March 10, 2014
SPARTANS HOST MW FOE UNLV FOR THREE-GAME SET
San José State gets back into Mountain West action this weekend against the conference's top team, the UNLV Rebels. It will be each team's third MW series of the season. UNLV enters the weekend after defeating West Virginia 4-3 on Tuesday for their seventh win in the last eight games. The Spartans dropped their Tuesday night game at UC Davis 9-5. Andre Mercurio is expected to make a full return to action this weekend versus UNLV.
Games #19-21
vs. UNLV (10-4, 5-1 MW)
Saturday, March 15, 1:00 p.m.
Municipal Stadium, San Jose, Calif.
TV: Mountain West Digital Network (Live)
Radio: KSJS 90.5 FM
vs. UNLV (10-4, 5-1 MW)
Sunday, March 16, 1:00 p.m.
Municipal Stadium, San Jose, Calif.
TV: Mountain West Digital Network (Live)
Radio: KSJS 90.5 FM
BAUTISTA RETURNS TO DH
San José State's leading hitter, Brett Bautista (.405), returned to action this past Saturday after missing a week with a leg injury. He went 3-for-6 with two runs and an RBI in two games. He came up with a clutch RBI-double in Saturday's contests versus UC Davis and then kept the game-winning rally alive with a base hit the next day versus the Aggies. He leads the squad with a .511 on-base percentage and a .486 slugging marks is tops on the club of players with a minimum of 20 at bats. Bautista enters the week on an eight-game hit streak.
HANDLIK HOPING TO BUILD ON LAST START
In his first start, Logan Handzlik had a season-high seven strikeouts over 7.0 innings. He threw 93 pitches and allowed just three hits to Saint Mary's hitters in a 10-0 win for the Spartans. For the season, the freshman is 1-0 with a 3.95 ERA in 13.2 innings over five appearances.
SPARTANS RALLY FOR 4-3 WIN
Down 3-0, San José State put together a game-winning 4-run rally to defeat UC Davis on March 9. After two leadoff walks, Brett Bautista loaded the bases with a base hit, and Mike Simonini turned a 1-2 count into a bases-loaded walk. Freshman Alec de Watteville came up with the big 2-run double to tie the game, and Tyler Olivet's sacrifice fly brought home the winning run. The win halted a three-game slide.
BULLPEN HAS SUB-3 WEEK
The Spartans bullpen committee of Jackson Berumen, Myles Richard, Kalei Contrades, Ross Slaney and James Glawe combined for a 2.73 ERA over 23.1 innings of work in five games last week.
GALLEGOS SOLID ON OFFENSE AND DEFENSE
Kyle Gallegos has started behind the plate in all 17 games of the season for SJSU. His 18 hits are tops on the SJSU club and second-most among the seven starting catchers in the Mountain West. Gallegos has gunned down 10 runners attempting to steal to lead the conference. That's double the amount of the second-best individual caught stealing total in the MW. Â
SPARTANS TOP MULTIPLE FIELDING CATEGORIES
San José State leads the Mountain West in nearly all of the team fielding categories including percentage (.976), chances (674), putouts (456) and assists (202).
OLIVET'S EYE HELPS OBP
Tyler Olivet walked seven times in five games last week and increased his Mountain West-leading walk total to 17. His .446 on-base percentage ranks fifth in the MW and is second on the Spartans to Brett Bautista's .551.
CARROLL NEAR THE TOP IN EARLY HOME RUN COUNT
Matt Carroll's two bombs this season is tied for second most in the conference in the early goings. SDSU's Ty France leads the Mountain West with three. Carroll has matched his home runs total for the 2013 season within the first 11 games of 2014.
LOOKING TO IMPROVE MIDDLE-INNINGS DROUGHT
San José State is being outscored by 26 runs during innings 4-5-6 through 17 games in 2014. The team is only being outscored by three runs in the other six innings combined. The Spartans have scored 65 runs on the year and allowed 94 to their opponents.
SCOUTING UC DAVIS
The Spartans split two games at home with UC Davis this past weekend as part of the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament. The Aggies took game one by a score of 5-2 and the Spartans defeated the Aggies Sunday, 4-3. The Aggies outhit the Spartans 27-8 in the two games. Adam Young continues to lead UC Davis with a .452 batting average in 12 games. The Aggies have five other hitters that are currently hitting above .300. UC Davis is hitting .280 as a team and the team ERA sits at 4.49.
SCOUTING UNLV
The UNLV Rebels (10-4) took two out of three games from New Mexico over the weekend to remain tied at the top of the Mountain West (MW) standings with a 5-1 record. The Rebels began their MW action with three wins over Air Force earlier in the year. A 12-inning 5-4 loss on Sunday to New Mexico ended a six-game winning streak for UNLV. Joey Armstrong has started in all 14 games and is leading the team with 23 hits and three triples. His .371 batting average is tied for fourth best in the MW. The Rebels have a MW-low 2.13 team ERA in 2014. John Richy currently leads the staff with a 3-0 record in four starts. Erick Fedde (2-1, 2.00) has struck out 30 on the year to lead the team. Fedde, along with Joey Armstrong and his brother older Patrick Armstrong were all named to the Preseason All-MW team.
RETURNING CONFERENCE HONOREES
Spartans' center fielder Andre Mercurio and first baseman Matt Carroll were second-team All-Western Athletic Conference selections in 2013. Mercurio was SJSU's hits leader with 74 and Carroll knocked in a team-high 40 runs.
NEW TERRITORY
In its first season of Mountain West play, San José State joins some familiar foes in Fresno State and Nevada whom the Spartans have played a combined 378 times. 109 games have been played between the Spartans and the other four MW programs: San Diego State, Air Force, New Mexico and UNLV combined. SJSU is 199-288 (.409) all-time against its MW competitors.
MW DIGITAL NETWORK COVERAGE
All home SJSU baseball games will be streamed live on the Mountain West Digital Network. Fans can access the live streams at www.sjsuspartans.com/videos. Due to conflicting home games with men's and women's basketball the following baseball contests will not be streamed live: February 15 vs. SDSU, February 26 vs. Pacific and March 4 vs. Saint Mary's.
JASON ARMSTRONG JOINS SJSU AS VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT
Jason Armstrong comes to the Spartans after serving as UC Davis' hitting coach from 2010-2013. He helped turn around the Aggies hitting statistics from worst in the Big West to the top-three marks in 2013. Armstrong teaches from experience as he was an NCAA All-American shortstop for Trinity (2004).