Feb. 19, 2018
The San José State baseball team (2-2) faces off against the Santa Clara Broncos (1-2) Tuesday night at 5:00 p.m. inside Municipal Stadium.
San José State (2-2) vs Santa Clara (1-2)
Tues • Feb. 20, 2018 • 5:00 p.m. • Municipal Stadium
LIVE VIDEO: Mountain West Network
LIVE STATS:
SOCIAL MEDIA: @SJSUBaseball
Series History
The Spartans are losing the all-time series at 89 -131.
In the last game the two teams met, the Spartans won both games against the Broncos. On April 4, 2017, San José State rallied back from a seven-run deficit to defeat the Santa Clara Broncos 13-8.
Last 6 meetings
4/4/17 at Santa Clara W, 13-8
3/29/17 Santa Clara W, 4-2
3/30/16 at Santa Clara L, 8-5
2/23/16 Santa Clara L, 7-4
5/12/15 Santa Clara L, 2-1 (11)
4/7/15 at Santa Clara L, 2-1
Last time out
The Spartans last played in a four-game series against the Bears. The San José State University baseball team won the first game in a four-game series against the Northern Colorado Bears, 7-4. It is the Spartans' first opening-day win since February 14, 2014 when they beat San Diego State, 6-4.
The second day in the series was a doubleheader in which the Spartans won the nightcap, 11-10, overcoming an 8-1 deficit in the fifth inning and lost the first game, 12-7.
The Spartans lost the final game of its season-series against Northern Colorado, 6-5. The Spartans are now 2-2 on the season. There were five lead changes including two in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth. The Spartans had the tying run on first base in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out, but Bears' right hander Connor Leedhol got the final two outs striking out Campbell and Pittman looking for the save.
In both Spartan's wins they came back from a deficit.
Pitching Staff
This season, the biggest question facing the Spartans is the unproven pitching staff. The team has five returning pitchers, and seven who are pitching division I baseball for the first time.
POSSIBLE STARTERS FOR GAME
Jake Swiech or Nicholas Morales vs Luke Martin-Resnick
Santa Clara Broncos
Overview: The Santa Clara baseball team is led by first year head coach Rusty Filter. The Broncos are coming off a 13-40 record in 2017 with a conference record of 9-18.
Last time out: In their series against Boston College the team went 1-2. Jake Brodt hit two grand slams in the seventh inning to capture Filters first win as head coach of the Broncos. According to the Santa Clara Athletic Department "The senior from Huntington Beach, Calif. is the first to record the feat since T.J. Soto of Louisiana Tech did it against Western Kentucky in 2000." The Broncos would win the game 20-9.
Santa Clara lost the last two games in the series 5-1 and 3-1.
Pitching: The Broncos return six pitchers who saw action in 2017. Alex Barden leads the team in strikeouts with four. He has walked two players this season and has played four innings.
Eric Lex will open the season as the closer after starting 11 games last season. This year, he has made two appearances getting one strikeout in two innings.
Fresh Faces
This season, the Spartan baseball team features four fresh faces in the coaching staff: Interim head coach Brad Sanfilippo, assistant coach Tyler LaTorre, volunteer assistant coach Clay Cederquist, and volunteer assistant coach Michael Breen.
Brad Sanfilippo is making his second stint with the Spartans after serving two seasons as recruiting coordinator and third base coach during the 2013 & 14 seasons. Sanfilippo has coached more than 20 players into the MLB draft.
Tyler LaTorre comes to the Spartans after two seasons at San Francisco State as the team's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. He brings nearly a decade of professional baseball experience to the San José State baseball team. LaTorre has helped players such as Tim Lincecum, Hunter Strickland, and 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.
Clay Cederquist joins the Spartan squad after serving as head coach of the Dodge City A's summer collegiate baseball team. Currently he is an associate scout for the Miami Marlins. He is also the first base and hitting coach at American River Community College in Sacramento, California.
Michael Breen is a 2017 graduate of San José State. He started games at second base, third base, shortstop, right field, left field and designated hitter in his Spartan career. Breen was a three-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree.
Shane "Timbo" Timmons
The three-time letter winner from Mission Viejo, California has started in 107 of the last 108 games for the Spartans. No San José State baseball player has more homers the last four seasons than Timmons with 19. He is currently fifth in all-time in home runs. The current record was set nearly 20 years ago by John Fagan with 25 home runs. The 2017 second team All-Mountain West first baseman finished in the top-10 in several MW conference categories: ninth in slugging percentage (.648), tied for seventh in triples (2), fifth in home runs (7), tied for sixth in hit by pitches (6), first in sacrifice flies (5) and tied for eighth in stolen bases (5).
He is the first Spartan to lead the team in batting average two consecutive seasons since Kevin Frandsen in 2003 and 2004 seasons. Frandsen would become a 12th round pick in the 2004 MLB Draft, and play nine seasons of major league baseball. He would later be inducted into the San José State Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.