April 7, 2014
SPARTANS HIT THE ROAD TO UNLV THIS WEEKEND
For the first time since 1999, SJSU heads to Las Vegas, Nev., for a three-game series against the Mountain West-leading UNLV Rebels. UNLV is ranked 20th in the nation by the latest Baseball America poll released on April 7. It is the highest ranked opponent for San José State since facing #10-Arizona in the second week of the 2013 season.
GAMES 34-36
AT #20-UNLV (25-10, 13-4)
SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 1:05 PDT
RHP Logan Handzlik (2-1, 4.43) vs. RHP Bryan Bonnell (4-2, 1.61)
LIVE VIDEO: MOUNTAIN WEST NETWORK
WEEKEND RECAP
San José State dropped two out of three games to Nevada over the weekend. The two teams split a doubleheader Saturday where both games were decided by one run. Then Sunday's contest went into the ninth inning tied 4-4 and the Wolf Pack came out on top 7-4. The Spartans have now gone 1-2 in all five of their MW series in 2014. Mike Simonini was 3-for-8 with four RBI, a run, two walks and two sacrifice bunts to lead SJSU on offense. Sheldon Daquioag, Brett Bautista and Kalei Contrades also hit over .300 in the series.
MOUNTAIN WEST OUTLOOK
#20-UNLV, who the Spartans face this weekend, sit atop the Mountain West standings with an 11-4 record. San Diego State trails the Rebels by one game. The Spartans fell to 5-10 in the conference after a 1-2 weekend against Nevada. The Wolf Pack leaped ahead of Fresno State who dropped two of three to UNLV at home last weekend. The New Mexico Lobos, who visit Municipal Stadium in two weeks, had a break in Mountain West action last weekend.
CONTRADES DOES IT ALL IN WIN OVER NEVADA
Kalei Contrades substituted into game one of the Nevada series in the top of the second inning. He had the game-winning RBI in the fifth inning with a double off the wall, and then went on to earn his second save of the year. He pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth to preserve SJSU's one-run lead.
Michael Wright EARNS FIRST-CAREER WIN
Michael Wright pitched two scoreless innings on Saturday and earned his first win of the season as San José State defeated Nevada 2-1. He allowed two hits with one strikeout and one walk.
SPARTANS SOS AMONG TOUGHEST IN THE NATION
San José State opponents have a combined record of 228-148-2 (.603). According to the April 7 Iterative Strength Ratings by Boyd's World, SJSU has played the seventh-toughest schedule in the nation. The Spartans handed #22-UC Santa Barbara one of its seven losses in 2014, and SJSU also faced #4-Cal Poly earlier in the year (rankings according to Baseball America). See the chart below for the top-10 toughest schedules in the nation according to Boyd's World (4/7).
Rank | Team | 2014 Record |
1. | Stanford | 10-14 |
2. | Arizona State | 17-12 |
3. | Long Beach State | 15-15 |
4. | California | 14-15 |
5. | Indiana | 17-10 |
6. | Hawaii | 14-16 |
7. | San José State | 9-23 |
8. | Florida | 20-12 |
9. | Purdue | 6-21 |
10. | UCLA | 18-12 |
SPARTAN BATTING LEADERS
When it comes to batting leaders for SJSU, Brett Bautista, Matt Lopez and Kyle Gallegos are found atop most of the categories. Bautista leads the team with a .305 average and a .389 on base percentage. Lopez is the leader in slugging (.400), runs (15), RBI (19) and doubles (8). Gallegos is the team's hits leader with 34 and he is second in doubles with 6 and RBI with 15.
VALDEZ ONE HIT AWAY FROM NINTH ALL-TIME
Three hits during the weekend against Nevada put Jacob Valdez at exactly 200 hits for his career, one shy of ninth all time currently held by Ryan Brucker (1998-2001). Jason Martin (2008-11) remains the all-time hit king at SJSU with 277.
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. 201 Ryan Brucker 1998-2001) |
10. 200 Jacob Valdez (2011-current) |
CONTRADES PITCHES FOR THE STRIKEOUT
Kalei Contrades' 24 strikeouts to three walks is the second-best ratio in the Mountain West. UNLV's Bryan Bonnell's 26:3 ratio leads the conference.
SCOUTING USF
The USF Dons (15-15) took two out of three games from Loyola Marymount during last weekend's West Coast Conference series. The Dons are 7-8 at Benedetti Diamond this season where Tuesday's game will be held. Bradley Zimmer, a Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American First Team selection, leads USF with a .419 batting average in 30 games. As a team, USF is batting .272 while opponents are hitting .284 against . Sheldon Lee (2-1, 5.87) will start for the Don's who carry a 4.75 staff ERA.
LAST MEETING
USF jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the Spartans in the last meeting back on March 18. San José State was unable to climb out of the hole and went on to lose the game 7-2. Derek Atkinson and Zack Turner had three-hit games for USF while Kyle Gallegos turned in a three-hit performance for SJSU.
SCOUTING UNLV
The UNLV Rebels (22-9, 11-4 MW) moved up five spots to number 20 in the nation according to the April 7 release of Baseball America. UNLV traveled to Fresno, Calif., and took two of three from the Bulldogs last weekend. Two games at Arkansas this week will end a nine-game road trip for the Rebels before returning home to host San José State. The Rebels' 2.15 staff ERA leads the Mountain West. Opponents are hitting just .222 against UNLV and the squad leads the conference with 242 K's. Kenny Oakley, Bryan Bonnell and Erick Fedde all carry a sub-two ERA to lead the staff. UNLV leads the Mountain West by one game over San Diego State.
LAST MEETING
UNLV took two out of three from SJSU in San Jose, Calif., back on March 14-16. After an 18-2 beating in the series opener, San José State held the Rebels to four runs in the next two contests and won on Sunday 3-2. The Spartans are 19-29 all-time against UNLV heading into this weekend's series.