April 23, 2014
SJSU RESUMES MOUNTAIN WEST PLAY AT SAN DIEGO STATE
San José State resumes Mountain West play this weekend with a three-game series at Tony Gwynn Stadium against the San Diego State Aztecs (29-12, 10-8). The Spartans head into the series having lost four straight after being swept by New Mexico at home last weekend and falling to #1-Cal Poly (Collegiate Baseball) Tuesday night. San Diego State's record, combined with that of SJSU's last two opponents, is 90-28-1 (.761). This tough stretch of games is small sample of the team's 2014 schedule which is ranked the third hardest in the Nation by Boyd's World (4/23).
GAMES #42-44
at SAN DIEGO STATE (29-12, 10-8 MW)
TONY GWYNN STADIUM (3,000)
SAN DIEGO, CALIF.
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 6:00 PM PDT
RHP Kalei Contrades (2-2, 2.86) vs. RHP Bubba Derby (5-2, 2.40)
LIVE STATS
SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 6:00 PM PDT
LHP Jonathan Hernandez (0-5, 4.59) vs. LHP Mike RoBards (4-3, 4.47)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 1:00 PM PDT
RHP Logan Handzlik (2-2, 5.29) vs. RHP Mark Seyler (6-3, 3.29)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
#1-CAL POLY HANDS SPARTANS 12-5 LOSS
Falling behind early in games killed San José State last week when it was swept by New Mexico at home. The trend continued Tuesday night when the Spartans fell into a 5-0 hole after three innings and went on to lose 12-5 to #1-Cal Poly at Baggett Stadium. The Mustangs, ranked first in the nation by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Top 30, had a 4-run seventh inning and was aided by three SJSU errors in the game. Cal Poly found a way to score three runs in the bottom of the first inning after there was two outs and nobody on.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK?
San José State was swept for the first time all year by the New Mexico Lobos in Mountain West (MW) play. SJSU fell behind early in all three games against the MW leading Lobos, who scored 23 of their 30 runs during the series within the first three innings. Prior to the weekend results, the Spartans defeated Santa Clara 10-7 on Tuesday night to conclude a five game road trip which the team went 3-2.
MOUNTAIN WEST OUTLOOK
There was lots of noise made last weekend in Mountain West play. San José State was the victim of a sweep at the hands of MW leader, New Mexico. It couldn't have come at a better time for the Lobos as the second-place UNLV Rebels were swept in Colorado Springs, Colo., by Air Force. The Lobos now have a 2.5 game lead over UNLV and Air Force is now 1.5 games back from catching the Spartans in sixth place. Nevada improved its record to 13-8 in the MW by taking two out of three from Fresno State.
SPARTANS' SOS TOP-THREE IN THE NATION
San José State opponents have a combined record of 289-201-2 (.587). According to the April 23 Iterative Strength Ratings by Boyd's World, SJSU has played the third-toughest schedule in the nation behind Stanford and California. The Spartans have played top-ranked teams throughout the year including #3/3-Cal Poly, #7/5-Washington, #NR/27-UC Santa Barbara and #20/NR-UNLV (Baseball America/Collegiate Baseball). See the chart below for the top-10 toughest schedules in the nation according to Boyd's World (4/23).
Rank | Team | 2014 Record |
1. | Stanford | 16-17 |
2. | California | 16-20 |
3. | San José State | 12-29 |
4. | Arizona State | 21-16 |
5. | Florida | 27-14 |
6. | Cal State Fullerton | 18-16 |
7. | Hawai'i | 15-22 |
8. | Long Beach State | 18-20 |
9. | Utah | 12-24 |
10. | Fresno State | 20-21 |
MERCURIO ON THE UP `N UP
Center fielder Andre Mercurio has a hit in 13 of the last 15 games during which his average has jumped from .195 to .284. He's had five multi-hit games during that stretch with two three-hit efforts. All of this comes after battling back from wrist and leg injuries which have kept him out of 16 games in 2014.
SPARTANS BATTING LEADERS
Brett Bautista leads the team with a .323 batting average in 133 at-bats. He also leads the team with a .383 slugging percentage. Matt Lopez is leading in the scoring categories with 19 runs and 22 RBI. Catcher Kyle Gallegos holds the team lead with 44 total hits.
VALDEZ CRACKS MULTIPLE TOP-10 CAREER MARKS
Jacob Valdez has vaulted into ninth place on San José State's all-time career hits list with 207. The Tracy, Calif., native is seven hits away from eighth and 10 hits away from seventh. The April 19 game against New Mexico was the 194th of Valdez's career, putting him in 10th all-time, and his 716 at-bats puts him in a tie for fifth all-time. The Tracy High School graduate is two runs shy of cracking the all-time top-10 in that category. See below for the top-10 list of SJSU all-time career hits leaders.
All-Time Career Hits Leaders |
1. 277 Jason Martin (2008-11) |
2. 246 Kevin Frandsen (2001-04) |
3. 245 Ryan Angel (2004-07) |
4. 243 Danny Stienstra (2008-11) |
5. 237 Junior Ruiz (1999-2001) |
6. 233 Kyle Bellows (2007-09) |
7. 217 Anthony Contreras (2002-05) |
8. 214 Nate Corrick (2002-05) |
9. 207 Jacob Valdez (2011-current) |
10. 201 Ryan Brucker (1998-2001) |
SPARTANS END ROAD TRIP AT 3-2
San José State's 10-7 victory over Santa Clara on April 15 completed a five-game road trip which the team went 3-2. It is the first road trip that the team returned from with a winning record. They did it with two one-run victories over San Francisco and UNLV. The win at UNLV took the Spartans 14 innings, but Matt Carroll's four RBI helped the club prevail in the end. The Spartans had a season-high eight extra-base hits in Tuesday's win. Johnny Melero picked up his second win of the year after exiting the ballgame with a 7-0 lead.
MARATHON GAME ENDS IN A SPARTANS VICTORY
San José State played its longest contest of the year, 14 innings, and pulled out a 4-3 victory to avoid being swept by #20-UNLV on Sunday. Matt Carroll knocked in three runs with a double in the first inning, and SJSU didn't score again until the top of the 14th when Carroll struck again with an RBI single. Carroll finished with a career-high four hits in the game which spanned three hours and 49 minutes.
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
San Diego State (29-12, 10-8 MW) enters in after winning four of the last five including two in a row. The last two Mountain West series for the Aztecs have been an up and down ride as they swept Air Force (4/4-6) and then got swept by Nevada (4/11-13). SDSU has a stout 20-3 record at home this season. Ty France leads not only the team but the entire conference with a .388 batting average. The team is hitting .285 while holding its opponents to a .259 average. Michael Cederoth has appeared 22 times out of the bullpen and recorded 16 saves while leading the team with a 2.38 ERA. Bubba Derby leads the starters with a 2.40 ERA which is good for fourth in the MW (min. 1.0 IP/Game).
LAST MEETING
San José State dropped two out of three games to San Diego State in a rare conference series that kicked off the 2014 season back on February 14-16. After SJSU won 6-4 on Opening Night, the Aztecs beat the Spartans 5-3 and 13-8 in the final two games of the series. San José State's win came against Michael Cederoth in his only start of the year before being moved to the bullpen.