, 11-24 in Reno and 4-4 at a neutral site.
> SDSU dropped two of three games to the Wolf Pack in Reno during the 2025 regular season before sustaining a 15-4 run-rule defeat in the first round of bracket play at the Mountain West Championship.
> In six career games against Nevada, Zane Kelly is batting .455 (10-22) with two home runs, three doubles, nine RBIs and five runs scored.

ANATOMY OF A STREAK
> San Diego State defeated Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday for its eighth consecutive victory.
> The Aztecs' eight-game winning streak is their longest since reeling off 12 straight victories from Feb. 5-March 4, 1997.
> During its current streak, SDSU has recorded a .311 team batting average with 14 home runs, nine doubles, 52 runs scored and 11 stolen bases.
> In addition, Aztec pitching staff has a compiled a sparkling 2.34 team ERA and 71 strikeouts while limiting the opposition to a .219 batting average.
> Carson Johnson has pitched in three games in that stretch, posting a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings, while Bryce McKnight (2-0, 1.64) has struck out 12 hitters in 11 innings as well.
> SDSU has finished strong during its streak, outscoring the opposition 21-6 past the sixth inning.
> Individually, Dawson Santana has hit .457 in that stretch (16-35) with two doubles, eight runs scored and three stolen bases, while Jabin Trosky has batted .353 (12-34) with five runs scored.
> The Aztecs have displayed their power throughout the streak, with Zane Kelly (5), Jake Jackson (4) and Tyce Peterson (3) having smacked multiple home runs.
> Not to be outdone, SDSU enters its weekend series against Nevada having won nine straight home games.

NOTHING LIKE HOME COOKIN'
> Despite facing an array of challenging opponents on an annual basis, San Diego State is 335-256 (.567) when playing at home since the start of the 2007 campaign.
> The Aztecs are 16-5 on The Mesa this season, their most home victories since posting a 19-6 ledger in 2021.
> In 2018, SDSU set a program record with 25 home victories at Tony Gwynn Stadium (since 1997), besting the previous standard of 24 set in 1997, 2002 and 2014.

SDSU IN MW RANKINGS
> As of April 30, the Aztecs lead the Mountain West in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.45), walks allowed per nine innings (3.78) and WHIP (1.40) and which rank 34th, 42nd and 47th in the nation, respectively.
> In addition, SDSU tops the conference with a 5.06 team ERA and a .257 opponent batting average while occupying the second spot with 411 strikeouts and 9.20 strikeouts per nine innings, the latter of which ranks 63rd in the country.
> The Aztecs also lead the MW with 13 saves, with Aidan Russell and Issac Araiza sharing the fourth spot with three apiece in that category, while Connor Abadie and Bryce McKnight are tied for ninth with two each.
> McKnight is slotted third in the conference in ERA (3.97) and ranks fifth in opponent batting average (.266) while sharing the fifth position in victories with Russell (5).
> Starter Rohan Lettow is tied for the conference lead in strikeouts (69) while occupying the second spot in ERA (3.83) and the third position in opponent batting average (.256). The SDSU hurler also shares the fourth spot in innings pitched (56.1) and is tied for 10th in victories (4).
> Likewise, Drew Talavs finds himself among the conference leaders in strikeouts (6th, 51) and opponent batting average (6th, .277).
> Not to be outdone, Alec Belardes is slotted seventh this week in strikeouts (50).
> At the plate, Peterson is listed all over the conference leaderboard in several categories, including doubles (T-1st, 18), home runs (3rd, 12), slugging percentage (4th, .635), hits (T-6th, 59) and OPS (7th, 1.037).
> Peterson's 18 doubles are tied for 13th nationally.
> Additionally, Jabin Trosky finds himself among the league leaders in hits (T-6th, 59). The Aztec shortstop has been the second-toughest player in the conference to strike out so far this season, fanning once every 12.3 at-bats, which ranks 31st in the country.
> Dawson Santana is slotted third in the MW in walks (31), while Max Farrell shares the third spot in triples (3) and is tied for sixth in 12 stolen bases (12) with Adam Magpoc.
> Elsewhere, Jake Jackson is tied for fifth in home runs (10), followed by Zane Kelly, who shares the ninth spot in that statistic (8).
> Collectively, the Aztecs rank second in the league in stolen bases (56), third in home runs (47) and are slotted fifth in hits (444), batting average (.284) and slugging percentage (.439), while occupying the seventh position in on-base percentage (.370) .
> Not to be outdone, SDSU has vaulted to the top of the Mountain West with a .978 team fielding percentage.

AZTEC NOTEBOOK
> Tyce Peterson leads the Aztecs with multiple hits in 20 games and tops the squad with two or more RBIs on 12 occasions.
> In addition, Jabin Trosky ranks second on the squad with multiple hits in 18 outings, while Dawson Santana owns the team's longest current hitting streak at eight games.
> Santana hit .533 (8-15) at Fresno State with three runs scored, helping the SDSU to its first three-game sweep of the Bulldogs in Fresno in program history. The junior second baseman collected a career-high four hits in the series opener and scored two runs, as the Scarlet and Black prevailed 4-3 in 11 innings.
> The Aztecs are 24-1 this season when leading after eight innings and are 23-3 when outhitting the opposition.
> SDSU also sports a 9-3 record this year in one-run games

MAKING PROGRESS
> The Aztecs enter their series vs. Nevada with a 27-18 record, marking a 12-game improvement in their win-loss record from the same point last season after compiling a 15-30 mark through the first 45 games of the 2025 campaign.
> SDSU pitchers have averaged a conference-best 3.79 walks per nine innings thus far, compared to a 5.69 pace for the entire 2025 season.
> The Aztecs have also shown improvement in several other categories compared to last year, including strikeouts per nine innings (9.2 to 8.5), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.45 to 1.50) and hits allowed per nine innings (8.81 to 11.11).
> In addition, SDSU has posted a .978 fielding percentage so far this season, compared to a .955 clip in 2025.

GOING, GOING, GONE
> San Diego State smacked eight home runs during its weekend sweep at Fresno State, including a season-high four round-trippers in game two.
> As a result, the Aztecs have climbed to third in the Mountain West with 47 home runs so far this season, easily surpassing their meager total of 22 from a year ago.
> With 10 games remaining in the regular season, SDSU is on pace to hit 58 home runs this year, which would mark the second-highest total since 2001 after the 2017 team (62).
> The Aztecs have smacked three home runs in four other contests this year vs. LIU (Feb. 14), at No. 1 UCLA (Feb. 24), at New Mexico (April 12) and vs. UC San Diego (April 14) after collecting three home runs in a game just once during the 2025 campaign vs. Fresno State (April 12, 2025).
> SDSU homered in nine straight games from March 22 to April 4 but had its streak snapped in a 1-0 shutout of UC Riverside on April 7.
> The Aztecs’ streak of nine straight games with at least one home run is their longest since at least the 2002 campaign. In 2009, SDSU fashioned a stretch with at least one long ball in seven consecutive games from April 5-17 that season.
> Tyce Peterson (12 HR) and Jake Jackson (10 HR) lead the team in home runs thus far, giving the Aztecs two double-digit home run hitters in the same season since Erik Castro (12) and Cory Vaughn (10) accomplished the feat in 2009.
> San Diego State has emerged victorious in 109 of its last 171 games dating back to 2019 when hitting a home run, including a 21-6 record this season.

OTHER TRENDS
> The Aztecs are 198-78 over the last eight seasons when scoring five or more runs, including a 20-5 mark this year. The Scarlet and Black posted a stellar 38-6 record when scoring five or more run during the 2017 campaign.
> SDSU is 16-10 in games after a win and 10-8 in games following a loss.

UP NEXT
> Following this weekend's series, San Diego State will make the short trip across town for a rematch at UC San Diego, starting at 6 p.m. PT.