April 22, 2015
San Jose, Calif. - Coming off a sweep of Utah State last weekend and tied in the loss column at the top of the Mountain West standings with Fresno State, the San José State Spartans go out on the road, where they have a 4-2 record, to take on the UNLV Rebels this weekend in Las Vegas, Nev.
San José State (31-15, 11-4 MW)
at
UNLV (22-24, 8-7 MW)
April 24-26 (6:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., 12:00 p.m.)
Eller Media Stadium (770) -- Las Vegas, Nev.
QUICK HITS
SCHULTZ NAMED MW PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nicole Schultz (Sr., OF, Las Vegas, Nev.) is the reigning Mountain West Player of the Week (Apr. 13-19). In a three-game sweep of Utah State last weekend, Schultz hit .833 (5-for-6), had an on-base percentage of .875 (7-for-8) and slugged 1.167. She had at least one hit in each game, scored three runs, had three RBIs, two doubles, one walk and one hit-by-pitch.
It is Schultz's first Mountain West POW honor. She joins Sharon-Renae Estrada (Feb. 5-8) and Jessie Hufstetler (Feb. 12-15) as Spartans who have earned the distinction this year.
LANG TIES SAVES RECORD & LEADS THE NATION
Getting the final four outs to close out the Spartans 5-4 win over Utah State (4/19), Allison Lang (Sr., RHP, Fountain Valley, Calif.) notched her seventh save of the year and in doing so tied Amanda Pridmore for the San José State single-season saves record.
Lang's seven saves lead the MW and tie her with South Florida's Karla Claudio for the most in the nation this year.
TURNER REACHES 250 WINS AT SAN JOSÉ STATE
With the Spartans 5-2 win over Utah State (4/17) to open a three-game series, head coach Peter Turner earned his 250th win at the helm of the San José State softball program. Turner has the most wins in program history (252).
SPARTANS CLIMBING RPI LIST
With last weekends three-game sweep of Utah State, the Spartans RPI has reached a season-high ranking of 50th. SJSU is one of three Mountain West teams in the top-50; Fresno State is #39 and San Diego State is #44.
IF ITS A TIE...IT GOES TO THE SPARTANS
By virtue of taking two-of-three from at Fresno State and at San Diego State, the Spartans hold the tiebreaker over each of its closest rivals in the Mountain West this season.
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS EQUALS WINS
With its 15 hit barrage at San Diego State (4/10), San José State has rapped out double digit hits in 23 of its 46 games this season. When SJSU reaches double digit hits it's record is 23-0.
COX SETS CAREER RUNS RECORD
When Michelle Cox (Sr., OF, Sydney, Australia) scored her first of three runs against Utah Valley (3/13), she broke Valeri Quintero's 18-year old record for the runs scored in a Spartans career (130). Entering this weekend Cox has scored 150 career runs.
HUFSTETLER SETS SINGLE-SEASON RBI RECORD
Jessie Hufstetler (Jr., INF, Atascadero, Calif.), with 59 RBIs, owns the SJSU single-season record, ranks first in the MW & eighth in the nation. At her current pace (1.31 RBI/gm - 13th in the nation) she would end the regular season with 73 RBIs, 20 more than the Spartans previous record of 53.
CONTROLLING THE SHILLELAGH
San José State leads the MW in several offensive categories...the Spartans are tops the league in batting average (.346), hits (433), RBIs (260), slugging (.479), walks (196), on-base % (.445) and runs (290). As a team SJSU has struck out just 149 times in 1,250 at-bats.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
San José State is the top ranked team in the Mountain West, and ranks 12th in the nation, with a .346 batting average. In addition, its .445 on-base percentage, 6.30 runs per game, and .479 slugging percentage nationally rank 10th, 34th and 60th, respectively and are all tops in the MW.
MADRID EQUALS SINGLE GAME RECORD FOR DOUBLES
With three doubles against San Diego State (4/10), Jessica Madrid (Jr., OF, Santa Ana, Calif.), etched her name in the San José State record book for the most doubles in a single game. She equaled the mark set by Cheryl Freitas (4/7/12) and equaled by Jessica Garcia (4/21/12).
GET TO THE YARD ON TIME...THIS MAY NOT TAKE LONG
In the Spartans 31 victories this season, the team has defeated its opponent in less than the regulation seven innings, 12 times, which leads the Mountain West.
San José State is 8-2 at home and has won six of those eight games by run-rule. In addition, the Spartans became the first MW team to earn a run-rule win at SDSU, in the Aztecs 16 years in the conference. The 10-1 dismantling on April 11, was just the third time in SDSU's MW history, home or away, that they had suffered a loss in less than regulation play.
TEAM RECORDS IN JEOPARDY
With the offensive juggernaut that the Spartans have emerged as in 2015, you had to know that some records would be in jeopardy of falling...well some has turned into nine.
If the Spartans continue to do what they are doing at the plate, the single season records in the following categories will fall:
| Record | Currently | |
| .302 | Batting Average | .346 |
| 304 | Runs | 290 |
| 475 | Hits | 433 |
| 275 | RBIs | 260 |
| .417 | Slugging Percentage | .479 |
| .389 | On-Base Percentage | .445 |
| 206 | Walks | 196 |
| 685 | Total Bases | 599 |
The Spartans have already set a program record for being hit by 40 pitches this year.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
UNLV enters the weekend 22-24 overall, 8-7 in conference play. They are tied with New Mexico for fourth place in the league and have the fourth highest RPI in the MW (#94 nationally).
Their .293 team batting average and 5.20 staff ERA rank sixth among the nine teams in the league. Garie Blando leads the team (9th in the MW) with a .400 batting average and is second in the league, leads the team, with a .780 slugging percentage.
In the circle, Kwyn Cooper (9-4, 4.00 ERA) and Morgan Ettinger (8-8, 4.26 ERA) have started 30 of the team's 46 games and have combined for 55 appearances.
The Rebels are led by third year head coach Lisa Dodd, who brought a 47-59 record into the 2015 season.
Last weekend the Rebels took two of three from in-state rival Nevada-Reno.