March 15, 2018
The San José State baseball team (6-9, 0-5 MW) will play the Fresno State Bulldogs (11-6, 2-4 MW) in a three game Mountain West series starting Friday, March 16 in Municipal Stadium at 6:00 p.m.
Games 1-3San José State (6-9, 0-5 MW) vs Fresno State (11-6, 2-4 MW)Friday • March 16, 2018 • 6:00 p.m. • Municipal StadiumSaturday • March 17, 2018 • 3:00 p.m. • Municipal StadiumSunday • March 18, 2018 • 12:00 p.m. • Municipal Stadium
Live Stats:
Live Video: Mountain West Network
The Road So Far...
The Spartans begin their 2018 season under the direction of interim head coach Brad Sanfilippo. The team has posted a 6-9 record through its 15 games this season. The Spartans are still searching for their first win in conference play after getting swept in Nevada.
The Spartan offense is currently led by the offensive firepower of senior Brett Bautista. Bautista has a .550 batting average through 10 games this season with two home runs. Even though he has played in less than 70% of the team's games, the senior has racked up 22 hits and 12 RBI's. He leads the team with a .775 slugging percentage.
The team has picked up wins against Northern Colorado, Sacramento State, San Francisco, Cal Poly, and Utah.
Pitching Staff
This season, the eight Spartan newcomers that have pitched on the roster have accounted for 83 of the 119 strikeouts this season. They have also recorded three of the teams six wins.
In the Spartans last three wins, the San José State pitchers held batters to 6-for-41 (.146 avg) with runners in scoring position. In the losses over the weekend, they only held batters 16-for-36 (.444 avg) with runners in scoring position.
Big innings have plagued the San José State baseball team. The Spartans have given up 68 runs in innings 4-6, but only 46 through innings 1-3 & 7-9.
POSSIBLE STARTERS FOR GAME
Friday
RHP Josh Goldberg (1-1) vs RHP Ryan Jensen (0-1)
Saturday
LHP Andrew Mitchel (1-0) vs RHP Edgar Gonzalez (3-0)
Sunday
RHP Nicholas Morales (1-2) vs RHP Davis Moore (0-0)
Fresno State
Overview: In Mountain West play this season, Fresno State has six batters hitting over .300. Leading the Bulldogs in conference play is Zach Ashford. The junior from Clovis, California leads the team with 10 hits, two triples, and a .385 batting average.
Last time out: Fresno State is coming off their first series victory against the New Mexico Lobos. The Bulldogs went 2-1 last weekend against the Lobos with two games being one run victories.
Pitching: Fresno State has depth in their pitching staff, but is led by junior right hander Edgar Gonzalez. Gonzalez has a 1.93 overall ERA with a 3-0 record heading into the series. He leads the Mountain West in strikeouts with 39 to only 5 walks.
Flash
After going 3-for-30 (.100 avg) through the first 10 games of the season, Kellen Strahm, has caught fire, going 8-for-21 (.380 avg) the last five games. The centerfielder leads the team in on base percentage with .369 and runs scored at 15. He also leads the team in walks with 10, triples with two, and stolen bases with three.
Shane "Timbo" Timmons
The three-time letter winner from Mission Viejo, California has started in 118 of the last 119 games for the Spartans. No San José State baseball player has more homers the last four seasons than Timmons with 20. He is currently tied for fourth in all-time home runs with Kyle Bellows. 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.
Bautista is Back
After Bautista redshirted the 2017 season and played only 10 games of 2016, the senior returns to the Spartan lineup without missing a step. Bautista, who has not recorded a hit since March 1, 2016 has a team leading batting average of .550 through 10 games with 22 hits and 12 RBI's.
This season, the senior has six three hit games. He has recorded 22 hits and 12 RBI's while playing in under 70% of the team's games. In Nevada he hit his first home run in nearly three years...then he hit another the very next day.
Last time out
The San José State baseball team (6-9, 0-5 MW) lost all three games in their series with their conference opponent Nevada. In game two, eight different Spartans got on base in a 10-9 loss to the Wolf Pack.
The Spartans had a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth with the help of Kyle Morrison, Brett Buatista, Chris Williams, and David Campbell. However, a big inning from Nevada in the bottom of the fifth gave them a 6-4 lead.
The Spartans would battle back to tie the game up 6-6 in the seventh with a hit from Shane Timmons, and a fielding error from the Nevada short stop.
San José State would give up three runs in the eighth and give the Wolf Pack a 9-6 advantage heading into the ninth inning.
Spartans would start off the ninth inning strong with a triple from Kellen Strahm. Bautista would single through the left side and drive Strahm home to make it 9-7.
A clutch home run to left field from Shane Timmons brought Bautista home for the tying score 9-9.
In the bottom of the ninth, San José State walked two batters and hit one to load the bases and lose the game on a sac fly from Joshua Zamora.